When the Christian community gets united behind something we’re a force to be reckoned with. The 2004 Presidential election was a good example. Many of those 35 million extra votes George Bush got were from Evangelical Christians. Sadly, things like that don’t happen very often anymore. Even 9/11 didn’t produce any long term change toward unifying the Body. But try to imagine this if you can.  Imagine how different this country would be today if all Christians held a Christian world view, were convinced that the Lord was coming back for us very soon, and were living their lives accordingly. Can you even begin to see the difference we’d be making? It would be amazing. America would be compared to the Israel of Solomon’s day.

To prevent the tremendous effect we would have for good, the enemy has implemented a divide and conquer strategy. He knows that as long as he can keep the Body of Christ fractured he can keep us weak. Over the years, he’s mounted a number of campaigns to implement this strategy. Gifts vs. no gifts, the inerrancy issue, and the proper method of interpretation come to mind. But one of his most successful efforts has been to take advantage of the fact that for His own reasons, God has chosen to keep the Rapture’s timing a secret.

The clues He’s given us point to our departure happening prior to the beginning of Daniel’s 70th Week. But right from the beginning Satan influenced Church leaders to conclude that denying the pre-trib pre millennial view would keep us focused on the things of this world instead of always looking up, waiting for the Lord. So even though Paul very clearly taught a pre-trib rapture of the Church, and John revealed a 1000 year Kingdom to follow it, alternate views have sprung up almost continuously since then.

Take Your Pick
Amillennialism came along in the early 400’s to teach believers not to expect any literal Kingdom, ever.  It told believers that the 2nd Coming took place when Jesus came into their hearts, that the Church Age is the Millennium and that end times prophecy is not meant to be taken literally. This removed a major obstacle to having Christianity recognized by Rome.

Post millenialism taught that the 2nd Coming would take place after the 1000 year millennium which is really a golden age of Christian prosperity and dominance in the world. The prosperity gospel and Dominion theology are offshoots of post-millennialism.

The Post Tribulation Rapture view denied the doctrine of imminence by placing the Rapture after the Tribulation. Look for the anti-Christ, it says, not the Christ. Mid-Trib (aka Pre-Wrath) is a compromise between the pre and post trib views that denies imminence as well. Replacement Theology was to deny that the re-birth of Israel is an end times sign. Preterism denies all future prophetic events. Kingdom Now, or Dominionism, contends that the Lord can’t come back until we’ve done our part by converting the world. As a result of Dominionism millions of believers have been looking all their lives for a great revival that’s never coming, instead of looking for the Lord, who is.

The combined effect of all this is that most believers have been lulled to sleep with no clue as to how close we are to the End of the Age. While prophecies that Christians have been anticipating for nearly 2000 years are being fulfilled right before their eyes, they’re more concerned about the long term mortgages on their homes and the interest free financing on their cars. Having sufficient retirement income far outweighs stockpiling treasure in heaven on their list of priorities. Their endless quest for bigger and better toys distracts them from the boredom of lives that have been rendered meaningless, without purpose. False teaching about the End Times has left them ignorant of the closeness of the Lord’s return and complacent about their faith. It has stolen their joy, quenched their spirit, and made them no better off spiritually than the unbelievers who surround us. They sometimes get fired up on Sunday, but by mid-week you’d never know it happened.

Here’s what that means. According to recent surveys in the USA, less than 10% of born-again believers have a Christian world view. That means over 90% of us have been seduced into a pursuit of the same materialistic goals as our unbelieving neighbors. Over 40% have never given the first dime to the Lord’s work. Even more have never shared the Gospel with anyone. Some studies show that the abortion rate among Christians is the same as for unbelievers, as is the divorce rate, and two out of three of our children will stop going to church the minute they have a choice.

I lay most of the blame for this at the feet of so-called theologians who’ve let themselves be influenced by Satan while charged with the responsibility of teaching the Word of God. Remember, Paul’s words to the Corinthians:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.(2 Cor. 11:13-15)

Knowingly or not, these people have bought into Satan’s lies and have taught those entrusted to them that God’s word isn’t true.

The Greatest Generation
What the secular media calls America’s greatest generation, those who fought and won WW2, is also the generation that sat in the pews of the great denominational churches of the 40’s and 50’s. There they were taught that God didn’t create the Heavens and the Earth in 6 days and Moses didn’t write the Torah. Daniel didn’t write Daniel, Isaiah didn’t write Isaiah, Jesus didn’t feed 5000 or walk on water, and on and on. To make God small enough to fit in their minds the denominational theologians made Him too small to meet our needs. Amillennialism became their eschatology of choice because with a God that small it was easy to believe that nothing was ever going to happen.  He isn’t really going to return, they say, and even if he does it certainly won’t be now. Some were actually saying that he had died. Because of their teaching, millions of Christians are asleep at the switch during the most important and exciting time in the history of man.

