The End is Near!! (right???) Episode 14 (almost done)

            Let’s go back to the end of last week and talk some more about the end of the Age of Grace.  We were talking about one of the judgments being the removal of the restrainer.  I felt I was unclear in my explanation and in fact had lost a little bit of what I wanted to say.

2 Thessalonians 2:4-12 (NIV) He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.  And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie  and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

Let’s read this and see if it makes it clearer.  The following is taken from The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (2 Th 2:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

The Rapture of the Church (2 Thes. 2:1, 6–7)

Paul appealed to them to “calm down” on the basis of the truth he had taught them in his first letter: the Lord would return and catch up His own to meet Him in the air (1 Thes. 4:13–18). This is “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and “our gathering together unto Him” (2 Thes. 2:1). Not two separated events, but one great event that will occur suddenly and without warning.

Once the church is out of the world, Satan and his forces will unfold their program. The Day of the Lord is the period that follows the Rapture of the church. It will be a time of Tribulation for the people on earth: Satan and his hosts will be working on earth, and God will send righteous judgments from heaven. Revelation 6–19 describes this period for us.

Why is Satan unable to reveal his “man of sin” sooner? Because God is restraining the forces of evil in the world today. Satan cannot do whatever he wants to do, whenever he pleases. Our sovereign Lord is able to make even the wrath of man to praise Him, and “the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain” (Ps. 76:10). In 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7, Paul mentioned a restraining force that even today is helping keep everything on schedule.

Who or what is this restrainer? Paul told the Thessalonicans when he was teaching them personally, but he did not put this information in either of his letters. This restrainer is now at work in the world and will continue to work till it (or he) is “taken out of the midst” (literal translation of 2 Thes. 2:7b).

Notice that in 2 Thessalonians 2:6 Paul referred to this restrainer in the neuter gender (“what restraineth”), while in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, he used the masculine gender (“he who now hindereth”). The restrainer is a person who is today “in the midst,” but will one day be “taken out of the midst.”

Many Bible students identify this restrainer as the Holy Spirit of God. Certainly, He is “in the midst” of God’s program today, working through the church to accomplish God’s purposes. When the church is raptured, the Holy Spirit will not be taken out of the world (otherwise nobody could be saved during the Tribulation), but He will be taken out of the midst to allow Satan and his forces to go to work. The Holy Spirit will certainly be present on the earth during the Day of the Lord, but He will not be restraining the forces of evil as He is today.

In spite of its weakness and seeming failure, never underestimate the importance of the church in the world. People who criticize the church do not realize that the presence of the people of God in this world gives unsaved people opportunity to be saved. The presence of the church is delaying the coming of judgment. Lot was not a dedicated man, but his presence in Sodom held back the wrath of God (Gen. 19:12–29).

There are two programs at work in the world today: God’s program of salvation, and Satan’s program of sin, “the mystery of iniquity.” God has a timetable for His program, and nothing Satan does can change that timetable. Just as there was a “fullness of the time” for the coming of Christ (Gal. 4:4), so there is a “fullness of the time” for the appearance of Antichrist; and nothing will be off schedule. Once the restraining ministry of the Spirit of God has ended, the next event can take place.

So the explanation is that the part of “the restrainer” is the work of the Holy Spirit in restraining evil today, the other piece of the puzzle is the church.  The church is actually, also part of the restraining of evil today.

Reminder:  The church must be removed from its economy because during the Dispensation of Grace, the Bible teaches clearly that there are no distinctions between races of peoples or gender.  Yet in Daniel's prophecy about the Tribulation as well as in Revelation Chapters 6 - 18, the Israelites are again dealt with as a distinct, separate, and special people.

After the Dispensation of Grace comes The Dispensation of Israel under Law (Part 2).  Back to Daniel Chapter 9.  After the two historical events that suspended this dispensation, Daniel gives us the criteria for restarting the big stopwatch. (for review see episode 12)

Daniel 9:27 (NIV)  He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’  In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him

So Daniel says that when "He" signs a covenant or a treaty the stopwatch begins.  Whose He?  The previous verses tell us that he is the ruler who is to come.  Other verses about this period of time help us identify him as the anti-Christ, or Satan's tool.  At the signing of this "peace" treaty the stopwatch again begins.  Apparently the temple is rebuilt and the sacrifice system has been re-instituted in Jerusalem.

            There are several events that take place before the tribulation.  The Antichrist who has been revealed at an earlier time will receive a mortal would, be miraculously healed, be indwelt by Satan, and take over the ten nations confederacy (Rev 13:3).  These things are predicted in the book of Revelation and must occur ahead of time, for the Antichrist to get the power base he needs to sign a peace treaty.

           

This is a very interesting time period and combination of dispensations. On the one hand the temple has been rebuilt and the Israelites are once again returning to the old sacrificial system.  On the other hand God calls out of old Israel 144,000 special witnesses (Rev 7:1-7) to tell the Israelites that the system they have instituted is no longer required, merely accept the work the His Son Jesus has done for them and they can be saved.

The culmination of this Dispensation is the Second Coming of Jesus.

