"no man knows the day..."

Virtually every christian who has ever heard anything on the "end times" has heard that "no man knows the day or the hour" and that Jesus is going to return like a "thief in the night". However, I have already shown in previous posts that the concept of the thief in the night is taken out of context and Paul says specificly that Jesus' return should NOT catch believers like a thief in the night. I've shown that in the traditional Jewish wedding the general time of the wedding was known well in advance because it was specified in the wedding contract. I've also shown that the day of the wedding was known in advance and the bride was specificly given time before hand to prepare herself.

But how can this be if no one knows the day or the hour... Not even the angels of Jesus himself??

Well, I knew you'd ask.. so lets look at it :)

Matt. 24:34-44
"36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

I looked at this passage partially in my previous posts and showed that everything described in verses 38 - 44 is telling how judgement will come suddenly and unexpectedly upon the wicked, and is a warning to believers to be prepared lest they be numbered among the wicked when the time comes.
That still leaves verses 36-38. They clearly state that no man, nor the angels, nor even the Son, know the day or the hour of the Son's return.

The verses state
"“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,"

There is something in this verse of huge significance that virtually everyone has missed. It is a detail that totally changes the interpetation of this verse. The first clue to it is in the words "as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." and the clincher is in the word "until".

In Noah's day when the flood was coming... no one, not even Noah, knew when the flood was coming. God told Noah... "go build a boat because I'm sending a flood" but he didn't tell Noah WHEN the flood was coming... UNTIL the very day that he told Noah to enter the ark. Lets go back to the biblical account of Noah and see what it says.

Genesis 7:1-4
7:1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth.

"For in seven days I will send rain on the earth" Noah did not know when the flood was coming, until God told him "go into the ark and in seven days the rain will come".

Going back to what Jesus said in Matthew. We see Jesus speaking in the present tense "no man knows the day or the hour". No man at that time knew the day or the hour.. infact no man right now knows it either. However Jesus goes on to say that no one knows the day because "as were the days of Noah, so will b the coming of the Son of Man. In the those days, no one knew UNTIL the day that Noah went into the ark." At that point who knew? The answer is Noah and his family. Everyone could have known if they had listened, but they didn't. They were unprepared.

So... just as we see every where else.. God's people are not to be taken by surprise.. those who are watching will be for-warned and given time to prepare.

Through out all this Jesus repeatedly tells the disciples, "watch therefore because you don't know when the time is coming". The point of this is NOT that its just suddenly going to happen with no warning, the point is that only those who are watching will recognize the for-warning. Only they will receive the announcement that the day is at hand, and only they will thus, be prepared.

when the disciples asked Jesus how they would know the time was coming, he said to them (paraphrased) "are you so blind? even the farmers can tell what season it is by looking at the signs all around them". He then went on to say "when the trees blossom, the farmers know it is spring and summer is nigh". Jesus expects us to know when the time is at hand. If we are awake, and are watching the signs, we will know when the time is at hand, and we will be for-warned. If not, it is very possible that we will be caught unprepared.

The Jewish Wedding (Rapture Part III)

The customs surrounding the ancient Jewish wedding are frequently used by those who teach the pre-tribulation rapture view point as support for their position. Therefore we will examine them here and see how things really stack up.

First, it is very appropriate to compare the Jewish wedding to Jesus' relationship with the church and with prophetic events surrounding the return of Christ because this comparison is used frequently by Jesus and his apostles in scripture as an allegory and parable for his relationship with the church. The church is of course referred to as the bride of Christ. In the gospels on several occasions Jesus uses parables based on the Jewish wedding to refer to his return for the church.

In the pre-tribulation view point it is stated that the ancient Jewish wedding was preceeded by a betrothal during which time the groom would prepare the bridal chamber (huppah/chuppah in hebrew) in his Father's house. Then, once the bridal chamber was finished, the groom would come with his groom's men and attempt to take the bride by surprise. The groom would come at odd hours and the only warning given would be a shout by one of the groom's procession moments before the groom arrived. The groom would then sweep in and stage a mock kidnapping of the bride taking her away to the bridal chamber where they would have the wedding feast in secclusion. The wedding feasting would last for seven days.

This is all very lovely, and obviously fits well with the pre-trib view point. The problem is that it fits so well because it has been tailored to fit. Wether knowingly or simply because of over-zealousness to prove their point, pre-trib teachers have conveniently trimmed away inconvenient facts that don't fit well, and apparently made up some as well.

The first point to make is that our historical knowledge about ancient Jewish wedding customs is not very good. There is virtually no surviving historical sources from the time of Christ which describe wedding customs. The only descriptions of such customs that do exist are scattered allusions from rabbinical commentaries. Further, what we do learn from these commentaries gives the appearence that wedding customs varried considerably from region to region.

