"This is The End"

On my last post I felt moved to write about Down’s syndrome babies and the injustices that we deceive ourselves in modern society to be “our right to choose” and other convenient excuses. Little did I know that not long after this, Richard Dawkins would make an absurd statement about Down’s syndrome and abortion. It is of course no surprise, as this is the natural place that materialism and naturalism leads to when logically followed through, so why should we expect less from a staunch Atheist? However the timing was in a way, quite coincidental (or perhaps not as coincidence is not something I regularly attribute observations to).

Anyway, to move on from that type of “prophecy” (said in jest, of course!) to another that is actual real prophecy  - Biblical prophecy. Biblical prophecy is so often overlooked among the Church today. This is probably for 2 main reasons:

1) Modern churches do not like to preach about judgement and the wrath of God (and Biblical prophecy is full of this, in fact it focuses on this)

2) Modern churches do not understand Biblical prophecy or decide that it is divisive, so they avoid teaching it

It is certainly the case with #2 that there are many flavours of this variety. For example, some people reject much of the literal nature of Biblical prophecy not yet fulfilled, and thus teach a confusing and somewhat limited (in my opinion) hermeneutical stance on this. For example, that Israel has no place in God’s future plan, that much of Revelation is non-literal or has already happened and is very figurative, or even claim we are not meant to understand it at all. While Biblical prophecy is hard to understand for sure, this should certainly not stop us from studying it, teaching it, and trying to understand it through the help of the Holy Spirit. A blessing is promised to the reader of Revelation who reads and understands the words written in that book.

Now having said this, I want to present a rather speculative discussion on this subject. I am in no way saying this is definitely how things are going to happen, but rather they “could” happen this way. The title of my post is “This is the end” which comes from a movie with Seth Rogan and others in his usual comedic gang, somewhat light-heartedly looking at the idea of the Apocalypse as related to the Bible. This was such an awful film I feel that I lost a significant portion of my life, but it is useful to see the perspective people have and be reminded of the overarching folly of the human religious system. You see, the facts they present were so far from what the Bible says about the end times, but the most significant thing to note is the criterion expected to make it into heaven. Purely based on your good outweighing your bad works and doing something for others first instead of yourself and you make it into heaven. Then when you get into heaven, it is just a big party where everyone does what they want and is rooted in human carnality. Once again, we see evidence of how little people even understand about the Holiness of God. Sadly, I think many people who would call themselves Christians would have a basic structure not too far from this.

This post will be long: there is a lot to discuss and much I am not discussing, but it is a bit of Biblical “fun” and a little bit of speculation given what the Bible says.

Israel’s role in the End Times

Firstly, what we must say is that the activities going on with Israel and the middle East do three things:

1) Demonstrate we are near the end times and very near the return of Christ

2) Deal a significant blow to the non-literalist/Israel allegorist / Preterist (etc.) theology

3) Demonstrate the accuracy of God’s prophecy as recorded in Scripture (the Bible)

I think most people who truly are Christians can agree with #1. However many Christians take Israel and the Church to be continuous and one entity. God did not cut off Israel apparently, but rather (as Convenant Theology teaches) all the blessings and promises made to Israel were meant not for a nation but those who have saving faith in God. As the Church became that people who accepted the Messiah as Christ, they are the fulfilment of the blessings and promises. 

The problem with this in the very first instance is the fact that all the curses that God promised came true to a literal nation Israel. The second problem is this makes certain passages of Scripture very hard to rationalise and weakly interpreted – for example Romans 9-11. Finally, the very fact that so much prophecy is being fulfilled with a literal Israeli nation today is the final piece of the jigsaw that overwhelmingly leads me to reject Covenant theology.

For sure – no salvation comes to any man except through Christ Jesus. But I believe that the Bible is clear that Israel as a nation, on the whole, will come to a saving faith in Christ. They will “look upon Him who they have pierced and mourn as for an only Son.” Then the blessings can be fulfilled – and Israel is separate to the Church (although praise God we have many Jews who have accepted Christ today, just like there always was a remnant of Jews who were true Israel, believing Jews, and form part of the present day Church).

