There is a view among some Christians that the Church was never foreseen by the prophets of Israel.  Those who teach this view claim that since Paul called the Church a mystery that was not made known to men in other generations (Ephes. 3:2-6) there couldn’t have been any prophecy about it, since prophecy is the opposite of mystery.

They take this to mean that there are 2 gospels in the New Testament.  First there’s the Gospel of the Kingdom, taught by Jesus, the original Apostles, and James, Jude, and whoever wrote Hebrews.  It was intended for Israel only.  Then there’s the Gospel of Grace taught by Paul and meant for the Church. They say the rest of the New Testament doesn’t apply to us.   Some who follow this line of thinking conclude that having rejected the Gospel of the Kingdom, which they say was preached to Israel up to the time that Paul came on the scene, Israel has no further place in God’s plan for man and therefore its rebirth fulfills no end times prophecy.  But most believe that the Church is an un-prophesied pause in the Dispensation of the Law which has 7 years to run after the Church is gone. (Daniel’s 70th Week).

What Was The Question?

So the question is, “Was The Church Foreseen In Old Testament Prophecy?” Because if it was, then this view is not correct.  People usually think of Genesis 12 for an answer first, because there the Lord promised to bless all the nations through Abraham’s offspring.

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”(Genesis 12:2-3)

Admittedly this is a vague reference and we probably wouldn’t even connect it to the Church if we didn’t already know there was such a thing, and that Jesus was the offspring God was talking about.  But it does tell us that right from the start God’s intention was to bless everyone, Jew and Gentile, through a descendant of Abraham’s.

But Wait, There’s More!

The prophecies of Isaiah clearly mention the Gentiles and can’t be dismissed so easily.

This is what God the LORD says—  he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:

“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;  I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,  to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

“I am the LORD; that is my name!  I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.  See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42:5-9)

These are words that the Father spoke to the Son and had Isaiah record for our learning. The Messiah’s mission was both to personify God’s covenant with Israel and bring light to the Gentiles, opening their eyes to God and freeing them from their captivity to sin.

In announcing this He reminded us that His former promises had all come true, and now He was declaring something new, in advance of its happening. We should expect His promise that He would reach out to the Gentiles to come true as well.

I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you.  You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.  Yes, and from ancient days I am he.  No one can deliver out of my hand.  When I act, who can reverse it?” (Isaiah 43:12-13)

Once God has made up His mind about something, no power in the universe can change it. Comparing recent events in Russia with the fall of the Soviet Union is a good example.  I remember back in December of 1991 when the Soviet Unionofficially ended its own existence.  Lots of people were asking, “What’s going to happen to Ezekiel 38?”  According to Isaiah, the answer is, “Nothing.  The Lord’s prophecies will be fulfilled just as He has ordained them.” Commentators are now announcing the return of the Soviet Union and the Cold War, as Russia again takes center stage in world news.   What was the Soviet Union is now Russia but God’s word remains the same and His prophecies are just as reliable as ever.

Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  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.(Isaiah 46:9-10)

There is no such thing as an un-prophesied event on God’s calendar. The only problem is man’s understanding.  You can’t blame Israel for thinking that the Lord’s outreach to the Gentiles would come  through them because it did, in the person of the Messiah.  They just didn’t realize that their nation would temporarily disappear in the process.  At the Council of Jerusalem, the one question on the agenda was, “Can a Gentile become a Christian without first becoming a Jew?” But in the back of everyone’s mind was another question, an unspoken one that was perhaps even more important to early Church leaders who were all Jewish. “If so, what’s to become of Israel?”

James, the Lord’s half-brother and head of the Church at Jerusalem, clarified it for them.  He said that first the Lord was going to take a people for Himself from among the Gentiles and after that He would turn once again to Israel. (Acts 15:13-18)  In effect, this explained the gap between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel’s  prophecy to Israel (Daniel 9:24-27) but it also revealed how the Lord was going to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah about the Church.  The prophecy had been there all along.  Only the methodology was missing.

But just because the Church took Israel by surprise doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have expected it.   In Amos 3:7 the Lord promised, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.” If the Church is an un-prophesied event, then He was not truthful with Amos.