So, what do we know? Well the first point is that the betrothal period was not an indeterminate time during which the groom could show up at any time. Jewish law actually specified specific time period limits which a wedding contract could be made for. The usual contract period was twelve months. The groom could not come for his bride before the twelve months was up, and if he were to delay too long after, it would be considered a breach of the marriage contract. In some communities the actual day of the wedding was specified in the marriage contract a full year before the wedding. In other's only the month of the wedding was specified.

Secondly, it was customary in many Jewish communities for maidens to be married on wednesday. This was done for three reasons. First was to allow the bride time to prepare for the first three days of the week, and second was that if the groom found his bride was not a virgin on the wedding night (which was a legal breach of contract) he could then take his complaint immediately before the local sanhedrin which met on thursdays. The third reason was also practical, in that it allowed everyone a day to rest (on thursday) from the wedding perperations before preparing for the weekly sabbath. It can be seen here clearly that is was customary for the bride to know on what day the groom would come.

Thirdly, on the day that the groom was supposed to come for the bride, the bride, her bridesmaids, family, and friends would celebrate at the bride's house while waiting for the arrival of the groom. The groom's procession would send ahead young men to announce that the groom was on his way. According to custom he was supposed to arrive one half hour before midnight. This was because it was customary for wedding ceremonies to be performed at midnight at the groom's father's house. Thus picking up the bride at a half hour before midnight allowed enough time for the procession to return to the groom's father's house for the traditional midnight ceremony. (this point will be important later on)

Fourth, the period of seclusion in the ancient Jewish wedding lasted only a few minutes immediately after the ceremony, not seven days as is intimated by the pre-trib teachers. When the bridal party arrived at the groom's father's house they would have the ceremony (which was attended by all friends and family who would have joined in the procession). Immediately after the ceremony the bride and groom would go into the bridal chamber(chuppah) for a few minutes of seclusion. In Jewish culture it was forbidden for unmarried men and women to be alone in a room together. Thus the short period of seclusion symbolized their new status as husband and wife. After the few minutes of seclusion the bride and groom emerged from the chuppah and joined with their guests in seven days of feasting.

The entire idea of the groom trying to surprise the bride with a sudden and unexpected arrival, as well as the idea of the seven day seclusion after the wedding are not found in any historical source and appear to have been invented within the last few decades.

So how does all this really mesh with what the bible says??

First, lets look at the parable of the ten virgins.

Matt 25
25:1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps [1] and went to meet the bridegroom. [2] 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

The very first sentence of this parable should clue us in to problems with the pre-trib view. The ten virgins took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Meet him where? The went to the bride's house to meet him. This fits perfectly with what we know about the Jewish customs, which is that the bride and her bridegrooms knew when to expect the bridegroom. They went to the bride's house because the knew that the groom was coming that night.

Secondly it is important to note that the groom in this parable is delayed. How would the bridesmaids know that he was delayed if they didn't know when he was coming? They all fell asleep while waiting for him because he was supposed to come at a set time but was late. We know from our previous conversation that he was supposed to arrive at the bride's house at 11:30 PM. The parable here tells us that the groom came at midnight instead. He was a half hour late.
If you will notice, it is not that the foolish virgins ran out of oil because they were waiting so long (as is commonly assumed). Rather the took no oil with them. They knew they were going to the bride's house but took no oil. What is the importance of the lamps and the oil? The bridal happenned just before midnight, so it was dark. The procession was halmarked by the friends of the bride and groom forming a huge parade of lights and celebration. The lamps were to light the procession.
The foolish virgins took no oil with them, and the took no effort in the time they were waiting to prepare. Then when the procession began they wanted others to give them oil, but were told "go get your own".
The reason the wise virgins refuse to give any of their oil away is that they are assuming that there will be a half hour long procession back to the groom's father's house. Thus they think they have barely enough to keep their own lamps lit for the full half hour. They thus tell the foolish virgins to run and buy oil for themselves. The assumption again is that there will be a half hour long procession which would allow the foolish bridesmaids time to catch up.
Here we come to the only big surprises of this parable. The procession goes out to meet the groom, and instead of taking the half hour trip back to his father's house, the go immediately into the bride's house and the marraige takes place in the bride's house. Then when the foolish bridesmaids return, they are not allowed entrance.

There are three things about this parable which stand out as odd. #1 the groom was a half hour late. #2 the wedding feast appears to happen at the bride's house rather than at the groom's father's house #3 the 5 foolish bridesmaids are not allowed to enter the feast.

