What We Need to Understand Bible Prophecy
(First in a Series of Seven titled “Are These Days the End Times?”)
Dr. Roger G. Ford, Ph.D., P.E.
Dr-ford.net
2019
Introduction
This series came about because of, first, my great desire and joyful love of Bible Prophecy, and second, my realization and concerns that many share my love for prophecy but have questions, or are confused, or are unaware of how or even why Christians today should even be interested in Bible Prophecy. I have taught the Book of Revelation in its entirety before many times. I have taught about how the Bible is literally full, from Genesis to Revelation, of prophecy that has already been fulfilled and also has many, many prophecies yet to be fulfilled. As the result of my concerns, I see the need to attempt to give a complete picture of why we need to be excited to study prophecy today, how to study prophecy so that we see and understand the Lord’s revealing of what is to come, and the many varied ancillary details that make prophecy clearer, relate to Israel as well as the Church, and show us how prophecy fits into the overall plan of the Bible to bring mankind into a restored relationship with God Almighty.
What I will do in this series is present several ingredients to the formula of understanding Bible Prophecy starting with what we need to understand prophecy overall. Next, we will cover foundational concepts to understanding prophecy like the real age of the Earth and mankind upon it, how evolution is NOT science, and others. Third, we will look at the Old Testament and the End Times which God spoke of as early as Genesis as well as the sequence of events to come in our lifetimes. Fourth, we will show how New Testament prophecy really cannot be understood completely without linking back to many Old Testament references. Fifth, we will see that the concept of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture is supported from Old Testament verses and many, not just a few, New Testament verses. We will also posit convincing evidence and calculations of the nearness of the Rapture and the subsequent events that the Church will thankfully miss. Sixth, there are many judgments and many resurrections in the Bible. We will cover the ones that have already taken place, but, more importantly, the ones to come since they relate to everyone’s eternal destiny, both saved and unsaved. And finally, we will sum all of this up to a conclusion of, hopefully, a clearer understanding of not only prophecy itself, but how to study it and gain so much more from it. The final reward for completing this series is an “End Times Biblical Prophetic End of Days Current Timeline” which is itself a summation of Bible Prophecy yet to be but soon to be fulfilled in the very near future. We can never be dogmatic and sure of dates, but even Jesus Himself told us we would know the general timeframe.
In my over 45 years studying prophecy, I have encountered many different attitudes, approaches, and objections to Biblical prophecy – even fear of Bible prophecy. I have read literally thousands of articles, multiple dozens of books, pondered and studied so many different viewpoints of prophecy that I am still amazed that there are so many varying ideas, opinions, philosophies, feelings, stances, beliefs, and thinking concerning Biblical prophecy that it literally staggers the mind. It is difficult to find two people that agree completely on Bible prophecy, the sequence of events to come, even the significance of Bible prophecy itself. Why is this subject so controversial, so enigmatic, so confusing to some and indifferent to others? Could it be that we all KNOW that there is something out there after our inevitable death and we are very desirous of knowing what God tells us in His Word; or, are we curious yet fearful, interested but not at the present, or deliberately obstinate and uninterested, apathetic to our eventual harm?
Series Purpose
The purpose of this series is to clarify some major questions about prophecy and to answer many questions concerning why our time, the present time, is the actual culmination of all of human history as promised in God’s Word, why we as Christians should be excited about these times, but also anxious and challenged to do as Jesus commanded, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19,20) We all have an inevitable appointment with death some unknown day! We have known that at all times throughout our lives, just have chosen to ignore it because we are all going to live a long time, right? We Christians all know that Jesus is waiting for us to join Him some day. We all should know that we just might avoid death because of the Rapture since it is so near. Well, that day, the day of the Rapture, could be TODAY because of what we learn from Bible prophecy!
So, what makes Bible prophecy so controversial? It sounds as if it should be a subject of great anticipation and hope! So, why is Bible prophecy perceived to be so hard to understand (It isn’t!), so scary (It is!), so exciting (to the Christian only, not the unbeliever certainly!)? Why are there so many different opinions, so much confusion on the subject? Why are some people reluctant to read the Book of Revelation especially since Revelation 22:7 says, “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”? Revelation is written directly from Jesus to us through John, so Jesus, Himself, spoke of prophetic things! Of course He did, and also quite a lot of times in Matthew and Mark and Luke. The Bible, the Word of God, is full of End Times prophecy, both Old and New Testaments. Then, why do folks remain confused or, at least, a little hesitant to consider prophetic issues? Don’t we trust ALL of God’s Word to be true in every subject: for salvation, for faith, for obedience, for instruction? Then why not prophecy?