In His clearest prophecy on the Messiah’s responsibilities the Lord had Isaiah say this:

Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me;  from my birth he has made mention of my name.  He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.  He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” (Isaiah 49:1-4)

Israel was given four tasks to perform for God; to transmit the Scriptures (Isa. 42:9), to be a witness for Him (Isa. 43:10), to showcase His blessings (Isa. 49:3), and to be the channel for the Messiah (Isa. 49:5).  The Lord has Isaiah prophesy that they would consider themselves to be failures in accomplishing these things, because these four verses are spoken as if by Israel.

And now the LORD says— He who formed me in the womb to be His servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength.  He says:  “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.  I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:5-6)

But Israel was not a failure and did accomplish great things for God, the greatest of which was to bring forth the Messiah, who is speaking in verses 5-6.  He said God instructed Him to not only restore Jacob (the unfaithful) and Israel (the faithful) to Him, but to bring His salvation to the Gentiles as well.  And just to make sure we would know who God was appointing to this task, He had Isaiah put the Messiah’s name right in the prophecy. (The Lord’s Hebrew name, Yeshua, appears in the Hebrew text of this passage.  It means “God brings salvation” and is translated “bring My Salvation” in Isaiah 49:6)

Joy To The World, The Lord Has Come!

Skip forward 750 years to the time of the Lord’s birth.  God had promised a righteous man named Simeon that he wouldn’t die until he saw the Messiah. Then He gave Simeon a special gift.  At the proper time the Holy Spirit would come upon him and enable him to recognize the Messiah.  As His earthly parents brought Jesus into the Temple courts for His obligatory presentation before the Lord, called the Redemption of the Firstborn (Exodus 13:2), the Holy Spirit moved Simeon to enter the Temple courts as well.  When he got there he took Mary’s child in his arms and prayed,

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.  For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

There’s a tradition that Simeon had been a priest in the Temple, perhaps even the High Priest. If so it’s interesting that he was not only looking for the Messiah, but also knew that when He came the Messiah would bring the revelation of God’s salvation to the Gentiles.  He could only have known this from his study of the Old Testament.

Was the word church specifically mentioned in the Old Testament? No, the first mention of the word is in Matt. 16:18. But when Jesus told the disciples He would build His church upon the rock of Peter’s confession, no one asked Him what a Church was.  The Greek word simply means an assembly of people called to a specific place.

One Gospel Or Two?

Proponents of the two Gospel view point out that the Apostles, especially Peter, stressed the idea of repentance as a necessary preliminary to becoming a believer, while Paul did not.  They say this difference proves that Peter’s gospel was different from Paul’s. But the problem lies with  our misunderstanding of the word repent.  It means to change one’s mind.  Peter’s messages in the first part of Acts were primarily to Jews who had been raised to believe that salvation came from obeying the Law. They needed to change their minds and realize that keeping the Law could never save them.

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38) Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

The endless list of names who couldn’t save them included their own.  Unless they changed their minds and abandoned their quest for self-righteousness in favor of a righteousness imputed to them by faith, they would never see the Kingdom.

But Gentiles had no such pre-conceptions. They weren’t bound up in the Law, and hadn’t been taught  the incorrect idea that they could save themselves by the way they behaved.  Many of them had no idea about salvation at all, so once they were taught this they had only to accept what the Lord offered, the free gift of pardon.  So there aren’t two gospels, just two audiences.  Jesus was right. The only work God requires of us, Jew or gentile, is to believe in the One He sent. (John 6:28-29)

Once again, the problem lies not with God’s word, but with man’s understanding.

Having shown that the relationship Tribulation believers will have with the Lord is substantially different from the one enjoyed by the Church, lets look into 4 examples the Lord gave us concerning the situation He’ll find on Earth when He returns.  Remember, Tribulation believers will be responsible for  maintaining their own righteousness during a period of the most intense persecution the world has ever known.  And they’ll have to do so not knowing exactly when they’ll see Him return to rescue them.  These 4 examples show that some will be successful and some will not.