The last economy is The Dispensation of the Millennium

           

The second coming of Christ to the earth ends "the time of Jacob's distress" and ushers in the Millennial Kingdom promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob's descendants.  There will be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all believers.  Only believers will enter this kingdom.  Satan will be bound for a thousand years.  Jesus the Messiah will rule over the whole earth and set the atmosphere of the world system with righteousness.

Isaiah Chapter 11 (NIV) A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD— and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.  Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish, and Judah’s enemies will be cut off; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River. He will break it up into seven streams

so that men can cross over in sandals.  There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt.

Isaiah 65:17-25 (NIV)  “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.  The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.  But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.  I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach ^a a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

Amos 9:8-15 (NIV)  “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD are on the sinful kingdom.  I will destroy it from the face of the earth— yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD. “For I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground. All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’ “In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be,  so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,” declares the LORD, who will do these things.“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes.  New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.  I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God.

Micah 4:1-8 (NIV)  In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

“In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief. I will make the lame a remnant, those driven away a strong nation. The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever. As for you, O watchtower of the flock, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.”

Zechariah 14:16-21 (NIV) Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain.  If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the LORD’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD Almighty.

The people of this economy are believers who come through the tribulation.  As their children grow and multiply, there is evidence of their unbelief and judgment for these unbelievers is swift and terrible.

Revelation 20:7-10 (NIV)  When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.  And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

            At the end of this dispensation God has kept all of his promises to Israel.  His program for ordering the world is at its conclusion.

Time ends. (But not the events)

            A clear philosophy of history from God's viewpoint emerges out of these economies.  Man is tested under all kinds of conditions throughout the dispensations.  The first dispensation begins with a perfect environment and the last ends with a perfect environment.  Man fails in all environments, which demonstrates that environment is not the problem.  These economies show that the only answer is to be born again by faith so that man is changed from within.  Then he masters the environment about him by God's enablement through faith.

Check this out for a picture of what I have been talking about so far. (Double click on it) Keep a sense of humor

The End is Near!!! (right???) Episode 13

Faster, faster, faster.  If this is your first visit, please go back and read the earlier posts or you will be like “Huh, wha’?” and I will be like “Should have been here since the beginning” and you’ll be like “But….but….” and I will be like “Your fault, not mine” and you will be like “What’s that s’posed to mean?” and I will be like “You know what I mean” and so on and so on.

The Dispensation of Grace is the parenthetical dispensation.  Called such because it begins and ends inside of the Dispensation of Israel Under Law.  The distinctive or new revelation in this dispensation is the giving of the Holy Spirit. 

John 14:16 (NIV) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—

John 14:26 (NIV)  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 15:26 (NIV)  “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.

John 16:7 (NIV) But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

Acts 1:4-5 (NIV) On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

And finally the day itself:

Acts 2:1-12 (NIV) When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues  as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome  (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

There are ministries of the Holy Spirit which are unique to this dispensation;  all happen at the moment of salvation.

Baptism - Joins each believer into a living union with Christ.  This union is the most basic and essential meaning of the Church. And we can only enter this body with the baptism of the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NIV) The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Indwelling - The Spirit takes up permanent residence in each Believer at the moment of salvation.

John 14:16-17 (NIV) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV) Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Romans 8:11 (NIV)  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Sealing - The presence of the Spirit in the believer is God's seal or guarantee that we are His.

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV) And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:30 (NIV) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

2 Corinthians 1:22 (NIV) set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Gifts - Each believer receives at least one or more spiritual abilities with which to accomplish God's will for his life

1 Peter 4:10-11 (NIV) Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 12:1-31 (NIV) Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,  and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.  And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts.

Filling - The only ministry of the Holy Spirit that is not received once and for all at the time of salvation.  It is a moment-by-moment ministry that must be continually appropriated by a submissive will and an aggressive faith.

Romans 8:1-4 (NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,  God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,  in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Galatians 3:1-5 (NIV)   You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.  I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?  Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing?  Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

Galatians 5:16-18 (NIV)  So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

All of these ministries were not possible until Jesus had finished his redemptive work on the cross.  Because he satisfied all of the demands of the law against us and then paid its ultimate penalty of death in our place, God can now remove us completely from under the law's demands.   The Holy Spirit under grace now works the righteousness of the law through the trusting believer.

The Bible predicts that the Church will ultimately fail and all but a believing remnant will fall away

1 Timothy 4:1-4 (NIV)  The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.  Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created, to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

2 Timothy 3:1-10 (NIV) But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.  But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

            Peter predicts that false teachers, masquerading as ministers of Christ, will infiltrate and take over the institutional church and teach destructive heresies.  They will malign and nullify the truth that is the Bible (2 Pet 2:1-2).  They will especially deny the prophetic Scripture and its claim of the Lord's return (2 Peter 3:1-7).