Let’s take a look at the word “prophecy” before we go any further. It has two definitions used in the Bible. But, let’s first look at Mirriam-Webster’s definition. 1: an inspired utterance of a prophet. 2: the function or vocation of a prophet, specifically : the inspired declaration of divine will and purpose. 3: a prediction of something to come. When you realize that a speaker of God’s Word, whether future predictions or just speaking forth God’s Will as Scripture, is a prophet, then Pastors and Bible teachers are prophets in that sense. But we all think of prophets as men speaking of things to come inspired by the Holy Spirit. And, since God’s finished Word, the Bible, is not to be added to, then there are no more predicting prophets today, just those found in the Bible.
All prophecy comes from God’s prophets who are divinely inspired messengers from God. 2 Peter 1:20 says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation”. This means that the Holy Spirit divinely inspired the writers of Scripture to place in Scripture exactly what God meant without need of anyone to wonder what it means. First, under this definition, all writers of the Word of God can be defined as prophets since they, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, wrote down Scripture, God’s message to humans, that we have today known as the Bible. So, essentially, we are all reading and speaking forth prophecy when we read the Bible! Second, almost all of the writers of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments (or Covenants as they should be called), yes, even Moses, also gave pronouncement of what would, in their near future, come to pass or what would happen to them in their distant future, plus, what will happen in our immediate and distant future. It is this second definition that we most often think of when we hear the term prophecy, and the part of the definition that we speak of today. Perhaps the reason for the hesitancy and fear of prophecy is that it deals with the future, is association with the unknown, and, in our culture today, the unknown is something to be afraid of or skeptical of. However, Biblical prophecy is neither frightening nor fantasy. From a believer’s perspective, prophecy is the certain future as described by God. To the unbeliever, prophetic descriptions of our future are disturbing and frightening and thought of as mythological and fantasy. Prophecy, however, is a source for believers to enter into discussion of salvation with unbelievers or skeptics to show them the truth of what is to come and why as well as how to escape what is certain to come!
The Word of God Applied Today
The Bible is unique in being prophetic. There is no religious book, not by Buddha or Krishna or Mohammed or anyone else, ever written which contains actual prophetic events already fulfilled and provable or future prophetic events in such amazing detail from so many different people that were all synchronized in their insight in spite of them living at very different and widespread times. And the prophecies are not general prophecies about the future, but specific prophecies such as the Messiah would descend from the line of David, be born in Bethlehem, be killed by crucifixion (which did not even exist at the time of the prophecy when written) and be raised from the dead three days later. The actual fulfillment of all these prophecies and over a hundred more about Jesus proves the Bible truly is the Word of God and God does not lie, so we can put our faith in what it teaches.
The Prophets and Apostles didn’t just relay God’s messages about the future, but they also gave powerful messages concerning living morally. When the people obeyed prophetic teachings, they grew spiritually. 1 John 3 declares, “…when He [Jesus] is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” They became better people, being less self-centered and more God-centered. 1 Peter 4 admonishes, “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers… have fervent love for one another… minister to one another, be good stewards…”
When a person is more heavenly minded, they’ll be more generous because they’re investing in eternity. 2 Peter 3 advises, “But the day of the Lord will come… Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God…” And, the people became much better at discerning truth from falsehoods. Luke 21 warns, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly…”
Knowing that we’re quickly running out of time before Jesus returns, when Christians study Bible prophecy, they become motivated to tell people about the Good News of Jesus Christ. Fulfilled Bible prophecies actually are an excellent apologetics tool for defending the faith. And, the Gospel is very attractive to people who are actually wanting to know what the future holds. When the world seems to be careening into chaos and you wonder if God’s still around, Bible prophecy tells us God certainly is still in control. In the light of Bible prophecy, these crazy current events finally make sense. They’re all leading up to one big thing — Jesus Christ’s return. And when Jesus returns, He wins! And when Jesus wins, believers in Christ win as well! So, when you live a life of anticipating victory, you too can have hope for the future. But, we have to fully understand Bible Prophecy to appreciate that future we all anticipate.
Start at the Basics
To answer all of the questions about prophecy, its relevance, its meaning, its truthfulness, its reliability, we must start at the basics – how to properly and effectively study all of Scripture. When I say study Scripture, that entails a discipline and a daily joyful and deep concentration on every word in the Bible originating from the very breath of God. The Bible is meant to be understood literally. Almighty God is communicating with us, speaking directly TO us!
