How do you differentiate the “third-part left in the land” (Zech 13:8-9) from those brought back to the land from the Diaspora in Isaiah 66:19-20?

To answer this question we need to establish the time of Israel’s national salvation, because this is also the time of another worldwide return that is complete and final. A careful comparison of Isa 11:11-16 with Isa 27:12-13 in their context (note particularly Isa 11:15 with Isa 27:12) will show that the time of the final return is the post-tribulational day of the Lord. This is further established when we see that Jesus mentions Isaiah’s ‘great trumpet’ in connection with His personal return after the tribulation (Mt 24:29, 31).

With the sounding of the great trumpet, the tribulation is past, Jesus appears and the church is translated (Mt 24:31; 1Cor 15:51-52; 2Thes 2:1). At the same time, the elect remnant of Israel that has survived the tribulation deeply repent as they “look upon Him whom they pierced” (Zech 12:10; Mt 23:39; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7). It is a moment of transforming revelation, best likened to Paul’s revelation on the road to Damascus.

With this, a nation is born, ‘at once’ and ‘in one day’ (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; 12:10; 14:9; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7). Now, with God’s face no longer hidden, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the penitent remnant (Eze 39:28-29) and a newly regenerated nation begins to make its way back to the Land, not by rapture, but by means of every kind of natural means of transport (Isa 49:22; 60:9; 66:20).

[To interpret these scriptures literally, and in light of what we know of the time and nature of the church's translation into glorified immortality at the last trump, we are left to infer that the Jews who had not repented before the rapture are not translated, but receive repentance and regeneration at the time of the Lord's appearing (Zech 12:10 with Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7).]

It is crucial that a distinction be made between a preliminary stage of return to the Land before the tribulation and another that is final and complete that takes place after tribulation. The first is in unbelief, excepting, of course, the ever present remnant of faith. The second is in repentant faith in Christ. In contrast, the final return is without the presence of the usual remnant, since only the saved are left to enter the Land (Isa 4:2-4; 54:13; 59:21; 60:21; Jer 31:34; Eze 39:28). All others will have perished in the tribulation (Eze 20:33-38) . Every Jew left alive will be alive to Christ.

This means that the “third-part” of Zech 13:8-9 will constitute the saved remnant from among those that are specifically mentioned as dwelling “in the Land.” They will survive the fire of tribulation and so attain to the salvation of the last day when the Spirit is poured out (Ps 102:13; Jer 30:7; Eze 39:22, 29; Zech 12:10). Both those that survive in the Land and those in the nations who are “ready to perish” (Isa 27:12-13) are evidently saved at the same time by the same transforming revelation.

With the revelation of their estranged Joseph, Zion’s travail is finished, and the nation, wherever it is found among the nations, is born in one day (Isa 66:8). With the Antichrist destroyed and Jesus revealed, Jews in the Diaspora of the nations can now begin their final return home, assisted by gentiles (Isa 49:22; 60:9; 66:20; Zech 8:23). No living Jew is left behind; all return (Eze 39:28). Aliyah is complete.

We may ask, how it is that an entire third of the Jewish nation manages to survive the rage of Antichrist? If we restrict the surviving third to only those Jews that are in the land when the tribulation begins, this is indeed a generous portion of survivors of the great tribulation, since we know that Jews in the Land will be the special target of the marauding armies of Antichrist.

This would suggest to me that many more than only the messianic Jews in the Land will escape the Antichrist. The scripture makes their means of escape very clear. It is by flight into the wilderness (Rev 12:6, 14). Could it be that Jesus’ warning in Mt 24:16 concerning the urgency of flight has, by this time, become common knowledge through the witness of the believing remnant (the ‘maskilim’ of Dan 11:32-33; 12:3, 10) during the first half of the week?

We have yet to see what impact the prophetic testimony will have on a shaken and terrified nation that will see every prophetic word established that believers in the Land and abroad have have spoken concerning these days. They will have heard what believers were warning concerning Israel’s ill-fated covenant with death and hell (see Isa 28).

The witness of the first half of the week will prepare for the even more powerful witness of the last half of the week. The second half of the week will be the time that a multitude which no man can number will be saved “out of the tribulation, the great one” (Rev 7:9, 14) through the witness of the wise of Dan 12:3 that will turn many to righteousness.

This would suggest that huge numbers of Jews in the Land will be able to escape the Antichrist to places of safety, which according to a number of clear scriptures seem mostly outside of the Land, particularly and specifically the wilderness of southern Jordan (e.g., Isa 16:1-5; 42:11; Dan 11:41). On the other hand, Art contended that the third-part may be proportional to the ratio of Jewish survival globally. In any event, we know that when the tribulation strikes, Jews everywhere will be the target of Antichrist hatred, as Satan knows that only their complete annihilation can stop the fulfillment of the promise.

Although many more Jews may return to the Land after the false peace with the Antichrist, still, the far greater number will remain in the nations. Therefore, any return before the tribulation is much to be contrasted to the final return when not a single Jew will left behind in the nations (Eze 39:28). Furthermore, it is evident that when the tribulation starts, some Jews from within the land will flee to neighboring regions outside the Land for refuge. We know of at least one for neighboring country for certain, i.e., the wilderness of Petra (Isa 16:1-5; 26:20; 42:11; Dan 11:41).

There will definitely be a remnant of Jews that miraculously survive in the Land all throughout the time of Antichrist (Zech 14:2; Rev 11:13). But in view of what the scripture depicts of that time, we may expect that the ratio of survival will be comparatively sparse, particularly in Jerusalem. It seems clear from scripture that the far greater number survive only because they were able to escape into the wilderness, or, in the case of those that survive in Jerusalem, this could be due to a special protection by the two witnesses.

In any event, flight is the only wise and obedient response to the clear warning of Jesus (Mt 24:16), as significantly confirmed by Rev 12:6, 14. Scripture is clear that not only Jerusalem, but the entire Land will be the scene of great desolation, because the implacable forces of Antichrist will cover the Land like a flood and like a cloud (Dan 9:26; 11:22; Eze 38:9, 6). The desolation of the holy place, the cities, and all the land will continue for forty two months (Rev 11:2 with Isa 63:18; 64:10; Dan 11:31; 12:1, 7, 11; Mt 24:15-16, 21).

It is important always to distinguish between the preliminary return that we see now (Jer 30:3; Eze 38:8; Zeph 2:1-2) and the final and complete return (to the last man; Eze 39:28) that comes only after the tribulation (i.e., “Jacob’s trouble;” compare Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Mt 24:21; Rev 11:2). It is only this latter return after the tribulation that the scripture can be fulfilled that promises that ‘all Israel’, without the exception, will “lie down in safety, so that none make them afraid ever again forever.’ Until then, the threat of future desolation will always hang over Israel’s head.

It is only after the tribulation that the full number of scattered Israel returns, this time as an “all” holy nation, (Isa 54:13; 59:21; 60:21; Jer 31:34). This final return is the one from which Israel will never again be plucked up or destroyed (Amos 9:15). That is the order we see in scripture, and failure to make this crucial distinction has led to very naive notions of Israel’s future, just as the presumption of a pre-trib rapture has led to ignorance of the church’s part and role towards Jacob in his hour of ultimate crisis.

In conclusion, the “third-part left in the Land” may refer to a great number that survive within the borders of the Land that endure to the day of national salvation. That would be the most optimistic interpretation. However, knowing what the scripture says of the concentration of the Antichrist forces in the Land, I cannot share that optimism. I see scripture better harmonized by understanding that this is the third-part of the full number of those that were in the Land at the start of the tribulation, but the greater number of these survive by only by reason of escape into the wilderness.

Whether that wilderness is in the Land or beyond the Land in southern Jordan is a moot question. But in a time when the long arm of Antichrist hatred and persecution will extend into all nations, it is not too far to see that the concept of wilderness flight and refuge becomes a symbol of Jewish flight worldwide, as it will be life or death to escape the concentration of Antichrist control in the population centers of the world (Rev 13:7).

The wilderness mentioned in Rev 12:6, 14 is a common theme throughout the prophets. It is often mentioned as the scene of God’s final pleading in judgment that ends with Israel’s final redemption. This will have it greatest fulfillment in the brief exile of the last 3 1/2 years. Ezekiel speaks of “the wilderness of the people” (Eze 20:35), a term that can have reference to the outlying countries, or the particular wilderness through which Israel passed to the promised Land. In either case, we may be sure that the greater part of the “third-part” will survive by flight into the wilderness.

Can it be that many who find refuge in the wilderness do so precisely because they availed themselves of Jesus’s warning to flee Judea (Mt 24:16)? Where do they flee? Jesus said to the mountains of the Judean wilderness, but this may not be their final destination. From the evidence of several passages, they will flee to the wilderness of Petra in southern Jordan, and perhaps other bordering nations, some of which are presently hostile to their Jewish populations (e.g., Egypt, Assyria; Isa 27:12-13). This suggests that survival during that time may be more hopeful in those lands than in the Land itself, a sobering thought to consider.

In any event, the promised survival of a full “third-part” gives us great hope that there will be a sizable remnant that survives throughout all the nations as well, and this puts the onus on the church to be the prophetic voice in all places, and to be the mysterious “they” of Rev 12:6 who “feed her (the woman) there,” i.e., in the wilderness place prepared of God.

So whether in or out of the Land, there is one thing about which there should be sufficient agreement. Jews will not fare well in population centers. Their greater hope of survival will be to find shelter in the wilderness, in places of refuge from their hunters. I believe at least the greater part of that third part will return back to the Land from the wilderness to which they fled from the face of Antichrist. The greater Diaspora of Isa 66:19-20 will return from all lands at the same time. The time of this final and complete return of all Jews from all lands is very clear. It is “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Mt 24:29; with Jer 30:7-10; Isa 11:10-16; with Isa 27:12-13 with Mt 24:31).

This theme of Israel’s everlasting redemption coming only after a final exodus of sifting and trial in the wilderness has been much neglected. Most Bible scholars recognize it, but interpret the so-called, “new exodus” only of the salvation of the church through Christ. But for our purpose we need to see the time and circumstance of this quite literal wilderness dealing of God with the nation under judgement.

It is clear that after the Jews have been regathered and reconstituted as a nation in the Land, the prophet Jeremiah does not see the peace that he would have expected on the basis of the many prophecies of return in Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah. On the contrary, he is astonished to see, not peace, but a sword (Jer 30:3-7). “Alas, for that day is great so that there is none like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble.” This is also the unequaled tribulation of which Daniel and Jesus spoke (Dan 12:1; Mt 24:21). Therefore, the initial stage of Jewish return from the many generations of exile into revived nationhood (Jer 30:3; Eze 38:8; Dan 12:1) is NOT the final regathering that secures the lasting peace of the everlasting covenant. Rather, it is a prelude to final divine discipline (Zeph 2:1-2).