2 Peter 2:1-2 (NIV)  But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

2 Peter 3:1-7 (NIV) Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.  By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

The end of this parenthetical dispensation is three-fold.   A partial judgment against the apostate church will be the rapture itself, as true believers are caught up to be with Christ in the air.  The other part of judgment will be the tribulation on the apostate Church, or the harlot pictured in Revelation.  The third piece is the removal of the "restrainer".      So the removal of the very ministries that started the Church is also one of the judgments against this economy.

Note:  The church must be removed from it’s economy because during the Dispensation of Grace, the Bible teaches clearly that there are no distinctions between races of peoples or gender.

Romans 10:12 (NIV) For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,

Galatians 3:27-28 (NIV) for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Yet in Daniel's prophecy about the Tribulation as well as in Revelation Chapters 6 - 18, the Israelites are again dealt with as a distinct, separate, and special people.

The End is Near!!! (right??) Episode 12

Told you I was going to speed it up, here is the next one without the introduction.  If this is your first visit, please go back and read the earlier posts or you will be like Alice in Wonderland and you will, unfortunately, be seeing me as the hookah smoking caterpillar.

The next dispensation is Israel Under Promise; it starts with the giving of the Mosaic law.  It consisted of 613 commandments covering all phases of life and activity.  It was the most specific instruction to date on how God's people were to live during this economy.  This law was offered to the Israelites in the wilderness at the base of Mt. Sinai. 

Exodus 19:1-8 (NIV) In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on the very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the LORD has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD.

        God suspected that the Israelites had no chance of keeping all of these ordinances, but it is interesting to note how much human pride can come into play.  Rom 7:13 gives us the purpose of the law.

Romans 7:13 (NIV)  Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful

            The law was given to make the awareness of sin increase, not decrease, because man is inherently blind to the sinful nature with which he is born.  The law provokes this nature into life so that it becomes exposed.  The more we try to keep God's law, the more the sinful nature rebels.  So man has to admit that he is inherently so sinful that he must look by faith to the Messiah Jesus to save him, and to the Holy Spirit to enable him to live pleasingly for God.

God clearly anticipated Israel’s failure under this economy, when through the prophet Jeremiah he gives what appear to be guidelines for a new and different still coming future dispensation.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NIV)   “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, ”declares the LORD.

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

            This dispensation also has some uniquely interesting characteristics; specifically the flow of time inside of this particular economy.  As a consequence of Israel’s failure under this economy there was a series of mini-judgments; a splitting of the nation into two, wars, failures, and deportations.  During one of these deportations to Assyria, Daniel the Jewish prophet notices while reading scriptures, in Jeremiah that the length of exile for the nation of Israel was to be 70 years.  Noticing that this time is almost up Daniel issues a prayerful request to God to be given the future history of Israel.  Let's read.

Daniel 9:1-27 (NIV)  In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes  (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:  “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands,  we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.   We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you.  O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.  The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.  All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.

“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.  You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.  Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

“Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.  O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill— while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

 “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree  to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.  After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.  He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. ”

That is a lot to take in.  Let’s get some background.  Israel reckoned time in weeks of years as well as weeks of days (a Sabbath Year)

Leviticus 25:1-7 (NIV) The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

Also, the context of this prophecy is that Israel was put in exile for failure to keep seventy Sabbatical years

2 Chronicles 36:15-23 (NIV) The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and spared neither young man nor young woman, old man or aged. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.  He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.

He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:  “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ”‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.’”

We have seventy - sevens (or weeks of seven years) for the history of Israel to be completed.  That is 490 years.  We know by this prophecy that there will be several things accomplished before the end of Israel, as we know it inside of this economy:

1.  Transgression will be finished

2.  Sin will end.

3.  Wickedness will be atoned for.

4.  Everlasting righteousness will be brought in.

5.  Seal up visions and prophecy.

6.  Anoint the most holy.

            Have all of these things happened??  Some have but definitely not all.  Let's imagine that God has a giant stopwatch that starts ticking as soon as, as the scripture says, "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.'"  This decree was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus of Persia in 444 B.C. Start the stopwatch.

 Daniel predicted that from the giving of this decree until Messiah the Prince appeared would be sixty-nine weeks of years, each of which are 360 days long.  Scholars have worked out the chronology from ancient records and found that 173,880 days later, Jesus of Nazareth allowed Himself, for the first time, to be publicly proclaimed Messiah and heir to the throne of David.

Luke 19:29-44 (NIV) As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them,  “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them.  As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.  When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”  “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it  and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

The prophecy then forecasts that two historical events will take place after the 62 and 7 but before the last seven.

First, the Messiah would be "cut off" or killed, and have nothing that was due Him as the heir to David's throne.  Second, the city of Jerusalem and the temple, which was rebuilt by the Jews who had returned from Babylon, would be destroyed.  Jesus was crucified five days after his public proclamation and at this point God's stopwatch stopped.  How do we know?  Because the temple was not destroyed until 70 AD some 37 years after Jesus' death and well outside the limits of the final seven years.

Because Israel failed to accept her Messiah and instead "cut him off" by crucifying him, God stopped the countdown seven years short of completion.  Due to Israel's failure, God suspended this dispensation for a period of time.  During the ensuing parenthesis in time, God turned His focus to the Gentiles and created the Church.