It’s not because prophecy has ever failed, it’s because like the Saducees before them, the theologians stopped believing it and so the teachers stopped teaching it. Jesus addressed this in his letter to the Church at Sardis, a model of the mainline denominations. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (Rev. 3:3) The Saducees missed the chance to be on the Lord’s team at the time of the first coming because they stopped believing the prophecies. Liberal theologians and their students are missing the 2nd one for the same reason.

Now another great attack against End Times prophecy has come in the name of the Emerging Church. Leaders of this movement don’t teach the Bible much at all because their success is based on saying nothing that could offend the people in their pews. Consequently there’s no talk of being born again or getting ready for the Lord’s return. They talk of being followers of the Lord not just believers in Him, but in truth there’s very little discussion of what either means. Their pews and their bank accounts are full, and their members are kept busy with projects that often do a lot of Earthly good but aren’t designed to bring any one any closer to the Kingdom. The study of prophecy is viewed as non productive and a distraction from their goals, one of which is to strive for a 50/50 split in their membership between believers and non-believers. The reason for this is that the non-believers can help to form a consensus that will draw the believers away from the moral and spiritual absolutes of traditional Christianity. As with the revival seeking Charismatics there is a thread of dominionism running through the emerging Church’s doctrine.  It helps keep them focused on the things of this world.

Which One Are You?
So the liberals are amillennial and couldn’t tell a rapture from a rupture. Pentecostal, charismatic, and emerging congregations are often dominionists, although for different reasons. Catholics and some conservative protestants are post-trib. Almost all have been tainted by replacement theology, and hardly any study prophecy. That leaves the evangelicals and even among us there’s growing disagreement.

It’s popular to just smile and say of the protestant church, “On the essentials of salvation we all agree, but in the non-essentials there’s room for lots of different opinions.” Baloney. The Bible is not a document written to provide a debating society with lots of different positions. It’s the Word of God and it’s not subject to man’s opinion. Though we may not like it all, we don’t have the right to re-interpret it to suit our desires.

But while we sit around arguing about what it says, the world is falling apart and the time is getting short. The Lord’s coming back and 90% of the Church is distracted by the world and doesn’t have a clue it’s about to happen.

God said, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please … what I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.” (Isaiah 46:10-11) It’s not that He’s stopped performing on this promise, it’s just that most of the Church has stopped believing it and no longer expects it.

Of the 5 crowns believers can win as rewards for the way they live, one will be given to those who long for His appearing. (2 Tim. 4:8) It has always fascinated me that it’s called the Crown of Righteousness. Most folks would think that one would go to those who led exemplary lives. Not so. Our righteousness is imputed to us by faith. Longing for His return is a sign of faith in His promise that He will. (John 14:1-3) I wonder how many of those they’ll be handing out.

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:2-6)

From our study on whether the Church was foretold by the Prophets of Israel, the obvious question left unanswered was, “What did Paul mean when he said it was a mystery that was not made known to men in other generations?”

Well, the mystery was not about whether the Lord would reach out to the Gentiles, since Isaiah had made it clear that the Messiah would bring His salvation to all nations.  The mystery was in how He would do it. As we saw from Acts 15:13-18 James was the first to say that Israel was being set aside for a time until the Lord took a people for his name from among the Gentiles, but that afterwards He would turn again to Israel.  (Actually, the Lord had hinted at this in Matt. 21:43 when He told the Jewish leaders that the Kingdom would be taken away from them and given to a people who would produce its fruit.  James was just clarifying His statement.)

With 20/20 hindsight, we can see a number of gaps in Old Testament prophecy into which the Lord has inserted the Church.  But it’s mostly the kind of thing you can only see looking back from our perspective.   It’s like a hidden path on a hiking trail that you can only see after you’ve passed it, and then only by looking back in the direction from which you’ve come.

(Some claim to have found 24 of these gaps and use that fact to help identify the 24 Elders in Rev. 4 as representing the Church after the Rapture.  The fact that the Elders are wearing the crowns of over comers, which the Church will only receive after the Rapture, lends support to this view.)

As I said, we find these gaps  in Old Testament prophecy, and one of the clearest ones is in Isaiah 9:6-7 where the Lord had Isaiah say:

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over His Kingdom establishing it and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

 

The angel Gabriel told Mary that her son would fulfill this prophecy (Luke 1:33) but looking back we can see that it was only partially fulfilled during the Lord’s life.  The child was born and the son was given, but that’s all.  The rest awaits the 2nd Coming and in between is the Church.

