Next we turn to what the Apostle Paul had to say about Antichrist.
1 Thessalonians 5:1 Subject: the Day of the Lord.
The topic is actually ... the rapture. It is called 'our gathering together unto him'. And it is called the 'coming of the Lord.' And in verse 2 it is called the Day of the Lord. Some versions say 'day of Christ. We have no reason to think that the Day of the Lord and the Day of Christ are two different days. We have many biblical reasons to conclude that they are referring to the same day.
Note: In order to Biblically contrast the end-times teaching of Islam with that of scripture, we need to have a clear understanding of what scriptures teach concerning the end-times. That is much easier to say than to do. There are several end-times views that are prevalent within evangelical churches. We know them commonly as pre-trib, mid-trib and post-trib. And some of us have taken a different approach. We may have said (to ourselves) “There are bible scholars out there who really know their stuff, ... and they disagree with one another. So who am I to really figure it out? I will be 'Pan-trib'. ( I believe it will all pan out in the end.)”
I can understand that.
Simply stated here is short statement of our end-time beliefs.
Pre-tribulational – Jesus could return at any moment. When He does He will raise the dead believers and we will join them in rising to meet Jesus, who will receive us and lead us up to heaven. We will experience the Judgment seat of Christ and receive our reward, we will sit with Jesus at the marriage supper. All the while there is a terrible time of trouble going on down on earth. It is known as the time of God's wrath and the time of Jacob's trouble and we will escape it all. We will, dressed in garments of white return to earth with Him for the final battle (Armageddon) at which time Anti-Christ and his armies are totally destroyed. Anti-Christ is cast into the lake of fire. We will then rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Post-tribulational – After Israel has returned to their land, after a very powerful and intelligent leader of a country has made a 'pact' with them and brings them great prosperity and safety, after they have built a temple and returned to their Old Testament sacrificial system, this same man turns on them, desecrates their temple and attempts to destroy them as a race of people.
After many of them have run to a safe place of protection, after this man changes the monetary system to permit no buying or selling without receiving a mark in the right hand or in the forehead, this same wicked person turns on Christians to eliminate them. At the same time God is pouring out his wrath upon the Anti-Christ and his kingdom. At the end of this time Christ returns in the air, believers rise to meet Him in the air, we descend with Him, (now having our new indestructible bodies) to join Him in destroying Anti-Christ at the valley of Armageddon. We remain with Him and rule and reign with Him out of Jerusalem for a thousand years.
(I personally disagree with both of these)
I would like to help you to at least know the 'foundation' upon which the different views are built.
I would like you to see that, depending upon which foundation you see as most biblical, that the clear conclusion will be either pre-trib or post-trib.
Or, after having listened to this presentation, and after having examined scriptures in a most thorough manner, arrive at an understanding that is somewhat different from either one of the above.
Christians will either be watching from heaven as the whole thing unfolds ... or they may be here in the thick of it. It does make a difference as to which view is biblically accurate.
(Mid-trib is a separate issue and will not be dealt with here.)
The pretribulational view is based on the word 'dispensation'.
The person who first made this word popular is a man by the name of J.N. Darby in 1830.
(History of Dispensationalism) The secret and pretribulational rapture was not taught to any degree before this time. He more or less invented Dispensationalism and travelled extensively promoting it. Because it places the church in a favourable position, safely out of the tribulation, it caught on quickly.
Typical Dispensationalism divides history in the following way:
Basically we could ignore the first 4 dispensations, since they have had a beginning and an end. But according to Dispensationalism, the age of law has not had an end. It views the age of grace as a 'parenthesis'. That is, as a 'mystery' age that has been inserted. At the end of the age of grace the church will be removed, allowing the age of law to continue for 7 more years.
Dispensationalism teaches that Israel and the church will (and must) remain eternally distinct and separate. For this reason, the church must be gone during the tribulation, allowing the Israel to finish the dispensation of law alone and separate from the church.
Therefore, in true dispensational teaching, the rapture is always pretrib.
Here is a simple 'line chart' to help illustrate this.
