Why Study the End Times - 5 Reasons

OK so I posted the thoughts about the post-tribulation view because of the debate that was already going on, however the age old question of, "why do we even care" has raised its ugly head once again! So I will be as brief but as passionate as I possibly can on this issue.

We should really really really care!

Reason #1 - Time is SHORT

It is VERY relevant! It has been VERY relevant for thousands of years and it is VERY relevant today. Not only that it becomes more relevant the closer we get to the day. There will be one generation (hint I think we are it) for whom understanding this stuff will not only be relevant it will be CRITICALLY Important as the very things prophesied so long ago begin to unfold.

Guys you all know this! Two massive sign posts Jesus gave to us have happened without any doubt. Israel is a nation again (Luke 21:32) AND the Gospel of the Kingdom is going out to all nations. (Matt 24:14). His hand is on the door! In these final hours we have GOT TO KNOW what the Lord has for us to do!

Reason #2 - Jesus said so - Matt 25:13

(Mat 25:13) Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

This verse is so often used against us in the argument - "see we do not know the day or the hour so why worry about it?" That is the exact opposite effect that Jesus meant for this verse to have! He was warning us, and this is not the only verse like this. Jesus said it all the time! WATCH WATCH WATCH! This verse immediately follows the parable of the foolish and wise virgins. The wise virgins were prepared because they headed the warning! Jesus was serious about this and so we should be

Reason #3 - The shear volume of Biblical material

There are over 150 chapters in the Bible about the end times (thanks Mike Bickle) that is more than are in all four gospels combined. If God put more in the Word about the end than He did about Jesus first coming what message should that send to us? We like to take chapters like Isaiah 60 "arise shine for you light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you" and make them into nice little pick me up chapters for our daily lives. I have zero problem with that. However READ THIS AGAIN the chapter is a tribulation into the Millennial Reign of Christ passage! A prophetic promise to the people of Israel and to the church of God's plan to use them in the last days to shine forth His beauty to a destroyed earth! If we leave all this scripture untouched because we have no interest in the end times we are fools. Missing out on treasures our Father put there for us to find. (if you want the list of the 150 chapters you can go to www.ihop.org and find it there.)

Reason #4 - We need the encouragement!

I can't tell you how many times delving into these things has filled me with joy unspeakable and full of glory! I am not one to say that we should just ignore the world until the Rapture FAR FROM IT, but I must say that there are days when I need to remember that in the end WE WIN! The thought of Jesus ripping open the sky and coming down to defeat ALL His enemies and set up His eternal throne here on the earth bringing true and everlasting justice to the earth is a thought we all should have in our hearts. It is our hope. It is our inheritance, and it IS COMING! The groan of creation WILL BE ANSWERED and our mighty groom IS coming for a bride and that bride is you and me!

Reason #5 - This is the heart of God!

Most important of all reasons is this one. Have you ever noticed that the name of the last book of the Bible is "The Revelation of Jesus Christ"? It's not "The End" or "Go and Fight About These Things". These realities spread throughout scripture and brought to a conclusion in the book of the Revelation are God's Autobiography. In the final unfolding of history we see the fullness of God's secret plan. We see the beauty of God made manifest in all aspects! We see His judgement, and we see His mercy. God has had this in His heart since before the foundations of the earth. All of human history was about this. Eden was about this. The flood was about this. The Exodus was about this. The cross was about this. Your salvation and mine are about this. It all only makes sense when we see and understand the end that God has in mind. Without that it all means nothing.

So please - for your own sake - begin the journey of studying the end times.

Josh

Arguements for Post Trib View

Arguments for Post-tribulationism -

I didn't write all of this myself - but over the years I have accumulated these from different places and it all adds up to one thing! We're going to be here for the whole thing!

1. The word for "meeting" the Lord in the air in 1 Thessalonians 4:17
(apantesin) is used in two other places in the New Testament: Matthew
25:6 and Acts 28:15. In both places it refers to a meeting in which
people go out to meet a dignitary and then accompany him in to the
place from which they came out. One of these, Matthew 25:6, is even a
parable of the second coming and so a strong argument that this is
the sense of the meeting here in 1 Thess. 4:17-that we rise to meet
the Lord in the air and then welcome him to earth as king.

2. The wording of 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7, when read carefully, shows that Paul
expects to attain rest from suffering at the same time and in the
same event that he expects the unbelievers to receive punishment,
namely, at the revelation of Jesus with mighty angels in flaming
fire. This revelation is not the pre-tribulational rapture but the
glorious second coming, which means that Paul did not expect an event
at which he and the other believers would be given rest seven years
before the glorious appearing of Christ in flaming fire. Vengeance on
unbelievers and rest for the persecuted church come on the same day
in the same event.

