Peace While the World Trembles
 As
this is being written the world is being brought to
the brink of war according to some commentators. Reporters
are calling the actions of the antagonists “brinkmanship”.
This refers to the escalation of tensions with acts
of kidnapping, rocket attacks, threats of nuclear missile
launches, missile test-firings and verbal saber-rattling
that result in responses that are ever closer to the
point of no return.
Added to the volatile situation in
the Middle East is the impact of floods, droughts, dread
diseases, local violence, the price of oil, earthquakes
and associated tidal waves, etc. There have always been
such things, but never before with the rate, power and
impact of current events. That this world is teetering
on the edge of something cataclysmic is evident. The
horizon is growing black with dark clouds of calamitous
devastation of some kind, and many are fearful not knowing
exactly what is about to happen. Most people are totally
incapable (unwilling is perhaps the better word) of
seeing current events in light of what God has said.
It is similar to the old “deer-in-the-headlights”
syndrome. The result, of course, is a pervasive sense
of helplessness and hopelessness in the minds of so
many.
Regarding world events and their impact,
people generally fall into one of several broad categories.
Some Christians believe Jesus is going to return for
His church, but believe that is something which will
happen in the future, even the distant future, and they
are fearful because they believe they will have to live
through a time of coming world trouble. Still other
Christians believe the prophetic scriptures are too
difficult to understand, or they are simply irrelevant.
If pressed they will admit something is “going
on”, but they do not know what it might be. They
think none of this makes any sense anyway and do not
know what to believe. Another group consists of unbelievers
who are totally ignorant of the Bible and do not have
the slightest idea that God has even spoken. Then there
are those Christians who are excited about current events
because they point to the imminent return of Jesus for
His church. So, what about all this?
The church is not going to go through
any part of the tribulation. Certainly, we can expect
tribulation in this life — it has always been
so. And when a person becomes a Christian he or she
is not issued a pass that will isolate them from trouble.
Ask any Christian living in a communist or Muslim country
and they will agree. However, just because Christians
experience tribulation does not mean they will go through
“the” tribulation Jesus spoke of in Matthew
24. There are several reasons why, but the most obvious
one is that such a view of events is contrary to the
doctrine of imminence. That is, if the church must go
through some or all of the tribulation then Jesus cannot
come today. The Bible teaches, and the early church
believed in, the imminent return of Jesus.
One of the great joys of believing
in the pre-millennial, pre-tribulation rapture of the
church is the ability to live with hope. Without hope
life becomes just one big day-by-day experience consisting
of short times of superficial happiness when things
go well, punctuated by sudden interruptions of extended
periods of despair when events become tragic and the
future becomes foreboding. Folks, this is not the way
God intended us to live.
There have been times in Bible classes,
especially home Bible studies, where someone will say
they do not pay much attention to prophecy because it
is simply too hard to understand. Some have been so
sure of themselves on this point they have stated emphatically
that nobody can understand it. My question
to them is usually, “Well, why do you think God
placed prophetic passages in the Bible?” A bit
of stammering is usually followed by their saying they
did not know. Not every detail of prophecy can be understood,
but the overwhelming portion can be clearly understood.
Certainly prophetic themes and principles can easily
be understood when scripture is allowed to interpret
scripture. Further, even if a Bible student does not
understand the details of a particular text he is still
under the admonition of God to believe it.
Prophetic intricacy is most often not
the problem. Sadly, quite often laziness is the major
contributing factor in not understanding what God has
said. Truths and principles have varying degrees of
complexity, and some require a lot of prayer and patient
pursuit. Some folks simply choose to not put forth the
effort required.
And the question of relevance? How
can anybody stamp “irrelevant” on such passages
as Genesis 12; Ezekiel 36-39; Matthew 24; Luke 21; 1
Thessalonians 4; 1 Corinthians 15; Romans 8, etc.? Such
a comment is nothing less than reckless and irresponsible.
All of God’s word is relevant.
There is another important reason some
people choose to not study and accept the plain sense
of the prophetic word. They might find themselves in
a position where they would have to change some things.
That is, they might actually have to change their belief
system, and that is one thing they simply will not do.
Why? One reason is the responsibility associated with
knowing truth. To know something to be true requires
a Christian to act upon it, and that can be costly in
some religious and family groups.
Unbelievers usually are ignorant of
biblical matters. And those who read the Bible only
to argue against it are incapable of comprehension because,
... a natural man does not accept the things of
the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him,
and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
appraised (1 Corinthians 2:14 NASB). Because they
know nothing of the real essence of scripture they do
not evaluate current events in light of prophecy, nor
do they live life with a view to eternity. Thus, the
result is they are totally unaware of the prophetic
significance of what is going on in the world around
them.
Occasionally I test the waters to see
if the above still holds true. Recently while paying
my bill at a restaurant my server and two other women
were standing at the register engaged in small-talk.
As I signed the receipt I asked, “So, what do
you think about the Hezbollah attack on Israel? Do you
think it has biblical significance?” Sure enough,
I could not have made less sense to them if I had spoken
in Gaelic. None of the three knew what I was even talking
about, and none attended any church. Not even a pretense
of Christianity. We should not wonder why the rapture
will be so startling to most people, nor should we wonder
why the world will bow before the man of sin when he
comes on the scene after the rapture. The world is presently
ripe and ready for his lies and deception.
Unbelievers are also becoming more
fearful about the future, with the “modern era”
being replaced by the “post modern era”.
Such eras have been variously described, but generally
the modern era lasted from the late 1700s until the
middle 1900s. Two major things happened during that
time. First, people began to place supreme confidence
in technology and science. People placed a lot of faith
in man’s ability to figure things out and to solve,
among other things, social, political, medical and economic
problems. It is interesting to note that evolution was
introduced in those years. Second, modernism began to
replace the traditional biblically-based value system.
Humanity did not need God any longer because the human
race had come of age.
The post-modern era began roughly with
the atomic age. It was then mankind began to realize
social institutions and technological advancements,
with all their benefits, really did not offer solutions
to the big problems facing humanity. With each solution
realized, more serious problems were created —
problems that demanded more than man could offer. Instead
of going back to core biblical values, people searched
elsewhere. Rather than finding anything of real substance,
the general result has been confusion about the present
and fearful expectation about the future. That is where
we are today.
Never before has humanity had such
ability and opportunity to destroy itself. The U.N.
has proven to be impotent. It seems that each technological
discovery that can benefit humanity brings with it a
terrifying parallel. While mass communication brings
the world closer together, ICBMs do the same. When polio
and TB were declared eradicated AIDS made its début.
Thus, many are now seeing that man does not, in fact,
have the answers. And the world sleeps in fear.
The pre-millennial, pre-tribulation
view of Bible prophecy removes this fear because those
who subscribe to this viewpoint look for Christ and
not anti-Christ. We live with the ever-present belief
that Jesus will take the church out of this world at
any moment. We do not sit idly by while we wait, but
work by preaching the good news of the gospel of Christ
while we wait. We do not know what tomorrow might bring,
but we know the One who holds tomorrow. We serve our
God, raise our families, work responsibly and do all
we can with every tool available to help others share
in this, the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:11-14).
Our faith and hope are not in Washington,
D.C., the U.N., shuttle diplomacy, technology, cheap
oil, etc. Rather, we have full and utmost confidence
in God who loves the human race more than can be described.
We have read the final chapter of His book and we know
He wins — big time! And His love, grace and mercy
have allowed us to stand with Him on that glorious day
of final and complete victory. We know peace and have
no fear. No strategy, ideology or institution of human
origin can offer that! DLM |