An unbelieving Jewish nation, however much a necessary fulfillment of prophecy, is still subject to the “vengeance of the covenant” (Lev 26:25). Therefore, it becomes clear that a final wilderness experience that ends in Israel’s everlasting deliverance is future, having its most ultimate fulfillment in the final 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation (Dan 12:7, Rev 11:2; 12:6, 14), which is the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week (Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11).

Rather than quibble over to what degree Jews may or may not be again displaced from the land, isn’t it enough that we agree that the greatest tribulation of all time and history is at hand, and that every preparation of faith and foresight is now urgently expedient? Whether in the Land or out of it, who will not agree that Jews everywhere will be driven into the wilderness in flight from the long arm of the Antichrist, which scripture shows will reach into all lands and places (Rev 13:7)?

Seeing that all these things shall surely come to pass, how should we then live? I suppose the question of what action faith and obedience would demand in the light of these things will depend on the question of how soon? That is another discussion, but scripture seems very clear that just as soon as Israel back in the Land after ‘many generations’ of dispersion, the last assault of the gentiles is shown to follow not long after (Jer 30:3; Eze 38:4, 8; Zeph 2:1-2; 3:8; Zech 14:2).

That seems to me to be the general order of events and how the prophecies of return are best harmonized.

Yours in the Beloved, Reggie

Reggie,
I woke up this morning meditating on these verses in Zech. 14:1,2.

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

My thinking has always been that this capture of the city of Jerusalem takes places immediately before the Lord’s return [“the day of the LORD”]. But it now appears to me that it could be speaking of what actually happens “in the middle of the week.”

Two Questions:

1. Would not this disaster take place before Antichrist “sets up” the abomination?
2. When does Antichrist “enter the beautiful land” and accomplish this taking of the city?

Bro. Phil

I share full agreement with your observation here, Phil. The prophets quite typically envision the day of the Lord as the climax of a larger crisis that is revealed in Daniel to extend for the entire last half of the 70th week (i.e., the final 3 1/2 years of Dan 7:25; 9:27; 12:7, 11; Rev 11:2-3; 12:6, 14; 13:5). That is why Daniel says, ” and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined ” (Dan 9:26).

This means the war that begins at the time of the abomination continues for 42 months unto its end at ‘the great day of God Almighty’ at Armageddon (Rev 16:12-17). In other words, Armageddon is the climax of the war that began 42 months earlier. A comparison of Dan 11:40-45 with Rev 16:12-17 will show the development of that war from its inception in Dan 11:31 till its end in the destruction of the AC in Dan 11:45.

According to Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26, the Antichrist (definitely him; see Eze 38:17) comes down from the north (Dan 8:9) like a flood (Dan 9:26 with Dan 11:22) at a time of seductive false security for Israel. There is no way that one can put the battle of Eze 38 & 39 at the end of the tribulation. It certainly does end there (Eze 39:22-29, especially Eze 39:8 with Rev 16:17), but that is not where it begins. The Eze 38-39 invasion of Israel begins at a time of false security, which we may reasonably suppose is the result of the false peace covenant that Israel enters into with the Antichrist (Dan 9:27; 11:23).^[1] (see footnote). Evidently, Eze 38 begins with the invasion that desecrates the temple and starts the 42 months trampling down of Jerusalem and ends at Armageddon. The entire time of desolation is conceived as belonging to a single war (Dan 9:26). That’s what you’re correctly seeing here in Zech 14, Phil. It’s the comprehensive overview of the last war that ends in the day of the Lord.

There is no evidence that the Jews are welcoming the Antichrist, as some teach. He comes with force (Dan 11:31). He prevails militarily and overruns the city. According to Daniel 11:31-45, this begins a conflict that extends into the nations, but is ongoing till its end at Armageddon.

I also very much agree with your statement, ” I cannot imagine Antichrist quietly coming into Jerusalem and setting up the abomination. The security in and around Jerusalem’s old city and their holiest place is impenetrable at this point. An earlier battle of some sort must already have taken place before he sets up the image!” Exactly true. The AC enters suddenly and without warning (1Thes 5:3) at a time of security (Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26; Dan 11:24). He then proceeds to the temple for the desecrating act that marks the beginning of the end. Forty two months later, the war that begins with the Antichrist invasion of Jerusalem ends with his destruction (Dan 11:31, 45; 12:11; 2Thes 2:8; Rev 11:2; 13:5; 19:19-20).

Although Satan’s ‘little season’ of Rev 20 is symbolically identified with Ezekiel’s battle of Gog and Magog, there are marked differences that demonstrate the necessity to distinguish between two similar events that bound the thousand years at both ends. This has confused many interpreters. There are many literal details that could be pointed out that plainly will not fit with a strictly post-millennial fulfillment. I will mention only one that is very clear. The invasion of Eze 38-39 clearly ends with the day of the Lord deliverance of Israel (see Eze 39:22-29). “So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.” But when Satan is released for a little season at the end of the millennium, Israel has known the Lord for a thousand years. Hence, we conclude that Eze 38-39 and Rev 20 describe two symbolically parallel events that are distinct and must not be confounded.

Reggie

[Followup Question from another reader]
Hi Reggie,
Interesting. Then Ez.38f ends in Armagedon 42 months later, and this victory as described in Ez and Rev. is the day of the Lord. Then the Gog and Magog invasion and the wars of the Antichrist are not two different events, one having to occur before the other. Do you have more teachings on that on your website?
Thanks, J

I’ll have to check if there’s more on Ez 38-39 on the website, but I do recall sending an answer on this question to a Jewish brother who just might still have it. I can ask him and forward that on to you. It will probably be a little more detailed than what you saw in that recent exchange. It’s just one more of many such things that merit work I’ve not had opportunity and time to invest in writing a more complete apologetic for that view of those chapters.

There’s a lot out there on those chapters that is way off track. Time and grace permitting, I hope sometime to get to a more complete apologetic on those chapters. I know this: From ch 39, verses, 21-29, one could hardly wish for a more glorious theology of Israel’s day of the Lord redemption, which is shown to come with the end of the hiding of God’s face, which significantly coincides with the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit after a final assault on a newly regathered nation, only “recently” restored from the many generations of the long exile (see Eze 38:8 with Zeph 2:1-2).

This amounts to some powerful evidence against the popular replacement view that the church has now become the “new” Israel and the so-called, “redefined” people of God, with nothing left over for the natural branches except that some might come back into the church at some undefined time and manner. On the contrary, the time is clear (day of the Lord) and the manner is clear (a surviving remnant receives repentance in one day at the sight of the One whom they pierced. With this comes the pouring out of the Spirit and the end of God’s hiding His face from Israel “forever.” Thus begins the millennium). What could be clearer?!

Taken in context with other scriptures from other prophets that show the perfect correlation between the end of the hiding of God’s face with the pouring out of the Spirit at a still future day of the Lord (e.g., Deut 31:17-18; 32:20; Isa 8:17; 32:15; 44:3; 54:8; 59:21; 64:7; Zech 12:10 with Joel 2:28-32 etc.), there is much that needs to be “unpacked” in those chapters. It means that what has come to us already, as first-fruits, will yet faithfully come to them at that time (“in that day”), when “at once,” a nation will be “born in a day” (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zeph 3:9; 14:7).

Give greetings and love to all my brothers [there], Reggie

1. Though the language is similar, it is important that the interpreter not confuse the security of Eze 39:8, 11, 14 with the millennial security of the restored nation. Eze 39:26 is clear in showing that Israel’s sins increase during the time of this security. This stands in marked contrast to the continuous and undisturbed security that the prophets speak of as following the coming in of the everlasting righteousness at the day of the Lord — Jer 32:40; Dan 9:24 –.

I’ve had some email exchanges with my pastor, and it seems that “the imminent return of Christ” is his main objection. Also for me this scripture seems ‘against’ our view. Although it could just have been a sentence directed to the hearers that they need not concern themselves about the restoration of the kingdom, they had work to do here and now.

“And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons,
which the Father hath put in his own power” (Acts 1:7).

So any thought would be appreciated….

I think our modern debate over the rapture question is making a very illegitimate use of the context and original intention of this passage.

So far from lending support to the doctrine of ‘imminence,’ Acts 1:6-7 is the Lord’s personal correction of that mistaken presumption.

Let’s notice some things:

The disciples that asked this question of Jesus on the eve of the Ascension were either not present when He gave the prophecy from the Mount of Olives, or they had forgotten His words. Only days before, Jesus had taught the disciples that “the end” would be preceded by an unequaled tribulation signaled by the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel (Mt 24:15-16, 21). But first, the gospel must be preached to all nations before the end can come (Mt 24:14).

At the time the disciples asked the question of Acts 1:6, the mystery of Christ’s twofold coming to Israel had not been revealed (Acts 3:18-21; Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:11-12). They didn’t know that the risen Jesus was about to ascend to the right hand of God and there remain until His return (Acts 3:21). Even on those occasions when the disciples had heard the Lord speak of ‘going away,’ it was never imagined that this would be by way of death and resurrection and subsequent ascension.

To understand the dilemma, we must remember that the great puzzle for first century Israel was how the messianic redemption could be accomplished BEFORE and apart from Israel’s national deliverance. We know from the Jewish apocalyptic writings of the time that many looked for the redemption to follow the unequaled tribulation, or ‘Zion’s travail’ (compare Isa 66:7-8; Jer 30:6-7; Mic 5:3 with Dan 12:1), but no one knew that before this, Messiah would suffer death and be raised to return a second time. This was a mystery of the first order. It stumbled Israel. It would not come to full light until the Spirit would be poured out at Pentecost (1Pet 1:11-12).

Jesus knew that the puzzle would soon be solved when the power of the Spirit would come at Pentecost, ‘not many days from now’ (Acts 1:5). Then all would be made clear (Acts 3:18-21). But for these particular disciples at this particular time, the time for the universal witness to the gospel had come. That was the task at hand. Later, when Jerusalem’s destruction would be truly imminent, then it would be time to know that His coming is near, even at the door (Mt 24:33).

Later on, when Paul will correct a similar presumption of imminence, great stress will be laid on how the day of the Lord will be preceded and recognized by definite, known signs (Mt 24:14-15; 2Thes 2:3-4). It would therefore be a great error to interpret Jesus’ correction in a way that off sets or contradicts the great importance that He had earlier placed on reading and understanding the prophecy of Daniel (“Let the reader understand;” Mt 24:15). Jesus knew that in its time, this critical knowledge will be life or death for many (Mt 24:16, 21; Rev 12:6, 14; 13:5, 15-17).

So should this passage (Acts 1:7) be used to teach that the Lord is denying the knowableness of the time for anyone at anytime? Even pretribulationists say no. They admit that saints living at that time will surely know that the ‘end’ (i.e., the resurrection and deliverance of Israel) comes approximately 3 ½ years after the abomination (Dan 9:27; 12:11; Rev 11:2). Tribulation believers (those whom they say come to faith after the church has been removed) will surely be able to know the time when the signs appear that mark the beginning of the tribulation.