P R
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |( parenthesis 6 )| 5| 7 |
Before we go much further, it is important to point out 'biblical difficulties' with both pretrib and postrib positions.
Dispensational pre-trib bible scholars say that the last seven years of the 'law' dispensation is called 'the wrath of God. Then they quote a verse which says that 'we' are not appointed to wrath, and this is another reason that 'we' will be gone.1Th 5:9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
But here are some of the problems:
But there are problems in the Post-trib view as well.
The bible pictures the judgment seat of Christ and the marriage supper as occurring in heaven. How do we know that? Because Revelation 19 tells of Jesus DESCENDING from heaven WITH his bride.
But according to Post-trib teaching here is the sequence:
These are the main two end-time positions ... and they both have problems.
Why do they continue to exist? Because teachers of both positions have built on a foundation and they have had no reason to re-examine the foundation.
One is the traditional view of dispensationalism.
The other is a foundation of modified or non-dispensationalism.
As usual, biblical truth is usually found right in the middle.
What we must do is re-examine where to draw the lines for the end of law and the beginning of grace.
Most dispensationalists say that the beginning line for the age of grace (ALSO CALLED THE CHURCH AGE) MUST be drawn at the day of Pentecost, as marking the birth of the church. However there are no scriptures stating:
Do you remember the commissioning of the church in Matt 28:19 and 20? He sent them into the world, commissioned them ... but if they were not a church until Pentecost ... what was being commissioned? Do you remember Jesus instructing the disciples concerning how to conduct church discipline when necessary? The final step in His instructions ... Tell it to the church3. If there was no church until Pentecost ... and no teaching about the formation of the church on the day of Pentecost ... then Jesus words, 'Tell it to the church ' would have just caused a 'Huh? What's that ?'
Do you remember the prediction ... that Jesus would sing ... in church?Heb 2:12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Did Jesus wait until Pentecost to sing in the church ... or do you remember reading in the gospel where Jesus ever sang?
Mt 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom. 30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So Jesus sang in church ... before Pentecost.
And do you remember who is the builder of the Church? (By the way, the church was never born ... it was built) Mt 16:18 "... on this rock I will build My church,...
So to summarize this part: Jesus called to himself people who had repented of their sin, believed in the Messiah, and had submitted to water baptism. He taught them. Appointed leadership who He called Apostles. Had communion with them. Commissioned them. ... Sounds like church to me. THEN on Pentecost, empowered them. (Not birthed them)
Why say all this? Because traditional dispensationalists make the REMOVAL of the church to correspond with the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost and then the removal of the Spirit just before the tribulation. It is based on (faulty) assumptions:
In dispensational teaching the church is described as having been a mystery to earlier Generations. And they insert it into the age of law ... and then slip it back out.
We will let scripture speak for itself.
Notice the progression of thought ... from a general mention of the word 'mystery' ... to something very specific.
Ro 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Ro 16:25 ¶ Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began
Col 1:25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Eph 3:3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,
4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ),
5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
During the final part of the dispensation of law ... is essential that the church be there to be blended with the 'born again' Israelites. This 'mystery' union is called complete in Revelation 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
The seventh trumpet ... is the last of a series ... and it sounds at the very end of the Tribulation.
Paul emphasized this in I Corinthians 15:1Co 15:51 ¶ Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—--
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
The future completion of Israel's dispensation of Law (the 7 year tribulation) is the time of merging into one body. The following scripture from Romans illustrates that both the church and Israel are to be grafted into the same stock .... at the same time.
Ro 11:17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,
Ro 11:23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
So to conclude with Paul's list of events from 2 Thessalonians 2 ...
After many of them have run to a safe place of protection, after this man changes the monetary system to permit no buying or selling without receiving a mark in the right hand or in the forehead, this same wicked person turns on Christians to eliminate them. At the same time God is pouring out his wrath upon the Anti-Christ and his kingdom. At the sounding of the seventh trumpet (at the end of the 1260 terrible days of persecution) believers are raptured up to heaven, the judgment takes place, rewards are given, the marriage supper in heaven takes place, the bride and Jesus descend after a total of 1290 (Daniel 12:11) days and the Battle of Armageddon takes place on earth. We rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Next time we will look at how Jesus describes this same time period and likely blend it with what John says in Revelation (if we can get that far!)
