Chapter
6
Judeo-Christian
Eschatology
Judeo-Christian eschatology (the
doctrines of last things) teaches that there will be a rapture of the Church in
the very near future followed by a 7 year period of a “Great Tribulation." During this “Tribulation,” a world leader
will arise known as The Antichrist and he will demand that all people receive a
mark in their forehead or hand, the number, 666. There will be much war and huge amounts of
people will be murdered and destroyed.
At the end of the 7 years, the Lord will return from heaven with His
saints and overthrow the Antichrist and instigate the Great White Throne
judgment. After this, the eternal
existence of Heaven and Hell begins.
This
doctrine originated with the erroneous interpretation of chapter 9 of the book
of Daniel. Those believing in this
interpretation teach that the final 7 year period of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy
was suspended and moved to the end of time.
To see how this was done, we need to review some of the verses related
to this initial step in Daniel’s prophecy.
[24] Seventy
weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision
and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. [25] Know
therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to
restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven
weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the
wall, even in troublous times. [26] And after
threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the
people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;
and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war
desolations are determined. [27] And he shall
confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he
shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading
of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and
that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Daniel 9:24-27
Most
scholars agree that Daniel’s 70 weeks were 70 weeks of years and total a time
span of 490 years. There is
argumentation on when this period started but that isn’t the issue here. We need to see if the last 7 year period was
removed to the end of time and find if there’s any justification for such an
interpretation.
What dispensationalists believe
is that the pronoun, he, at the beginning of verse 27, refers back to, “the
prince that shall come.” They contend
that this prince is the Antichrist and he shall confirm the Old Covenant with the Jews for this 7 year period and
after 3 ½ years, “the midst of the week,” he shall cause their newly revived
sacrifices to cease.
The first point of contention I
have with this theory is that the pronoun, he, does not refer back to, “the
prince that shall come.” In this
prophecy, Daniel is talking about the Messiah and the mention of, “the prince
that shall come,” is parenthetical to the discussion. To suggest that the pronoun does not refer
back to the Messiah would cause the statements to be confusing and disjointed. One would never mention two subjects and then
continue their discussion by using the word, he, else you could never know
which subject was being referenced.
There is one subject of Daniel’s discussion and it is the Messiah. He is
not discussing the, “prince that shall come,” but only mentions him as he is
describing the calamity that would come upon Jerusalem which would be brought
about by “the people of the prince
that should come;” his army. This
happened in 70 AD when Titus and his army destroyed Jerusalem and razed it to
the ground.
The
second problem I have with this erroneous interpretation is that it breaks one
of God’s time cycles. Time cycles were
started at creation and revealed to us as God continued to speak to his people
and also through His prophets. The first
time cycle was that of the weekly Sabbath.
God told us that we are to work 6 days and on the 7th day, we
are to rest. This is reiterated when He
gave His law to Moses; remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy. If you decided to work 5 days and rest on the
6th day, you would not be keeping the commandment of God and unlike
us, God always keeps His law. Another
example of a time cycle is that of the feast days. In Leviticus it states,
In the
fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S Passover. Lev. 23:5
If the practice of keeping the Passover had been changed
by the people themselves to another day or a different month, then Jesus would
not have been crucified on the day of Passover.
I think it’s easy to see how the changing of time cycles would cause those
cycles to become meaningless.
Every
7 years there was to be a land Sabbath wherein God’s people are supposed to let
the land lie fallow and not till it.
Then, after 7 of these land Sabbaths, a year of Jubilee was to be
declared; after a period of 49 years.
Ten Jubilee cycles equals 490 years which is the figure Daniel used in
his prophecy. This 490 year time cycle
appears over and over throughout Scripture and to break it is to make it of no
significance.
Lastly,
the prophecy of Daniel mentions the fact that, “he,” will confirm the covenant
with many for one week. The reference is
not to the sacrifices only as many seem to believe, but is in reference to the
entire Mosaic covenant. The only one who
can confirm the covenant would be God Himself and since Jesus was God in the
flesh, He could confirm or strengthen the covenant during this time
period. He strengthened the covenant by
writing God’s laws on our hearts and in our minds. If this prophecy is referring to the
Antichrist of Judeo-Christian theology, he would have no authority to confirm a
covenant made by God.
The
Law of God requires a matter to be established by two or three witnesses and
the second witness He has placed in his word is that of His numerology, gematria. This truth was virtually unknown when many of
these fundamentalist doctrines were formulated but it can be used to show how
absurd some of these concepts appear to be.
For an excellent explanation of the various time cycles used in
Scripture, you should read Dr. Stephen Jones’ book, “Secrets of Time.” Dr. Jones explains that this 490 year period
is a time of forgiveness and he refers to it as blessed time.
Jesus
himself referred to this time cycle when He was asked how many times we are to
forgive someone who wrongs us and He replied, even unto 70 times 7 or 490
times. (Matt. 18:22) This is the number
of times that God forgives His people before bringing judgment if they fail to
repent. Once each year on the day of Atonement, the High Priest would offer a sacrifice
for the entire nation and God promised He would forgive the nation and allow
them another year of existence. God
would not bring His judgment seven years early or put it off until the end of
time. After forgiving them 490 times, He
brought judgment. Had God subtracted 7
years from this prophecy, He could not have brought judgment upon Judah
according to His own laws and we know that judgment was brought on Judah.
Before
this 7 year Tribulation period begins, dispensationalists teach that the church
will be raptured (taken up) into heaven. During their 7 years of being with the Lord,
they will celebrate the “marriage feast of the lamb.” The church is even referred to by them as,
The Bride of Christ. The verses of
Scripture used to support this concoction is found in Paul’s first letter to
the Thessalonians.