In their view, it is only believers living before a presumably imminent rapture that have no business to occupy themselves with the question of the times and seasons, since it is assumed they will be taken up before those times begin. This is how pretribulationists apply the Lord’s answer in Acts 1:7 to the question of whether anyone can know the time of the rapture and the start of the day of the Lord (i.e., “the times and the seasons;” 1Thes 5:1-2).

But the imminence of the rapture is not the question here, but the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. It is not the time of the rapture but the time of the kingdom that is not given to them to know at this time, simply because the time (and true imminence) of the kingdom cannot be known with certainty until the signs of its approach will be clearly in view.

Since the gospel must be first preached to all nations, it would have been impossible for the disciples to look for a presumed any moment rapture as a realistic potential in the earliest years before the persecution at Jerusalem (Acts 8:1), before the conversion of Paul, and before the gentile mission. Furthermore, since the final seven years begins when the Antichrist makes a false covenant of peace (Dan 8:25; 9:27; 11:23) with a recently regathered nation (Jer 30:3; Eze 38:8; Zeph 2:1-2; Dan 12:1), how can pretribulationists hold that the rapture was a truly ‘imminent’ possibility during the many centuries of Jewish exile from the Land?

Even on pretribulational assumptions, from 70 A.D. until 1948, the conditions necessary for the last seven years to begin have not been in place! Therefore, the doctrine of imminence is unsustainable for anyone committed to the necessary fulfillment of all prophecy.

As I have shown in an earlier writing (“The Rapture Question Decisively Answered by the Timing of the Day of the Lord”), the question of imminence is best decided by a study of the day of the Lord. A popular assumption that will not stand the test of scripture is that in order for the day of the Lord to come as a thief in the night, it must be secret and un-signaled. However, Paul says the day will NOT overtake believers as a thief, not because the day comes without signs, but because believers will be watching and will recognize the signs that MUST precede ‘that day’ (1Thes 5:4-6; 2Thes 2:3-4; Mt 24:15; Dan 11:21-45).

“That day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed …” (2Thes 2:3). “And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, BEFORE that great and notable day of the Lord come” (Acts 2:19-20). “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet BEFORE the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal 4:5).

In order for an event to be imminent in the sense that pretribulationists use the term, it cannot be signaled by any other known event. This is why pretribulationists were obliged to change their position on the day of the Lord, first in the 1940’s and again in the 70’s (see the above mentioned article).

Until recently, traditional pretribulationism thought the rapture started the day of the Lord. Since the day of the Lord comes unexpectedly as a thief, it was thought that it could NOT be preceded by any known event that might alert of its approach. This view became untenable when post-tribulationists of recent years pressed the point that the day of the Lord cannot be imminent until after the Antichrist has first been revealed (2Thes 2:2-3).

In order to obviate the problem, pretribulationists proposed that a gap of some indefinite duration should be discerned between the rapture and the beginning of the day of the Lord in order to provide time for the Antichrist to be revealed. This maneuver, however, is to controvert the whole idea that in order for the day of the Lord to come as a thief, it must be imminent, un-signaled, and without warning. This still popular theory collapses when definite and recognizable signs foretold in prophecy are shown to ‘necessarily’ precede ‘that day.’

Not only does scripture make clear that the Antichrist must be revealed before the Day of the Lord can start (2Thes 2:2-3), but throughout the prophets we see a number of Old Testament passages that describe the day of the Lord to be “near” or “at hand” only at the very end of the tribulation with the final judgment on the nations that have besieged Jerusalem (Isa 13:6-11; 34:8; 63:4; Eze 30:3; 39:8; Joel 1:15; 2:1; 3:14-16; Obad 15; Zeph 1:7, 14; 2:1-2; Zech 14:1).

This order of events is especially clear in Peter’s mention of the darkening of the sun and the reddening of the moon “BEFORE that great and notable Day of the Lord” (Acts 2:20), whereas Jesus, quoting the same OT prophecy (Joel 2:31), puts this climactic sign “‘immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days” (Mt 24:29-30). Therefore, if the darkness that comes BEFORE the day of the Lord is also said to come “immediately AFTER the tribulation,” it must follow that the day of the Lord is NOT the entire seven years, as in pretribulationism, but comes at the end of the great tribulation.

If the day of the Lord is NOT the seven years (the first half of which is false peace and certainly NOT great tribulation), but rather the climax of the tribulation, it becomes most untenable to argue that the day of the Lord comes without warning, or that it starts with a secret rapture, or, in more recent pre-trib theory, begins shortly after the Antichrist is revealed. This is not the language of scripture; it is pure inference based on presupposition.

As we have seen, it is false to assume that the day of the Lord cannot come as a thief if it is placed at the end of the tribulation. Even some pre-tribulational scholars admit that the coming Christ that is compared to a thief in Mt 24:43 is His visible, post-tribulational return. This is clear from the order and language of the context (Mt 24:27-43). This is further proof that preceding signs do not keep the Lord’s return from overtaking the unbelieving world as a thief.

Furthermore, Paul speaks of yet another sign of the day of the Lord that will greatly distinguish between those who will be overtaken as a thief and those who will not be surprised. It is the declaration of “peace and safety” (1Thes 5:3). I believe Paul has in mind the ill-fated peace covenant that the Jews will enter into with the Antichrist (see Isa 28:15, 18, Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26; Dan 8:25; 9:27; 11:23).

To further demonstrate that the thief like day of the Lord comes at the very end of the tribulation, notice the relation of Christ’s coming as a thief in Rev 16:15 with Peter’s reference to the day of the Lord in 2Pet 3:10, 12. It is significant to observe that, according to Rev 16:15, the thief like coming of Christ is not presented as truly ‘imminent’ until after the sixth bowel.

Even so late as after the sixth bowel (Rev 16:12), the thief like return of Jesus is presented as yet future (Rev 16:15). An examination of the context of Rev 16:12-17 will show that the warning of Jesus’ thief like coming is significantly placed between the sixth and seventh bowels, and the context makes clear that the seventh bowl is “Armageddon, the battle of the great day of God Almighty” (Rev 16:14-17). This points to the fact that Jesus’ coming to destroy the Antichrist (2Thes 2:8) is the same coming that is elsewhere compared to the coming of a thief.

Notably, the next event after this insertion of warning concerning Christ’s ‘now truly imminent’ return (as a thief) is the announcement of the seventh bowel, which is also “the great day of God Almighty.” This, and not a supposed earlier rapture, is the coming that in Rev 16:15, 2Pet 2:10, 12, and Mt 24:43 is represented to overtake the ‘earth dwellers’ as a thief. In contrast, Paul makes it clear that this will NOT be the experience of the true believer. “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.” (1Thes 5:4).

A careful comparison of the language of Rev 16:17 with Eze 39:8 will prove beyond question that the seventh bowl, also called “the great Day of God Almighty,” is indeed the Day of the Lord foretold by all the prophets of Israel. A further comparison of 2Pet 3:10, 12 with Rev 16:14 puts beyond question that the thief like day of the Lord and the post-tribulational “Day of God” are synonymous. Jesus comes as a thief at the great day of God Almighty to end the battle of Armageddon. This is the great and notable day of the Lord, which comes AFTER the darkness, which comes “immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days” (Mt 24:29; Acts 2:20). What could be plainer?

Hence, the term, day of the Lord, is a biblical synonym for the post-tribulational return of Christ. It is the day of Antichrist’s destruction (2Thes 2:3, 8), the gathering of Christ’s elect (Mt 24:31 with 2Thes 2:1-2), and the restoration of the kingdom to Israel (Mt 23:39; Acts 3:21; Ro 11:25-26; Rev 1:7). It does not include the tribulation; it ends the tribulation. The day of the Lord is not an imminent, un-signaled event and cannot therefore be introduced by an alleged any moment, pre-tribulational rapture. Christ returns at the day of the Lord, and this is the only return of Christ promised in scripture.

It may be asked, how can the day of the Lord come as a thief in the night when it is signaled by such clear and manifest events? That is a good question, but it leaves the question, clear and manifest to whom? It may seem a marvel, but at the time when the world will have occasion to witness perhaps the most prolific and manifest fulfillment of prophecy in history, still, the mediating angel says to Daniel, “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Dan 12:10).

We simply cannot suppose the Lord’s answer in Acts 1:7 is meant to teach that there is no need for knowledge of the times and events which He and Paul, and later John, so clearly sets out for the church’s protection (Mt 24:15-16, 21; 2Thes 2:4; Rev 12:6, 14; 13:5, 15-17; 14:9), and which so greatly glorifies God in the knowledge of His prophetic plan and revelation of His manifold wisdom.

The mystery revealed at Pentecost made clear that the restoration of the kingdom to Israel (i.e., the day of the Lord) must await the return of Jesus from heaven (Acts 3:21), but first “this gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all nations for witness, and then (only then) shall the end come” (Mt 24:14). The times and seasons of when that will be will only be knowable with certainty when the signs are fully in place. This concerns in particular the closing stages of Daniel’s vision, which the scripture says would not be fully unsealed and understood until the time of the end (Dan 12:4, 6-7, 9). This seems the more likely context and background of the Lord’s intention in His answer to the question of Acts 1:6.

We’ve come a long way to use a text intended to correct the mistaken presumption of imminence to defend the modern doctrine of an imminent pre-tribulational rapture. No, the day of the Lord is not imminent. It does not begin the tribulation; it ends it. It will not overtake believers as a thief, precisely because it will be preceded by the clear and knowable signs of its approach.

Finally, it would have required the greatest stretch of the imagination to teach an imminent, any moment rapture of the church at any time during the many centuries when there was no nation of Israel to even set the stage for the last seven years. The Lord is always “at hand” (Phil 4:5) in the sense that “the Judge is standing at the door” (Ja 5:9), signifying every person’s proximity to the ever present potential of sudden judgment (Lk 12:20, 45-46), but the doctrine of imminence from the standpoint of actual chronology is a disarming false doctrine that threatens to cost the church dearly.

In His precious service, Reggie

In order for Christ to return the Antichrist must be first revealed (2Thes 2:3), but in order for this to happen, the restrainer must first be removed by the agency of Michael (2Thes 2:7 with Rev 12:7-14). After Satan’s expulsion, “his time is short” (Rev 12:12). Space does not permit the presentation of the evidence, but suffice it to say that the great transitional event of Michael’s heavenly victory over Satan will not occur independently of the prayer and travail of the church. With Satan’s eviction, ‘the tribulation, the great one’ begins (this is the literal translation of the Greek double article in Rev 7:14). This is the short but unequaled tribulation that eclipses all other times of tribulation (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Mat 24:21). The instructed believer will know that Satan’s dejection down to earth will NOT be his final end, but the beginning of his most fierce assault on the saints and the covenant itself.