The Word of God says what it means and means what it says. To believe otherwise, to assume other meanings or hidden meanings, to repeat that the Bible is vague and unclear is actually accusing God Himself of being vague and unclear and that He is not Who He says He is. Proper interpretation (hermeneutics in theology speak) is to be accurate in understanding what the writer and the Holy Spirit were conveying to us when the text was written – not what we think it means now because we live in a “different world”, or what it should mean to us today, or what we should look below the surface to find. There is no middle ground in God’s Word, no ambiguities, not any gray areas. God speaks clearly and trying to smooth out a difficult or sensitive area to make it more palatable is to question the Almighty God we are supposed to be worshipping. The Bible is not a buffet line where we can choose a little here, a little there, and even skip some of that. The Word of God is a totality, an infallible, complete, very clear, very frank, truthful message from the Creator of the Universe to each and every one of us. And every word is meant to be read, studied, and applied by each of us individually to our individual lives, not collectively, not corporately, not jointly, but individually. God has a message to us and that message is, “Return to me by listening to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and believe it!”
Read the Word for Yourself!
Did you know that when we listen to others talk about prophecy, we can be misled or confused if we do not read the Word of God for ourselves? Opinions or teachings from others are basically without merit unless they are based directly upon the written Word of God. When we read and study Scripture ourselves, we can develop our own confidence in Scripture, being led by the Spirit, and easily recognize error and lie when we hear it from others.
When we read God’s Word, we see many references to God revealing His plan for people through prophecy. And, when we read Bible prophecy, it always happens or will happen exactly as God says. God cannot lie! (Titus 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”; Hebrews 6:18, “So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”) Therefore, we should pay attention to unfulfilled prophecy when we find it and search out the meaning so that we can grasp what God is saying and doing. By doing that, we find out amazing things to come which add to our ability to share God’s incredible Word when sharing with others.
Everything we may hear concerning TRUEprophecy should always point back to Scripture because Scripture is the actual Word of God for our human understanding. Ask yourself these revealing questions: Have you ever read every word in the Bible from beginning to end? Every single word? How many times? Do you skip around in the Bible really never reading the Word of God sequentially? Do you seem to concentrate on one or the other Testaments? Do you skip reading all of the names in the Book of Numbers? You just might be missing many blessings hidden within the names. Also, many of the names have Hebrew meanings, so you just might be uttering blessings upon yourself when you attempt to read the names! Is the Book of Job boring to you? Are there too many Psalms to stay focused? Is Hebrews too deep to understand? Does the Book of Ecclesiastes sound too negative when you read it? (It’s not!) Have you ever read Revelation in its entirety? Have you referenced back to the Old Testament and the prophecies found there when you were reading through Revelation? The point here is that in order to understand prophecy, one must have a complete view of the Word of God in order to grasp how prophetic glimpses into the future helped those in the past, and how those prophetic glimpses into our future from the Bible can help us in our day and time.
To the Christian, the true believer in the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, reading God’s Word daily is essential to our walking with Christ on the road of sanctification leading to our glorification with Him in Heaven. Repenting of our sins daily, praying for forgiveness daily, asking for wisdom daily, and reading God’s Word daily is the rock-solid foundation of our faith and our glorious hope in our eternal future with Christ as well as abundant life while we wait. Anything short of those things results in the world gaining advantage over our spirits, distractions from what we should be about, saved or not. How can we be about God’s plan for our lives and the good works He expects of us if we do not fully understand His Word in its entirety? Remember, we are not citizens of Earth! We are citizens of Heaven! Even NOW!
We Are Blessed!
Did you know that we are blessed? Every one of us saved believers? Did you know our church is blessed? Why, you ask? First and foremost because the Holy and Omnipotent God of the Universe, the Only Wise God, loved us all so much that he gave us His Word – both Jesus Christ and the written Word of God! Second, we are blessed because we believe and practice and learn from the Word of God, the Bible, in its entirety from our Pastor and our teachers, not some man-made doctrine or contrived variation, watered down, dumbed down version of God’s Word made popular by false teachers. We learn straight from the Bible, God’s Word, without man’s interpretation, without man’s philosophy, knowing that we are all sinners in God’s sight in need of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
So, to fully know what God has done, why God has done it, and what God will do, we MUST read and STUDY God’s Word – DAILY! That enables us to know and understand Bible Prophecy! God’s Word has to be the priority in our lives. What do I mean by that? Show God that His Word is of the highest priority, the highest importance to you in your life by putting reading and studying His Word daily, preferably early. What better way to start the day than to spend time with God? Is another half-hour to one hour of sleep in the morning that precious making it more important than God? Don’t you want to know God’s Will for you daily? The only way to do that is read His Word and pray before any activity of the day. Trust me! It makes all the difference.