Then, having a clear picture of what is predicted, compare it to Islam's teaching of the end, and perhaps look at what Muslims (some of them at least) are doing to make sure their end-time plans unfold.
11Co 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
2Lu 6:13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:
3Mt 18:17 "And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church..
1 Thessalonians 5:1 Subject: the Day of the Lord.
- The Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night ... that is, to all unbelievers. It will come when the 'buzz-word' is peace and safety. (Remember Ezekiel 38:8, 11, Daniel 8:25, )
- It is a day of 'sudden destruction' for unbelievers.
- It does not overtake believers as a 'thief in the night'.
- The day of the Lord is a day of God's wrath ... to which believers are not appointed (or touched).
- The 'lawless one' will be revealed and destroyed by Jesus ... this is the Day of the Lord.
- This person (the anti-Christ)
- will be empowered by Satan
- will have power to perform miracles
- have incredible power to deceive.
- The 'day of the Lord' will not destroy Antichrist until a 'rebellion (falling away – apostasia) occurs first. Verse 3
- His rebellion is summarized in verse 4. He sits in the temple claiming to be God. Daniel says that he will do this after the second battle with the king of the South.
The topic is actually ... the rapture. It is called 'our gathering together unto him'. And it is called the 'coming of the Lord.' And in verse 2 it is called the Day of the Lord. Some versions say 'day of Christ. We have no reason to think that the Day of the Lord and the Day of Christ are two different days. We have many biblical reasons to conclude that they are referring to the same day.
Note: In order to Biblically contrast the end-times teaching of Islam with that of scripture, we need to have a clear understanding of what scriptures teach concerning the end-times. That is much easier to say than to do. There are several end-times views that are prevalent within evangelical churches. We know them commonly as pre-trib, mid-trib and post-trib. And some of us have taken a different approach. We may have said (to ourselves) “There are bible scholars out there who really know their stuff, ... and they disagree with one another. So who am I to really figure it out? I will be 'Pan-trib'. ( I believe it will all pan out in the end.)”
I can understand that.
Simply stated here is short statement of our end-time beliefs.
Pre-tribulational – Jesus could return at any moment. When He does He will raise the dead believers and we will join them in rising to meet Jesus, who will receive us and lead us up to heaven. We will experience the Judgment seat of Christ and receive our reward, we will sit with Jesus at the marriage supper. All the while there is a terrible time of trouble going on down on earth. It is known as the time of God's wrath and the time of Jacob's trouble and we will escape it all. We will, dressed in garments of white return to earth with Him for the final battle (Armageddon) at which time Anti-Christ and his armies are totally destroyed. Anti-Christ is cast into the lake of fire. We will then rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Post-tribulational – After Israel has returned to their land, after a very powerful and intelligent leader of a country has made a 'pact' with them and brings them great prosperity and safety, after they have built a temple and returned to their Old Testament sacrificial system, this same man turns on them, desecrates their temple and attempts to destroy them as a race of people.
After many of them have run to a safe place of protection, after this man changes the monetary system to permit no buying or selling without receiving a mark in the right hand or in the forehead, this same wicked person turns on Christians to eliminate them. At the same time God is pouring out his wrath upon the Anti-Christ and his kingdom. At the end of this time Christ returns in the air, believers rise to meet Him in the air, we descend with Him, (now having our new indestructible bodies) to join Him in destroying Anti-Christ at the valley of Armageddon. We remain with Him and rule and reign with Him out of Jerusalem for a thousand years.
(I personally disagree with both of these)
I would like to help you to at least know the 'foundation' upon which the different views are built.
I would like you to see that, depending upon which foundation you see as most biblical, that the clear conclusion will be either pre-trib or post-trib.
Or, after having listened to this presentation, and after having examined scriptures in a most thorough manner, arrive at an understanding that is somewhat different from either one of the above.