The reason for the wedding being held at the bride's house is because the wedding had to take place at midnight. Because the groom was delayed there was no time to return to the groom's house, he brought the wedding and the feast with him to the bride's house instead.

The notable things about the foolish virgins are, #1 they expect other people to prepare for them and do their work for them #2 they are more focused on their own role in the procession of carrying the lamps, than they are on being there for the bride and groom, either when they first meet, or at the midnight wedding.

Then lets look at Rev. 19 and the famous wedding feast of the lamb.
Revelation 19
19:1 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,
“Hallelujah!Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,2 for his judgments are true and just;for he has judged the great prostitutewho corrupted the earth with her immorality,and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3 Once more they cried out,
“Hallelujah!The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And from the throne came a voice saying,
“Praise our God,all you his servants,you who fear him,small and great.”
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!For the Lord our Godthe Almighty reigns.7 Let us rejoice and exultand give him the glory,for the marriage of the Lamb has come,and his Bride has made herself ready;8 it was granted her to clothe herselfwith fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
The Rider on a White Horse
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

The first point that should be noted is that this entire passage takes place AFTER the judgement and destruction of Babylon the Great whore. This necessarily means that it takes place after the beast ('anti-christ') has been revealed and active on earth.

Then we see that the marriage supper is announced. The bride has made herself ready (again indicating that she was given the forwarning and time of preperation which was traditional).

Immediately upon it being stated that the bride has made herself ready and the marriage supper is immanent, we see the heavens are opened and Jesus Christ comes riding on a white horse. What does he do?
He wages war upon the beast and judges the wicked. He comes down and slaughters the armies arrayed against him by the beast pouring out the wrath of God upon the earth. An angel standing in the sun cries out to summon the carrion eating animals to the "great supper of God" and Jesus slays all the armies arrayed against him.

Now if you remember in my last post we looked at a verse in which Jesus made a strange statement "where the corpse is there will the vultures gather" and I said to remember it.. this is where it comes into play. The disciples asked Jesus where his return and the judgement of the wicked would occur and Jesus said "where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather". That is echoed here when the birds of the air are called by the angel to gather over the place where Jesus destroys the armies of the beast and gluts the vultures on their flesh.

Thus, we see that the marriage supper of the lamb does not occur at the beginning of the tribulation, or during the seven years of the tribulation. It is not announced until the very end and does not occur until Jesus completely wipes out the armies of the beast.

The final issue we must address is that of where the bridal chamber is and where the feast takes place. The pre-trib view holds that the feast must take place in heaven because of the refrences to "my father's house", and the tradition that the marriage takes place in the father's house. However, biblically "my father's house" never refers to heaven. It always refers to the temple or the tabernacle. Further, the parable of the ten virgins seems to also imply that the marriage feast takes place at the bride's house (because the groom was delayed). Also the hebrew word "chuppah" (which is the bridal chamber) is used only once in scripture, in Isaiah chapter 4 and it is used to refer to God gathering his people to mount zion apparently during the millenial kingdom.
Finally Isaiah chapters 24 and 25 which prophecy events of the day of the Lord, contain refrences to the feast and the unveiling of God's people both of which are wedding refrences. This prophecy clearly places the feast at Mt. Zion. (notably the prophecy also contains refrences to the darkening of the sun and moon just as Jesus did in the olivet discourse, and specificly placed them at the end of the tribulation).

In conclusion, the allegorical nature of the wedding feast is obvious, and important to prophecy. However, pre-trib teachers have significantly twisted the story to make it fit their view. They have either removed important details, an in a couple of cases completely manufactured details in order to make their view fit. I'm not alledging dishonesty here, but simply the very common pit-fall that once you have decided what you believe, there is a great tendancy to make the evidence fit your theory, rather than the other way around.
The customs surrounding the Jewish feast (from what we know, which is fairly sketchy) clearly do support the post-trib view point that the church will be for-warned of the Lord's comming and that coming will occur at the end of the tribulation which will then be followed by the marriage celebration in the millenial kingdom.

In the next post I will address the question of "no man knows the day or the hour"

The Rapture (Continued)

This post continues the discussion on the rapture. If you remember we were in the process of examining the biblical refrences to the return of Christ. We are seeking to answer the question, are there two returns of Christ, a first secret return which is marked by the rapture and the resurrection of the righteous dead, and a final return marked by the judgement of the wicked and the destruction of the anti-christ.

So far we have looked at the olivet discourse in Matthew and Mark and found that both place the return described after the tribulation, and both appear to include either the rapture, or something nearly identical to it.

Now lets move on.