Most so-called Christian churches today, some have said as many as 95% of them in the United States never study prophecy or hear Biblical prophecy from the pulpit. That seems almost impossible considering that almost a third of the Bible was prophetic when written! That’s right. At the time of the writing of the Scriptures, almost a third of the entire Bible was about the future. There are some who say the Bible is a book of myths, not to be believed since there are so many things that happened that stagger our imagination, such as: a global flood, the sun moving backwards, a man swallowed by a fish for three days and living, a group of cities destroyed by fire from the sky, a sea parting to let millions cross ten miles of land on dry ground, a talking burning bush, a man walking on water, miraculous healings of blind-from-birth eyes, restoration of legs that had never stood, raising from the dead, and many, many more. Did all these really happen? When it was prophesied that entire nations would be defeated, taken into captivity, totally wiped out years before it actually happened, do you believe this to be so? Do you know that every one of these and many more DID actually happen exactly as the Bible says? God knows the future as well as He knows the past and the present so that He can tell us what will happen with 100% accuracy? The Bible tells us these things. So, can we trust that what God says about our future will come to pass? How do we know? The answer is faith, but it is pleasing to hear of man validation the Bible when it happens.
Biblical Archaeology
Biblical archaeology has confirmed many things thought to be errors or inaccuracies in the Bible. Do we need proof of the accuracy of God’s Word? Of course NOT! But, it is highly satisfying and joyful when someone finds something that aligns precisely with what God had someone write down some 2,000 to 4,000 years ago! For centuries, no one believed that there ever was a people called the Hittites mentioned several times in the Old Testament. But, (1), in 1834 the first discovery of the Hittite civilization was found in Turkey confirming their existence. (2) Until 1993 there was no physical proof of the existence of King David! Imagine that! (3) It wasn’t until 1955 that we confirmed the existence of Sennacherib as King of Assyria and his march toward Jerusalem in 701 B.C. where He lost 185,000 troops in one night at the hand of one angel. (4) Did you know that Jesus’ virgin birth in Bethlehem, death on a cross, and resurrection three days later were all Old Testament prophecies written hundreds of years before they happened? (5) Workers repairing a sewage-pipe break in 2005 uncovered the Pool of Siloam in Old Jerusalem. This pool was a major gathering site for the Jews and is central to the account of the miracle of Christ healing a blind-from-birth man. (6) The establishment of the nation of Israel after over 1,800 years of total absence on the world scene is a miracle of the first order, but it happened 70 years ago in 1948! From 135 A.D. until 1948 Israel was non-existent as a nation. Then in 1948 arising from a now very antagonistic League of Nations known as the U.N. today, Israel was allowed to rise as a nation once again from the history books. No other nation has ever even come close to this amazing miracle of God!
We could spend hours relating all the many ways that man has proved that the Bible is inerrant in its prophetic statements. But that is not necessary since the Bible has never been proven wrong! Therefore, we should be interested in what the Bible has to say about our immediate future, right? Don’t you think it is valuable to know what our future holds for us? We trust in God’s Word, so let’s get excited about what He says is going to happen very, very soon!
Background Essentials
The Bible is a comprehensive and sequential history book about God’s plan to restore mankind to spiritual life with Him. God originally made man perfect, He also made the world and the universe perfect. Remember when He said upon completing the Creation that it was not only good, it was very good? In God’s eyes His Creation was very good! That means Creation was perfect in every way which included man’s ability, his gift from God, to be a free thinker – able to make his own choices, not just some robotic invention of a selfish deity wanting companionship.
But God knows the future, remember? He knew that His first creation of angels would be fragmented because of the enemy’s rebellion due to angels having freedom of will. In fact, a third of the Heavenly Host chose to follow narcissistic Satan rather than God. Do you suppose that they also believed Satan’s deceptions when they chose to follow him instead of God? Did they make a free choice even though it meant an eternity in the Lake of Fire since angels have no possibility of salvation? Don’t you think this applies to the human race as well? We will discover the truth some day soon.
However, in God’s plan for mankind, He, of course, knew that man would fall, would choose his own way instead of God’s, would choose to disobey God and be selfish, to sin which is to willfully and knowingly disobey God, to be Selfish In Nature (SIN). But God started putting into place His plan from the Garden of Eden for the salvation of man. God pre-programmed into the very DNA of all of Creation His Plan B. Plan A was to have man obey God. But God knew we would not follow through and turn to our own way and sin (Isaiah 53:6). So, he had a plan B. Before the Fall of Adam, all animals ate plants and grass, even lions and bears – even dinosaurs. Yes, dinosaurs roamed the Earth while man did the same because evolution is false science – but that’s another cause for examination! There was no death before Adam since death entered because of sin. Originally there was no sin, so no death and eating of slain animals for meat.