This is to make the point that intelligent prayer for the full coming of the kingdom is also a prayer for the speedy removal of all that stands in the way of the fulfillment of prophecy. It means that our desire for the coming of the kingdom has become greater than our fear of what must come first. How can we then pray with singleness of heart for His return, if we are secretly desirous that His return NOT be in our time, particularly if this should mean that we and our families will not be conveniently removed from earth by way of a secret rapture? This is a sober thought, since even the pious sages and rabbis of the Jews throughout the middle ages would declare their prayer that they would not be alive to see the ‘birth pangs’ of the Messiah, which they rightly saw as immediately preceding the longed for ‘redemption’.

But how can such a prayer be prayed if we have succumbed to the prevailing mentality that says, “all this and heaven too”? How can we pray with such singleness of heart and purpose if our dominant desire is for nothing more than God’s continued blessing on our temporal tranquility? That is why a post-tribulational rapture of the church is so unthinkable to those branches of Christendom that preach an overly ‘realized eschatology’ of guaranteed present prosperity and security. This implies that in order for there to be such prevailing prayer, there must be the truest and deepest longing and even travail that is not content with the ‘presence of the kingdom’ apart from its full compliment in His glorious return, the “blessed hope” of the church. This can only come with a great revolution in our all too modern and all too Western world and life view, as even evangelicalism, for the larger part, is embarrassed by our antiquated “apocalyptic” view. What then will it take to move us to this kind of kingdom reality and urgency, particularly how we pray?

For one thing, we will have to become “glory centered” more than self centered. “No man ever yet hated his own flesh,” says Paul. There is nothing wrong with the natural and healthy desire for personal and corporate peace and safety for ones nation and for ones family. There are clear promises to that effect. But this is not the highest good. Even the world concerns itself with the same (1Thes 5:3). We are called to something beyond. The believer is baptized by the Spirit into union with the desires and goals of another, even Him who is the one being in all the universe who is perfectly right to seek His own glory as the highest good. We must reorient our thinking and our desires to this.

The highest good is the glory of God, regardless the cost to our otherwise good and acceptable temporal interests. That is why only a true experimental taste and apprehension of that transforming vision of His glory will be sufficient to keep us through the mighty tempest that must soon blow with violence upon our whole civilization. It is that vision that braced and kept Him. “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross …” I am reminded of the old hymn which says, “I am resolved no longer to linger, charmed by this world’s delights, things that are higher, things that are nobler, these have allured my sight.”

Is that joy, truly and without reserve, ‘set before’ us? If it is not, we dare not presume that any other form of knowledge or good works will suffice. Seek the sure and secure certainty of your calling and election, but be careful that your security is not tied to just having your own personal spiritual accounts in order; that is not the vision and love of the kingdom. Rather, be careful that ‘the full assurance of faith’ is tied to an apprehension and love for the kingdom of God, not only as a present inward reality, but in its full expanse, by the open and public vindication of His covenant promise in all the earth. We are to be moved by His vision for the glory of His kingdom and not just how it will go with us in our individual standing at the judgment seat of Christ. Such an orientation tends towards works and self centered theology that puts the emphasis where scripture does not put it, namely, on ourselves. On the contrary, we need to share His jealousy for His open vindication here on this earth, not for our sake, but for the sake and glory of Him who bought us. It must be here at the scene of the crime. This is where the test must be won or lost, here, on this earth, “in the presence of His enemies”, and against all odds. This present earth WILL see and host the fulfillment of all that God promised His elect nation, as the millennial head of the nations. That is what the powers fear.

It is the passion for His glory, first in the church, and then in all the earth through a restored Israel that should fill our longings and our prayers. It is a clear vision of that glory and that joy that will cause us to endure the cross of tribulation, even great tribulation. That is the understanding that will permit the kind of prayer needed to move heaven, so that all things that wait in heaven (such as Michael’s final removal of Satan; Rev 12:7-14) and on earth (such as the end of Muslim domination of the temple mount) and all that stands in the way of His kingdom will be removed. The more we consider it, the more we will agree that this is a prayer that is indeed costly, so that only those who’s faith is in “the God who raises the dead” can pray it truly and effectually with singleness of heart.

In answer to Phil’s forward^[1] which stirred these thoughts, I have this to add: So long as Muslims dominate the temple mount, barring all Jewish access, the Word of God cannot be fulfilled and Jesus cannot come. That is why the principalities and powers literally gloat so long as that usurping shrine sits firmly atop that elect place that Jews are currently forbidden even to approach. The few that do consider that something big has got to give in order for this to change, find it hard to imagine that such change could ever come by any other means short of war, perhaps, God forbid, not only regional but another world war. We are not told specifically one way or another. We are left to inference, but seismic world changes are impending.

Just as Arabs view Jewish ‘occupation’ of the Land an insult to Allah, I see the Muslim shrine in that holy place as a demonic affront to the “holy covenant” (Dan 11:28, 30), since it sits over the place where God elected to put His name ‘forever’. The church, for the far larger part, has no concept of this ‘earthly’ aspect of the war in the heavens, but the principalities know and resist anything that would move this mountain of opposition that stands in the way of the fulfillment of the necessary pre-conditions of Christ’s return. The battle is indeed in the heavenlies, and instructed believers should know that nothing can advance towards the necessary pre-conditions of Jesus’s return while this dead lock persists. Are we willing, in full light of what it will mean for our temporal comforts, to pray with one heart and mind together for the removal of this opposing mountain? Certainly, the opposing mountain that stood before Zerubbabel (Zech 4) was much more than contemporary Babylon. It was Satan’s resistance to the restoration of the “house” (“whose house we are”), the finishing of the vision, and the kingdom of God come on earth (“under the whole heaven”). To this end all creation groans. How much do we, with strong sighs and longings, also groan? “Come quickly Lord Jesus!” is the cry of a church that has counted the cost of that prayer.

1. Temple Mount – Spiritual Warfare
   Perhaps the LORD opened their eyes and they saw a mighty army of God … armed with the sword of His WORD!
   Are the principalities and powers reporting spiritual warfare?
   http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/151130

Paul said, “knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2Cor 5:14). Do we know the terror of the Lord? Perhaps this is why we are not so urgent to persuade men. Paul is just as clear in the same chapter that it is the love of Christ that constrains us, but to warn of a wrath to come is intrinsic to the proclamation of the good news, since it is from wrath that we are saved. Where the severity of God in judgment is not justified as just, and not only just but necessary to the very being and nature of God, then mercy becomes indulgence and the glory of grace is destroyed. To uphold the one is necessarily to uphold the other. In the history of revival, it has been those most knowing of the terror of the Lord that have also been those most constrained by the love of Christ to warn and plead with souls to turn from dead works to serve the living God.

In his book, “The Holiness of God,” R.C. Sproul speaks about the wisdom of deliberately devoting the greater portion of our time to those themes and topics in scripture that most disturb us. There are certain passages of scripture on the solemnity of divine judgment that should deeply sober us and move us to vigilance and urgency in the enterprise of turning souls from darkness to light. In addition to the passage I put at the heading of this piece, there are two in particular that, for me, evoke the most sober picture of what it will mean to stand before God in that awful day without the vital covering of Christ’s righteousness. One is in Daniel Dan 2:35: “Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: …” Another is Rev 6:15-17: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

Somehow the natural mind is able to entertain the impossible notion that death is a refuge, as well as an end. It is neither. There is no asylum from the holiness of God except as one is “in Christ” and thus in union with God. The very thing that will make hell hell is not the absence of God but the presence of His un-shielded holiness after the veil of the flesh has been forever removed. “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” ( 2 Thess 1:9). More than fire or darkness, which stand for a reality that transcends human ability to conceive, it will not be some vainly imagined absence of God, but the unmitigated exposure to the holiness of His person and attributes that will make hell hell.

It will be the exposure of pride in the presence of His meekness, and so on. The brightness of His appearing will be to those in the graves and out of the graves an instant and automatic exposure and condemnation of all that is short of His glory. That is why it is so terrible to suppose that the light and holiness of God condemns only what we would judge as willfully evil. That is pure humanism. No, His unapproachable light condemns all that is short of His glory, which is to say, short of Christ. That’s why any supposed sanctification that presumes to mix anything of man with Christ is self condemned, as short of His glory. The only acceptable righteousness then is the righteousness that is gloriously His alone and nothing of our own, else it is a righteousness that is short of the glory of God.

That is why any supposed personal sanctification that is ‘short’ of His glory is evil, simply because it is a false covering, and thus an affront, as to “climb up some other way” (Jn 10:1). To mix is to destroy. That is why the final unveiling of that unapproachable light will cause all that is outside of Christ to blush in shame and terror and turn in on itself in unmitigated and unbearable self condemnation. The one thing most desired would be the presumed refuge of death, but neither death nor hell can provide sanctuary from His everlasting omnipresence.

I have just read another article of urgency warning of an imminent war, which I do not doubt, but what concerns me is that attached to this ever present, and now even probable possibility, is the expectation that this will set in motion the world wide persecution of the Jews, and that now is the time to prepare all possible means of transport to get Jews back to the Land.

It is not the sobriety of the warning that concerns me, but the failure to distinguish events that belong to different times and circumstances. I believe such misplacement of the order of events can lead to premature decisions and expectations that further discredit prophecy and distract from the real thing when the real time comes. This concern has moved me to point out some important distinctions that might save some from needless confusion and decisions that are based on false assumptions.

I ask of those that have little enough patience with theological hair splitting to bear with me a little, as I feel I must go into some detail in order to show the order of events that we must keep in mind if we are to avoid the false alarms of prophetic speculation, since by these, many are further disarmed and unprepared for the real thing when it comes.

While it is true that antisemitism can break out anywhere anytime, it is usually possible to “some extent” to see it coming if we are indeed expecting it to increase suddenly and pervasively, particularly as Israel is made to appear the cause of the world’s woes.

We know that the Jews are not the object of the last world wide persecution UNTIL the last 3 1/2 years. Furthermore, we know that Jacob’s trouble comes 3 1/2 years after the covenant has been confirmed that brings the deadly false peace (Isa 28:15, 18; Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26; Dan 9:27; 11:23; 1Thes 5:3). There may indeed be tribulation, but “the tribulation, the great one” of Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Mt 24:21 and Rev 7:14 cannot begin before there is a sacrifice and a temple that stands again, at least in some early stage of construction (Dan 11:31; 12:11; Mt 24:15; 2Thes 2:4). This alone is sufficient to make the time clear when it is time to know the time with that degree of definite certainty.

Therefore, even if Russia and China take out America, or any other conceivable combination of events in a world war III type scenario, we know that Israel survives as a nation, and evidently comes into an even greater political and strategic advantage in the region. Why? It is because Israel must make the false peace that provides for the conditions necessary for the abomination that comes in the middle of the week, 3 1/2 years after the great delusion that presumes a lasting peace for Israel can be possible apart from an everlasting righteousness.