Luke 17:22-37
"22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot's wife. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” 37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”"

The end of this passage is frequently used by pre-trib teachers to describe the rapture. "One will be taken and the other left" etc (this is also echoed in Matthew). Yet this is one of the classic examples of verses that the pre-trib view point takes out of context, without even realizing it apparently.

If you read this passage carefully, it becomes evident that this is actually referring to the judgement of the wicked, not the rapture of the righteous.

But lets start at the beginning. The first notable thing is that this section cautions against believing in "secret" comings. If someone tells you "the Lord is come and he's over here!" do not believe them because the real return will be like lightning that splits the sky from one end of heaven to the other. The coming described here can not be missed.

Next we are told that this coming will be like the days of Noah (a phrase used to describe the return of Christ in Matthew as well). When the people were eating and drinking, and knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away... Who was eating and drinking? Who was unaware? who was taken away by the flood? The wicked. They knew nothing UNTIL THE DAY that Noah entered the Ark, then the flood took them away.
Then we are told, it will also be like the days of Lot when Sodom and Gomorrah were judged... The people of the city were eating and drinking and going on unaware, even unto the day that Lot left the city and on that day, the fire of judgement destroyed them all.

Jesus then says... It will be just like this when the Son of Man is revealed (note that the Son of Man is revealed! not secret).. one shall be taken and the other left... those being taken here are clearly being taken by the wrath of God.

Another note... In comparing this return with Noah and the flood and the judgment of Sodom, Jesus provides also a clear parallel to the rapture, Noah went into the Ark and on the same day the Flood came, Lot left the city, and on the same day the city was judged. Again just as in Matt. and Mark we have a clear, if implied, link between the rapture and the return which brings judgement.

The closing statement of this verse is cryptic, but important. The disciples ask Jesus "where will this happen" and he replies "where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather" This is a refrence to the destruction of the wicked and the animals of the earth being called by God to devour their flesh. We will come back to this later as this refrence is echoed in another place.

Our next passage is Luke 21:25-28
"25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”"

It is clear that this (again from the Olivet discourse) is refrencing the same event as described in Matt. and Mark, the sun, moon, and stars are listed just as in those, the people of the world are in mourning and distress at the return of Christ, just as in the previous verses.. it is clear that judgement is coming upon them... now look at the final verse "now when these things begin to take place, straigten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near."

The redemption of the righteous, the followers of Christ here again is declared to happen at the same time as the judgement of the world. His return to judge the world is clearly linked as also his return to rescue us.

This passage continues a few verses later in Luke 21:34-36
34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Now I'm sure the pre-trib among you are crying out "SEE!! it says that we will escape all these things that are going to take place!" Well lets look a little more closely. The verse begins "but watch lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth."

"that day" here refers to what has just been said a few verses before, the return of Jesus in judgement. What is coming upon all who dwell on the earth here is the wrath of God. The warning here is that we be diligent lest we fall and find ourselves subject to God's wrath, numbered among the wicked. Thus what the righteous escape here is the wrath of God (which as we shall see later is entirely different than the "tribulation").

In our next passage Jesus makes refrence to the resurrection of the righteous dead, which we know must occur at the same time as the rapture.
John 6:39-40
"39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”"

When does the resurrection occur? on the Last day... not "in the last days" or "in the latter days". On the last day. (as a note.. the term 'last day' might be seen by some as more symbolic since there will be the millenial reign etc which certainly must be composed of days.. however, in every refrence we've examined so far it has been stated that the sun and the moon were darkend on the day Jesus returns. We also know from other refrences that in the millenial reign in new Jerusalem, God himself is our light, and we have no need of sun or moon. This provides interesting insight into "the last day")

Our next passage is 1 Corinthians 15:23-24
"23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. "

Here we see the resurrection of the righteous clearly described, and it is placed when? at the very end. Immediately after the righteous resurrection, then comes the end when Christ judges the world and delivers the Kingdom to God the Father. If you examine the seventh trumpet of revelation (which we will eventually) you will find that Jesus Christ judges the world and delivers the kingdoms of the world to God the Father at his return at the end of the tribulation.


Pre-tribulation view point commonly relies upon the image of the "theif in the night". They say that Jesus is coming like a theif in the night and will secretly show up and rapture away the beleivers. This refrence is found in the Olivet Discourse, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In all three of those refrences, as we have already seen, it applies to the wrath of God coming suddenly and unexpectedly upon the world. In all three refrences the believers are warned "be awake, be vigilant, be living rightly so that you too are not taken". So it begins to appear that the theif in the night refrence is not referring to a secret rapture, but to unexpected judgement and wrath... but lets continue and look at the other theif in the night refrences...

