Once again, prophecy
prognosticators are predicting Jesus is going to wrap up everything in our
generation because things are so bad the end must be near. A recent article by Britt
Gillette on the Prophecy News Watch website says as much:
“The signs of the Second Coming are
all around us. When His disciples asked Jesus to describe the signs, He gave
them several. The Jewish people back in possession of Jerusalem (Luke 21:24-28) … the Gospel preached
throughout the world (Matthew 24:14) … the
arrival of the exponential curve (Matthew 24:3-8) … and more.
“The Old Testament prophets also
pointed to a number of signs. An increase in travel and knowledge (Daniel 12:4) … the rise of a united Europe (Daniel 2:42) … the rise of the Gog of Magog
alliance (Ezekiel 38-39) … and more.
“Today, all these signs are
either present or in the process of being fulfilled. Yet for 1,800+ years, none
of these signs were present. Think about that. None of the signs. But today?
Today, they’re all around us.”
These passages and “signs” have
been used for centuries to prove that the end was near for their time. End-time
speculation is not new. It has a long and failed history going back centuries
and has led to a form of prophetic inevitability resulting in Christian
passivity.
“If Jesus is coming back in my
generation, then why expend time and effort to fix what can’t be fixed. Why
rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic? It’s all going down.”
As Christians have waited for the
soon return of Jesus, humanists, secularists, and materialists have infiltrated
every part of society. Instead of fighting against the invasion, an end-time
escapist eschatology was invented with disastrous results. In Hal Lindsey’s
book The 1980’s: Countdown to Armageddon, he wrote, “The decade of
the 1980’s could very well be the last decade of history as we know
it.” In addition to his questionable interpretive claims, consider these
comments from Lindsey:
·
“What a way to live! With optimism, with anticipation, with
excitement. We should be living like persons who don’t expect to be around much
longer.”1
·
“I don’t like clichés but I’ve heard it said, ‘God didn’t send me
to clean the fish bowl, he sent me to fish.’ In a way there’s a truth to that.”2
If the end is always just around
the corner based on certain prophetic texts linked to current events, then why
bother or even hope to rebuild a failing and collapsing world?
We’ve seen such speculation many
times before: in the French Revolution, World War I, World War II,
and nearly every dramatic event throughout two millennia of history. If
you want to read a chronicle of end-time speculation, take a look at Francis
X. Gumerlock’s The Day and the Hour: Christianity’s Perennial
Fascination with Predicting the End of the World. Send a
copy to your end-time speculating friends.
I often hear, “But this time it’s
different. We really are living in the last days and Jesus is coming soon.”
Today’s prophecy neophytes are
under the false assumption that what they are reading in books and magazines,
articles posted on the internet, seeing on television, and hearing on the radio
and from pulpits are actually recently-discovered end-time truths of what they
believe are current events that match up with particular prophetic passages.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Charles Wesley Ewing, writing in
1983, paints a clear historical picture of how prophetic interpretation based
on current events turns to confusion, uncertainty, and in some people unbelief
when it comes to predicting an end that disappoints:
“In 1934, Benito Mussolini sent
his black-shirted Fascists down into defenseless Ethiopia and preachers all
over the country got up in their pulpits and preached spellbinding sermons that
had their congregations bulging at the eyes in astonishment about
‘Mussolini, the Anti-Christ,’ and to prove their point they quoted from Daniel 11:43, which says, ‘And the
Ethiopians shall be at his steps.’ Later, Benito, whimpering, was hung by
his own countrymen, and preachers all over America had to toss their sermons
into the scrap basket as unscriptural.”3
Ewing goes on to mention how
Hitler’s storm troopers took Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, North Africa, and
set up concentration camps where millions of Jews were killed in what has
become the modern-day definition of “holocaust.” Once again,
preachers ascended their pulpits and linked these events to Bible prophecy and
assured the church-going public that Hitler was the antichrist. When the allies
routed the Nazis and drove them out, sermons were once again tossed out or
filed away to be revised at some future date hoping people’s memories would
fade.