So what is this prophetic evidence concerning Israel? Well to summarise some of the things Scripture teaches about the end times:

• Israel will be scattered among all the nations  
• Jews will be persecuted throughout history 
• Jews will be re-gathered to their original promised land 
•  Israel as a nation will be reformed “in a day” 
•  Israel will control Jerusalem 
•  Israel will still not accept Jesus as their Messiah but will seek to become more religious (legalistic) 
•  Jews in Israel will seek to (and eventually will) rebuild the temple (3^rd temple) and reinstate the sacrificial system 
• The temple that is re-built will not have a court of the Gentiles (this is very important – see below)* 
•  All the surrounding nations will be hostile to Israel and rise against her 
• The land of Israel will be barren and a wasteland from their scattering, until their regathering when it will blossom like Eden 
• The fruit of the land of Israel will give them great abundance in trade and export fine foods around the world 
•  A pure language (Hebrew) will be reinstated among the Jews and in Israel 
• The shekel will be reinstated as a currency 
• The East gate has been sealed up as prophesied, and still remains that way (will do so until the Messiah enters from the East through this gate)

Now the sceptic could go through this list and claim that just because one of these things happened does not prove the prophecies truly predicted it. For example, people always use this with regards to the “wars and rumours of wars” prediction of end times, stating that this has always been the case since the Bible was written. Yet all of these very specific  prophecies, that are not vague have come true (except the temple rebuilding, as marked by * but see further).

Furthermore, the very fact that they have come true is astounding in many of the individual cases. What other nation had its people scattered for nearly 2 millenia, lost the land, yet have come back, been regathered and speak the original language, use the old currency...the odds are not in favour of it being chance for 1-2 of these let alone all of them. Let us examine them a bit further, and let me state that there are many passages not mentioned here, but a mere sampling.

Is 66:8 – Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.”

Deut 30:3 – then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.

This prophecy demonstrates that Israel will be formed as a nation in a day.   The UN declared Israel a legal rightful nation in 1948. Further, following the 6-day war in 1967 they remain an established nation. There is even evidence to show the migration of Jews post-WWII pre-1948 into Jerusalem was dominated by the directions that the Bible states in the same order. The Bible talks about Israel reforming in the end days(and this was written ~2500 years ago). We are living in this time. Israel have control of Jerusalem the city as well, despite the presence of the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount and the religious significance to Muslims of this place. This is clear as seen even now with ISIS supporters demonstrating on Temple Mount: 

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/israel-thousands-isis-supporters-rally-temple-mount-jerusalem-1464043

This poses an apparent problem though: it has been claimed that the Dome of the rock is placed where the 3^rd temple would have to be rebuilt. The Dome is one of the most sacred religious sites of Islam and there is no conceivable way they would stand by and allow it to be destroyed or altered. Now certainly all things are possible with God, however it is interesting to note that many believe when you draw the lines from the ancient borders of Jerusalem (still known and some there to date), the 3^rd temple would be built to the side of the Dome, however the importance is with the lack of the “court of the gentiles.” 

This was inherent in previous temple structures however the Bible states:

Revelation 11:1-2 – I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles.

Now you see, it is prophesised that the outer court will be excluded. Measuring is very interesting in the Bible – it normally refers to God’s ownership, whether that is to own a set place for judgement (destruction) or for His own. This is for His people (Israel) who will be drawn to Him in the end times. However  what is very interesting from what I have read of various scholars and Israeli experts is that if you exclude the court of the gentiles (outer court), then you have a significant clearance from the Dome of the Rock therefore you do not need to impinge on it to have the rest of the temple there. It is a number of meters in its boundaries from the temple, without its outer court. So I believe the fact that the outer court is not there is very pertinent, and fitting with our time and the “gentiles” being those who are worshipping their own “god” right next to the Jewish temple.