3. The wording of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 suggests that the "assembling to meet
him" is the same as "the day of the Lord" about which
they are confused. But the assembling is the "rapture" and
"the day of the Lord" is the glorious second coming. They
appear to be one event. Supporting this is the reference to
"gathering" the elect in Matthew 24:31. Here there is a
gathering (same word) but it is clearly a post-tribulational context.
So there is no need to see the gathering and the day of .the Lord in
2 Thessalonians as separate events.

4. If Paul were a pre-tribulationist why did he not simply say in 2 Thessalonians 2:3
that the Christians don't need to worry that the day of the Lord is
here because all the Christians are still here? Instead he talks just
the way you would expect a post-tribulational person to do. He tells
them that they should not think that the day of the Lord is here
because the apostasy and the man of lawlessness have not appeared.
(See the AM sermon of 8-30-87 for more on this one.)

5. When you read Matthew 24 or Mark 13 or Luke 21, which are Jesus' descriptions of
the end times, there is no mention of a rapture removing believers
from the events of the end. A normal reading gives no impression of a
departure. On the contrary, he talks as if the believing listeners
and then the readers would or could experience the things he
mentions. See Mt. 24:4, 9, 15, 23, 25f, 33, etc.

6. Going through tribulation, even when it is appointed by God, is not contrary to
Biblical teaching. See especially 1 Peter 4:17; 2 Thessalonians
1:3-10; Hebrews 12:3-11. But even so, Revelation 9:4 suggests that
the saints will be in some measure protected in the time of distress
by the seal of God.

7. The commands to "watch" do not lose their meaning if the second coming
is not an any-moment one. See Matt. 25:1-13 where all ten maidens are
asleep when the Lord returns. Yet the lesson at the end of the
parable is, "Watch!" The point is that watching is not
gazing up for an any-moment-return of the Lord; it is the moral
vigilance that keeps you ready at all times doing your duty—the
wise maidens had full lanterns! They were watchful! Nor does the
teaching that the second coming will be unexpected lose its force if
post-tribulationism is true. See Luke 12:46 where the point is that
if a servant gets drunk thinking that his master is delayed and will
not catch him-that very servant will be surprised and taken off
guard. But as 1 Thess. 5:1-5 says, "You (believers) are not in
darkness for that day to surprise you like a thief." We still
teach that great moral vigilance and watchfulness is necessary lest
we be lulled asleep and fall prey to the deceits of the last days and
be overtaken in the judgment.

8. The strongest pre-tribulational text, Rev. 3:10, is open to another interpretation
without any twisting. It says, "Because you have kept my word of
patient endurance, will keep you from the hour of trial which is
coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth."
But to "be kept for the hour of testing" is not necessarily
to be taken out of the world during this hour, and thus spared
suffering. Compare Gal. 1:4 and Jesus' prayer for his disciples in
John 17:15 where to "keep from" does not mean physical
removal. And notice the inevitability of martyrdom in Rev. 6:9-11.
The promise is to be guarded from the hour in the sense of being
guarded from the demoralizing forces of that hour.

9. The second coming does not lose its moral power in post-tribulationism. New
Testament moral incentive is not that we should fear being caught
doing evil, but that we should so love the appearing of the Lord that
we want to be pure as the Lord is pure, for whom we hope, as 1 John
3:1-3 says.

Answer

Human lives going on all around me. Human struggles, human pain, human joy, and human love; happening day by day to human beings in every house and every apartment on every street all over the world. The tradegy of the ordinary, and the magnificence of the mundane; and somewhere in the middle of it all is little me. Surrounded by the ocean current of all that is. Caught up in the swirl of time and happenstance; I am foolish enough to believe that I have an answer to all the cacophonous questions of life. That I have a real response to the ultimate of human wonderings, "why?". Why the suffering? Why the sweetness? Why the aches and why the pleasures? I have an answer and it is the correct one.

My answer is Jesus.

The problem is that though I have the correct answer, it doesn't make me right. Though I have the correct answer, it doesn't help the rest of us. Sometimes it doesn't even help me.

Father forgive me for my arrogance and stupidity. I thought that having the answer was enough. I let it make me proud. I let it seperate me from all of those who DON'T know the answer. I let it make me forget that the reason you are the answer is because you CAME DOWN! You didn't leave us here hurling wisdom at us from above and expecting us to get ourselves out of this mess. You came down to where we were. You died in saving us. That is why you are the answer. You are the answer to suffering because you suffered. The answer to pain because you feel it with us every day. You are the answer to joy because you are the one to whom all joy is pointing. YOU are the WHY.

Oh Jesus let me let you be the why through me and in me and for me.

