“Uh oh…oh dear,” many of you are no doubt thinking after reading that last post, “Dave and Janet have finally gone off the deep end. Pretty soon they’ll be moving out to the country, growing their own vegetables and storing guns in their basement. Then they’ll be pinpointing dates of the second coming, claiming angelic visitations to back up their claims, and thinking their Elijah is the “Elijah to come” and that their other two sons are the two witnesses that the book of Revelation talks about.”
I mean, really, to be honest, those thoughts kind of sum up how most of us feel about those interested in eschatology…they just get weird, right? And granted, there have been a few people in recent history who’ve earned that title by claiming they’ve figured out the year and the day by all manner of mathematical equations based on this or that Jewish holiday. I think It’s important to remember, though, that just because a handful of people have “got weird” we’re not to ignore Jesus’ command to keep watch.
Obviously, I don’t think that trying to find a secret code in biblical prophecy to predict Jesus’ second coming is being watchful. It’s just being silly. I believe, rather, that biblical prophecy says what it means, and means what it says. I believe reading it, studying it and asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom and revelation into it, while paying attention to world events is what Jesus meant by being watchful. And when I speak of revelation being given to the watchful, I believe that it will be primarily given through the Word of God. And clearly, any extra-biblical revelation should always be measured against Scripture.
I also wanted to clarify what I believe about the second coming of Jesus and, perhaps, my argument that we can know will make more sense…
I don’t believe that the removal of Christians from the earth prior to the tribulation, the time when the Antichrist will come on the scene, is a biblical idea. What little biblical information that has been used to support this idea has been taken completely out of context in my opinion. I don’t want to get into all the particulars of why I believe this, but I will say that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that the Lord would give us such detailed information about this time in history if we’re not to be here for it. I firmly believe that the Church will be on earth for the tribulation and also that it will be our finest hour…if we’re prepared. So much of end-time prophecy is about the Lord judging the earth in righteousness, and to the Church this is a very offensive idea. We’re really not prepared in that way. We need to be wrestling with these issues now… believe me, I don’t think this is the kind of test we want to cram for at midnight!
I will admit, though, that if the Church is indeed to be raptured before the tribulation, that this would be impossible to predict. Also, becoming acquainted with what will happen during the tribulation is redundant if we’re not going to be here for it. (But, again, I wonder, why else would God have given us such detailed information about it?) However, I’m sure you might agree that it would be much better to err on the post-trib side of things. I’d much rather find myself suddenly removed from the earth prior to the tribulation when I was expecting and preparing to be there, then to find myself thrust into the most terrifying and cataclysmic time in history when I thought I was going to escape it!
To end, I want to say that, for me, first and foremost, the study of the end-times has been about falling more in love with Jesus and about longing for Him to come. If you don’t buy into the whole “being prepared” shtick, then study end-time prophecy with a desire to know Jesus and love Him more. 