But you say the temple has not been built, so this is speculation – yes, it is speculation but it is certainly highly possible and I would argue probable. There is a huge movement to rebuild the 3^rd temple and when you look into it, you see the temple foundation in Israel and others is completely ready. They could set this thing up in a week – and it could be like the tabernacle travelling temple with the Jews that they could set up very quickly, in its first instance. They have all the ornaments, the various structures, the priestly garments, the plans, the layout – everything ready. They have been doing this for years and money has poured in from Jews worldwide to their foundation to set this up. They have even initiated priestly classes to train up a young generation in how to correctly perform the Levitical duties and sacrifices. 

Finally, they are actively seeking out the perfect red heifer which they believe they need for the first sacrifice (the 10^th perfect heifer) that will usher in the Messiah to come to Israel and liberate them. That is in their teaching – once the 10^th perfect red heifer is sacrificed, Messiah will come. Just earlier this month they had been closely monitoring a red heifer in the US from presumably an anonymous Jewish farmer who had submitted it early on as a candidate, and ensured that it performed no labour and was treated very specially. They thought it was perfect but it recently changed some hair colour in a patch, thus disqualified it. But you see, they are searching the whole globe to import this heifer if they have to. It is truly amazing how quickly this could happen. Finally, many Rabbis claim that since Solomon’s time, it has been safe-guarded and a closely kept secret where the location of the hidden ark of the covenant is at. They believe that Solomon made a complex maze under the Temple Mount in his wisdom, as he knew that invaders would come and try to take the Ark. Thus they say they know the exact location, however it is under where perhaps the Dome of the Rock is and they have been hindered by Muslims (who also destroy many artifacts that add evidence the Jews were there before the Muslims thus have more right to Jerusalem) who stop them from trying to dig under the mount to find it. Imagine what finding that could do though for that whole situation and for the Jewish people in reviving the majority to believe the Scriptures as valid, and hence also join the religious Jews there to rebuild the temple.

 

Other important pieces of Scripture to note:

Zeph 3:9 For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord.

How could it be that a nation that did not even speak Hebrew in Jesus’ time, suddenly at this point in history comes to its home land and also restores its ancient language of Hebrew. This is the “pure” speech that Zephaniah refers to. Additionally we see in Ezekial 45 that the shekel will be in use and restored in the end times. When Israel came back the Israel lira was in use until 1980 and then the Shekel came in. This is another amazing fulfilment of end times prophecy we see before us now.

Finally, one prophecy that thrills me the most is the Eastern gate:

Ez 44:1-2 – Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. The LORD said to me, “This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way."

The Eastern gate was sealed up several hundred years ago which is something you can look up but this is confirmed to be the original Eastern gate. It remains sealed to this day. When Israel was defending itself through attack in the 20^th century, it was suggested by some soldiers that they break through this shut gate in order to surprise and gain advantage over their enemies.  One soldier though it is reported to vehemently oppose this, for they knew the Scriptures and they said that only the Messiah can unseal  this gate. How fascinating is it to know that this gate is still there, remains sealed and that Jesus Himself will break through it physically and literally sometime in the probably not-so-distant future!

There are so many other prophecies that have been fulfilled, but these are the main specific ones with regards to Israel. Some have yet to be fulfilled, and we certainly know about the rider of the horse that comes in peace, makes a 7-year peace treaty with Israel and then defiles that (and the temple) at the mid-point, when the nations then gather against Israel.

The role of Islam

However, I do not want to end there. Something fascinates me about the conflict of Arabs and Islam surrounding Israel. Many people have said the Catholic church will be the main opponent, but although I believe they may have an involvement and their pope may indeed be the false prophet, I am starting to strongly believe that the anti-Christ will in fact be a Muslim.

With all of ISIS going on, and the severe approach they have taken, it is clear the world is largely “condemning” this behaviour and it will not be tolerated. There is also no clear leadership or plan for ISIS moving forward. As a side note – it is interesting to think that 20 years ago, people may not have taken Revelation speaking of the “souls of those who were beheaded for their faith” as literal, due to the unusual association of beheading with our “modern” times. Yet what do we see now? Islam extremists who are doing exactly that (and how “extremist” they are, is a point for debate). Is it so hard to imagine then this becoming common place? I think not.