Forgive me.

Psalm 90 the prayer of a life time

I was reintroduced to Psalm 90 today. I've read it many times before and I've always loved it but one verse caught me today that I thought I would share.

Psalm 90:14 ESV - Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

I heard a preacher today quote this text and say something like, "I pray that every day because I am NOT satisfied with His love.... It is a life long fight every day crying out to God. Oh let me be satisfied in your loving kindness!" That hit me like a lightning bolt. I want to make THIS my every day prayer. The prayer of my life! That His LOVE would be my only satisfaction. On two sides:
#1 That I might BE SATISFIED. We live half our lives wondering why we are so dissatisfied! At least I do. There is a deep groan in me that cannot be quenched except for in the presence of Jesus. There that groan is answered and relieved. My prayer is that I would BE SATISFIED in Him
#2 That my satisfaction would only be looked for in Him. I don't want to ruin my life by roaming the earth looking for other satisfaction. I run to the world, entertainment, the crude destructive cravings of my flesh, in my search FAR TOO OFTEN and it has never, ever been enough, but still I find myself running to other lovers and broken cisterns. God stop me! God remind me that all my fountains are in you!
Today I purpose myself not to begin a day without satisfying myself in God before I do anything else! God help me

A Renewed Focus

I have been in a deeply unhappy place that last few weeks. I couldn't shake it. I had some good days and some bad, but the baseline of my emotional reality was unhappiness. I had been in dialogue with the Lord about this for a while. I was not getting any answers, not until today.
Last week I ran across Psalm 74:25-26 "Whom Have I in Heaven but you? And beside you I desire nothing on the Earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" This has been a favorite for years, and I knew the Holy Spirit was highlighting it for me but I still didn't really get it! Today the Lord confronted me in this.
My problem is this - I have been asking for blessing. I have been reciting God's promises to myself to "encourage myself in the Lord", but I have been reinforcing my own idolatry and worse I have been prostituting the Lord to serve my idolatry! I have idolized provision,blessing, money and favor. Don't take me out of context here. God loves to provide for and bless His children, but He hates anything that steals our affections from Him. I have exalted God's gifts over His goodness.
Father I ask you for forgiveness now. I openly and publicly confess to idolatry and longing more for your gifts than for your presence. I have been a fool! I ask you now oh God to change my heart. Turn my eyes away from these things that pass away and set my heart on fire desiring the eternally worthy God. I have been so unsatisfied because I was made to be satisfied only by you! Forgive me Lord! I pray now the prayer of Moses from Exodus 33 - SHOW ME YOUR WAYS THAT I MAY KNOW YOU!!!! Don't send me forward from here unless you are going with me! SHOW ME YOUR GLORY!!! It is YOU I desire. Forever. Amen

The Deepest Reason This News is so Good

Back to the Good News -

Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
Romans 11:36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Someday I am going to write a book about the first cause or what I like to call the "final because". Kids love to ask "why", and parents usually love to answer, but when each answer is followed by another "but why?" it gets annoying fast. We usually end the string of questions with something like, "just because, ok? Now sit down and be quiet!" I think the kids are onto something however, there is a final answer to the "why?" questions. There is a reality upon which all other reality rests like a house on a foundation. It is God Himself. What He does, He does for Himself, even the things He has done for us. The whole of the history of the universe has one beautiful reason behind it. He did it all for Himself, and, believe it or not, that is the reason the good news is so good.
Through all that has gone on from the beginning God's nature and character is exalted and revealed. God's ways are proved righteous and true. God's love and His beauty are unfolded before watching eyes in Heaven and on earth and those who behold it rejoice and enjoy. God Himself beholds the reflection of His own Glory in His Son and He is pleased. This is the final because and this is the best news there could ever be. God's glory is held high as the most valuable reality because it IS the most valuable, worthy, exalted reality. Let all of Heaven and Earth rejoice because God is glorified in His Son! If this were not true the Gospel would not be good news.

My apologies!

Ok first an apology about the extreme LENGTH of the last blog. I didn’t want to split that overview up into pieces; it just felt wrong to do so. Now that the macro-view is out of the way, we can drill down on some of these issues one by one and gain a deeper more detailed and nuanced understanding of them as individual doctrines.

Another apology, I used no scripture references for the things that I said yesterday. Everything I said is thoroughly Biblical and I have references for all of it, but I did not include them because I wanted it to read more like a story than a treatise. From here on out every entry will be the unpacking of a particular scripture so that you know I am not just using scripture to back up ideas but actually finding these ideas in the word.

If any of you actually read through that whole thing in one sitting give yourselves a gigantic pat on the back and feel proud. I probably wouldn’t have!