We find one in 1st Thess. 5:2 "For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night."

But lets look at the whole passage...

1st Thess 5:1-4
"Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. "

From this passage it can clearly be seen that the theif in the night refrence is exactly what we have already said... it is describing sudden judgement coming upon the wicked. Moreover, it should NOT catch believers by surprised.. it is not a theif in the night to US! If you examine the refrence to "theif in the night" in Peter's epistles, you will find exactly the same thing.

But wait.. there is something else important about this passage... Where is it located??? 1st Thessalonians chapter 5... what is immediately before this? 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. Thats interesting... lets read them together (remembering that these letters weren't originally written in chapters, but as one single text)

1st Thess 4:15 - 5:4
"15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
5:1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

Here we find a shocking fact (for the pre-trib view) that the central verse which declares the rapture of the church, is undeniably, clearly linked to the judgement of the wicked!!

Surely by this point it must be becoming clear that all these events, the rapture, the resurrection, the judgement of the wicked, and pouring out of God's wrath all occur at the same time.

To be continued...

Eschatology Part II - The Rapture

In this post I will be discussing the rapture, what it is, and when it takes place.

The first point is to establish IF the rapture exists, and if so, what it is. There are a growing number of people (at least I seem to be running into more of them) who believe that the rapture is not a biblical concept. They usually champion their cause with the claim "the word rapture isn't in the bible!!!"

This same tactic is often used by anti-trinitarians who frequently lead off their argument with the fact that the word trinity is not found in the bible, as if this must therefore mean that the concept which the word represents is made up. My usual first response is "so?" The issue is not wether or not an individual word is found in the bible or not, but wether or not the idea/doctrine is found in the bible.

In the case of the rapture however, those who put forth this claim are merely show-casing their own ignorance, and lack of study. The word rapture is actually in the bible, its just not in the english bible. The word "Rapture" is latin. It comes from the Latin root "rapio, rapere" which means to seize, or carry away. Many words in the english language (anywhere from 65% - 70%) were either borrowed directly from latin, or are slightly changed versions of latin words. This is the case with the word Rapture. In 1st Thessalonian 4:17 the phrase "shall be caught up" in latin is "rapiemur" this was term was borrowed by the english language (by way of french) in the form of "rapture" to mean "caught up" or "caught away".

Thus, not only the concept, but the word is actually in the bible and it is found in 1st Thess. 4:17.

"Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. " (ESV)

So what is this rapture, this catching up? Lets begin by looking at the passage in more full context.

1st Thess 4:15-17 (ESV)
"15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. "

First we will note that this event encompasses both the dead in Christ and those believers who are alive on the earth at that time. It is accompanied by #1 the Lord descending with a command, #2 the voice of an archangel, and #3 the trumpet of God.

the dead in christ are resurrected, and we who remain alive join them as we all rise to meet Christ in the air, and from that point on, we will ever be with him.

So this is a meeting. What kind of meeting?

The word translated "meet" in 4:17 is in greek is "Apantesis" and it means "to meet one". This word is used only 4 times in the new testament. The first two occurances of the word are both in Matthew in the parable of the ten virgins. In these verses, Matt 25:1 and 6, it describes the processional of the virgins to meet the bridegroom and go with him into the wedding feast.

The next occurance of the word is in Acts 28:15 where it is used to describe the believers of Rome sending a welcoming party to meet Paul on the road and usher him into Rome.

The final usage of the word is in our verse listed above.

From this it would appear that the usage of the word apantesis refers to people welcoming an important person in a procession.
If we go outside the bible, we find that this is also the usage of the word apantesis in other greek sources. The word was used specificly to describe when a dignitary visited a city and the citizens of the city formed a procession outside the city to welcome the dignitary into the city.

Thus the rapture is a welcome procession both for the bridegroom of the church and for the King of Kings.

The next question is, when does the rapture happen?

and here is where we will undoubtedly begin to run into disagreements.

It is my belief that the rapture takes place after the tribulation. I believe this for a number of reasons all of which come from what the bible has to say, or not say on the topic.

Issue #1 This event (the rapture) obviously takes place at the return of Christ. There are several passages in the bible that refer to Jesus Christ returning. They refer to a number of events which occur at the return. The events include the resurrection of the righteous dead, the rapture, the judgement of the wicked, the destruction of the "anti-christ". Now, do these verses all describe one single return of Jesus Christ, or do they refer to two different returns, one of them being a "secret" coming.
First, in some of the verses it is obvious (or directly stated) that the return described must happen after the tribulation. For example, those verses which link the return of Christ with the judgement of the wicked, and with the destruction of the anti-christ can not possibly happen before the tribulation therefore, they must be describing a return after the tribulation.
The question then becomes, do any of the verses referring to the return of Christ refer to a seperate, different return?