But, when man sinned, Plan B went into effect. God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden because of their sin, cursed the ground, and instituted His Plan B. Adam and Eve were instantly ashamed of their nakedness and covered themselves, all as a result of becoming aware that they were sinners before a Holy God. And what about the animals? Some had their DNA switched to becoming meat eaters instead of herbivores. Some insects turned to needing blood to get protein instead of getting it from plants. There are a few plant species that need insects to survive instead of getting their needs from the soil. Some plants became thorns and thistles instead of being beautiful and edible. And Creation itself began deteriorating, degrading, spiraling downward in a Second Law of Thermodynamics pathway to loss of energy and beauty and function. Today, there are over 4,000 genetic disorders suffered by newborn humans because of the degradation of our DNA over time. Ever wonder why there seems to be more and more evidence of birth defects from autism to auto-immune disorders to spina bifida, Down Syndrome, congenital heart defects, and many others? How long can the human race last with this rapid deterioration of the Human DNA? This leads us to the next topic.
Creation Versus Evolution
There is much controversy over the origin, the history, the real story of the human. People say they believe in God, yet they also say they trust “science”. Others say the Bible is full of unbelievable myths and swear to their belief that evolution is a so-called “fact”. Have you ever heard of an oxymoron? By definition, an oxymoron is a figure of speech, usually one or two words in which seemingly contradictory terms appear side by side, such as bittersweet, jumbo shrimp, clearly misunderstood, or, my favorite, intelligent liberal. When I speak of an oxymoron in relation to evolution versus the Bible, I am referring to an “evolutionary scientist”, a significant oxymoron since science, by definition, is the field of study concerned with discovering and describing the world around us by observing and experimenting and being able to reproduce observations and experiments over and over in order to prove their existence and plausibility.
Evolution, contrary to the very definition of science, is unobservable in the macro sense, and never has been or ever will be repeatable. There is adaptation within species for variations in the environment, but changing from one species into an entirely different one (like dinosaur lizards into birds, for instance) never has happened because there is no evidence in the fossil record or in nature of this ever happening. Besides, it defies logic and mathematical probability – it is impossible as well as blasphemous! Belief in evolution is entirely based in faith not fact whereas belief in creation is also belief BUT is demonstrably irreducibly complex, without man’s ability to duplicate indicating Creation came from God and from nowhere or no one else. A “simple cell” was thought by Darwin to be just protoplasm with a cell wall and a nucleus. Today, we know that a cell is anything but simple. It contains DNA, which itself is unimaginably complex, and proteins that transport oxygen and nutrients within the cell and carry out waste, as well as proteins that fight intruding attacks within the cell itself. This all happened by accident and chance over millions of years? Nonsense! Nothing cannot make something, and nothing cannot ever make irreducibly complex things such as the “simple cell” and DNA!
Evolution has another problem in the timing of the appearance of plants, insects and birds on the Earth. The Bible says that plants were created on Day 3, and Fish and Birds on Day 5. The Bible does not tell us when insects were created, but it is reasonable to assume they came along with either the plants as pollinators on Day 3 or with the winged creatures or birds on Day 5. Evolutionists say plants evolved along with insects about 300 million years ago, but birds waited around until about 150 million years ago to arrive. But there is a problem in my view. What eats and controls the insect population today? Birds for the most part. And that is a very big job. It has been demonstrated that in one growing season, one pair of potato beetles if left unchecked (read no birds or pesticides) would produce 60 million offspring. In just one summer, a pair of flies left unchecked would fill 144,000 bushel baskets. So, my question is, how did the Earth’s plants, trees, grasses, and other green things survive for 150 million years with no birds to check the ferocious growth rates of insects on the Earth? Wouldn’t ALL the green things have been consumed in a much shorter time by the proliferation of the bugs?
Evolutionists say mankind arose from the slime, became a fish, which evolved into an animal, then a monkey, then man over some six million years. Imagine the amount of death happening over millions of years, yet the Bible says death entered into existence with Adam only some 6,000 years ago. Both cannot be correct. If evolution were even close to being true, the Earth would have been overrun with population by now because of reproduction rates, and human development would be totally corrupted because of DNA genetic defects. The Bible says mankind came from His direct creation of two people, significantly in our time, a man and a woman, because that is the only way to be “fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth”. And, just when did this happen? The Bible gives us a chronology of men and their ages before and after the Flood of Noah going back to Creation itself so that we can at least approximate the time the Earth has been in existence.