 

The disciples stumbled on another one when Jesus said that the Temple would soon be destroyed in Matt. 24:2.  They knew that 69 weeks (483 years) of Daniel’s 70 week (490 years) prophecy had passed, and that Herod had spent the previous 40 years building the Temple.  And now Jesus told them it was going to be completely torn down just 7 years short of the time at which  Daniel had said they would finish transgression, put an end to sin,  atone for wickedness, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy and anoint the most holy (place). (Daniel 9:24)  Without a temple this deadline couldn’t be met. Their amazement over the Lord’s prophecy led to the Olivet Discourse and the discovery of what we now realize is a gap between the first 483 years and the last 7.  Once again, the gap was filled by the Church.

But even that didn’t reveal the mystery.  No, the secret that blew everybody away was that the Gentiles were being made heirs of the Kingdom together with Israel, and that God was actually creating an entire new race of mankind, a spiritual one composed of both Jews and Gentiles but  sharing a destiny with neither. Paul described this in Ephesians 2:14-16:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

No longer would humanity consist only of Jews and Gentiles in God’s eyes. From now on it would include a third type of human, the Church (1 Cor. 10:32).  And just as God had called the Jews out from among the Gentiles, now He was calling the Church out from among Jews and Gentiles. It was through the Church that Jews and Gentiles would come together to share equally in God’s inheritance.

Gentiles In The Old Covenant

From our side of the prophecies we can see that God intended this all along.  But to get a feel for how this must have shocked the Jewish Apostles, lets take a look at the way Gentile converts to Judaism had fared under the Old Covenant.  From the earliest times that Gentiles had come under the Law, they shared both its privileges and its responsibilities.

Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.  Foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant- these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.  Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”  (Isaiah 56:3, 6-7)

But especially in the 2nd Temple period there was a definite class distinction. The Temple itself was a good example of this.  It was surrounded by a series of courts for the worshipers, each one separated from the others by walls and gates.  Immediately outside the building where the altar of sacrifice was located was the Court of the Priests.  Just beyond that was the Court of the Men, and surrounding it the Court of the Women.  Together they formed the Court of the Israelites.  Separated from the court of the Israelites by another wall with guarded gates was the outermost court, the Court of the Gentiles.  On each gate of this wall of separation a sign was posted warning Gentiles not to proceed further on pain of death. Worse than the nosebleed seats at a sports arena, it was at least 100 yards from the altar, much more in most places, and behind a wall. While some Gentiles could hear what was going on, none could see.  In addition, some believe that the money changers and animal sellers were allowed to set up shop in this court on holy days further limiting the Gentiles’ opportunity to worship the Lord. Jesus quoted the Isaiah passage above in condemning the Jews for this.

Now Paul was saying that Gentiles would be elevated to a place of equality with the Jews as “those who once were far away have been brought near through the Blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)

Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit

In the Book of Acts there two occasions of new believers speaking in tongues. Both involve Gentiles in the presence of Jews.  In Acts 10 it was the guests in the home of Cornelius and in Acts 19:6, it was a group of men in Ephesus, part of modern Turkey.  Acts 10:45-46 says, The circumcised (Jewish) believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Acts 19 is similar.  I believe these two experiences were recorded for the express purpose of showing the Jews that Gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit just as they had, as Acts 10:45 explains. God was making sure they knew that in the Church both would be equal.  These are the only two places mentioned in the Book of Acts where speaking in other tongues accompanied salvation. (It’s interesting that one happened before the believers were baptized and the other one happened after.)

Through the Church Jew and Gentile would become one in Christ, whether male or female, slave or free. (Gal. 3:28) They would serve as the highest and best examples of the incomparable riches of God’s grace.  His work of art, His masterpiece. (Ephes. 2:6-10)  All their imperfections would be healed and they would finally be what God intended, as perfect as He is, immortal and incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:53) Their eternal home would also be a work of art, made of the finest gold and precious stones, 2000 years in the making. Nothing impure will ever enter it, neither will there ever be any death or mourning, or crying or pain there. (Rev. 21)  They would be joint heirs with Christ and co-regents of His universe, dwelling in His presence forever in a perpetual state of bliss.

Not even at the height of Solomon’s glory had the world ever witnessed such a thing as the Lord has planned for the Church.  And while it’s available to Jew and Gentile alike, it appears that the Church will be populated mostly by Gentiles.

So Paul’s mystery wasn’t that the Lord would reach out to the Gentiles, it was that He would do it so lavishly.  This is why he wrote:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”— but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.”(1 Cor. 2:9-10)

It was obvious to anyone who read the Bible that God was going to include all the nations in His plan for salvation.  But until God revealed it to His Holy Apostles and Prophets, no man on Earth had ever imagined what that would mean for us. That was Paul’s mystery.