Prophecy
Interpretation Is A Rubik's Cube
Being
totally intellectually honest here (and I always try to be that on this
website, which could get me in trouble with the denomination I attend, just
kidding J), I
have to admit that each major doctrinal interpretation about the prophecies
concerning Jesus Christ's 2nd coming, which I have tried to honestly
document on this website (there may have been a few I missed), has merit, and
each has its own set of fatal flaws. What is the answer? Which
doctrinal interpretation by which denomination or theologian is correct? I don't know, and I suspect that none
of them are totally correct. But I
am not a theologian. I try to
accurately record on this website what some theologians and denominational
leaders have taught on the subject, often in my own words. And make no mistake, I have striven to
figure out the truth on the matter myself. But taking an honest look at what all the differing
theologians and denominations have said on the subject, I find some truth and
some fatal flaws in all of their interpretations. I honestly believe all the prophecies in the Bible are true
and inspired to be written in the Bible by God himself, sometimes directly
spoken to a prophet, sometimes inspired by God's Holy Spirit. It is our human interpretations, often
influenced by our own worldview, which has proven to be flawed, each and every
one of them. But the problem with
theologians and denominational leaders alike is that most of them are or were
(the deceased ones) part of a particular denomination, and thus feel compelled
to favour or back up their own denomination's version for end-time/2nd coming prophecy, often to the exclusion of all others, thus objectivity is
lost. Prophecy, if I might be
allowed to make an analogy, is like that terribly frustrating (for most of us)
Rubik's Cube (for those of you who don't know what it is, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik's_Cube). So I am throwing the gauntlet down in front of all you
theologians and denominational leaders to drop your biases and pride, come
together in prayer, and solve this Rubik's Cube of a problem on what the proper
interpretation of end-time prophecies and the 2nd coming of Jesus
Christ are exactly. What I see
from the interpretations and difficult Scriptures I'll list below is that the
differing theologians and denominations have tended to be like some of us who
couldn't solve the Rubik's Cube once it had been scrambled, and so we'd peel
off the coloured sticker that we couldn't get to match, and swap it for another
that didn't match, thus aligning all the colours alike for each face of the
six-sided cube. I don't know what
God thinks of those who do this, but we must stop doing that, and find the proper
solution, otherwise we as Christians in our various denominations look like
idiots to the unbelieving world around us that we are attempting to witness
to. Why, because the unbelieving
world lumps us all together, for the most part, simply as being ׂChristians׃,
without putting the various denominational tags on us. Our central message, regardless of our
individual denominational prophetic interpretational beliefs, should be the
promotion of the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of Salvation through Jesus
Christ. We all should be agreed on what that Gospel is. What is it? I think I've pretty well defined it in an article I wrote,
based on the Scriptures [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm]. But if we could stop looking so much like idiots to the
unbelieving world in our prophetic warning message to them, that would be a
real plus, and help us to fulfill the job Jesus gave all of us to do (cf. Matthew
24:14; Matthew 28:18-20).
Scriptures That
Conflict With Various Interpretations
1. The pre-trib Rapture/1st Resurrection to Immortality doesn't take into account the hundreds of thousands
to millions of tribulation-saints who will die, and thus have to have their own
separate װRapture/Resurrection' to immortality during of after the tribulation
(post-tribulation).
2. Those that teach the pre-trib Rapture/1st Resurrection to immortality say that the trumpet blown in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 is not the 7th Trumpet or Last Trumpet of
Revelation 11:15-18, but is a separate trumpet that has nothing to do with
being ׂthe last Trump׃ or 7th Trumpet. But the companion Scripture passage, even used as a
companion Scripture by those promoting a pre-trib Rapture of the Church, is
found in 1st Corinthians 15:49-56, where in verse 52 it states, ׂIn a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.׃ This doesn't square with a pre-trib Rapture/1st Resurrection
to immortality interpretation. And Revelation 11:15-18 indicates the 1st Resurrection to immortality takes place at the time of the blowing of the 7th Trumpet (just before the 7 Last Plagues), backing up 1st Corinthians
15:52.
3. There are a number of Scriptures that
indicate that the Church (or a part of the Church) will be taken to a place of
Safety during the tribulation period, somewhere on earth.
4.
Matthew 24 could indicate or point to a mid-trib Rapture or Place of Safety
preservation of the Church.
5.
Revelation 3 (if taken to represent the successive era's of the Church from
100AD to present) indicates that two era's of the Church exist side-by-side,
and that one goes into the tribulation whilst the other is afforded protection
(without specifying how, cf. Revelation 3:10).
6.
Revelation 5:9-10 (taken in proper context with Revelation chapters 4 through
6) clearly points to the Church being in heaven singing a hymn to God before
his throne, before the scroll with Seven Seals (with the four horsemen) is opened, initiating the
great tribulation.
7. Revelation 12 points to the Church (or
part of it, fitting Revelation 3, the last two era's) being taken to a place of
safety on earth.
This
is the tip of the iceberg, but I think it proves my point. As to what I personally believe, I
don't know anymore, your guess is as good as mine (actually, I hope we all stop
guessing and ask for God's inspiration through his Holy Spirit on the matter).
We'll all have the solution to this Rubik's Cube problem after we have attended
the Wedding Feast on the Sea of Glass and returned with Christ to rule the
world. But for the sake of the
unbelieving world we're supposed to witness to, we need the solution now. I'm
making this challenge directly to the various theologians and denominational
leaders. The best some of us local
members of the various denominations can do is to pass this challenge on to
them. They may not like you for doing so, but they, as well as all of us,
answer ultimately to Jesus Christ and no man. And hey look, I'm just a local member of a denomination
myself, and I don't even pretend to have the answers. If you're tired of the mess, pass the challenge on. Below
are some links going to some of the various interpretations, as I've tried to
accurately as possible convey them.
1. Pre-Tribulation Rapture explanation (a
good one, has merit):
http://www.unityinchrist.com/1thes/1stThessalonians4-16-18.htm
http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/prophchart.htm
2.
Commentary study on Revelation, pertinent sections:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/revelation3-1-22.html
http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/revelation4-10.html
http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/Revelation%2018-20.htm
3.
Historic Pre-Millennial interpretation of the 2nd coming:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming.htm
http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/Biblical%20Prophecy.htm
4.
Place of Safety Scriptures:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/romans/print/Petra-ThePlaceofSafetyprt.htm
5.
A recent Post-Tribulation Rapture/1st Resurrection interpretation:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/Pentecost-Revetion1.htm
A Command From Jesus Christ To
The Body of Christ
Is
there a good reason Jesus Christ wants us to be more unified in our
presentation of this part of the Gospel? You bet there is. Jesus
gave the entire Body of Christ that would be living in the end-times a direct
and powerful command. If I were
some of you theologians and/or leaders of the various denominations or parts of
the Body of Christ, I'd take this command of Jesus Christ very seriously. Ignore it at your own peril. This direct command of Jesus to the
Body of Christ is given in Zephaniah 2:1-3, and you can read about it at:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/Zephaniah1.htm
For
all the rest of us ordinary believer guys and gals, here's a very good sermon
transcript showing a proper perspective on how to apply end-time prophecy, see:
http://www.ucg.org/sermon/prophecy-prepare-end-time/
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