The Parable Of The Servants
Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 24:45-51)

The Lord’s brother issued a stern warning in James 3:1 that not many should presume to be teachers because those who teach will be judged more strictly, The worst punishment is always reserved for those in charge, heads of organized religious groups who, instead of “feeding” their flocks with the Bread of Life and encouraging them with the promise of the Lord’s return, will oppress them with legalistic requirements (beat them) and confuse and deceive them with false doctrines that deny the validity of God’s prophetic Word (eat and drink with drunkards).  By their actions they will demonstrate the depravity of their own souls, showing themselves to be devoid of the Holy Spirit and worthy of punishment. Knowingly or not, they’re infiltrators from the enemy’s camp.  Paul described false teachers as Satan’s servants disguised as servants of righteousness. (2 Cor. 11:14)

Having forsaken the truth they no will longer be watching for the Lord’s return, ignoring the obvious fulfillment of prophecy all around them and ridiculing those whose child-like faith sustains them.  They are the worst enemy because they’ll look and sound like friends. They’re like the one John describes as appearing to have the authority of the Lamb but who speaks the words of the Dragon (Rev. 13:11).

But the Lord will elevate to a place of authority in His Kingdom those who will have kept the word of God through the intense hardship and persecution of the times, and will have taught sound doctrine to the flocks entrusted to them. Just as some among the common folk alive when the Lord returns will be received into the Kingdom with honors, while others are put away in everlasting shame and contempt, so it will be with their leaders.

The Parable Of The 10 Virgins
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

” ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

“Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

“But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. (Matt. 25:1-13)

The clearest indication of the Tribulation believer’s exposure is found in the Parable of the 10 Virgins. The timing of this parable is identified as just following the 2nd Coming, since the phrase “at that time” refers back the the day and hour of His Coming (Matt. 24:36).  The 10 virgins are all on Earth waiting for the Bridegroom (Jesus) to return. All 10 have both lamps and oil at the beginning, indicating that all were once saved. (When oil is used symbolically it always refers to the Holy Spirit.)  The five who ran out of oil symbolize Tribulation believers who let their faith lapse by not remaining spiritually awake and alert. At the end they wake up, discover their peril, and rush about trying to renew their faith. While they’re working to get back into a right relationship with Jesus, He returns and the door to salvation is closed to them  forever.  Remember, all 10 virgins are caught sleeping when He returns. They all behaved badly. It’s the oil that distinguishes one group from the other, not their behavior.

 

Some try to make this into a parable about the Church, always symbolized by a bride. There is a  similarity between virgin and bride due to the fact that in those days brides were nearly always virgins. But so were all of their unmarried friends.  The Greek word simply means “someone who has never had sexual intercourse”.  When used in connection with the Church the word is always singular, such as in 2 Cor 11:2. “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.”  Paul spoke of one virgin.  Here there are 10 of them. While the word has often been translated as bridesmaids in this parable, these 10 virgins are never called the Bride.

 

Through out the parable, no bride is ever mentioned, and certainly could not be excluded by her husband from the wedding banquet, or Seudas Mitzvah, a festive meal that follows the wedding ceremony.  None of these 10 made it to the actual marriage ceremony, oil or not, so none of them can be the bride.  The timing, the grammar, and the context all testify against interpreting this parable as a warning to the Church. The 10 virgins represent Tribulation survivors trying to gain entrance to the Messianic Kingdom, or Millennium. Some will have maintained their faith and be welcomed in. the others will not and will be refused admittance.

The parable ends with the warning, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Matt 25:13) This is the fourth such warning in the span of 23 verses, all dealing with the time of His 2nd coming. Tribulation believers must remain alert at all times and guard their position carefully. It will take a tremendous amount of faith to sustain oneself through this time, and each believer is responsible for keeping his or her own faith strong.

Some try to say that since the Lord warned them about the day and hour being unknown, He must be talking about the Rapture. After all, won’t people be able to count off 1260 days from the Abomination of Desolation to the 2nd Coming? It turns out that it’s not quite that easy. The Great Tribulation will last 1260 days, it’s true, and immediately afterward the Sun will be darkened, the Moon not give its light, and stars will fall from the sky. (Matt. 24:29) This will be the signal that the Great Tribulation has ended.