In order to answer that question we will have to think about how we can tell from the description of the events if they are describing the same, or different returns.

Starting with 1st Thess 4:17 which is clearly describing the rapture, and probably the key verse in the bible on the teaching about the rapture, we can see that the rapture is clearly linked to the resurrection of the righteous dead. Thus any verse which describes the return of Christ as including the resurrection of the righteous dead must also be describing the return at which the rapture happens.

Secondly it is obvious from the verses which describe the return of Christ as judging the wicked and destroying the anti-christ that these must happen after the tribulation, thus if there are two seperate returns of Christ then none of these verses should include refrences to either the rapture, or the resurrection of the righteous dead (which as we have established from 1st Thess 4:17 occur in immediate succession).

So lets look at the verses which refer to the return of Christ, and see what they say (keeping the above questions in mind). We'll start at the beginning of the new testament and work our way through.

Matt 24:29-31

"29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

The first thing obvious in this verse is that it occurs after the tribulation since the first sentance of the verse is "immediately after the tribulation of those days..." Then appears the Son of Man in the heavens coming on the clouds in great glory, and he sends out his angels to gather the elect from all the earth.

Now, this verse is too obvious to be missed by those of the pre-trib view point. It clearly states that it happens at the end of the tribulation, and it describes something which sounsd a great deal like the rapture described in 1st Thess. 4:17.

The pre-trib view point answers this verse by saying that the book of matthew applies specificly to the Jews and not to gentile christians. Thus the elect in this verse does not refer to the church (as it does everywhere else) but to Jews who have been saved during the tribulation period after the rapture of the church. Problems with this idea include, first, there is simply no evidence for it in the book of Matthew. There is nothing in the book of matthew which suggests that it applies only to the Jews, and a great deal which would suggest that it applies to all christians. Secondly, The pre-trib view relies heavily upon the parable of the wedding feast for its own concept of the pre-trib rapture and that concept is found where? in Matthew 25, the parable of the ten virgins. Thirdly, virtually the exact same description of the Return of Christ occurs in the book of Mark.

Mark 17:24-27

"24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven."

There are some extreme forms of dispensationalism which hold that none of the gospels apply to the church, but only to the Jews. This is neither an orthodox, nor a common view so I'm not going to bother going through the bother of refuting it.

There is no reason to assume (unless you have already decided and are simply looking to support your own view) that both these refrences refer to the Jews specificly, and not to gentile Christians. However, the pre-trib view is that, at the very least, these refrences refer to the gathering of "tribulation christians" or people who were saved after the rapture of the church, during the tribulation.

How does this "gathering" compare to the rapture of 1st Thess 4:17?

Both directly state that Jesus is returning in the clouds in glory

both directly state that the believers are brought to meet Jesus in the air

Both involve a great trumpet call which announces the 'gathering' of the elect

The main difference between these verses and 1st Thess. is that these verses do not explicitly mention the resurrection of the dead.

Never the less, there is obviously a great deal of similarity between the descriptions... so much so that I would call them, nearly identical.

It is a basic maxim of reasoning (often stated as Occam's Razor) that in the absense of extenuating evidence, the simple explanation is the best, and usually the correct one. Thus if we see two verses which place the return of Christ after the tribulation, and directly link it to an event which appears to be identical to the rapture, then it is most reasonable to assume that the verses are describing the rapture, and not a seperate events. If we to believe that there are infact two returns of Christ, and also two raptures, we must find fairly significant evidence to this effect somewhere.

to be continued...

Eschatology Part I

I have been focusing more on topics of devotional/spiritual living nature in this blog thus far, because those are the topics that I am most moved by currently and learning the most in. I thought, however, that I might do something a little more fun. Eschatology is one of my favorite topics and something I consider to be a great deal of fun (yes I know I'm a little unusual). As it happens my eschatological views are generally somewhat unique as well. I suppose there are many similarities in my views to some common views, but I've never found anyone who agreed with me entirely. That is possibly due to the nature and complexity of the topic, or perhaps I've hit on some things that no one else has, or perhaps I'm just entirely wrong!

Although I have reasoned my positions out, and prayed for understanding, and thus believe that I'm right, I don't think eschatology is a topic on which a person can, or should be, dogmatic (barring a few key points like the literal return of Christ and literal resurection). Consider what I have to say, and see if it makes sense.

This post will serve as an introduction to the topic and mainly focus on laying out all the varrying view points to set some ground work.

