Posted on 06/05/2002 11:51:09 AM PDT by sheltonmac
Any time there is a flurry of activity in the Middle East you can count on evangelical Christians to put on a good show. They run around proclaiming an "End of the World Is Near" gospel in hopes of scaring people into the Kingdom of God.
I refer to such Christians as "they" because I happen to be one of those evangelical Christians who believe that God is no longer dealing with national Israel and that His chosen people are those who comprise the church—essentially, all who believe in Christ. This may seem like a radical concept to those who look upon writers of doomsday fiction as prophetic geniuses, but that's what happens when people are drawn away from that boring, dust-covered, leaherbound Bible on the coffee table by novels with flashy covers and catchy titles.
When it comes to end times "prophecy," premillennialists seem to have a monopoly on the market. Hal Lindsey burst upon the scene in the 1970's with The Late Great Planet Earth. It became an international best-seller. In like fashion, the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins has proven to be one of the most lucrative enterprises in the history of Christendom. Sure, these books are by no means examples of literary greatness, but the authors more than make up for that with pure, unadulterated prophetic sensationalism.
The success of apocalyptic authors like Lindsey, LaHaye and Jenkins stems from their ability to exploit the prevailing eschatological school of thought among evangelical Christians, that being dispensational premillennialism. (Thank you, John Nelson Darby!) When it comes to the end times, most premillennialists believe that all Christians will be "raptured," that is, taken up out of the world by Jesus Christ at his almost second coming. Those left behind will have to face the Great Tribulation, a seven-year period of unparalleled chaos which will also herald the rule of the Anti-Christ. At the end of the Tribulation, Christ will return—his actual second coming—to set up his earthly kingdom and reign on the throne of David for a thousand years. After that millennial time of peace, God will do away with evil once and for all at the Great White Throne Judgment. (How there can be a thousand years of peace with evil present I cannot say. I suppose it's one of those things that just works it self out in the premillennialist model.)
With all the hype surrounding the end times, it is certainly understandable that theological misconceptions will filter down into our political ideology. This is not a new phenomenon. In fact, ever since the arrival of dispensational premillennialism on this continent in the 19th century our national political position has shifted to accomodate this line of thinking, thanks to the efforts of evangelical Christians.
Evangelical Christian influence has been around since the founding of this nation, and the beliefs of evangelicals have spilled over into politics. Ordinarily there would be nothing wrong with this, but flawed theology has since given way to a flawed foreign policy, and U.S. interests have become inextricably tied to the interests of modern Israel.
Strong political support for a Jewish nation began in the early 1900s. During World War I, Arthur James Balfour penned the Balfour Declaration which set the stage for British support of a Jewish homeland:
His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.Since dispensational premillennialism had already established itself as a part of the evangelical mainstream, it was only a matter of time before U.S. politicians who had been born and raised in that evangelical tradition began to let their theology affect their political ideology. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signaled his approval of the Balfour Declaration when he said, "The allied nations with the fullest concurrence of our government and people are agreed that in Palestine shall be laid the foundations of a Jewish Commonwealth."
American politicians have continued to voice their strong support for Israel, though little has been mentioned as to why Israel is such an important ally. But that really isn't the issue I want to explore. What seems to be driving the U.S.-Israel relationship, as far as evangelical Christians are concerned, is the popular belief that the nation of Israel still plays an important role in prophecy, and those not wanting to be caught facing the business end of God's wrathful sword come Judgment Day are pushing for more U.S. involvement in the Middle East. About the only reasons we hear are that we have a "moral obligation" to stand behind Israel or that it's simply "the right thing to do."
Dispensational premillennialists typically quote the Book of Psalms when speaking of our "obligation" to support Israel. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May they prosper who love you'" (Ps. 122:6). This passage has been accepted by many Christians as a universal command by which all believers are bound to pray for the physical city of Jerusalem, lest they fall out of favor with God. Of course, that isn't the case.
While it may be good and practical to pray for the peace of modern Jerusalem, we should really be praying for peace all across the world—the peace that can only come about through the Good News of Jesus Christ. So, in a spiritual sense, Psalm 122 does apply to Christians today. We should pray for the peace of the spiritual Jerusalem, the church (Heb. 12:22), for the well-being of our brothers and sisters in Christ and the furtherance of the Gospel.
Many Christians, however, are too wrapped up in their flawed eschatology to realize that their first responsibility is to the church, the body of Christ, and not to a nation of unbelievers. As a result, eyes glance up in anticipation at the eastern sky every time Israel is mentioned in the media, and the practice of interpreting Scripture through newspaper headlines becomes commonplace.