But anyway, returning to Islam. It is clear that Muslims are predominantly the persuasion of those nations surrounding Israel. These are who will rise up against the Jews, and they already disdain them and want them removed as a nation. This all goes back to Ishmael and Isaac (Islam through Ishmael, Judaism through Isaac) however what is most fascinating is the eschatology that is taught by Islam. Here is what they believe concerning the end times, as a summary of relevant points:

• The first main person to come at the end of history is the Mahdi/12th Imam 
• The Mahdi comes to remove/kill all those who do not worship Allah/convert to Islam 
• The Mahdi comes to establish the everlasting world dominating kingdom of Islam
• The Mahdi will be a leader of military sorts as he will have a large army with black flags that go from nation to nation converting people to Islam
• The Mahdi will first send the army to destroy the Jews and establish rule on Temple Mount (where the 3rd Jewish temple must be built and where the Dome of the Rock lies)
• Mahdi will first come and make though, a peace agreement with the west and Jews for 7 years
• The Mahdi will come riding on a white horse
• The Mahdi will find hidden scriptures somewhere in the middle east which will be deemed the true scriptures and demonstrates that the Jews and Christians have it wrong and their versions of the scriptures are wrong
• There will be a prophet that will also come and support the Mahdi
• This prophet will be Jesus
• This Jesus will exalt the Mahdi, and put to rest the Christian account and reveal that he was never killed, never rose from the grave, etc (but he is a pure Muslim)
• He will direct people to worship the Mahdi and Allah
• A Muslim “Antichrist” will come – Dajjal
• Dajjal will come on a mule and is blind in one eye, a false miracle worker who claims to be Jesus the Son of God 
• The “true” Jesus will kill him and stop him from affecting the Mahdi

This amazes me – you can perfectly see how so many will be fooled into thinking that the Antichrist is what they have been waiting for – the establisher of Islam worldwide. It will even be confirmed to them when the 7-year deal is made! Undoubtedly the false prophet fits in perfectly here too, and you can even see then why the Bible says many will be deceived in that time (“even the elect, if that were possible”). The ultimate false Christ.

ISIS cannot bring about what they want as that is condemned as well – there needs to be a great leader who will come with great promise of prosperity but of also peace. ISIS cannot bring about what they want as that is condemned as well – there needs to be a great leader who will come with great promise of prosperity but of also peace.

So where are we now? Awaiting the arrival of that leader, the rebuilding of the temple, the rise of the false prophet and the 7-year peace treaty deal. Looking over the facts above, what is left to be fulfilled? We are literally on the verge and it could in a very real sense happen at absolutely any point now. Will we (the Church) be here to see it happen? That is another point for debate – I believe largely not, and this is why when you study these things it gives your heart a greater urgency for evangelism, and also preparedness of your own heart and life.

Do you say “Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus” with great joy and delight? Or do you fear the thought of the end times or being swept away? To live is Christ, to die is certainly gain and for Jesus to return is beyond all joy and comprehension.

Thoughts on the deaths of innocents

 

Innocent is a word thrown around in our society that has a very separate meaning than what we find in the Bible. Generally speaking, the Bible teaches that in the grand scheme of things, no one is truly “innocent” as all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 8:28). It is quite hard to seriously read and take in the book of Romans without coming away with this perception that the Bible presents: namely, all are evil according to God’s standards.

However there may be a conundrum within this statement when we look at the wider scope of Scripture. For example, when God talks to Jonah when He is sending him to Nineveh to preach repentance, He says (Jonah 4:11):

"Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"

Equally, we see in Deuteronomy (1:39) where God is saying who will and will not enter the promised land:

“'Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it.”

It seems clear to me that God views children (and those unable to fully understand good and evil) as in essence a type of “innocent” being. Personally, I would interpret this as they are not truly innocent as are born in sin, and it is woven into their nature (as all are in Adam), however God’s grace through Jesus’ sacrifice covers them until an age of accountability. David implied this with the death of his son (“I will go to him” after his son had died).