The next end-time-antichrist
candidate was Joseph Stalin, the leader of godless Communism, a movement
hell-bent on conquering the world. “But on March 5, 1953, Stalin had a brain
hemorrhage and preachers all over America had to make another trip to the waste
basket.”4
Consider the “Signs”
Let’s take the above prophetic
claims one at a time:
First, the Olivet Discourse
found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 describes events leading up to and
including the destruction of the temple and the judgment on Jerusalem that took
place in AD 70. Jesus makes this clear when He told His first-century
audience, “This generation will not pass away until all these things
take place” (Matt. 24:34; Mark 13:320; Luke 21:31). Every time “this generation” is
used in the gospels it always refers to the generation to whom Jesus is
speaking (Matt. 11:16; 12:39; 41, 42, 45; 17:17; 23:36; Mark 8:12; 13:30; Luke 7:31; 11:29, 30, 31, 32, 50, 51; 17:25; 21:32). There are no exceptions. Grant Osborne
summarizes the argument well:
“[T]his generation” (ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη)
in the gospels always means the people of Jesus’ own time (11:16; 12:41-42;
23:36) not, as some have proposed, the generation of the last days in history,
the Jewish people, the human race in general, or the sinful people.”5
William Sanford LaSor writes, “If
‘this generation’ is taken literally, all of the predictions were to take place
within the life-span of those living at that time.”6 These are just two examples
of many who hold this position. See my soon-to-be-released book Wars
and Rumors of Wars for a long list of Bible commentators who interpret
the Olivet Discourse in the same way.
This means that Luke 21:24-28 and Matthew 24:14, since these signs occur before Luke 21:31 and Matthew 24:34 they must have taken place
before that first-century generation passed away.
Second, the New Testament does
not say anything about Israel becoming a nation again. To the contrary; it
only refers to its judgment (Matt. 21:18-22; 24:2-3; Luke 19:43-44). Israel did become a nation
again after the Jews returned to their land from the Babylonian exile (Dan. 9:2; 2 Chron. 36:21; Ezra 1:1; Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10; Zech. 7:5; Neh. 1). The temple was rebuilt and the nation
was reestablished. The fact that Jews were living in Israel during Jesus’ day
proves this is true.
Third, contrary to Britt
Gillette, Luke 21:24-28 does not
say that Israel will become a nation again. Consider what is said in verses
31-32: “So you also, when you see
these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say
to you, this generation will not
pass away until all things take place.” Jesus is not describing what will
happen to a future generation. The use of the second person plural (you)
and the near demonstrative “this” make it clear Jesus had that
generation, and that generation alone, in view.
Fourth, what about “the Gospel
preached throughout the world (Matthew 24:14)”? This does not refer to the
whole globe and all human populations a we know them. The Greek word translated
“world” is not kosmos (world) but oikoumenē and
means “inhabited earth” or “empire boundary.” It is often translated “Roman
Empire.” The same Greek word is used in Luke 2:1: “Now in those days a decree went out
from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth [oikoumenē].”
Rome could only tax those within the boundaries of its own empire, not the
whole wide world.
Fifth, even if the Greek had
said “kosmos,” it is written that the faith of the Roman Christians had
been “proclaimed throughout the whole world [kosmos]” (Rom. 1:8). Paul wrote to the Colossians
“the gospel,” which had come to them, had also come to those “in all the world
[kosmos]” where it was “constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as
in” them (Col. 1:6). Even if Jesus had used kosmos in
Matthew 24:14, therefore, the above passages
would indicate that Jesus’ words were fulfilled. This was so true that Paul
could write, “the hope of the gospel . . . was proclaimed in all creation under
heaven” (1:23). In fact, the gospel had been “proclaimed among the
nations, believed on in the world [kosmos]” (1 Tim. 3:16). Paul concludes his letter to the
Romans with the following:
“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 which has been kept secret for long
ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to
all the nations [remember Matt. 24:14: “as a testimony to all the
nations”] leading to obedience of faith; to the only wise God,
through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.” (Rom 16:25-27)
Based on the above biblical
evidence, it is untrue to say, “yet for 1,800+ years, none of these signs were
present.” These signs were present in the first century as the Bible makes
clear and as many Bible expositors have pointed out for centuries.
What about Gillette’s claim that
an “an increase in travel and knowledge (Daniel 12:4) … the rise of a united Europe (Daniel 2:42) … the rise of the Gog of Magog
alliance (Ezekiel 38-39) … and more” are signs of the
end?