Now certainly, the godly remnant that has foreseen the evil has made ready to hide Jews in flight, but once again, that particular flight does not begin until the beginning of the last 3 1/2 years. Now here’s why I point out what is too little considered. The body of Christ that has been hiding and preaching the gospel to persecuted Israel in a mutual experience of persecution and flight will NOT be the direct agents of Jewish return. This is because we will have been gathered to Christ at His return by way of rapture at the “last” trump (compare Mt 24:31; 1Cor 15:52; 1Thes 4:14, 17; 2Thes 2:1; Rev 10:7; 11:15).

The true bride will be the witness that prepares them for repentance and return, but they will not be the physical agents for that return. The world wide return of Israel that comes only after the destruction of Antichrist at the day of the Lord (2Thes 2:1-3, 8) will be by the assistance of gentiles that manifestly were not “in Christ” at the time of the rapture. I’ll return to this.

If plain language is permitted to plainly describe the time and nature of Jewish return, we can see that THIS return is by natural means of transport (Isa 60:9; 66:20), employed by thankful gentiles (Isa 49:22) who have manifestly survived the great tribulation, and count it greatest privilege to bring the sons and daughters of Israel home, as an holy offering to the Lord (compare Isa 49:22; 60:9; 66:20). Context and language, both here and many places, will show that this is AFTER the day of the Lord.

The language in its proper context will further show that these gentile survivors, along with the saved of Israel, enter the millennial earth in natural bodies. This stands in marked contrast with the translation and catching up of the bride into glorified immortality to rule and reign with Christ over the millennial earth.

The day of the Lord salvation of Israel happens in conjunction with the revelation of the returning Jesus (Zech 12:10; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:20; Ro 11:26; Rev 1:7). This is why the penitent survivors of Jacob’s trouble are not changed and taken up by way of rapture. It is because they were not already “in Christ” at the time of the rapture.

The Jews that get saved before the rapture will be changed and caught up with all who are “in Christ” at the point of the rapture. This is clear from 1Cor 15:23, 52 and 1Thes 4:14. However, the penitent survivors of Israel do not go up with the church, but are shown going into the millennium, as newly filled with the Spirit, but in natural bodies. The reason seems clear. Scripture is harmonized when we recognize that at the same instant the bride is being changed and caught up, the penitent remnant of Israel are, at that same moment, able now to “look upon Him whom they pierced” (Zech 12:10; Mt 23:39; Rev 1:7). That, by the way, is the look of faith and revelation, not a mere physical seeing. It will be like Paul’s seeing of Christ on the Damascus road.

“At once,” and “in one day,” the revived nation passes from death to life (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; 14:7). Clearly, this is the day of the Lord when the Deliverer comes out of Zion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob (Isa 59:19-21; Acts 3:20-21 with Ro 11:26). Many hasten to point out that the day of the Lord is much more than a 24 hour period. That is true; but this point of transition is even more precise than a single day. It comes “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1Cor 15:52), not only “in one day”, but “at once” (Isa 66:8).

A careful comparison of scripture with scripture will show that the spiritual regeneration of Israel comes immediately with the revelation of Christ in conjunction with the pouring out of the Spirit. The time is clear. It is the great and notable day of the Lord (compare Joel 2:28-32; 3:14-16, but especially Eze 39:29 with Zech 12:10; Mt 23:39; Acts 3:20; Rev 1:7). To make the time even more definite, note that both Jesus and Peter quote from Joel’s prophecy to show that the darkness that comes AFTER the tribulation (Mt 24:29) comes BEFORE the great and notable day of the Lord (compare Mt 24:29 with Acts 2:20; 2Pet 3:10, 12 with Rev 16:14-17 with Eze 39:8). So clearly, the ‘national’ salvation of Israel is at the end of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7), but this does not mean that many Jews have not been saved all along the way with all that great multitude that comes out of ‘the tribulation, the great one’ (Rev 7:9, 13-14).

If we will “carefully” examine the context of the scriptures describing this last, and clearly post-tribulational return, we will see that it is not the preliminary return in unbelief that we see today (also foretold in prophecy, Eze 38:8; Zeph 2:1-2). We must distinguish, since this latter and final return will be world wide and complete, to the last person (Eze 39:28).

This return is AFTER Jacob’s trouble. It is AFTER the great and notable day of the Lord. It is AFTER the last trumpet (Isa 27:13; Mt 24:31; 1Cor 15:52; Rev 10:7; 11:15). It is the earliest days of the millennium. Christ has returned and the true bride has been translated into glorified immortality by way of rapture and resurrection. In contrast, the Jews are returning from every nation in natural bodies by every natural means of transport (Isa 66:20). They are NOT gathered to meet the Lord in the air. We are careless with the plain language of scripture if we do not make this distinction, since in no other way (of which I’m aware) can the scripture be harmonized. The day of the Lord will mean rapture for the true church (of this present age); it will mean repentance and return for the saved remnant of Israel.

The time is clear; and the manner and the means are just as clear. After the bride has been caught up and gathered (Mt 24:31; 2Thes 2:1) to meet the Lord in the air (1Thes 4:17) , gentiles are depicted escorting a contrite and penitent remnant back to the Land. They do not appear to be resurrected saints, but newly awakened seekers (Zech 8:23) who are implementing every conceivable ‘natural’ mode of transportation (Isa 60:9; 66:20) to get Jews back to the Land. Christ is here; the Antichrist is destroyed, and Jews can return home safely and dwell in truest eternal security, as an all holy nation forever.

We can see why the gentiles undertake this labor of love and reverence for the everlasting covenant. With the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of God has been finished (Rev 10:7), and the deeply humbled nations of the gentiles (those comparatively “few” that are left; Isa 24:6), now begin to understand the meaning behind Israel’s long and tragic experience in history (Eze 39:23, 27). This explains why these gentile survivors see their part in assisting the Jews back to the Land as an offering to the Lord (Zech 2:11; 8:23; Isa 49:22; 60:9; 66:20), but this is NOT us bringing them back; we have been taken up.

It is this clearly revealed activity of gentiles who have manifestly survived the tribulation that leads me to conclude, on the basis of 1Cor 15:23, 52 and 1Thes 4:14, that not all the unsaved of the earth take the mark of the beast, else they would not have survived Christ’s return. This seems clear, because many scriptures show that there will be some from among the nations that survive the judgments of the tribulation. These will enter the millennium in natural bodies (e.g., Isa 61:9; 65:20-23; 66:19-20; Eze 39:2, 9-16; Dan 7:12; Zech 14:16-18 et al). From this, it appears that that not everyone who is unsaved during the tribulation take the mark.

It is important that we distinguish how and by whom Jews return from all lands after the tribulation. It is clear that they do not return by way of rapture, but as newly born again, Spirit filled believers, assisted by surviving gentiles whose hearts have been lately turned towards God and His elect people, as the dust of Armageddon begins to settle.

I realize that such fine points of distinction can be difficult and even frustrating, but if we do not make these important distinctions we will be prone to engage in premature or misdirected activities. Even though the expectation of certain events may be correct, our actions and decisions must be based on an accurate reading of scripture, as to their proper time and order.

Many will, of course, simply exclaim that the Spirit has led them in a certain way. Well, that is well and good for them, but what about the rest of us? Our only truly “mutual” safety is the scripture, rightly interpreted, for which we need the greatest help of the Spirit, but this is what He has promised (Jn 16:13; 1Jn 2:27). So this is not for the “experts,” but it is for the diligent (“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter;” Prov 25:2).

All is to say, while I see it is our responsibility to anticipate and prepare for the flight of the Jews, it is NOT our job to get them back to the Land. It is, however, our responsibility to do all in our power to help them survive until the day of national salvation, which I am convinced is not accidentally the time of our translation. With the birthing of Israel, the church’s travail is complete and our unique task for this dispensation is finished in their return. The salvation of Israel does not come in a vacuum. It is the result of a combination of the church’s prophetic witness (Dan 11:33) amid an unequaled tribulation of fearful “signs” in earth and in heaven (Mt 24:3, 30; Lk 21:11; Acts 2:19) empty Jacob of his power (Deut 32:36 with Dan 12:7).

Indeed, we may say that now is the time to prepare spiritually and practically for a soon time when none can buy or sell, and when we know that not only Jews, but all true believers will be hated and hunted, but how is now the time to hide Jews? How can now be the time to prepare ships for their return? I can see where ships may indeed play a role in their flight and preservation during the tribulation, but the ships that bring them home are those put into use by the gentile survivors of the tribulation (Isa 60:9). The only reason I can imagine that we should work towards returning Jews to the Land before the time of Jacob’s trouble is if we ‘assume’ that that the greater potential for Jewish survival will be in the Land, but that is not what the evidence suggests.

I would just point out that when the great post-tribulational trumpet of Isa 27:13 sounds, it finds Jews who are near to perishing in Egypt and Assyria. Could it be that Jews have fled to these nations, because the prospect for Jewish survival is greater in these presently hostile nations than in the Land itself? This, and the clear evidence of scripture that Jewish survival will depend upon flight into the neighboring wilderness (Isa 16:1-5; 26:20; 42:11; Mt 24:16; Rev 12:6, 14) and into the “wilderness of the nations” (Eze 20:35) leads me to conclude that the time before an unequaled tribulation that begins and has its first concentration “in the Land” is NOT the time to encourage Jews back to the Land, at least not without fearlessly telling them what they’re in for.

I do not doubt the crisis or the urgency to anticipate the ever present probability of war, not only in Israel, but one that could very easily spread throughout the world. I expect just such a thing to bring about the conditions that will make the false peace possible. I do NOT, however, expect that this preliminary violence will particularly target Jews in the nations. There must be a false peace after the storm, which will be the delusive calm before the ultimate storm.

We can certainly expect that a war that begins with a strike on Iran will certainly bring an attempted retaliation on the nation. It is also possible, even likely, that terrorists cells will target Jewish population centers throughout the world, but this is not the time of the final flight of Jews, and it is not, in my view, the time to be trying to get Jews back to the Land.

Some of my closest and dearest brothers oppose me on this, but I will bear the reproach for splitting theological hairs if it can prevent well meaning believers from further embarrassing the prophetic scriptures by premature actions due to neglect of plain language in its context.

In the Beloved, Reggie

Q & A

Question: “If I read you correctly, do I understand that you believe there will be a period of time between the rapture of the saints and the second coming of Christ at the end of the tribulation?”

I’m glad you asked, brother. I should have been clearer. The answer is no; I see the two events as simultaneous. Both are triggered by nothing less than the Lord’s glorious coming in clouds “immediately AFTER the tribulation,” as He descends to the Mount of Olives (Zech 14:4; Job 19:25). At the very moment of His visible appearing (Mt 24:27; 1Cor 15:52; Rev 1:7), those who have remained alive will be caught up to meet the myriads of departed saints who are coming with him (compare Isa 13:3; Joel 3:11; Zech 14:5; 1Thes 3:13; 4:14). This becomes clear when we see that the day of the Lord is also the time of the rapture.