Next the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. The Greek word for sign means that a symbol or token will appear alerting people of a coming event. Sometime after the sign appears, people will see Him coming on the clouds. So there’s a sequence of events that will take place, one following the other. But we’re not told the duration of any one of them. Imagine the suspense that will create on Earth, knowing that the End has come but not knowing exactly when the Lord will actually return. By the signs, they’ll know He’s due, but they won’t know the day or hour.  Daniel 12:12 says that 1335 days will elapse between the beginning of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of the Millennium. Somewhere in the 75 days between the last day of the Tribulation (#1260) and the first day of the Kingdom (#1335), the Lord will return, but nobody will know exactly when.

Personally, I think that the 10 virgins represent people on Earth who will awaken when they see His sign in the sky, and will know that the Bridegroom is coming. That’s when some of them will realize that their faith has lapsed and will begin frantically trying to prepare themselves. But alas, He comes before they’re ready and it’s too late.

The Parable Of The Talents
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

 

“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

” ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matt. 25:14-30)

In Matt 25:14, at the beginning of the Parable of the Talents, the word “again” means the Lord is giving another illustration from the same time period as the parable of the 10 Virgins, the Day of His Coming. That means it takes place on Earth after the 2nd Coming, whereas the Church is to be judged in Heaven after the Rapture.  Though the English word talent, which is a gift or ability, comes from this parable, in those days a talent was either a Greek unit of measure (about 75 pounds), or a coin worth in excess of $1,000.

The key to interpreting a parable is knowing that everything is symbolic of something else, so in this parable a talent represents something valuable to the Lord that he wished to have managed in His absence. Upon his return, He asks those to whom he had entrusted it what they’ve accomplished.

Reading the Bible, it’s clear that money isn’t important to the Lord. But Psalm 138:2 says that He values His Word above all else. I believe the talents represent His Word. Those who sow it into the hearts of others find that it multiplies in new believers. Those who study it find that their own understanding grows, multiplying their faith.

But those who ignore His word find that it’s like burying it in the ground. Out of sight, out of mind, until what little they began with is lost to them. Even though they held themselves out to be  the Lord’s  servants, this proves His word never held any value for them, and condemns them to be cast into the outer darkness. They knew the truth but buried it. Now He’s come back and it’s too late.

No matter how famous a teacher he or she might be, don’t ever let any one try to persuade you that this parable is about the gifts the Lord gives the Church and our responsibility to use them or be judged.  It just isn’t so. The timing is wrong, the location is wrong, the context is wrong, and the punishment for disobedience is wrong.

The Sheep And Goat Judgment
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Matt. 25:31 leaves no doubt as to the timing on this one. It begins “When the Son of Man comes … ” and goes on to talk about the Lord setting up His throne on Earth after His return for the Judgment of the Nations, actually a judgment of Gentile tribulation survivors. The Lord doesn’t judge nations in the eternal sense, only individuals. The Greek word here is ethnos, and means “people of every kind.” They’ll be judged by how they treated “His brothers” during the Great Tribulation. It’s called the Sheep and Goat judgment, with the sheep representing those who helped His brothers through the horrific times just past and goats being those who didn’t.

Some say His brothers are believers, whether Jew or Gentile, and others say they’re specifically Jews, but the most important point is that these tribulation survivors aren’t being judged by their works. Their works are being cited as evidence of their faith, as in James 2:18. To give aid to a believer, especially a Jew, during the Great Tribulation will take even more courage than it did in Hitler’s Germany, and will be an offense punishable by death. Only a follower of Jesus would dare do it or even want to. Those who helped “His brothers” will have demonstrated their faith by their works and will be ushered live into the Kingdom. Those who refused to help will have condemned themselves to the eternal fires by this evidence of their lack of faith.

All four of these illustrations teach the same lesson. Faithful Tribulation believers will go live into the Kingdom while those who don’t maintain their righteousness will be escorted off the planet with their unbelieving counterparts.

What’s The Point?
It seems clear then, that salvation in the post church period will be a much more tenuous situation than the one we enjoy, devoid of any guarantees and requiring great personal responsibility in the face of devastating judgments and relentless persecution. Even though evidence of God’s existence will abound in the judgments that regularly shake the Earth to its very foundations, maintaining one’s faith during this time will be no small task. This realization adds great meaning to the Lord’s promise to Church Age believers. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

If you’ve been putting off making that final surrender of your will to His, better do it now. Believe me, you don’t want to risk the alternative. The time is short.