This has great relevance to what is going on in the world today. We see 1000s of people dying in conflicts ironically right where all of this was taking place before. The Israeli conflict with the Palestinians goes back to that verse in Deuteronomy and even in the news at the moment, radical Muslims are slaughtering and scattering out people from Nineveh itself, in an ironic opposite fashion to Jonah’s time.

What saddens people the most in the west are the images of little children injured, and killed from these conflicts. Rightly so when we consider the words of the Bible and also human emotion I believe is designed to have an affinity to compassion towards children as seemingly innocent. Another story in the news recently here in the UK has been an Australian couple who found a surrogate mother in Thailand for them to have a child and upon birth of twins they apparently took the healthy one home and left the Down’s syndrome baby there. There are conflicting reports on this story but the point is more about the reaction – and a right reaction of anger if such an event was true.

The deaths of little innocent children from the conflict of war and human selfishness anger those in the west greatly.

The abandonment of a new-born child with a mental impairment shocks and outrages those in the Western world.

However, I call hypocrisy - staunch, ignorant hypocrisy. Shame on us in the west, for pointing out the chip in others’ eyes and ignoring the Amazonian rain forest in our own. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I agree with the moralistic anger at those events, but let us take a step back and consider some hard and cold facts:

• ~92% of babies diagnosed in utero with Down’s syndrome are aborted in the UK (>90% for EU)
• In 2011, there were 190,000 abortions in the UK (that is 520 babies aborted per day)
• Medical grounds for abortion are often based on unknown outcomes and risks, rather than of danger to the mother
• Abortions can be routinely offered by medical staff for potentially minor medical issues (cleft palate, club foot, etc)

How often do you see social media filled with such statistics? A few hundred people die in a war over a few weeks and it is tragic and horrible to see the images, yet >500 babies per day in the UK are legally terminated and no one bats an eyelid over this act. Science has fed us the lie that an unborn child is not a “real” life. It is just a ball of cells. I think anyone who has seen how complex a 12-week child is on a scan knows that this is not true. That is a human being and it has a right to live where human hands are concerned. To terminate a child because it may be a burden on you is not a choice you should be given to make.

I recognise that there are tragedies that happen. Mothers die in labour, victims of rape fall pregnant, etc. But why do we continually feed ourselves the lie that an abortion is simply a choice and not the taking of an innocent life? Why do we ignore this issue and simply come to accept it in our modern world? Oh the irony – people fight over religion and we have those on social media saying, “Come on, this is 2014 for goodness’ sake – we are sophisticated and beyond this behaviour” whilst all the time gladly accepting you can suck an unborn baby out of the womb and shred it to pieces and claim we are beyond barbaric acts? This is madness and yet it is saddening to think about. Yet to Christians it should be of no surprise to us, as I started this post making the point that man is inherently evil then we should not be surprised to find apparently intelligent and sophisticated people seeing nothing wrong with taking unborn children’s’ lives. Sadly, abortion has become so accepted in our society that it creeps into our thinking even as Christians where we do not engage with the severity of this act.

I will finish with a quote from a great Michael Card classic song – “Spirit of the Age”:

“Now every age has heard it,

That voice that cries from Hell.

‘Sacrifice your children and for you it will be well’

The subtle Serpent’s lying,

His dark and ruthless rage.

Behold it is revealed to be the Spirit of the Age.

Soon all the ones who seemed to die for nothing,

Will stand beside the Ancient of Days.

With joy we’ll see that Infant from a manger,

Come and crush the Spirit of the Age.”

Thoughts on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict

The conflict that says so much about the way the world is going than most people realise once again takes headlines in the news. It seems to be quite polarised. If you turn to American media (heavy Jewish influence, very pro-Israel) you get a very one-sided view towards Israel. If you turn to English media like BBC and survey most English people on this you get a very different view and very anti-Israel. Americans would do well to remember that they fund something like $10bn per year to Israel and funded the Iron Dome. England would do well to remember they have major arms deals with many of these countries (including Russia...). People don’t want to know about that though and propaganda is rife (perhaps worse so in the west as it is more subtle).