Christians will either be watching from heaven as the whole thing unfolds ... or they may be here in the thick of it. It does make a difference as to which view is biblically accurate.
(Mid-trib is a separate issue and will not be dealt with here.)
The pretribulational view is based on the word 'dispensation'.
The person who first made this word popular is a man by the name of J.N. Darby in 1830.
(History of Dispensationalism) The secret and pretribulational rapture was not taught to any degree before this time. He more or less invented Dispensationalism and travelled extensively promoting it. Because it places the church in a favourable position, safely out of the tribulation, it caught on quickly.
Typical Dispensationalism divides history in the following way:
- 1. Innocence – Adam under probation prior to the Fall. Ends with expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
- 2. Conscience – From the Fall to the Great Flood. Ends with the worldwide deluge.
- 3. Human Government – After the Great Flood, humanity responsible to enact the death penalty. Ends with the dispersion at the Tower of Babel.
- 4. Promise – From Abraham to Moses. Ends with the refusal to enter Canaan and the 40 years of unbelief in the wilderness.
- 5. Law – From Moses to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Ends with the scattering of Israel in AD70.
- 6. Grace – From the cross to the Second Coming. Ends with the wrath of God comprising the Great Tribulation.
- 7. Millennial Kingdom – A 1000 year reign of Christ on earth centered in Jerusalem. Ends with God's judgment on the final rebellion.
Basically we could ignore the first 4 dispensations, since they have had a beginning and an end. But according to Dispensationalism, the age of law has not had an end. It views the age of grace as a 'parenthesis'. That is, as a 'mystery' age that has been inserted. At the end of the age of grace the church will be removed, allowing the age of law to continue for 7 more years.
Dispensationalism teaches that Israel and the church will (and must) remain eternally distinct and separate. For this reason, the church must be gone during the tribulation, allowing the Israel to finish the dispensation of law alone and separate from the church.
Therefore, in true dispensational teaching, the rapture is always pretrib.
Here is a simple 'line chart' to help illustrate this.
P R
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |( parenthesis 6 )| 5| 7 |
Before we go much further, it is important to point out 'biblical difficulties' with both pretrib and postrib positions.
Dispensational pre-trib bible scholars say that the last seven years of the 'law' dispensation is called 'the wrath of God. Then they quote a verse which says that 'we' are not appointed to wrath, and this is another reason that 'we' will be gone.1Th 5:9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
But here are some of the problems:
- It is assumed that 'the church' is up in heaven during the seven terrible years of trouble on earth.
- Having arrived in heaven the first order of business would be the judgment seat of Christ.
- The second order of business is 'the marriage supper of the Lamb'. The church is now called the bride of Christ.
- Meanwhile on earth there are thousands of new believers coming to salvation every day.
- These new believers are not all Israelites – therefore would either have to become Jews and live under the law, or they would form Christian churches, except ... Christian churches are already gone, judged and married to Jesus.
- Many of the new believers will end up dying for their faith.
- They will have missed the judgment day and the marriage celebration and supper.
- As it turns out ... they are believers who ... for some reason, ARE appointed to wrath.
- If they ever are to become equal with other believers, there would have to be another judgment just for them at the end of the tribulation, and there would have to be another 'marriage supper'.
But there are problems in the Post-trib view as well.
The bible pictures the judgment seat of Christ and the marriage supper as occurring in heaven. How do we know that? Because Revelation 19 tells of Jesus DESCENDING from heaven WITH his bride.
But according to Post-trib teaching here is the sequence:
- At the very end of the tribulation, an angel sounds the trumpet ... the dead in Christ rise first, then all living believers are changed.
- We rise to meet the Lord in the air (not all the way up to heaven) and we join him in fighting the battle of Armageddon.
- We accompany Jesus as He begins to rule from Jerusalem.
These are the main two end-time positions ... and they both have problems.
Why do they continue to exist? Because teachers of both positions have built on a foundation and they have had no reason to re-examine the foundation.
One is the traditional view of dispensationalism.
The other is a foundation of modified or non-dispensationalism.
As usual, biblical truth is usually found right in the middle.