Like the above passages, these
verses also have been used repeatedly to “prove” the end was near for people in
past generations. For example, John Cumming (1807-1881) considered “railway
traveling”7 to be a reference to “many
shall run to and fro” (Dan. 12:4). Current
prophecy writers like Hal Lindsey are just as ingenious when they see modern
transportation systems and computer technology as a fulfillment of Daniel 12:4.8 This is such a discredited
interpretation that it’s embarrassing to read that anyone still believes and
teaches it. Even many die-hard dispensationalists reject the idea that the
“increase in knowledge” refers to “the recent explosion in knowledge.”9
What does “knowledge will
increase” really mean? James B. Jordan, in his commentary on Daniel, The Handwriting on the Wall, offers a
helpful explanation:
Those who take verse 4 [in Dan. 12] as referring to events at the end of
history believe that Daniel’s prophecy is “sealed up” until that time. Only as
the second coming of Christ draws near will we be able to understand prophetic
truth. Hal Lindsey, of course, believes that the end is near and that he,
unlike previous generations of Christian thinkers, understands the previously
hidden prophetic truth. The sealing of the book, however, does not mean that it
cannot be understood, but rather that the angel has told Daniel all that he is
going to say at this point in history. The book is unsealed in Revelation 5-6, and in Revelation 22:10 the completed book is left
unsealed because there is no more to be said.
Prophetic speculators take note
of the fact that with the coming of railroads, automobiles, and airplanes,
people “go to and fro” much more than ever before in history. Scientific
knowledge has also boomed in recent years. We can say, of course, that a
thousand years from now people may be going to and fro even more than they do
now, and there will be even more knowledge around, so how can anyone know that
our own generation is the time verse 4 is pointing to?
The real point, of course, is
that this kind of “interpretation” of verse 4 is possible only by wrenching the
text completely out of its context and then dreaming up possible meanings…
[T]here is plenty of going to and fro in Daniel 11 and that is pretty clearly what
verse 4 refers to.…((“run to and fro—not referring to the modern rapidity
of locomotion, as some think, nor to Christian missionaries going about to
preach the Gospel to the world at large [Albert Barnes], which the context
scarcely admits; but, whereas now but few care for this prophecy of God, ‘at
the time of the end,’ that is, near its fulfilment, ‘many shall run to and
fro,’ that is, scrutinize it, running through every page. Compare Hab 2:2 [John Calvin]: it is thereby that ‘the knowledge
(namely, of God’s purposes as revealed in prophecy) shall be increased.’”
(Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, et al., A Commentary, Critical and
Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments [Oak Harbor, WA: Logos
Research Systems, Inc., 1997], Dan. 12:4).)) [T]he increase of knowledge
is pretty obvious: As time goes along and the predictions in Daniel 11 are fulfilled decade by decade, the
prophecy will be better and better understood.10
The Hebrew word for “knowledge”
in Daniel 12:4 is not a reference to a mass
collection or a library of data.11 Knowledge is used as revelational
information about God and His works. It’s most likely that the knowledge being
described in Daniel 12:4 is related to the new covenant and
the coming of the promised Redeemer. Since the focus of the Bible is on Jesus (Luke 24:25–27), we should expect that this is
what God had in mind when the angel told Daniel that “the knowledge” (note the
“the” here) will increase. What redemptive significance does a modern
Google search have to do with God’s redemptive plan for His people? Zacharias
and Elizabeth (1:5-25), Joseph and Mary (1:26-56), Simeon (Luke 2:25-32) and Anna (2:36-38) had an
increase in “the knowledge” as the realities of the old covenant were unfolding
in their day. The Scriptures “testify” about Jesus (John 5:39). Jesus uses Daniel 7:13 as the defining event in His
ministry (Matt. 24:30), something His accusers (again,
in that generation) should have understood (26:64). This is the
“increase in knowledge” that the angel was describing. Even prophecy writer
Thomas Ice—who still believes in the future repetition of all these
“signs”—recognizes that the interpretation followed by Lindsey, Morris,
Gillette, and so many other pop-prophecy analysts found on the Internet have
misread and misapplied Daniel 12:4.12
It could be argued that the New
Testament itself is the increase of knowledge: “For God, who said, ‘Light shall
shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the
Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Then there is the negative side
to the promise of an increase in revelational knowledge: “Woe to you lawyers!
