A390 : by Tony Garland
I have two other questions that are branching out a little - towards specific Bible prophecies and fulfillment. Both are looking at the world’s geopolitical situations today and assume the Bible prophecies for the end times will be fulfilled in our time:
Thinking that Bible prophecies for the end-times will be fulfilled in “our time” has been the history-long snare of the Church. When reading various historical accounts, it is commonplace to read of Christians who assumed that the events of their day were the near precursors of Christ’s return. For example, consider the “Fifth Monarchy Men”a in England, at the time of Oliver Cromwell (mid-1600s), who were convinced they were politically bringing in the final, fifth monarchy revealed in chapters 2 and 7 of the book of Daniel. Many other examples could be given (e.g., during WW1, WW2).
You make some insightful observations concerning the geopolitical climate in which we presently live and then raise several questions:
- . . . if true, must it imply also that the timing for the rapture is likely to be far away?
- . . . should we assume that the timing for rapture and the Second Coming of Christ is still far off?
In my mind, these run into the opposite problem: and my response to both of these questions would have to be “no.”
The doctrine of imminencyb — which I believe Scripture to teach — makes it impossible for us to categorically state, or even suggest with any confidence, that Christ cannot come for the Church “in the next moment.”
Part of what drives the imminency doctrine is that there is no clear time-text Scripture gives for the period of time between Christ returning for His own in the Rapture and the events which usher in the Tribulation. So whatever we might conclude about whether conditions are ripe for the events associated with the Day of the Lord — when Christ comes upon an unprepared world as a thiefc — we must not conflate those opinions with the likelihood of whether or when He could come for His own prior to that time.
I would also observe that Scripture is replete with situations where what God predicted seemed unlikely—especially in regard to timing, yet conditions changed in ways which were completely unexpected (e.g., 2 Kings 7:1-2, 17-20). This is my own expectation regarding how rapidly God is able to bring about change on the world stage when the time is right.
I believe that our mandate is to simply hold fast to what God has predicted WILL take place, then to keep our collective noses to the grindstone — as it were — and “do business” until He comes (Luke 19:13).
This is one reason I’m not a big fan of the multitude of prophecy conferences which keep many on the edge-of-their seat year-after-year. That might sound strange coming from someone who has written a commentary on Revelationd and continues to work on a companion commentary on Daniele. The problem with these conferences is, knowingly or not, they can convey the impression that Christianity is a sprint-—when in fact it is more like a marathon. It has been my seasoned observation that a steady diet of “end-times fulfillment is just around the corner” leaves a trail of disillusioned, burned-out believers who wind up throwing the baby (the study of prophetic passages) out with the bath water (the sensationalism).
While I’m a proponent of understanding all of God’s word — including prophetic passages — I’m not one who spends much time looking around at geopolitical developments as if they have much bearing on how I should live or Who I should focus on. Besides that, geopolitical developments shift like the wind. What looks significant at one moment often becomes Biblically irrelevant the next. Sure: there are large-scale developments one can watch (e.g., Israel back in the land, the growing global rejection of God’s standards, the apostasy of the Church), but trying to evaluate the likelihood that God may return for His Church “soon” seems more of a distraction since it can’t be known.
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