All of this, of course, is if one believes the Bible to be the true, inerrant, authoritative, accurate, and sufficient Word of God, perfect in every word, syllable, letter, paragraph, book, in its entirety. If you believe that, along with 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17, “All Scripture is God-breathed, inspired by God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works”, then you believe Genesis Chapter 1 that says God created everything in six literal 24-hour days and rested on the seventh thus giving us a pattern for our lives to live week by week. God could have created everything in a millisecond or less, but He chose to set a pattern for our lives. Marxists have tried to change that pattern to one of a base-10 pattern where we work for 9 days and rest the tenth, but that failed miserably because people got tired and complacent and productivity fell dramatically. This, of course, proves God’s plan is best for us – the 7-day week.
The Bible chronology of man’s days on the Earth as well as the age of the Earth and the universe is that they are in total 6,000 years old. This is very interesting when examined carefully. (1) The oceans are salty, as everyone knows, but how salty would they be if the Earth was 5 to 6 billion years old as evolutionary scientists say? (2) Would the planets that are farther from the sun than the Earth still be hot after billions of years? Certainly not, they would have long ago cooled off. But spacecraft flying by the outer planets have found them to be putting out more heat than the Sun provides to them. This is truly amazing since the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) are all enormous distances from the Sun (Jupiter 484 Million Miles, Saturn 551, Uranus 1,784, Neptune 2,794) while the Earth is 93 million miles from the Sun.
(3) The Earth’s magnetic field protects us from the Sun’s rays as well as deflects many space objects like meteorites from entering our atmosphere. Would our magnetic field still exist after the supposed age of Earth at 5 billion years based on its deterioration that we observe today? The answer is that we would have no magnetic field at all after even 100,000 years. (4) Don’t the rocks tell scientist that they are millions of years old? Scientists use more than 10 different radiometric tests, all of which give widely varying results. Some scientists base the age of rocks on the fossils they contain, and some scientists base the age of fossils on the age of the rocks which is all circular reasoning without evidence. (5) If they have found dinosaur DNA in fossils, and they have found DNA starting in 2005, and since DNA cannot exist more than 10 to 20,000 years at most, then “Houston, we have a problem”. (6) Creation scientists have conducted radiometric dating just like the evolutionary scientists and found significantly younger ages for rocks. In fact, their research has determined the rock layers we see today with their knife-edges showing no erosion between layers were laid down during Noah’s Flood and worldwide. (7) There are now over 4,000 genetic defects possible in babies due to the deterioration of the human DNA over the last few decades. How many genetic defects would the human race have developed after 5 million years? How could we be healthy humans with so much time for our DNA to degrade as it is today? There is so much to consider when realizing that what we have been told about the age of the Earth or even the universe by so-called expert scientists and researchers is blatantly illogical, unreasonable, and absurd!
The Age of the Earth
So, what do the creation scientists and the Biblical scholars, the Biblical scholars that truly believe the Bible to be inerrant, say about the age of the Earth? Why is the age of the Earth important? Because it gives us insight into God’s design, into His Plan for mankind, into His future for us. We can use what is written in God’s Word, take it as the True Truth, and obtain very interesting, yet very different conclusions from what evolution tells us.
Noah’s Flood came about 1656 years after Creation based on the antediluvian forefathers in Genesis Chapter 5. The years from the Flood to Abraham were only 344 years since Abraham lived around 2000 B.C. That makes from Creation to Abraham 2000 years, and from Abraham to Jesus another 2000 years. How long has it been from Jesus until now? Another 2000 years. Hmmm. That’s 6000 years from Creation until now. Interesting.
It says in the Bible that a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day, right? (Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8) What does that really mean? First, it means that we are not like God. He sees things differently than we do. He is eternal, we are not. God lives outside of time – He made time so He can see past, present, and future all at the same time (to us). We ARE made in His image, but we are not God, are we? But, look at those verses another way. Maybe God is trying to tell us something and we are not quite getting it. Hosea 6:2 says, “”He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him.” Psalm 90:4 says, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” 2 Peter 3:8 says, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” So, could that very intriguing verse in Hosea be referring to two periods, one of 2,000 years and another of 1,000 years? Let’s examine this possibility.
So, if God made Heaven and Earth 6,000 years ago according to the Bible’s genealogies and Biblical scientific observation, Creation was 1,656 years before the Flood of Noah, the Flood was about 344 years before Abraham (1,656 + 344 = 2,000), and Abraham was 2,000 years before Jesus, that leaves just 2,000 years from Jesus until now (the Church Age or Age of Grace or Dispensation of Grace) when “we may live before Him” for 1,000 years in His Millennial Kingdom of Rest. Total those four periods together and you arrive at 7,000 years, 6,000 years until now and then the Millennium of 1,000 years. These 7 periods of 1,000 years each also mimics the Creation Week where God created all things in 6 days and rested on the 7th day.