It is interesting to see the ensuing pandemonium among evangelical Christians brought about by rumors of war in the Middle East. Believers ignore sound biblical instruction and start buying up extra copies of Left Behind to use as witnessing tools for reaching their non-believing friends. Christian columnists all across America crank out editorial pieces on the Jews' divine claim to the Holy Land and the importance of remaining steadfast in our nation's support of Israel. Jack Van Impe goes on television with an air of righteous vindication and says, "See? My latest reinterpretation of my previous reinterpretation of Revelation was correct! The time of Christ's coming in the clouds is fast approaching!"
Who can blame these Christians for becoming so enraptured (no pun intended) with the idea of being whisked away in the blink of an eye while the world is left to fester for seven years in its own evil juices? It is comforting for people to believe that they will escape tribulation when the end comes.
But ask anyone who holds to the premillennialist view what Christ had in mind when he proclaimed, "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place" (Matt. 24:34). Ask them what the apostle Paul meant when he said, "For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham" (Rom. 9:6b-7a). Ask them why God felt it was necessary to establish a New Covenant (Heb. 8) if the Old Covenant is yet to be fulfilled. Chances are the answers you receive will be less than satisfactory.
The truth is that the covenant God had with Israel finds its fulfillment in Christ. "And if you are Christ's," Paul reminds us, "then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29). Advocating an "End of the World Is Near" gospel that appeals to gullible Christians and poll-driven politicians cannot be edifying for the body of Christ. If anything, it detracts from the work the Son of God already accomplished through his death and resurrection.
I certainly do not hold myself up as a theologian or biblical scholar, but it doesn't take one to see that the premillennialist paradigm is rather precarious. When a fundamental part of our foreign policy is based on a shaky biblical exegesis and championed by the very people who should know better, it gives one reason to question the immediate future of our nation.
At least we can rest in the fact that God is ultimately in control. His true chosen people, those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, will not be forsaken, and the glory of the Almighty will shine forth for all the world to see.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE that when Israel became a Nation again IN A DAY--as Scripture literally predicted--IN 1948--THAT THAT WAS RATHER PROPHETIC.
For a nation to become a nation in a day was unique enough--that they then used Hebrew etc. was unprecedented in terms of making an ancient language come alive again.
I don't know His timing or sequence of events to bring the bulk of or His chosen representative sample or whatever He wants of Israel back to Himself spiritually/Salvation wise. I have utter faith and confidence that the genetic Israeli's--ESPECIALLY THE 144,000 WILL CERTAINLY OWN JESUS AS THEIR MESSIAH.
GOD HAS A MULTITUDE of ways to supernaturally achieve that and probably quite a few not as supernatural ways. He also doesn't have to consult your schedule book to arrange any part or all of them.
Personally, I think America will be in great decline by the time of Israel's wholesale returning to God. . . 911 was but a beginning of that decline in a more dramatic sense.
The incongruencies vis a vis history, reality and Scripture are HUGELY WORSE BY MANY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE with Replacement Theology. I'm amazed that any smart people would be duped by it. It seems to plainly illogical on SO MANY points the whole length and breadth of it.
GIVEN THE RACING SPEED AT WHICH PROPHETIC SCRITPURES ARE SHOWING UP IN THE daily NEWSPAPERS REPEATEDLY, I don't think I need to be concerned about THAT.
It hasn't and probably won't be... :o)
When has The AntiChrist appeared and set his image up in the rebuilt Temple?
70AD
When and where has Christ bodily appeared and set up His 1,000 years of perfect peace?
Where does it say He will? :o) Literal vs. symbolic interpretation here, of course.
When has 1/3 of the seas; 1/3 of the rivers; 1/3 of the human population of the world become as blood or died?
symbolic again
When has the Mark of The Beast been implemented world wide by a world wide government in ancient times?
The kind of mark you're referring to hasn't and won't.
When have there been so many "signs in the heavens--manmade and otherwise--in ancient times?
What signs are you referring to here? UFO sightings?
As to armies of horses. . . as I recall, the Scriptures about those have to do with Russia. Regardless, many have boggled skeptically at Biblical predictions before. Didn't slow God down one microsecond. He STILL did what he said He would. And He still will. . . regardless of whether it matches your theology or mine.
Russia will come into Israel through Iran? Long way around, especially for 100 million horsemen. Only China has that many soldiers, which in the past I had always interpreted to be a potential fulfillment of that scripture. Regardless, how many troops would it take to occupy something the size of Israel? 100 soldiers for each 3 current citizens? How would you feed and water that many horses?
