WE MAY NOT AGREE ON WHEN OR HOW – WE DO AGREE ON WHAT – JESUS IS COMING AGAIN!
CREATION – THE FALL – SIN – DEATH – REDEMPTION – TRIBULATIONS – THE DAY OF WRATH – JUDGMENT – BOOK OF LIFE – LAKE OF FIRE – A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH.
One of the prevalent eschatological teaching (study on the matters of the end of the age) is the Pre-tribulation Rapture and Premillennialism. It was originated by John Nelson Darby in 1833. Darby is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism and Futurism. Pre-tribulation rapture theology was popularized extensively in the 1830s by John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren, and further popularized in the United States in the early 20th century by the wide circulation of the Schofield Reference Bible.
Other eschatological views include:
Preterism (1554–1613)
Historicism (mid 1500s)
Futurism (mid 1500s)
From these views spring major theological positions of
Premillennialism,
Pretribulation Rapture,
Mid-tribulation Rapture,
Post-tribulation Rapture,
Postmillennialism,
Amillennialism, and the
Pre-Wrath Tribulation Rapture.
Because there are a myriad of Church denominational and doctrinal positions, it is understandable that so many differing eschatological views have emerged.
But, with the passage of time, historical events and particularly religious, social, economic, and political developments are revealing the frightening accuracies and the realities of Biblical prophecies which are coming to life and are bringing Biblical prophecies into focus. A reassessment is under way.
In the meantime, however, most theologians and Bible teachers doggedly adhere to their seventeenth century, long-held denominational-based views of Biblical eschatology, despite the clarity of the scriptures when viewed outside denominational bias and when examining the emerging evidence to the contrary.
Other examples are of those who call themselves Bible teachers or theologians who teach and claim that all Biblical eschatology is metaphorical, and idiomatic, analogical or parables used to explain natural events and their outcomes. This puts Jesus and His Teachings in the category of fantasies, fairytales and lies – although the Bible clearly warns otherwise.
Some other so-called teachers have been teaching that is no literal 2nd coming of Christ although, again, the Bible clearly and plainly teaches otherwise.
Others teach there will be a 2nd advent of Christ, however, they would have you believe that the second coming will be ‘in secret’, and that Jesus’ visible and actual 2nd coming will not occur until the battles of Armageddon.
And if that isn’t enough, others teach that there will be BOTH a visible 2nd coming as described in Matthew chapter 24, and a visible 3rd advent (coming) of Christ when He will defeat Satan at the battle of Armageddon. And, things get even more convoluted when it comes to the various denominational doctrines of The Millennium.
Most of these same preachers, pastors and ‘bible teachers’ will tell you that the entire tribulation period is a yet-to-be experienced, future event, putting you at ease when Jesus clearly teaches the very opposite thing. Jesus warns that you must be on the alert, standing at the ready at all times, during “these last days”! (See Matthew 24:36-44)
Many are well-intentioned, dedicated Christians and devoted students of the Bible and of eschatology. So what are we to think? How are we to know?
There is one thing in the five major views which we all agree on: Jesus is coming again to get His Church and to defeat Satan, the beast, and to judge the living and the dead.
If you are alive when the sixth tribulation seal is opened, one of two things will happen to you:
(1). If you are counted among His Elect (A Christian and a devoted follower of Jesus): “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet-call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
(2). If you are not counted among His Elect (Not a Christian and a devoted follower of Jesus): “There will be a great earthquake, and the sun will become black as sackcloth, the full moon will become like blood, and the stars of the sky will fall to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. Then the sky will vanish like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island will be removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, (including you) will hide themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Furthermore, if you are not killed by these events, you stand to face even greater and more terrible events of God’s judgments spanning a seven-year period!)
If you are not alive when the sixth tribulation seal is opened, one of two things will happen to you:
(1). The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. And we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
(2). The sea will give up the dead who are in it (who are not in Christ), and Death and Hades will give up the dead who were in them (who are not in Christ), and they are judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, they too are thrown into the lake of fire.
You have absolutely no control over the sequence of events, nor over any of the events themselves. But you do have control over your preparation for what is coming.
PREPARE NOW
Surrender yourself to God through faith in Jesus. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (See Romans 10).
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, will cause you to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (See 1 Peter 1).
Who then is the faithful and wise servant of God? It is the one whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” (See Matthew 24).
IN THE END
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
“And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, I was a stranger, and you welcomed me, I was naked, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.“
If you never know the different denominational tribulation views and have no clue about the coming millennium, (over which you have no control), these things I have mentioned are all you need to know to be saved – “sozo” – made safe, rescued from eternal harm, made whole and made well this very day.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
(Millennial Views by The Gospel Coalition – an excellent resource).
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