Hosea’s prophecy says after two days (read 2,000 years), something happens so that God’s people will “live before Him” for another day. “Him” is God and specifically Jesus and God the Father. It has been about 2,000 years (again, the Church Age) since Jesus’ Resurrection in 27 A.D., so we must be on top of the time when this happens since it is 2019, right? Where do we “live before Him” for that 3rd day or the 1,000 years? That 3rd day of Hosea’s verse corresponds to the 7th 1,000-year period from Creation which corresponds to the 7th day of rest in Creation otherwise known as the rest of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ. This is the “kingdom come” we all pray when we say the Lord’s Prayer.
To sum this up, the six days of Creation and the 7th day of rest is our model from God for our work week. Remember the work week? 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “…that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” And that model for the week came from Creation Week which is also a model for the existence of mankind on the Earth (7,000 years) and the time it would take for man to restore his relationship to God and be sinless, holy, and live eternally with God. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, right? Then, it should come as no surprise when we see parallels in God’s Word and His plan for mankind. A seven-day workweek with a day of rest after six days? That is the manner in which God created the heavens and the Earth. Could He have created everything in a microsecond? Of course! But He created everything in an explicit order that defies man’s ideas (evolution), and He did it in six literal days again defying man’s ideas (evolution again). So, when God planned for the salvation of mankind, He used the same model but this time He used a thousand years as a substitute for a day. The model for the existence of man is based on the 7 days of Creation with each day of Creation being 1,000 years on Earth. Man would struggle after sin was introduced for 6,000 years, then rest with Jesus reigning on the Earth for a thousand years called the Millennium. We are at the 6,000-year mark RIGHT NOW meaning that Christ’s Millennial Reign has to be very, very near! But, a trumpet call has to sound BEFORE that Millennial Kingdom can start. That trumpet along with a shout of “Come up here” is what we as Christians are longing for since we desire righteousness and to be with our Lord and Savior. That trumpet call is the sound of the Rapture calling us home to be with Jesus forever and ever!
The Rapture
The Bible, specifically the New Testament, is about 2,000 years old, or, in other words, it was written by men, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that lived that long ago. The concept of the “Great Escape” to come was there in those sacred scriptures. In fact, Paul’s reason to inform the Thessalonians of the “catching away” was to allay their fears that they might have missed Christ coming to “take” them to be with Him. Consequently, isn’t it interesting that the first best–selling Bible prophecy book in history was “Jesus is Coming”, written by William E. Blackstone and published in 1878. Blackstone was an American Evangelical and Christian Zionist. The book sold multi–millions of copies worldwide and was translated into 48 languages. It is still in print today. In the book, Blackstone affirmed his belief that the Jews would be gathered back to their homeland, and he endorsed the concept of a Pre-Tribulational Rapture or occurring before the Tribulation even starts.
The Scofield Study Bible, first published by the Oxford Press in 1909 became the most popular such book in the world, and it continues to be distributed worldwide today. Scofield was an ardent advocate of the Pre–Tribulational Rapture. And then there are the sermons by Harry Ironside at the Moody Church in Chicago and W. A. Criswell at First Baptist Church in Dallas. Both taught the Pre–Tribulational Rapture, and their books have been greatly blessed with widespread distribution. Other giants of Pre-Tribulational Rapture teaching are men I have met in my life, Dwight Pentecost and John Walvoord of Dallas Theological Seminary and John MacArthur of Grace Community Church and Grace To You. Then there is David Jeremiah of Turning Point. All of these share the Pre-Tribulation view of the Rapture. With so great an assembly of godly men known for their devotion to the Truth of the Word of God, perhaps we should strongly consider the evidence.
Consider the fact that Hal Lindsey’s Pre–Tribulation book, “The Late Great Planet Earth” (which was the book that started my studies of prophecy back in the early ‘70s), was the number one best-selling book (except the Bible) for ten consecutive years (1970–1980), only to be outdone by the Left Behind series of books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins which have sold more than 60 million copies. I think the Lord is trying to provide hope to His people in the midst of a rapidly darkening world by assuring them that they will escape the Tribulation that is on the horizon, no, is at the door!
And yes, I used the term “Great Escape” for the Rapture. That term drives Post–Trib and Mid-Trib and Pre-Wrath advocates up the wall because they think that Christians are called to suffer for the Lord during the Tribulation. But Jesus Himself is the one who used the word “escape” when He said that when we see all the end time signs converging, we are to pray that we might “escape all these things that are about to take place…” (Luke 21:36). Paul told us in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our LORD Jesus Christ.” This seems unmistakable evidence of a Pre-Tribulational Rapture.