First I must lay a little basic ground work. There are a number of common positions on eschatology and it may be helpful to define, basicly, what each of them are.

Pre-Millenial (pre-mil) - This label applies to all views which hold that there will be a literal 1000 year "millenial" reign of Christ and that the tribulation, rapture, and return of Christ all happen before the millenial reign. This view is most common among evangelical protestants. There are in turn three main varieties of "pre-mil" views, all named for their view on when the rapture takes place.

Pre-Trib - This view holds that the rapture of the church takes place before the tribulation period, the church is in heaven during the tribulation and then returns to earth with Jesus at the end of the tribulation.

Mid-Trib/Pre-Wrath - Technically these are two seperate views, but they are fairly close, and mid-trib has been somehwat subsummed into pre-wrath. This view holds that there is a distinct division between the period of the tribulation and the pouring out of God's wrath upon the earth. This view holds that the church is present on earth for the tribulation and that the rapture occurs after the tribulation, but before the pouring out of God's wrath.

Post-Trib - This view holds that the rapture occurs at the end, after the tribulation and when Jesus returns to the earth judging the earth and setting up his millenial kingdom.

A-Mil - This view is the official position of the traditional churches (technically the orthodox and the anglican churches don't have an 'official' position but the majority of members probably hold to an a-mil view). This view holds that the "millenial" reign of Christ after his return is not literal but rather is a spiritual allegory of some sort. Within A-Mil positions you will find some who view all biblical end time prophecy as allegorical, however the official Catholic position holds the tribulation and return of Christ and resurrection of the saints to be literal events. In most points the Catholic position lines up with a "post-trib" view discussed earlier except that they do not believe the millinial reign is literal.

Preterist/Historical fulfillment - This view point holds that either all, or the majority of biblical "end time" prophecy was fulfilled during the roman empire specificly surrounding the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in 70 AD. This view is often considered to be an "A-mil" position because it also does not view the millenial reign as a literal event. Historical fulfillment views rely upon viewing all prophetic writings as highly symbolic and 'spiritualized' or allegorical.
Within the 'preterist' position there are full preterists and partial preterists. Partial preterists believe that almost all end time prophecy has been fulfilled, but that there will be a literal return of Christ which is yet in the future. Full preterists believe that the final resurection and return of Christ are also allegorical, or spiritual, and not literal events which were fulfilled in the past.

At the risk of offending, full preterism is a heretical belief which was condemned by the church from the apostles on down to Nicea and to our day.

Post-Millenialism - this view is primarily held among partial preterists. This view holds that the millenial reign described in revelation is a spiritual description of the church/kingdom of God on earth manifested in the community of believers. They believe that the millenial reign will thus precede the literal coming of Jesus Christ at the end of the world.

The demand of the cross...

This weekend I came face to face with the cross again. Its an experience most christians have had at least once, but as is the nature of humanity, we forget. Our desires and dreams cloud our vision and the business of life distracts our gaze from the sorrowful cross of Calvary.

It has been said so often, and so often without the passion it truly deserves, Jesus Christ died for us, that the phrase has become prosaic, and the fact behind it, taken for granted. I think that perhaps this is the reason the world so hated the movie "The Passion"; to see the terrible, awful, glorious truth behind the prosaic "Christ died for us" brings people face to face with the demand of the cross.

The Apostle Paul once wrote the words (paraphrased) "for a good man scarcely would anyone die, but you may find someone who would dare to die for a good man, but this is the love of God, that while we were yet sinners, while we were yet enemies, Jesus Christ died for us."

In the course of thinking about this I was reminded of another movie which tells a story of self sacrifice. Many of you may have seen the movie "Saving Private Ryan", but for those who haven't, it is a story set during the Normandy invasion of World War II. A squad of American soldiers is dispatched to find one man and to bring him safely out of the war. Once the soldiers find Private Ryan most of them are killed trying to keep him alive and fulfill their mission. The commanding officer of the rescue squad tells Private Ryan, after seeing his friends die, and with his own dying breaths... "earn this".

The movie ends with Ryan as an old man visiting the graves of those who gave their lives for him and asking the question, "was I a good man"... did I make their sacrifice worth while.

The sacrifice of those men in laying down their lives, sanctified Ryan's life. Their sacrifice set his life apart. It could not be just any life, it was no longer his life to do with as he wanted. Because of their sacrifice, his life belonged to all of them. Their sacrifice made a demand of him.

Now as christians we realize that we can not earn salvation, we can not make ourselves worthy of salvation. We simply don't have the ability or the capacity to do so. Never the less, our lives were sanctified by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Our lives were set apart by his shed blood, by the scourging he suffered, by the nails he took, by the life he laid down. Our lives can not be just any lives, they are no longer ours to live as we see fit.

