Let’s talk a little bit about “the antichrist”.  I would note first of all that the Greek preposition anti has two meanings:  in opposition to (or against) AND in place of.  So an antichrist either opposes Christ or tries to take the place of Christ (a counterfeit).  And an antichrist could be both at once!There are only five occurrences of “antichrist” in the Bible, all in the short epistles of J...  Read More

Early in my ministry I was speaking with a missionary about my views of the end times.  He was surprised when I said I believed Christians would go through the tribulation.  I was surprised when he said, “If I believed we could suffer persecution, I would never have gone to the mission field!”“In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus said.  “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 1...  Read More

The vision of Ezekiel 40-48 describes a Temple which is clearly not Solomon’s or the second Temple or Herod’s.  Many students of the Bible, insisting on ‘literal interpretation’, believe Ezekiel was predicting a fourth Temple that would be rebuilt (as well as restored animal sacrifice) in the end times.  A few thoughts on these matters…Ezekiel says repeatedly that this is a vision (40.2, and 3x in...  Read More

Is there a future for a re-united national Israel as predicted by the ancient Hebrew prophets?  If there isn’t, what are we to make of those ancient prophecies about a re-united Israel?The system of theology that teaches that the kingdom belongs to national Israel is built on the Old Testament without input from the New.  But Christians believe the Old Testament must be interpreted in light of the...  Read More

A woman who had been attending our church for some time asked me about my views on the end times.  When I explained my perspective, she grew visibly angry and said, “THAT’S REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY!” and accused me of teaching false doctrine.I had never heard the term “replacement theology” and upon researching it, discovered it’s a pejorative term used for my view by those that oppose it, and (I migh...  Read More

A second parable Jesus told in the last week of His earthly life elaborates the significance of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 21.33-46).Jesus begins with a parable borrowed from Isaiah 5.  A man builds a vineyard and a wine-vat protected by a hedge (fence) and a tower.  In Isaiah 5 the vineyard owner thought with all his care he would get good grapes, but it only yielded wild (and unusable...  Read More

Jesus mentions the destruction of Jerusalem in a parable told the last week of His earthly life (Matthew 22.1-10).  In it, Jesus compares God’s kingdom to a wedding feast thrown by a king for his son.  Servant after servant was sent out to summon the guests to the feast, but those invited refused to come.  Some shrugged off the messengers and continued their daily routines.  Others arrested, humil...  Read More

We conservative Christians are familiar with the Bible, but less so with extra-biblical history.  For example, we don’t know much about Jewish history between Malachi and Matthew or about events that took place after the things recorded in the Book of Acts.At the end of Acts, Paul arrives in Rome (AD 60) and the biblical history ends with Paul living there for two years (till AD 62), waiting for a...  Read More

I settled upon two important principles for interpreting end times passages:(1) Clear passages must interpret unclear passages(2) Interpretations of prophecy by Jesus or the apostles are finalBoth points come into play with Jesus’ teaching about the tribulation.In Matthew 24.1-2, the disciples are marveling at the Temple and Jesus predicts the destruction of that Temple, accomplished by Rome in AD...  Read More

My last seven blogs laid out why I left the pretribulation rapture behind.  The pretrib rapture is built on Israel and the Church being two separate peoples with two distinct programs that operate separately in history (which arose at the same time), and I don’t think the Bible teaches that.What does the Bible teach about the Church and its relationship to Israel?  Romans 11 gives us a clear pictu...  Read More

The case for the pretribulation rapture depends upon keeping the program for Israel and the program for the Church separate and distinct.  If there is any intertwining between the two peoples or their programs, the necessity for a pretribulation rapture disappears.The covenant that made Israel God’s people at Sinai was broken by the Israelites.  God dispersed the norther tribes in 722 BC and then ...  Read More

If the Bible nowhere says that the rapture occurs before the Tribulation (it doesn’t) and if the pretribulation rapture depends on keeping Israel and the Church and their respective programs separate from each other, then any intertwining of the program for Israel and the program for the Church will remove the central reason for the pretribulation rapture.  In Genesis 12, God makes promises to Abr...  Read More