It seems to me that there are two options presented:

1) Israel is simply defending itself and is justified – civilian deaths are Hamas’ fault

2) Palestinians are prisoners in their own country and oppressed by Israel who do not really want peace and inhumanely attack parts of Gaza known containing children and civilians

However there is never a third option open. I would argue for a third option, and that is BOTH countries (groups) are in the wrong. Both countries should have actions condemned. 

Sure if Israel did not have its Iron Dome it would have 1000s of casualties from all the rockets fired into the country. Sure maybe Hamas fire from areas of civilian population including children. But neither are justified in their actions. I do not think we can say one is worse than the other – both are bad. Both are responsible for the deaths of the innocent (children) and should stop, look into other ways to deal with the situation. Having high risk that attacks will fall on schools, shelters and hospitals is not an acceptable option in war. Declaring peace and the continuing to fire rockets is not an acceptable option in war either. Both countries are at fault and options 1 & 2 are too absolutist.

From a Christian perspective, you see more of a bias perhaps in the US with this conflict. I believe that this is due to the prevalence of pre-millennial dispensationalists For the record, I largely agree with that eschatological view, and in fact would argue that by the mere existence of Israel since 1948 and how they have grown and survived and thrived is one of the strongest pieces of evidence for such an interpretation of Israel still in God’s plan. This is of course, apart from the obvious straight forward reading of Scripture which I would sit very uncomfortable with declaring all of God’s curses to Israel literally came true, but all of the blessings go to the Church. This does not make sense. It is ironic to say as well, that most people who reject Israel as being still in God’s promises are the most reformed, Calvanistic type (ones I might identify much of my theology with). The reason I say it is ironic, as to me such a view should be left to the Armenian Christian. They are the ones that believe you can lose your salvation. Calvanists believe in perseverance of the saints and God’s ability to keep that which Christ has been given, and stay true to these promises. (I also wonder what the point in the book of Hosea and the illustration of Gomer is if Israel are no longer in God's plan).

Anyway, that is a topic I want to talk more on another time, to get my thoughts down on as it fascinates me. The point is though, perhaps dispensational Christians sympathise too much with Israel in that they will seem to always side with them as they are “God’s people” in a certain dispensational sense. This is true – when God removes the Church I believe at the pre-tribulation rapture He then uses that time to deal with Israel, and there will be mass conversion of Israel as a nation to accept Jesus as the Saviour Messiah, however Israel has probably the worst possible record you can have for being “ungodly” in their correct worldview. Therefore this is still the sinful, rebellious and ungodly Israel we are talking about – not all their actions are right. We should support their right to exist as a nation but that does not mean supporting everything they do. Yet so many Christians in America cannot see any fault with what Israel are doing here and that to me is clearly being blinded by incorrectly viewing Israel as not being able to do wrong as they are God’s people and He is working in them.

There is a dangerous parallel that we see in the Church though as well – “great” (read, famous) leaders who are so captivated by their followers that when and where they do wrong, it cannot be seen and people go beyond reasonable measures to stand by them and justify them to the point of covering up their sin. We must remember that all are sinners, especially Israel. They have not yet accepted Christ as their Messiah, they still hold onto the tradition and outward workings that they believe are sufficient for a salvation. They still hold onto the “right of heritage” for their entrance to heaven. They still make very wrong choices and are not acting in God’s desired “will”.

So Hamas is wrong, but so is Israel. We would do well as Christians to not side errantly one way or the other, but pray that man’s violence would end, that God would bring about peace here so that the innocent may have a chance to hear about the good news of the Gospel.

Israel needs peace – if for no other reason than nothing can or will compare to what is going to come their way when the Anti-christ comes and establishes a 7-year peace deal with them. The violence and horror that will ensue will make anything going on in the world now seem like a playground fight. And I believe we are very close to it – all that is going on in the Middle East now is setting the stage for the greatest events the world will see since Christ died on the cross.

Pray for Israel and pray for Gaza. Pray for the Gospel to be made known.