What we must do is re-examine where to draw the lines for the end of law and the beginning of grace.
Most dispensationalists say that the beginning line for the age of grace (ALSO CALLED THE CHURCH AGE) MUST be drawn at the day of Pentecost, as marking the birth of the church. However there are no scriptures stating:
- That the church was born on Pentecost.
- That the church EVER was 'born'.
The Bible DOES say that "The Law and the Prophets were until John and after the that the kingdom of Heaven is preached." (Matt 11:13 and Luke 16:16)
Do you remember the commissioning of the church in Matt 28:19 and 20? He sent them into the world, commissioned them ... but if they were not a church until Pentecost ... what was being commissioned? Do you remember Jesus instructing the disciples concerning how to conduct church discipline when necessary? The final step in His instructions ... Tell it to the church3. If there was no church until Pentecost ... and no teaching about the formation of the church on the day of Pentecost ... then Jesus words, 'Tell it to the church ' would have just caused a 'Huh? What's that ?'
Do you remember the prediction ... that Jesus would sing ... in church?Heb 2:12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Did Jesus wait until Pentecost to sing in the church ... or do you remember reading in the gospel where Jesus ever sang?
Mt 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom. 30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So Jesus sang in church ... before Pentecost.
And do you remember who is the builder of the Church? (By the way, the church was never born ... it was built) Mt 16:18 "... on this rock I will build My church,...
So to summarize this part: Jesus called to himself people who had repented of their sin, believed in the Messiah, and had submitted to water baptism. He taught them. Appointed leadership who He called Apostles. Had communion with them. Commissioned them. ... Sounds like church to me. THEN on Pentecost, empowered them. (Not birthed them)
Why say all this? Because traditional dispensationalists make the REMOVAL of the church to correspond with the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost and then the removal of the Spirit just before the tribulation. It is based on (faulty) assumptions:
- that there will be a removal of the Holy Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.)
- That it MUST happen because the church and Israel MUST remain eternally separate.
In dispensational teaching the church is described as having been a mystery to earlier Generations. And they insert it into the age of law ... and then slip it back out.
We will let scripture speak for itself.
Notice the progression of thought ... from a general mention of the word 'mystery' ... to something very specific.
Ro 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Ro 16:25 ¶ Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began
Col 1:25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Eph 3:3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,
4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ),
5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
During the final part of the dispensation of law ... is essential that the church be there to be blended with the 'born again' Israelites. This 'mystery' union is called complete in Revelation 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
The seventh trumpet ... is the last of a series ... and it sounds at the very end of the Tribulation.
Paul emphasized this in I Corinthians 15:1Co 15:51 ¶ Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—--
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
The future completion of Israel's dispensation of Law (the 7 year tribulation) is the time of merging into one body. The following scripture from Romans illustrates that both the church and Israel are to be grafted into the same stock .... at the same time.
Ro 11:17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,
Ro 11:23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
So to conclude with Paul's list of events from 2 Thessalonians 2 ...
- A rebellion, or apostasy, or 'falling away' will occur.
- The apostasy is being held back by someone or something.
- The Lord descends and destroys Anti-Christ.
After many of them have run to a safe place of protection, after this man changes the monetary system to permit no buying or selling without receiving a mark in the right hand or in the forehead, this same wicked person turns on Christians to eliminate them. At the same time God is pouring out his wrath upon the Anti-Christ and his kingdom. At the sounding of the seventh trumpet (at the end of the 1260 terrible days of persecution) believers are raptured up to heaven, the judgment takes place, rewards are given, the marriage supper in heaven takes place, the bride and Jesus descend after a total of 1290 (Daniel 12:11) days and the Battle of Armageddon takes place on earth. We rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Next time we will look at how Jesus describes this same time period and likely blend it with what John says in Revelation (if we can get that far!)
Then, having a clear picture of what is predicted, compare it to Islam's teaching of the end, and perhaps look at what Muslims (some of them at least) are doing to make sure their end-time plans unfold.
11Co 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
2Lu 6:13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:
3Mt 18:17 "And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church..