Prophecy is precise
Everyone likes to talk about the book of “Revelations”, where you see details of the 7 year”tribulation” when “the antichrist” does his thing. The only problem is none of that terminology is right. Over the years prophecy has been talked about by many people who have not really studied it. By that mechanism a lot of imprecise terminology has crept in to the general discussion. In the Bible, God means what he says and says what he means, so it is a good idea to be precise when discussing his word seriously.
The title of the book was “the revelation of Jesus Christ to John.” Just one revelation. The book is about the vision John saw when he was exiled on the island of Patmos. The vision is in two main parts: here on earth as Jesus was talking directly to John and later in heaven as prophecies that were scattered throughout the bible were acted out in the order they would go down, for the most part. The second part breaks naturally into two main parts – before Jesus comes back to earth and after that.
The “later in heaven” part include a seven year period that most people call “the tribulation”. While it is true that Jesus said during the second half of this period “there would be great tribulation”, the whole period of seven years is more precisely known as the “seventieth week of Daniel”. The key to end times prophecy is Daniel 9:24-27
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
These four verses give the framework in time that organizes prophecies about Jesus’ ministry. Whole books have been written about these four verses. One of the best was “The Coming Prince” by Sir Robert Anderson. Follow the link to the text of the book for an incredible journey through prophecy. Two important facts that come out in the book are that the Hebrews used the term “week” for more than just seven days. Seven days, weeks, months and years were commonly called a “week”. The other important fact is that God works with years that are 360 days long. You can do a study on weeks in the law when talking about the feasts of Israel, the sabbath year, the year of jubilee, etc. Some physicists, astronomers and computer modelers have shown why the year used to be 360 days and what happened to make it the current 365 1/4 days we have now. I will leave that to you.
In a nutshell, Dan 9:24-27 tells us that from the day the decree was made to rebuild Jerusalem till the death of the messiah would be exactly 69 weeks of 360 day years. After that the Romans would destry the temple and the city and disperse the Jews across the whole world. The dispersion would last for an indeterminate period, but at some point in the future the Jews would be back in the land and a great leader would make a covenant between the Jews and the rest of the world for the jews to live in peace in israel for one week of years. This period is known among scholars and serious bible students as the “seventieth week of Daniel.” In the middle of the week, the one who makes the covenant will break it and set himself up in the temple to be worshipped as god. Other prophecies in Daniel, the other prophets, Psalms, basically throughout the Bible give details that fit into the framework of the weeks of Daniel.
The person who sets up the covenant is known popularly as “the antichrist”, but this term is never used in the Revelation. There are actually two people in the Revelation that play the role of “antichrist”, the Beast and the False Prophet. John uses the term “antichrist” four times in two of his epistles, 1 John and 2 John, but nowhere does he use that term to refer to the beast or the false prophet.
An important thing to remember about the Bible is that it is one book that was written by many people over the course of thousands of years, but it was a skillfully designed document that had one true author, the Holy Spirit. One of the design features was that it was written ” … precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little” (Is 28:10, Is 28:13) What this means is that there is no one section on any one given subject. This means if any section is cut out, the rest of the bible still conveys the whole message.
The “precept upon precept” message is not even just in one verse. This should show you how much God wants his message to come through to us. That message is that God does not want religion, He wants to have a relationship with us, and he has gone to extraordinary lengths to insure that that relationship is restored.
Print This Post
Filed under BibleStudies, CloserToGod, prophecy
| Tags: antichrist, daniel, prophecy, revelation |
Comments (2)
Are you sure of salvation?
Are you sure of your salvation? Can you be sure? What exactly is salvation again?
What is salvation again?
In an ealier post I described salvation in terms of the three tenses of salvation: past, present and future. Justification is the past tense (if you are saved that is) where you are removed from the penalty of sin. Glorification is the future tense where you are removed from the presence of sin. In between these is sanctification, the present tense, where you are removed from the power of sin. Sancification is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit and you agreeing with the Spirit to make choices to follow the Spirit in his quest to make you like Jesus. This is what goes on as a believer “works out his salvation with fear and trembling”, as Paul said in Philippians 2:12
Unlike santification the believer has very little to do with what happens in justification and glorification. As Paul says in Romans 8:30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
(I won’t get into the apparent paradoxes involved in predestination vs. freewill except to say what appears to be predestination is really freewill, depending on whether you are inside or outside the created universe. The Holy Spirit calls everyone with a soft voice. Eventually, you either listen to that voice and enter the transaction that triggers justification, or you ignore the voice until the Spirit stops calling you.)
The main point of the verse is that justification and glorification are up to God. Nothing you could do could possibly affect your justification or glorification. Once you make the decision to agree with God that you need to be saved, God takes care of justification, cleaning up your sin debt, sealing your spirit with the Holy Spirit, etc. see 2 Cor 1:21-22. Glorification takes place at the rapture or resurection, depending on which side of the grave you are on when Jesus comes back for us. see 1 Cor. 15:51-53 and 1 John 3:2 on glorification.
Can you be sure?
The big question, though, is can I be sure of my salvation? John 10:27-30 answers that pretty well.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father’s hand.I and [my] Father are one.
If if no man is able to pluck me out of Jesus or his Father’s hands, and I am a man (human, that is) then nothing I can do will cause me to lose my salvation.
What is the point of sanctification?
Sanctification, as I said, is that process that goes on in a believers life between Justification in the past and Glorification in the future. Sanctification is the present you give back to Jesus for giving you eternal life. 
A lot of people do not get too far along with sanctification. It is a lot of bother, what with going to college or finding a job or working to support a family. They might go to church regularly or just Easter and Christmas, throw some money to charity, read the bible when they notice it. Except for Sundays and holidays, they probably do not think about God very much.
Mainly though, they just will not grow very much spiritually. How they they be more like Jesus when they do not set themselves apart from the world and draw close to God? How can they be transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:1-2) when they do not read the word of God?
You might say, “what difference will it make? I am going to heaven and all that, so who cares?” If you look at 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 you might change your mind:
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
The works you do to “get brownie points” by following rules or doing what people say “a Christian should do this” is what Paul calls wood hay and stubble. What you get out of following the lead of the Holy Spirit in the sanctification process is gold, silver and precious stones. So what? Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 tell us that we shall all stand before the jusgement seat of Christ. This is where all believers will give an account of how they spent their lives, in good ways and not so good. As your life is reviewed you will probably be disappointed at time you wasted, not following the spirit, not living up to what you could have done. I say this to explain why God should have to wipe away our tears. (Rev 21:4) This also explains Paul’s paranoia about losing his rewards (1 Cor 9:27)
This judgment is not for saying you go to heaven or hell. That has been decided by your response to what Jesus did on Calvary. The “judgement scene” you see at the Judgement House dramas churches do is a bit misleading. Believers and non-believers do not stand at the same judgement seat. Non-believers are judged at the end of time, after the second resurection. This is called the great white throne judgement. Rev 20:11-15
Basically sanctification is a choice of hanging out as a hippy or refugee after Jesus judges our works on earth, or hearing him say “well done my faithful servant” and being rewarded with crowns for service to Him. I don’t know if you know this, but hippies and refugees stink. I would rather not have all my works burnt up. I would rather hang with the people who smell good. Still, being a hippy in heaven is better than being in hell.
You might want to check out these pages too.
Print This Post
Filed under BibleStudies, CloserToGod, Eschatology
| Tags: glorification, justification, salvation, sanctification |
Comments Off