Question: “If so, how long?”

No time at all. The rapture happens at the last trumpet in manifest connection with the day of the Lord (Mt 24:29, 31 with 1Cor 15:52; 1Thes 5:2, 4; 2Thes 2:1-3). The day of the Lord, or the “day of God” Almighty, is everywhere shown to come AFTER the tribulation.(Compare Mt 24:29, 43; with Acts 2:20; 2Thes 2:3, 8; 2Pet 3:10. 12 with Rev 16:14-16). Note the relationship between these passages show that the ‘thief like’ day of the Lord is clearly AFTER the stellar darkness (Acts 2:20) that comes AFTER the tribulation (Mt 24:29). If we compare 2 Pet 3:10, 12 with Rev 16:14-16, we see that the day of the Lord, also called, ‘day of God’ and ‘day of God Almighty’ does not come as a thief until sometime AFTER the sixth bowel in Rev 16:14-15. This shows clearly that the thief like return of Christ is at the very end of the tribulation and not sooner.

Therefore, it is a fallacy to try to separate the Lord’s return from the day of the Lord, and the time of the day of the Lord is very clearly AFTER the tribulation. (Mt 24:29 with Acts 2:20; Rev 16:14-15). Although the day of the Lord comes as a thief, this does not mean that it takes the godly by surprise (1Thes 5:4). Contrary to popular opinion, Christ’s does not come without sign or warning, as in pre-tribulationism. Even if misinterpreted as to their proper meaning, the principal sign will be clear and outward for all to see (Mt 24:15). The only reason the signs will be ignored or misinterpreted is because of an unparalleled deception that scripture warns will prevail in those days (Mt 24:24). For this, Jesus prescribes only one safe antidote (Mt 13:23).

Question: “If I read you correctly, if unsaved Gentiles who survive until the end of the tribulation are going to be the ones who bring the Jews back to Zion, then this would imply a period of days, if not weeks or months. Would it not?”

Yes, it takes time to traverse sea and land on the long trek back home from the lands of their dispersion, but this is what a host of Old Testament passages depict. Again, the question will come to whether such passages are properly to be interpreted literally according to the original author’s intention, or some other way? From this we see that the saved remnant of Israel (such that survive the tribulation to go into the millennial age in natural bodies) were not members of the body (not yet “in Christ”) at the time of the rapture. Evidently, the penitent remnant are enabled to “look upon Him whom they pierced” (Zech 12:10) at the precise moment that He is coming in the clouds (Rev 1:7) to destroy Antichrist and to gather His elect at the last trump (Mt 24:31; 1Cor 15:52; 2Thes 2:1-3, 8; Rev 10:7: 11:15-18). At that same moment, the surviving remnant of Israel are being born (spiritually reborn) “at once” and in “one day” (Isa 66:8; Eze 39:22; Zech 3:9; 14:7). That is the day of the Lord. It is when ungodliness is turned away from Jacob (compare Isa 59:19-21 with Ro 11:25-29). It is the day the Spirit is poured out on the penitent remnant (Joel 2:28-32; Eze 39:27-29 with Zech 12:10; Rev 1:7). Because the Jewish remnant were not saved before the rapture, they were not changed into glorified immortality at the last trump, with “all” who were already in Christ (1Cor 15:23; 52; 1Thes 4:14, 17). If we let the day of the Lord be what scripture describes as “one day” after the tribulation, then we can see that the beleaguered remnant of Israel is being given the gift of repentance on the same day that the church is being caught up. That is why their experience is markedly different from that of those who were already in Christ at the time of the rapture. That is why their return to the Land in natural bodies and with the assistance of gentiles who have survived the tribulation is quite to be distinguished from the post-resurrection experience of the church.

I’ve always thought that perhaps the additional 45 days might be the time that Israel goes apart to mourn until coming back together for either one of the great feasts (most likely tabernacles) or the formal cleansing of the sanctuary and re-dedication of the new temple. A friend from Israel who is now in Taiwan showed me the years that have the extra spring month (Adar II), and reckoning from that, a few select years appear as candidates for the start of a seven year period that will end in a year that has this double month at its end.

Here’s what I think about the times and the seasons. I don’t think that any amount of calculation is going to nail down any more precisely the exact time of the Lord’s return. He Himself said, of that day and hour no one knows. We know that He comes sometime shortly after the ascension of the two witnesses at the seventh angel. His coming is somewhere between the 1260 and the 1290, but probably closer to the 1260 than to the 1290, because 1290 is more nearly 43 months, since we know that the beast is cut off by His return at the end of 42 months (Rev 13:5).

Now that’s getting pretty close, but by no means a precise day or hour. Whereas much of the speculation, even though much may be accurate and glorify the Lord in His precision concerning time, still, it gets a little close, in my view, to trying to nail down the exact day, which is not the point. If not before, certainly after His return, it will be possible to look back and see how amazingly precise and how perfectly aligned the events surrounding His return were with certain of the feasts and set times. I have no doubt.

But until then, it is enough for us to know the basics for the sake of God’s purpose in our knowing, which is another discussion (see my article, “Where is God Taking the Church).

For example. Even if I was convinced that the covenant that will be confirmed is an earlier, already existing covenant (which I do by the way), and even if I thought it had been or will be confirmed in secret (which I do not), still, there will be nothing too secret about the restoration of a sacrifice that will be at the center of a new project to build the temple.

Even if the identity of the Antichrist is not at first identifiable, since he may be only one of “MANY” other heads of state that confirm this covenant (which is exactly what I expect), still, he will be soon enough manifest by what he proceeds to do “after the league made with him” (Dan 11:23) in fulfillment of Dan 11:23-31. And should even this escape our notice, still, it cannot be missed by those who believe the scriptures when this lately resurrected man goes to the temple, stops the restored sacrifice, and places the abomination of desolation to begin the tribulation. If it wasn’t clear before (and it certainly should have been), it will be clear from that point on that we are living in the last 3 1/2 years.

That at least much of this will public seems undeniably clear. Paul did not have to elaborate to his Thessalonians when he told them of the man of sin in the temple of God. It was standing at that time in Jerusalem and needed no introductions. No, this will not be done in a corner. Dan 12:10 says that none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand. They will be seeing the same events that we see, but without understanding. It is not the events that is being hidden from the wicked, but their meaning.

Even if the seven years should happen to slip up on us (which I think unlikely), we will have opportunity to know soon enough that we are in the period by the initiatives to restore the sacrifice and build the temple. If by nothing else, that will be enough to let us know that the seven years have begun (particularly in view of what I think a correct interpretation the 2300 day prophecy of Dan 8:13, which shows the sacrifice as starting 2300 days before the end).

Finally, one more point: Scholars are divided over the proper translation of Dan 9:27 because there is a translation decision that must be made, because technically, the Hebrew can go just as legitimately either way. If one believes the Antichrist (“coming prince”) of Dan 9:26 is the proper antecedent, the verse is typically translated, “and he shall make a firm covenant.” If the interpreter is more inclined to see the sacrifice as rendered obsolete by Christ, then the antecedent for the one confirming the covenant is seen as Messiah, the prince” of Dan 9:25. In that case, the preferred translation tends to be, “and he shall make firm, or cause to prevail THE covenant with many.”

Since Dan 11:23 speaks of a league or covenant made with him (the vile person of Dan 11:21), there is support for the first translation (make a firm covenant). On the other hand, there is also support for the view that this evil prince / king (Dan 8:23; 11:36) confirms a covenant that is “holy”.

Notice that the one who makes or confirms this covenant is the same one who hates it, and has secret intelligence with others who share his hatred of “the holy covenant” (Dan 11:28, 30, 32). So I ask the question: What if this evil man is confirming with others the holy covenant? How can this be? How can this act of confirming (the / a) covenant be at once a “covenant with death and hell” (Isa 28:15, 18), since it is a “league made with him.” and at the same time it is a recognition, acknowledgement, or enforcement of a holy covenant that has been in existence since God’s election of Israel.

The larger context of Daniel is both a heavenly and earthly war against the covenant. The book is covenantal through and through. It is about exile and return. It is about delay and determinism. What is the great question of our times? It is, does Israel have divine right to the Land? I do not say that the leaders that will unite to confirm this covenant which God sees as holy will see it as divine, but I do very well conceive of them “confirming” (in the way of acknowledgement and / or enforcement) Israel’s long sought and long denied “right to exist” as an independent state.

In that sense, the covenant that is confirmed is an already existing covenant, “the holy covenant” that once and forever promised the Land to the Jews, but it becomes a covenant with death when it is made to depend on Israel’s trust in the nations, particularly the Antichrist, for its security and protection (see my article on the ships of Chittim). God has said that such covenants would be made a snare, particularly when it would have to do with dividing up a land that is not Israel’s to negotiate (Lev 25:35; Ex 34:12; Dan 11:39; Joel 3:2).

When this covenant will be confirmed, Israel will begin to enjoy an unprecedented, albeit short lived time of tranquility (Eze 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26; Dan 11:23; 1Thes 5:3), and this will be the peace lie by which the Antichrist will “destroy many” (Dan 8:25). Not long after the covenant is confirmed, the world will see, but not understand, Jewish initiatives towards restoring the sacrifice and temple worship.

As things now stand, we’re a long way from the kind of radical changes in the politics of the region that would give the orthodox Jews such access to the temple mount, and authority to sacrifice and to build their temple. That is why so many find it hard to abide a literal interpretation. But this is also one of the major reasons we who look for such radical changes in the region are inclined to look for a war of world changing proportions.

So yes, there is obviously a divinely intended puzzle here. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the honor of kings is to search it out. But there is sufficient evidence for the least of God’s sheep to get what is of crucial importance. While some of this seems abstract and difficult, there is plenty here that is plain and knowable, and will become increasingly so as the time draws nearer. At the moment, it is enough that we put these things on the table, and ask the mercy of the Spirit to clarify or reveal what He will.

Your brother, Reggie

1. 01396. gabar,
   a primitive root; to be strong; by implication, to prevail, act insolently:–exceed, confirm, be great, be mighty, prevail, put to more (strength), strengthen, be stronger, be valiant.

   This is the word used in Da 9:27 for confirming the covenant with many. I realize this shakes up the nice comfortable nest, but what if the ‘confirming’ is of a covenant that has already been made. It’s making strong some other covenant that has already (prior to the confirming) been made; making it stronger so that it will prevail is the sense of the word. As in the waters that prevailed in the flood. The waters were already there but increased.