The answer is to see the symbolism throughout much of the Bible and interpret Revelation in that light.
Well, the vast majority of scholarship in the late 1800's placed Revelation in the 65-70AD time frame. I don't 'dismiss' the current majority view, I just believe it to be in error.
It's often fascinating to note the things we choose to be offended by.You're really bothered by my no. 70
Says you. Daniel's prophecy fits perfectly through history until the time of Christ, no huge gaps needed. But even if I believed Daniel had anything left to be fulfilled, that doesn't change the time frame statements of Daniel vs. Revelation. Unless you want to go all out and say that none of Daniel has been fulfilled, a laughable assertion.
The incongruencies vis a vis history, reality and Scripture are HUGELY WORSE BY MANY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE with Replacement Theology. I'm amazed that any smart people would be duped by it. It seems to plainly illogical on SO MANY points the whole length and breadth of it.
If you have a point, it is always best to make it quickly and succinctly, not over twelve pages of multicolored giant font. Nor is it necessary to describe your point. Just make it.
Why do you need an earthly kingdom? Christ Himself said that His kingdom was not of this world. You are making the same mistake that Jews make with regards to the kingdom. What part of "my kingdom is not of this world" do you not understand? For that matter, if God wanted an earthly kingdom, why did Christ reject the efforts to make Him an earthly kingdom after He fed the multitudes?
That is the simplest and best case made in this issue. Thank you.
God's best isn't good enough for you? It's not thrilling enough to have God Himself dwelling with us now, in our midst? Am I to assume you also would prefer animal sacrifices to what God did at Calvary? How much ungrateful blasphemy do you think God will tolerate?
The Talmud speaks of four rabbis who entered some place called 'Pardes,' and the effects of doing so (Chagigah 14b). From the calamitous results to three of the four FAMOUS rabbis, we quickly get the impression that their journey into this 'Orchard' was no normal walk in a park, to say the least.
Tradition confirms this. For, as we are taught, 'Pardes' is a Hebrew word composed of four letters, each of which is the first letter of a different word: Pshat, Remez, Drush, Sod (PaRDeS) -- Simple (Meaning), Hinted (Meaning), Exegetical (Meaning), and, Kabbalistic (Meaning). These are, of course, the four levels upon which Torah can be learned.
A simple example. The very first word of the Torah is the word 'Bereishis,' which, classically, is translated as, 'in the beginning.' That is called the 'pshat' of the word, the simplest meaning possible.
However, as Rashi points out, in the context provided by the Torah, 'Bereishis' is grammatically incorrect for the most obvious pshat of the posuk: In the beginning, G-d made the Heaven and the Earth. In such a construct, Rashi teaches, the word 'berishonah' would be correct, and, assuming that G-d knew this -- a fair assumption -- Rashi moves up to the level of 'Remez' to explain a deeper, intended meaning of the word: for the sake of 'reishis' -- that which is 'first' to G-d, that is, Torah and the Jewish people, G-d made Heaven and Earth. Rashi -- a 'pashtan' by definition -- stops there and satisfied.
However, if you look into the holy books, you will eventually find even deeper meanings of the word, not so visible to the eye. After all, the Zohar HaKodesh has no less than SEVENTY explanations of this first word of the Torah, one of which divides the word into two parts: bera-shis -- He created six ('shis' is Aramaic for 'six'), as in the six days of creation, at the initial moment that G-d made ALL matter. That is the 'drush' of the word.
What is the 'sod' of this word? It is similar to the 'drush,' except that the 'shis' refers to the six Sefiros: Chesed, Gevurah, Tifferes, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod, all of which govern the six thousand years of history of which we are a part, one for each of the six millennia. Thus, the 'pshat' on this level would be: He created six sefiros (with which) Elokim created the Heaven and Earth.
Thus, as one moves from the simplest to the Kabbalistic explanation of an idea, the concepts become more complex and more abstract. However, they also become more accurate in terms of their description of reality, and therefore, truer expressions of the will of G-d and His Divine Providence:
"... This is the main rectification that comes from the learning of Kabbalah more than from any other level of Torah-learning. For, all other levels are 'enclothed' in everyday matters, unlike Kabbalah, and especially the words of the Arizal, which are built upon the deep secrets of the Zohar ... and the (more direct) light of G-d." (Rabbi Shlomo Eliyashev; 1841 - 1925)
In other words, when an abstract idea is brought 'down-to-earth,' it may be easier to fathom, but, it is also less accurate a truth. It is like answering a difficult question for a child, knowing that his mind can only handle so much information and only so much sophistication. You haven't lied to the child, but, you haven't given the child the entire story either.