When?
It is true that the Bible does not provide us with a declarative statement about the timing of the Rapture. Its timing is something that must be determined by inference or deduction. But the idea that the Rapture will occur before the beginning of Daniel’s 70th Week of Years is not something that was manufactured out of nothing. It is biblically based. Simply stated, the Church is promised immunity from the wrath of God (1 Thessalonians 1:10, “…and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”), and scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments describe Daniel’s 70th Week of Years as a time for the pouring out of God’s wrath upon the world (Jeremiah 30:4–7 and Revelation 6:17).
Further, there is no purpose for the Church in the Tribulation. This is true because the entire seven years of the Tribulation are part of the 490 years (Daniel’s 70 Week Prophecy) God has set aside for achieving His purposes among the Jewish people (Daniel 9:24–27). The Tribulation is the time of Jacob’s Trouble, not the Church (Jeremiah 30:7, “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”) And, when you read Revelation you find that the remnant of believing in Christ Jews protected by God through the last half of the Tribulation are “saved out of it”.
Then there is the important issue of imminency. The scriptures urge us to live looking for the coming of the Lord and that His appearance could occur at any moment (Matthew 24:36, 42, 44). Why should I be looking for the Lord if there are many prophecies that must be fulfilled before He can return, as is the case when you place the Rapture after the beginning of the Tribulation or combine it with the Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation or even in the middle? Why should I be looking forward to “escaping” the Wrath of God if I know I will be facing that very same Wrath if the Rapture is in the middle or at the end of the horrible Tribulation?
How Close?
How close are we to that trumpet call otherwise known as the Rapture? No one knows the exact date, but we can come very close because of Scripture and a little deduction. Jesus was about 15 to 18 months old when the Magi came to worship Him in Bethlehem. They DID NOT come at the time of His birth as so many of the Christmas stories tell us (read Matthew and Luke carefully). Magi came from the east, actually from the old Babylonian area, because they were recognized as “king makers” by those in that time and greatly respected. It is interesting to think that these Magi came from the advisors to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who were greatly influenced by Daniel over his 70 or more years as one of the highest leaders in the land.
These Magi, numbering perhaps 20 or more – not just three – first went to Herod the Great, Israel’s Idumean king (NOT a Jew) because they supposed he would know about this newborn king. Herod was suspicious of them and he did not know of this new born king. He became enraged that a usurper was born to replace him, not excited to welcome a savior who would become king. As a result, Herod found out that this new king was to be born in Bethlehem from Scripture, so he had all the newborn boy babies in Bethlehem under 2 killed. Jesus and his parents had fled to Egypt before this massacre because it was announced to Joseph by the angel Gabriel what was about to happen, and they stayed in Egypt until Herod’s death, probably a couple of years.
History tells us that Herod died in 4 B.C. That has to put Jesus’ birth around 6 B.C., not at the time of the beginning of our calendar, the start of 1 A.D, as we assume. Since maturity for priests starting their service was considered to be 30 years of age, we assume Jesus started His earthly ministry at 30, then died when he was about 33 making His resurrection date about 27 A.D. (remember, there is no year zero between B.C. and A.D.). Add 2,000 years to that and you get 2027, and we are in 2019. The difference – 8 years give or take. Now, considering errors of calendars, errors in specific times of years (Spring versus Fall for example), this date of 2027 could be sooner or later, but very near the 2,000-year time that completes the total of 6,000 years for man on Earth before Christ’s Kingdom comes. What does this calculation imply? That Jesus’ Second Coming could be as close as 2027 which means that the Rapture happens 7 years prior to that! Can we know exactly? No! But we see that we are close indeed! No date setting here, but you see what might be!
However, Jesus did say we would not know the day or the hour, but He did suggest we would know the “general” time. Matthew 24:33,34 says, “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things (the signs of the times), know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” I suggest to you that since we see a convergence of End Time signs, we are in the general time, that generation, for the Rapture, certainly, and the other End Time Prophecies that we will cover in detail.
Conclusion
We will soon cover other topics such as dispensations, the Feasts of Israel, the timing of the significant End Times events, and what events probably happen immediately after the Rapture and before the start of the Tribulation and why. All of this is certain because of Israel being a restored nation which just celebrated its 70th anniversary – a very significant number indeed and the reason for us to be very sure and excited about the times we live in – or at least live in a while longer before we get snatched! Israel is the key to End Time Prophecy, so next time we will dig deeper into the reason why we should be expecting that Shout and Trumpet call to, “Come up here!”