   That’s the pure scriptural sense of the word. It may not have to be a separate covenant to be negotiated. Many things are done in private. Jesus Himself only showed His deepest secrets to those He chose. It could easily be that way with this covenant. It really doesn’t even make sense that the dirty laundry would be hung out on the line from the beginning of the covenant. I know some may not like this idea. That’s exactly why I’m asking the question. I want us to be shaken from our overly comfortable friendship with the notion that we’ve got it all figured out. And the more we rehearse the same ideas, the deeper the rut gets and the more dangerous the possibility of missing something that is there because it doesn’t fit our presumptions.

   Thoughts?

2. I’ve got a different scenario for the events from 1290 to 1335 that is in accord with the Hebrew calendar. It is much more orderly in my opinion.

   Elul 1 til Tishri 10 40 days Moses on Sinai to get the second set of tablets.

   If we look at the historical pattern and the Hebrew calendar. we will find that the month of Elul (precedes Tishrei) is traditionally a month of repentance prior to the beginning of Tishrei which inaugurates the High Holy days. Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets is the scriptural head of the year and occurs on Tishrei 1. It is accompanied by the blowing of the trumpets announcing the new year and precedes Yom Kippur by 10 days. The Feast of Ingathering (Tabernacles) takes place 5 days after Yom Kippur. The 40 days between Elul 1 and Tishrei 10 is thought to be the time that Moses went to Sinai to get the second set of tablets.

   That 40 days plus 5 until the Messiah tabernacles here again makes 45 days. The difference between the 1290 and 1260 is one month in a year that has an Adar II (spring month added) as a clue about which years He was prophesying about so there could not be any mistake. A simple search will show which years have an Adar II.
   Please consider these things carefully. Please.

I am having difficulty reconciling Genesis 9:11 and the interpretation that calamity to Israel is yet in the future. Either Genesis 9:11 should be literally interpreted as covering the Earth only with water and no other means [such as fire, earthquake, ...] or is such a total calamity as we are saying precluded by Gen 9:11? Of course, we have already seen a holocaust, but a future calamity that destroys all Jews? [of course except the remnant].Please help me understand this.

It is indeed ‘an hard saying’. But we must distinguish. When thinking of the future judgment of Israel and the nations in the great tribulation (“Jacob’s trouble”), we must not think of it as so sweeping and complete as the judgement of the great flood. Unlike the flood wherein only eight souls survived, great numbers will survive the tribulation. For example, Zech 13:8-9 implies that a “third part” of the number of Jews living in the Land at the start of the tribulation will physically survive to the end. That’s amazing!

I believe this amazing survival ratio will have all to do with the church’s proper prophetic expectation and preparation. (Note: I do not expect so great a number to survive in the Land. Though there will be survival in the Land, I believe the far greater part will survive only because they manage to escape the rage of Antichrist by flight to places of refuge in neighboring regions. In my view, this will come in no small part through the instrumentality and direction of a prophetic aware church, but that is another discussion).

It is also important to recognize that when Jesus references the earlier prophets concerning a final time of unequaled trouble (Isa 13:6-8; Jer 30:6-7; Dan 12:1; Mt 24:21), this does not mean that Jewish suffering will exceed what it has been many times before, though certainly never on such a world wide scale. The great tribulation of the last 3 1/2 years is without equal chiefly because the natural order will be in unparalleled upheaval in many places of the earth, as all nations are thrust into a fateful choice between compliance with the Antichrist or the futility of war (compare Dan 11:40-45; Zeph 3:8; Rev 16:12-14; Lk 21:10-11, 25-26; Rev 8:7-9 with Ro 8:22).

Other scriptures show a great number that are sealed before the judgments are permitted to begin (Rev 7:3). Others show that the woman (Israel and the believing remnant) will be “fed” for the full duration of the tribulation (Rev 12:6). Not only will many Jews survive, but a number of other scriptures agree in their indication that there will be a considerable number that survive from among the nations (Isa 60:5; 66:19; Dan 7:12; Zech 14:16-19). This is particularly clear when it is observed that the surviving remnant of penitent Israel will be tenderly assisted in theri return by gentiles who have manifestly survived the great tribulation (compare Isa 49:22; 60:9; 66:20; Zech 8:23).

This would suggests that not all who are in the nations take the mark of the beast, else there could not be such a considerable number of tribulation survivors that are left behind to assist in Jewish return to the Land. Manifestly, these gentiles were not translated at the rapture at the last trump (1Cor 15:23, 51-52 with Mt 24:31; Rev 10:7; 11:15), nor were they finally destroyed at Christ’s return. Therefore, we must infer that they did not already belong to Christ at the moment of His return (1Cor 15:23, 52) but, as gentile survivors of the tribulation, they become willing helpers of the great and final world wide Jewish exodus back to the Land, as depicted in such scriptures as Isa 11:11-12, 15-16; 27:12-13; Eze 39:28-29 etc.

We should also remember that during the tribulation, there will be the greatest harvest of souls brought to Christ that the world has ever seen (Dan 11:32-33; 12:3 with Rev 7:9, 13-14). All of this shows a considerable survival rate of witnesses throughout most of the tribulation, although, of course, there will be many martyrs (Dan 11:33, 35; Rev 6:11; 13:5). In any event, one thing is certain: “We shall not all sleep.”

[Note: I can hardly imagine such a sizable survival rate if the present doctrinal deadlock of denial continues to wield such a disarming and paralyzing influence, so that any proposal that believers should anticipate this time and consider the wisdom of practical preparation tends to be dismissed with the stigma of "survivalists." But "has God really said" that believers will be denied access to all normal means of subsistence in a world system that will surely, at some soon point, come under the dominance of a final Antichrist?]

But to return to your question, the Rainbow covenant of Gen 9:11 should always be compared with Peter’s words in 2 Peter 3:3-7: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”

From this we see that the sweeping judgments of the great and unequaled tribulation are not cancelled out by the Rainbow covenant of Gen 9:11, since the element of water is specifically named as the agent of destruction, whereas this will be by fire (Isa 24:6; 2Pet 3:10, 12). However, whatever its nature, the saints are promised special protection in its midst (Isa 24:15; 43:2).

Furthermore, Peter’s prophecy comprehends, not only the fire associated with the great tribulation, but the final fire of the last judgment on the wicked at the millennium’s end, which is also the time of the second resurrection (Rev 20:5-9).

While the tribulation will be a time like no other, there are also many exaggerated and inaccurate views concerning that time that fail to take into account all that scripture reveals of the period. One thing we know: Christ’s return is good news to all who pray for the kingdom to come to this troubled earth, but it is not good news to any who presume to stand before Him in any other righteousness than His alone.

It is called the “blessed hope,” not because it exempts from tribulation, as some say, but because it is the time of the believer’s perfected union with Jesus. But even more than what is personal, it is only His return that will put a stop to sin’s cruel reign over Israel and the nations. And every believer who looks beyond his or her own personal peace and comfort will groan together with the creation for that glorious goal of a kingdom come to earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2Pet 3:13).

I hope you will find some of these thoughts helpful.

Blessings of great goodness upon you and your family, my beloved friend, Reggie

Hi Reggie, I have been reading your post “Flesh and Blood Shall Not Inherit the Kingdom”. I have a question pertaining to the following point you made:

“This, of course, leaves the question of where will the glorified, resurrected redeemed be in relation to the saints of Israel and all that will be saved during the millennium. Will they co-habit the same space? Will mortals dwell with glorified immortals in the same physical location and discourse with one another as naturally as mortals do now? I don’t think so. That is not how the scriptures depict the millennium.”

In the context of the Abrahamic covenant, the promise of land is given to him personally and to his seed, meaning Christ as Paul stipulates in Gal 3:16. So resurrection is necessary for the fulfillment of this covenantal promise to Abraham, to his Seed, and to all who are in the seed – “And if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Gal 3:29). But does it not follow, then, that just as Abraham will physically walk in his inheritance of a land “from the great river to the Euphrates” so will we? Consonant with the literalness of this promise, the following verses suggest that Gentile believers could be physically present with the Jews in the earth at that time:

They sing a new song:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.” (Rev 5:9, 10)

What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. (Ps. 25:13)

But the meek shall inherit the earth. (Ps. 37:11)

The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever. (Ps. 37:29)

The seed also of his servants shall inherit it, and they that love his name shall dwell therein. (Ps. 69:36)

…but he that putteth his trust in me shall inherit the land, and shall possess my holy mountain. (Is. 57:13)

I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen (elect in KJV – in the Seed, we are part of the elect nation) shall inherit it, and my servants shall settle there. (Is 65:9)

To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant– these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer (see Is 56:3-7)

I know that I have sidestepped the issue of flesh and blood not inheriting the kingdom, but obviously, I’m coming at it from the covenantal angle. I’m looking forward to your response.

Robert

I am aware of the problem and know that many have wrestled with this question. The more intimate our knowledge of the details of how the prophets depict life in the millennium, the more difficult it seems to understand how the glorified redeemed will co-habit the same physical space with mortals, unless we are able to conceive of a more transcendent and multidimensional kind of occupation by those who will not be angels, but will certainly be “like the angels” (Mt 12:25).

Paul speaks of a perfection of knowledge that will transcend all temporal limits when he says, “but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1Cor 13:12). This is just one more thing that underscores how radically different our resurrected state will be to even the most exceptional Spirit-filled life in this present age. It’s another kind of existence. But this does not mean that ruling and reigning with Christ out of a spiritual realm over cities and nations is any less a real bodily inheritance of the earth. Nor should we suppose that because glorified saints are not immediately visible to mortals living all over the millennial earth that they are any the less kings and priests that both inherit and also reign upon the earth.

I certainly see your point about Abraham and the elect seed inheriting the earth, even more particularly the designated boundaries of the promised Land, but I also see that progressive revelation has expanded the scope of the promise to a higher spiritual plane of a city that has foundations (Heb 11:10), the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all (Gal 4:26). This is the city foursquare that comes down in final perfection on a new heaven and earth. With the former earth now ‘passed away’ (Rev 21:1), the New Jerusalem of the new heavens and earth is distinguished from the millennial Jerusalem, as having “no more temple”  at its center (Ezekiel chapters 40 – 48 in marked contrast w/ Rev 21:22).

The “new earth” is also distinguished as having “no more sea” (Rev 21:1). This is vivid and marked discontinuity with the present earth and designated parameters of the covenant Land. That is something beyond even a redeemed millennial Jerusalem. Yet the promise is not viewed as in the least way diminished or compromised, since those who are in Christ inherit not only a Land within circumscribed boundaries, but “all things” (Ro 8:32; 1Cor 3:21-23).

The millennium has its indispensable convenantal purpose that will not be circumvented or side stepped. It is the open and public vindication of all God has promised the Jewish people, as a distinct and visible ethnic entity, from whom the election can never depart (Ro 11:29). To this end they have been uniquely preserved and not suffered to assimilate. The millennium is a covenantal necessity essential to the name and Word of God. Because it is then that the Jews, as Jews in particular, will visibly exist for one thousand years in that particular Land as an all righteous people without instance of backsliding or defection (Isa 4:3; 54:13; 59:21; 60:21; 66:22; Jer 31:34).