Thus, if we are talking about the 'simplest explanation' of an idea, then 'pshat' is it. However, if it is the most accurate description of reality that we seek, then, the higher one climbs the ladder of 'Pardes,' the more accurate their understanding of G-d and Divine Providence will be.
This is what Rebi Yehoshua ben Levi told his son, who had just suffered a near-death experience, and described to his father what he had seen (Pesachim 50a). "It was an upside down world I saw," his son told his father, "where, what is up over here is down over there, and, what is down over here is up over there."
Rebi Yehoshua ben Levi corrected his son: "No, my son -- THERE is where everything is right-side up; it is here that everything is upside down, and, you have just gotten used to it."
Thus, we walk around in pursuit of 'pshat' and afraid of 'sod,' thinking that we know all we must to make life work as it should, and then wonder why it doesn't. It is 'Sod' that is closest to G-d in the hierarchy of learning, and though you can't soar in the clouds until you learn to first walk on earth, you must learn to walk on the earth with the goal to one day soar in the clouds.
http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5761/bamidbar.html
Matthew, Derush level
Mark, Pshat
Luke and Acts, Remez and
Revelation and John Sod level
If you can't, then you must conclude that it hasn't happened YET. If that is so, then clearly it is a prophesy of a Jerusalem IN THE LATTER DAYS (like the one that sits in Israel today!)
That being the case, preterism doesn't WORK.
Have you also observed that the Bible contains prophecy?
A huge percentage of my posts have something to do with Bible related prophecy. Bible prophecy has been a favorite topic of mine since Jr High.
Your question seems REAL nonsensical.
But I still hesitate to define even that box for such an Almighty God who at least occasionally likes to do unusual things askew even from His own traditions.
There appear to be some dramatic things scheduled for even the secular world to see. Certainly there will end up even less excuse than pagans now have to avoid a relationship with God.
I don't think fear is the best motivation to turn people toward God. However, The Bible says that the reverential fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And, the fact remains that many a Hell-fire and brimstone preacher has had his share of converts based on the feel of the heat of hell just from the sermon. . . and perhaps some Holy Spirit assist in some sort of spiritual virtual reality sense.
I'm not likely to throw rocks at anything that gets people into The Kingdom.
Most Christians will say that they believe in the fundamentals of Biblical interpretation. Virtually all would agree that the more confusing passages should be interpreted in light of those passages that are crystal clear. Most would say that taking into consideration the audience to whom each book of the Bible was written is also important. But that simply isn't the case in dispensational premillennialism. For example, reading through Daniel's prophecy would never cause one to come away with the assumption that there is a gap between the 69th and 70th weeks—especially one of an indeterminate amount of time. Dispensationalists fail to take that passage of Scripture at face value. They also fail to recognize at whom that prophecy was directed. The Hebrews of the time would have never assumed that the fulfillment of those 70 weeks would be thousands of years in the future. Looking at the timeline of events that occured after Daniel's prophecy, we can see the 70 weeks culminating with the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ. But in order for the still-future fulfillment interpretation to hold up, a gap had to be inserted into the text.
One of the interesting things about many dispensationalists is the almost rabid visciousness with which they defend their position. For them, questioning their eschatological beliefs is tantamount to questioning their salvation. A few months ago I read a post on FR that said, "If I can't trust God to keep His promises to Israel, how can I trust that He will keep His promises to me?" While this may sound like a reasonable approach, it isn't. Assuming that the dispensational model is true, how can anyone point to God's promises to Israel as examples of His faithfulness when those promises have not yet been fulfilled?
But don't expect rational thinking from such people. They have had this pounded into their brains for so long that it's absolutely inconceivable for them to imagine any other possible interpretation of even the most clear passages of Scripture. And I am convinced that the church has suffered as a result.
I have known dispensationalists who are so focused on Israel and the Jews that they ignore the needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ. I think that is wrong, and it goes against the ecclesiastical responsibilities laid out in the New Testament for the believer. If a Christian is led by the Holy Spirit to minister to the Jews, to bear witness to the gospel and evangelize Jewish unbelievers, that is an entirely different matter. However, that doesn't seem to be the focus of dispensational theology.
I am encouraged now that I have seen a number of others express their concerns with the prevailing eschatological school of thought in the church today. I believe this number will grow, especially as more false prophecies fail to pan out.
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