The abuse of eschatology invites prophetic interpretations that are often unfounded and contradict both Scripture and Church History in regard to Christ's second coming.
Whenever events in the Middle East appear to foreshadow prophetic statements in the Old and New Testaments, some Christian scholars are quick to announce the imminent return of Christ and the fulfillment of St. John’s Apokalypsis, translated as “Revelations” by John Wycliffe around 1380. In 1991, for example, on the heels of Operation Desert Storm, John F. Walvoord, eminent past president of Dallas Theological Seminary, published Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis. Christian book stores are full of such books. But does the evidence support the thesis?
Evidence for a Post-Tribulation Parousia
Advocates of a pre-tribulational “rapture” of the true believers are forced to divide the “Day of the Lord” into distinct and separate appearances, although Scripture speaks of only one second coming and one judgment. Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians (chapter 2) points to one second coming: “for it will not come unless the apostacy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed…” The “signs of the end” found in Matthew’s Gospel (chapter 24) also strongly imply that certain signs must precede the return of Christ.
A careful reading of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians indicates that the Thessalonian believers thought that they had been left behind. Throughout the Scriptures, “imminency” is never defined. In all cases that allude to the second coming, the early church believed that it would endure the full tribulation. In every case of early Christian persecution, there is no evidence that martyrs believed that they would be rescued from death by an imminent “rapture” of the church. [1]
Historical Consideration of Apocalyptic Belief
Church history supports the post-tribulation view and eschatology taught for centuries that the second coming was linked to the end of the final millennium. This began to change, notably in fundamentalist Protestant denominations, at the end of the nineteenth century when the theological system dubbed “dispensationalism” defined the ages of creation and pinpointed the end of the “Church Age” or the Age of Grace with an imminent return of Christ that preceded the wrath of an antichrist figure presiding over worldwide tribulation. [2]
Events in history have always triggered end of time predictions and observations, from early Roman persecutions to the Reformation of the 16th century and beyond. [3] Yet none of these cases elaborate a two-phase parousia during which believers are extracted from the earth during the final phase of tribulation. For Luther, the papacy represented the antichrist and the Ottoman invasions were the “Gog and Magog” of Ezekiel’s 38th and 39th chapter.
On Going Interpretations of Prophecy
With continued and perhaps expanding military action in the Middle East, an insolvable Palestinian crisis, and world-wide economic and environmental crises, new interpretations continue the tradition of going to the mountain top to await the second coming. Although Scripture gives signs of the end, the Bible also cautions that no one knows the hour, not even the angels in heaven.
Perhaps the greatest danger in aligning current events with Biblical prophecy is the failure to note similar patterns throughout history, often at times of greater peril than we may face today as, for example, the tribulations of the 14th century when famine, plague, and war ravaged Europe. And while some "signs" may be clearly evident, others remain elusive.
Sources and Further Reading
[1] Giuseppe Ricciotti gives detailed accounts of early martyrs in The Age of Martyrs: Christianity From Diocletian to Constantine (New York: Marboro Books Corp, 1992)
[2] “Justification by Faith and Eschatology,” Present Truth. Special issue, Robert D. Brinsmead, ed.,(Fallbrook, California, 1974).
[3] Robin Bruce Barnes, Prophecy and Gnosis: Apocalypticism in the Wake of the Lutheran Reformation (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988). Barnes’ discusses the 16th Century.
The copyright of the article Second Coming, Scripture, and Church History in Protestantism is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish Second Coming, Scripture, and Church History in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
I agree with your article. Prior to understanding what the Scriptures say
regarding Post Tribulation, I held to the belief of the rapture, due to the
fact of being raised under that premise. But after mush research and
studying, I realize the Bible does in fact teach that we will go through
the Tribulation. However, many Christians will not budge on this fact. They
are determined that they will whisked away, never to endure any hardship.
Jan 1, 2009 12:25 AM
Guest :
(
PRETRIB RAPTURE - HIDDEN FACTS !
How
can the "rapture" be "imminent"? Acts 3:21 says that
Jesus “must” stay in heaven (He is now there with the Father) “until the
times of restitution of all things” which includes, says Scofield, “the
restoration of the theocracy under David’s Son” which obviously can’t begin
before or during Antichrist’s reign. Since Jesus must personally
participate in the rapture, and since He can’t even leave heaven before the
tribulation ends, the rapture therefore cannot take place before the end of
the trib! Paul explains the “times and the seasons” (I Thess. 5:1) of the
catching up (I Thess. 4:17) as the “day of the Lord” (5:2) (which FOLLOWS
the posttrib sun/moon darkening - Matt. 24:29; Acts 2:20) WHEN “sudden
destruction” (5:3) of the wicked occurs! (If the wicked are destroyed
before or during the trib, who would be left alive to serve the
Antichrist?) Paul also ties the change-into-immortality “rapture” (I Cor.
15:52) to the posttrib end of “death” (15:54)! (Will death be ended before
or during the trib?) If anyone wonders how long pretrib rapturism has been
taught, he or she can Google “Pretrib Rapture Diehards.” Many are unaware
that before 1830 all Christians had always viewed I Thess. 4’s “catching
up” as an integral part of the final second coming to earth. In 1830 it was
stretched forward and turned into a separate coming of Christ. To further
strengthen their novel view, which the mass of evangelical scholars
rejected throughout the 1800s, pretrib teachers in the early 1900s began to
stretch forward the “day of the Lord” (what Darby and Scofield never dared
to do) and hook it up with their already-stretched-forward “rapture.” Many
leading evangelical scholars still weren’t convinced of pretrib, so pretrib
teachers then began teaching that the “falling away” of II Thess. 2:3 is
really a pretrib rapture (the same as saying that the “rapture” in 2:3 must
happen before the “rapture” ["gathering"] in 2:1 can happen - the
height of desperation!). Other Google articles throwing light on
long-covered-up facts about the 178-year-old pretrib rapture view include
“Famous Rapture Watchers,” “X-Raying Margaret,” “Revisers of Pretrib
Rapture History,” “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” “Wily Jeffrey,” “The Rapture
Index (Mad Theology),” “America’s Pretrib Rapture Traffickers,” “Roots of
(Warlike) Christian Zionism,” “Scholars Weigh My Research,” “Pretrib
Hypocrisy" and “Deceiving and Being Deceived." Todd
Feb 17, 2009 12:59 PM
Guest :
Acts 3:21!! How is it that we can scour the Bible daily, think we know a
subject inside and out, and then be enlightened by someone on a subject all
over again? That is what Todd did for me in his response by quoting
Acts 3:21. Ah, the beauty of scripture and the way God reveals it to
us in the proper season. Thanks, Todd! Jed
Jul 31, 2009 11:13 AM
Guest :
Consider the probability that the "end times" have already
happened - 2000 years ago. The Great Tribulation was the judgment upon
unbelieving Israel in the Rome-Israel war of AD70, when unbelieving Israel
perished. Immdiately before that Tribulation, the faithful remnant of
Israel as raptured (Paul was one of them). That happened immediately after
another tribulation, the trial and testing of the faithfulness of that
remnant. Many more Scriptures fit into that view seamlessly than any
of the pre-mil, pre-trib, amil, or postmil views. C.P. Machovsky www.tribulationhoax.com
Dec 12, 2008