For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and
you hindered those who were entering” (Luke 11:52).
What about the Gog and Magog
prophecy found in Ezekiel 38-39? There is
nothing new under the same. These two prophetic passages have been used
over the centuries as proof texts to some end-time bad guy from their era. In
reality, the prophecy was fulfilled long ago during the time Haman the Agagite
tried to kill all the Jews (Esther 3). See my
book The Gog and Magog End-Time Alliance for
a detailed study of Ezekiel 38–39.
Conclusion
It is simply time that Christian
move past the repeatedly-failed nonsense of these sensational prophecy pundits.
Their predictions have always failed because their methods and interpretations
of Scripture have always been wrong to begin with. Today’s recent versions will
fare no better than the many past failures—for they are founded on the same
flawed understanding.
But there is a far better way of
looking to the Bible’s understanding of the future. Here’s just a well-written
glimpse I found and happen to agree with. Brian Walsh writes:
Build houses in a culture of
homelessness. Plant gardens in polluted and contested soil. Get married in a
culture of sexual consumerism. Make commitments in a world where we want to
always keep our options open. Multiply in a world of debt. Have children at the
end of history. Seek shalom in a violent world of geopolitical conflict and
economic disparity. This is Jeremiah’s word to the exiles. This is Jeremiah’s
subversive word to us. And in this vision, we just might see, with Jeremiah, “a
future with hope” (Jer. 29:11).
Notes:
1.
The Late Great Planet Earth (Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1970), 145.(
)
)
2.
“The Great Cosmic Countdown,” Eternity (January
1977), 21.()
)
3.
Charles Wesley Ewing, “The Comedy of Errors,” The Kingdom
Digest (July 1983), 45.()
)
4.
Ewing, “The Comedy of Errors,” 45-46.()
)
5.
Grant R. Osborne, Matthew: Exegetical Commentary on the
New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 899-900.()
)
6.
William Sanford LaSor, The Truth About Armageddon: What
the Bible Says About the End Times (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book
House, 1987), 122.()
)
7.
Robert H. Ellison, “John Cumming and His Critics: Some Victorian
Perspectives on the End Times,” Leeds, Centre Working Papers in
Victorian Studies: Platform Pulpit Rhetoric, ed. Martin Hewitt, vol. 3
(Horsforth, Leeds: Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies, 2000), 79.()
)
8.
Ed Hindson and Lee Fredrickson, Future Wave: End Times
Prophecy, and the Technology Explosion (Eugene, OR: Harvest House,
2001); Peter Lalonde and Paul Lalonde, Racing Toward . . . The Mark of
the Beast: Your Money, Computers, and the End of the World (Eugene,
OR: Harvest House, 1994).()
)
9.
Mark Hitchcock, The Complete Book of Bible Prophecy (Wheaton,
IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), 176-177.()
)
10.
James B. Jordan, The Handwriting on the Wall: A Commentary
on the Book of Daniel (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2007),
624-625.()
)
11.
“An increase in travel toward the end of the age is not the idea
of the phrase ‘will go here and there.’ In a number of Old Testament passages
(e.g., 2 Chr 16:9; Jer 5:1; Amos 8:12; Zech 4:10), [the] Hebrew . . . denotes ‘to go
here and there’ in search of a person or thing, and that is the meaning here.
An ‘intense’ searching seems indicated by the verb form. The purpose of this
search will be ‘to increase knowledge.’ Yet Gabriel was not predicting a mere surge
in scientific ‘knowledge,’ and so forth, in the last days. The article appears
with ‘knowledge’ (lit., ‘the knowledge’), showing that a particular kind of
‘knowledge’ was intended, that is, when and how Daniel’s message is to be
fulfilled. As the time of fulfillment draws nearer, the “wise” will seek to
comprehend these prophecies more precisely, and God will grant understanding
(‘knowledge’) to them.” (Stephen R. Miller, Daniel [Nashville:
Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001], 18:321).()
)
12.
Thomas Ice, “Running To and Fro.” Ice gets a lot right in
this article but applies its fulfillment to a post-rapture Great Tribulation.()
The
prophecy pundits are scaremongering again: Here's how to answer them from the
Bible. . . . - The American Vision
)