This is the demand of the cross. When you have come face to face with what the Lord of Creation, the King of Glory, suffered and sacrificed for you, it demands your all, your everything.

Disciplined Devotions

There are a great many things that divide us as christians. Perhaps I should say that we allow to divide us. There are doctrinal disagreements applenty, but one of the more stark and visible dividing lines is style of worship. Specificly when it comes to liturgical vs. non-liturgical churches. Being raised non-denomiantional, evangelical, charismatic myself, I found the very idea of liturgical worship totally foreign and strange. Having also visited the other side of the fence, I found that many in the liturgical church view non-liturgical worship the same way.

I do not intend to take on the question of liturgical vs. non-liturgical in this particular post, but something related to it. A smaller aspect of that topic you might say. For those who might not be fully aware of what liturgy is, it generally refers to a church service that is pre-scripted. The minister reads scriptures and prayers which are pre-scripted and the congregation says pre-scripted responses. There is a pre-scripted order of events that the service follows, etc etc.

I have been motivated lately to increase my otherwise sadly lacking personal devotions. To institute discipline in my devotional life. In my experience as a charismatic evangelical I have found that many of us struggle with discipline in every area of life, and especially in the area of personal devotions. I think that a good deal of this is because our mode of worship is prone to lacking structure and discipline. In fact in many charismatic circles, structure is practically a dirty word.

In my own family growing up 'liturgy' was synonymous with 'dead'. People who engaged in liturgical worship were generally viewed as nominal christians who almost certainly had no personal relationship with Jesus. Along with this the idea of anything in the service being pre-scripted was anathema. The general view of most from my background is that if something is pre-scripted it removes the freedom of the Holy Spirit to move and inspire, and it is 'dead'.

I have discovered, however, that using pre-scripted elements to a devotional time can be very beneficial. Here are a few reasons why...

First - If you look at virtually any institution, or expert that specializes in teaching discipline, or instilling discipline you will find one of the single most important aspects of learning discipline, is routine. Having a set, established routine in which you do the same things at the same time, over and over and over. I would go so far as to say that without routine it is virtually impossible to learn discipline.
If you've ever tried to start an exercise or weight lifting program you will know that one of the chief elements of success is planning out ahead of time exactly what exercises you will do, how long you will do them, how much weight you will lift, and keeping a schedule. If you look into it you will find this truth repeated over and over throughout life. It is a profound truth of creation that God has made the physical creation an allegory for spiritual reality.
We can not learn discipline without having structured routine. We can not constructively and rightly use freedom, without first having discipline.

Secondly - One of the most frustrating and difficult things about my personal devotions before experiencing Anglicanism was that I would decide to pray, sit down, pray for five minutes, and have nothing more to say. I would forget to pray for important things, I would struggle for words to express the things I wanted to pray for and so on. Including a few pre-scripted elements helps with these problems immensely. If you start out with one or two pre-scripted elements (usually a short opening prayer and then maybe a pre-selected passage of scripture) it helps to calm your mind, to help you put the world behind you, to get yourself thinking about the things of God, and the things you should be praying for.

Thirdly - Our quiet times and devotions are not just times of making requests and supplications, they should also be times of worship. Times when we bless God and minister to God. Using pre-scripted elements allows me to incorperate an element of beauty in the words I speak that would otherwise not be present. Much like singing songs... we sing pre-written songs because they are enjoyable and beautiful and moving. The same is true of pre-written prayers and pre-selected passages of scripture.

Fourth - Without guidlines and fences it is very easy for us to get off base. Either in saying wrong things maybe without realizing it, or even over time drifting on the tides of shifting doctrines. Including pre-scripted elements in our personal devotions (or in our church services) allows us to anchor ourselves to the orthodox christian faith. It gives us safe boundries within which we can roam freely. This is one reason I especially recomend including either the Apostles Creed, or the Nicean Creed in your daily devotions.

In closing, the fact that something is pre-written does not mean in the least that it must be impersonal. Have you never read a poem, or a sang a song that you invested your heart into? Those words became personal to you! Not because you made them up, but because you invested yourself in them. I don't advocate eliminating freeform, extemporaneous prayers from your devotions at all. What I advocate is mixing the best of both worlds. Find some prayers that you can open and close your devotions with, and maybe a scripture or two that is particularly meaningful to you and make them a routine part of your daily devotions. Use those things but also leave time for extemporaneous prayers as well! Its also not a bad idea to leave time for God to speak to you! ;)