This will be as a Spirit-filled nation, still in natural bodies, building houses, having children, and evangelizing the nations. Primary among many other things, the millennium is necessary to show that God is able to establish His covenant with a people who, in themselves, have proven hopelessly prone to backslide, but who now, as an entirely righteous nation, will be able to “securely” keep the Land forever without further threat of judgment and potential exile. The only way abiding security in the Land can be forever is if all of Israel has attained to a righteousness that is forever, even the “everlasting righteousness” of the “everlasting covenant” (Jer 31:34; 32:40; Dan 9:24). Only God could do this by His sovereign power, and that is precisely the point that the millennium exists to demonstrate in the sight of all nations.

The millennium is a distinct and necessary stage on the way to the final perfection, but it is not yet that perfection. It is not yet “the end” (1Cor 15:54). I do see that Abraham, as also the twelve apostles, inherit the present earth in the time that Jesus calls, “the regeneration” (Mt 19:28). They will certainly be present on the earth, even ‘bodily’, albeit not in the same kind of body (1Cor 15:40, 44, 49-50; Phil 3:21), and perhaps not visible with same kind of perception. I believe the glorified saints will be “like” the invisible rulers who presently rule the kingdoms of this world from the heavenly places.

This is not absence from the earth. We tend to think so much in terms of a spatial “above and beneath” that we neglect the mystical view that is thoroughly Hebraic, as implicit in Paul’s words when he says, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ …” (1Cor 5:4).

We may also recall how certain of the saints appeared bodily to many that were in Jerusalem after the Lord’s resurrection (Mt 27:53), or the appearance of Samuel to Saul (1Sam 28:13-19), or the transfiguration (Mk 9:4; Lk 9:31), or the unusual nature of His words to Mary (Jn 20:17-18).

An even more ready to hand example are those times when the risen Jesus would appear suddenly in a room, while showing complete knowledge of all that had been spoken days before (Mk 16:12, 14; Jn 20:25-27). Certainly His presence was there before the time of His appearances. In the same way the Spirit filled saints of the millennium will certainly be aware of the presence of the glorified redeemed, and there will doubtless be times of bodily appearances, but not to all; just as Paul alone could hear the distinct voice that those in his entourage could not hear (Acts 22:9).

I have a conception of a bodily resurrected Abraham, Job (19:25-27), Isaiah (Isa 26:19), Daniel, and all the righteous up to the point of the first resurrection (Dan 12:2, 13), not away in some detached place from the earth, but here, on the present earth, ruling over cities and nations, albeit in a greatly transformed mode of existence, and not immediately and all times visible to the inhabitants of the millennial earth. They are, however, completely visible to one another, and to the Lord, whose face is ever before them, regardless of spatial location.

Hi, dear Reggie. I want to share with you some very interesting thing. It is about ships of Chittim. Look at this:

KJV-And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.
(Nu.24:24)
NASB-But ships {shall come} from the coast of Kittim, And they shall afflict Asshur and will afflict Eber; So they also {will come} to destruction. (Nu.24:24)
In Russian translation of Bible ,Tora and Tanah the word “THEY” (“So THEY also {will come} to destruction”) have to do with ships of Chittim.

I think there is a parallel with Dan 11:30 and have to do with your words:

….“In support of this view, notice that only a short while before the Antichrist launches his successful assault on Jerusalem (Dn 11:31 with Rev 13:14), he is successfully intercepted and turned back by the “ships of Chittim” (Dn 11:30; Chittim or Kittim is a term commonly associated with the maritime powers of the Mediterranean coastlands). We should note that something has happened between verses 30 and 31 THAT HAS COMPLETELY SHIFTED THE BALANCE OF POWER. (Maybe because of destruction of Chittim’s ships?)… or am I in error?

So I think all Balaam’s prophecy is very interesting…
Thanks God for His words through you!
A.

In my opinion your suggestion is not in error. Not only the ships of Chittim, but the western power (or powers) that is represented by the ships of Chittim might also come under sudden attack at the same time that the Antichrist invades Israel.

I suggested that an alliance between Israel and the nation or nations represented by this naval presence in the Mediterranean helps to explain why Israel puts its trust in a man that can stand between the Arab world and the western advocates of land for peace. We may be sure that the Islamic Arab world would never concede any part of the temple mount to Israel’s orthodox community under the present conditions that exists today. Something big has got to give!

I see more clearly something that always perplexed me. How would Israel come to put its trust in a single man who will rise from the eastern half of the Roman world, out of one of the four divisions of Alexander’s kingdom, according to Dan 8:9? There would be the danger of divided loyalties to say the least. Seeing the relationship that the ships of Chittim apparently has to the guardianship of the peace has put it all in perspective for me. I see now that it is not so much the Antichrist (the vile person of Dan 11:21) that Israel trusts; it is the US. or some such powerful alliance of nations who will stand as guarantor and protectorate of the peace. In that way, Israel can dare to negotiate her otherwise “indefensible borders” in exchange for peace and international guarantees of protection.

We may be sure that the Islamic Arab nations will not be happy to recognize Israel’s right to statehood. There must be some great change to bring them to the table. Any Arab and Islamic recognition of Israel will come reluctantly if at all. The Antichrist only pretends to support the covenant. He hates it; as does the many with whom he secretly conspires for its destruction (Dan 11:27-30). So it is reasonable to infer that something big has got to happen in the region that will radically change the face of Middle East politics, as shown by the recent speeches by Mahmoud Abbas and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the UN general assembly. They were quite loud in their sworn promise to never recognize Israel’s right to exist. For the covenant to be confirmed, we may be sure that there must be a massive shift in the politics of the region, since under the current conditions, the Arab world will never tolerate Jewish reclamation of any part of the forbidden temple mount. I have always supposed it will require nothing short of war for the present political state of affairs to change THAT dramatically.

If the current balance of world power continues to the end, the ships of Chittim would be the US, and possibly a league of nations (the covenant is confirmed “with many”). These will be the “guarantors” of the peace that permits Israel to proceed with its plans to build the temple and start the daily sacrifice that the Antichrist will stop in the middle of the week (Dan 8:11; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). Notice also that this sudden invasion of Jerusalem is against what Daniel calls, “the holy covenant” (Dan 11:28, 30). This is the covenant that I believe was “confirmed” (not made or created, but the word means to strengthen or cause to prevail) in Dan 9:27. I believe the covenant of Dan 9:27 is not merely a peace arrangement, but it is the same “holy covenant” referred to in Dan 11:28, 30. It is therefore a covenant that already exists. It is not “made;” it is “confirmed.” Dan 9:27 is not properly translated, “and he shall make a firm covenant with many,” but rather, “he shall make firm THE covenant (i.e., the “holy covenant”) with many.

Confirmation of this holy covenant necessarily includes a dangerous “league” (alliance or agreement) with the Antichrist (Dan 11:23). This will be the false peace (Dan 8:25; 11:23-24; Eze 38:8, 11, 14), the “agreement with death and hell” (Isa 28:15, 18) that will permit Israel and the unbelieving world to so presumptuously declare “peace and safety!” (1Thes 5:3). We may imagine that if Israel was saying “peace and safety” at the beginning of the peace treaty, they will be saying it now even more confidently than ever after the ships of Chittim have so successfully intervened. This mighty demonstration of force will greatly reassure Israel and her friends just how invincible this peace really is that permits Israel’s return to the institutions of the holy covenant. No doubt, many that hold an optimistic view of Israel’s future will feel very vindicated in their rejection of the prophetic warnings of imminent calamity (see Isa 28). But the proverbial rug is about to pulled out to the shock and astonishment of all who have put their trust in man.

[Note: It is not the secular world that will recognize the covenant as holy. That is God's view of Israel's right to the Land and to the temple mount. Some nations (certainly the ten) will "hate the covenant and conspire against it" (Dan 11:27-28, 30-31). On one side, the covenant is holy, because it recognizes Israel's right to the Land and city, particularly the controversial temple mount. But on the other hand, it is also a covenant with death and hell, because of Israel's trust in man as its security and guarantor.]

I pointed out that in the space of just one verse (Dan 11:30-31), the ships of Chittim that were able to successfully repulse the southward advance of the Antichrist (a man that in the very next verse will hold the entire world ransom by his military and economic dominance). In the very short time contemplated between those two verses, something has happened that has nullified the mighty power of the west. What is it? In Dan 11:30 the ships of Chittim turns back the Antichrist. In the next verse he goes with irresistible force to the temple to stop the sacrifice and place the abomination that starts the tribulation (Dan 11:31; 12:11 with Mt 24:15-16, 21; 2Thes 2:4; Rev 11:2; 13:5). What has happened in such a short space of time? That is the question I have not heard any commentator ask, even among those few who reject the common view that all of this was fulfilled in antiquity.

In Dan 11:30 the Antichrist is either unable or unwilling to challenge the might of the ships of Chittim. This leads us to ask, what has happened between verses 30 and 31 that can explain such a sudden and massive shift in the balance of world power? Well, for one thing, this man has just risen from the dead by reason of the healing of the mortal wound (Rev 13:3, 12). After his ascent into the abyss, he ascends as “the “beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Rev 17:8, 17). The resurrection of the beast (‘man of sin’) fulfills the mystery of iniquity that is necessary before Jesus can return (2Thes 2:3, 7-8). Also, this now risen ruler has secured the backing and support of that host of gentile nations mentioned in Eze 38:2, 5-6 and also Ps 83.

So what happened to the western power that had so lately flexed its military muscle and turned back the very man who in such a short while is to become the dominant military power who will control the economy of the world? I believe something more serious is implied than merely a strategic move that takes the west by surprise and cuts off their ability to interfere with his plans against Israel.

I believe the US and its allies may be among those whom Ezekiel describes as “those who dwell carelessly in the isles” (Eze 39:6). Although the fire is sent from God, it is no contradiction if that fire should come through the agency of the ten kings allied with the Antichrist, who “hate the whore and burn her flesh with fire” (Rev 17:6). This will certainly be fulfilled when the Antichrist attacks Jerusalem, but when pondering these passages, the thought occurred that this fiery judgment could also extend to the supporters of Israel, the ships of Chittim. Who is to say that at the same time the Land of Israel is being flooded with the deadly foe, the complacent west is not receiving a fiery judgment by a sudden and unexpected nuclear strike on its principal cities? It is chilling thought, but I think true.

So at the very same time that Jerusalem is being suddenly and unexpectedly attacked, so also is the complacent, and equally unsuspecting west who have supported and even promised protection for the deadly peace arrangement with an Antichrist, by the presumptuous pressure that the west has put on Israel to exchange land for peace, land that God said is not Israel’s to negotiate, because it is His (Ex 34:12; Lev 25:23).

So much appreciate you dear brothers and the knowledge that you have covenanted to remember us in your prayers. Reggie