[13] But I would
not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that
ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. [14] For if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him. [15] For this we say unto you by the word of
the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not prevent them which are asleep. [16] For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first: [17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. 1 Th. 4:13-17,
The
expression, “to meet the Lord in the air,” does not mean to fly off to heaven
and be with the Lord. The single word,
“meet,” when used here is used only three other times in the New Testament. It always carries with it the idea of meeting
someone and escorting them to your place of abode or some other prearranged
spot. The ten virgins went out to meet
the bridegroom and escort him to the wedding feast and Paul, on his journey to
Rome, told of how the brethren came out to meet him and escort him into the
city. We shall meet the Lord in the air
but it is to escort Him onto the earth.
God
has never removed His people as a way of keeping them from harm’s way. The three young men, Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego who were thrown into a furnace did not escape the fire. God was with them in the midst of the
fire. God was with Daniel in the lion’s
den and brought him through safely and without harm. God brought the prophets through the fires of
testing and has done the same for countless millions of saints. It is wishful thinking and pleasantry to
think that God is going to remove His people from a time of tribulation. Such a concept shows a complete lack of faith
in God and His ability to protect and deliver His people from any calamity or
circumstance. Even if I believed in a 7
year tribulation period, I would not believe that God would remove His people
from it.
During
this 7 year tribulation period we are further led to believe by fundamentalist
doctrine that a world ruler will arise and he will be referred to as The
Antichrist. I also find this concept an
amazing conclusion on the part of Judeo-Christian theologians. The term, antichrist, is used only by the
apostle John in two of his epistles and if you read the verses carefully you
will see that it is pluralistic.
[18] Little
children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,
even now there are many antichrists;
whereby we know that it is the last time. [19] They
went out from us, but they were not
of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with
us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (Plural)
1 Jn. 2:22; Who is a liar but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that
denieth the Father and the Son. 1
Jn. 2:18, 19,
How
many denied that Jesus was the Christ in John’s time? (Plural)
And every spirit
that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have
heard that it should come; and even now already is in the world. 1 Jn. 4:3
How
many spirits denied that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh? (Plural)
For many deceivers are entered into the
world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
(Plural) 2 Jn. 1:7
John
also does not write these verses referring to THE Antichrist. He does not
use antichrist as a proper noun and if he had been referring to an “end-time”
world ruler he would have specifically referred to him as THE Antichrist. John does
say, “an antichrist,” once again implying many.
It
seems pretty clear to me that the spirit of antichrist was in the Pharisees and
they convinced many others to believe that Jesus was not the Christ, the son of
God come in the flesh. That same spirit
has continued down through the centuries and is with us today. To conclude that these verses refer to an
end-time world ruler is a leap of faith at best and a delusion at worst.
I
also find it strange that John was the only writer who used this term and yet
in the book of Revelation, which John penned, he never uses the term or even
refers to a world ruler. And in all the
writings of Paul, no mention is ever made of an end-time world ruler known as
The Antichrist. To leap to the
conclusion that Paul’s reference to, “…. that man of sin ….,” is in reference
to The Antichrist is again just unscholarly conjecture. (See, 2 Thess. 2:3)
I
found a much more intelligent explanation of this verse in Barnes’ notes of the
New Testament wherein he provides many ideas espoused before him and then
provides his own understanding. This
term used by Paul, “that man of sin,” is understood to be a reference to the
carnal nature of man at its worst. And
because Paul uses it as occurring after a, “falling away,” Barnes felt it was
in reference to the Papacy. As stated
earlier, this, “falling away,” from the true faith and teaching of the Apostles
doctrines occurred approximately 350 years after Christ when the Catholic church attained prominence in Christendom. He then lists a long line of Popes who were
not only criminal but degenerate as well.
Pope
Vagilius waded to the pontifical throne through the
blood of his predecessor. Pope Joan (the
Roman Catholic writers tell us) a female in disguise, was elected and confirmed
Pope, as John VIII. Platina
says, that “she became with child by some of those that were round about her; that she
miscarried, and died on her way from the Lateran to the temple.” Pope Marcellinus
sacrificed to idols. Concerning Pope
Honorius, the council of Constantinople decreed, “We have caused Honorius, the
late Pope of Old Rome, to be accursed; for that in all things he followed the
mind of Sergius the heretic, and confirmed his wicked
doctrines.” The Council of Basil thus
condemned Pope Eugenius: “We condemn and depose Pope Eugenius, a despiser of the holy canons; a disturber of the
peace and unity of the church of God; a notorious offender of the whole
universal church; a Simonist;
a perjurer; a man incorrigible; a schismatic; a man fallen from the faith, and a willful
heretic.
Pope John II, was publicly charged at Rome with incest. Pope John XIII usurped the Pontificate, spent
his time in hunting, in lasciviousness, and monstrous forms of vice; he fled
from the trial to which he was summoned, and was stabbed, being taken in the
act of adultery. Pope Sixtus IV licensed brothels at Rome. Pope Alexander VI was, as a Roman Catholic
historian says, “one of the greatest and most horrible monsters in nature that
could scandalize the holy chair. His
beastly morals, his immense ambition, his insatiable avarice, his detestable
cruelty, his furious lusts, and monstrous incest with his daughter Lucretia, are, at large, described by Guicciardini
Ciaconius, and other authentic papal historians.” Of the popes, Platina
(a Roman Catholic) says: The chair of
Saint Peter was usurped, rather than possessed, by monsters of wickedness,
ambition, and bribery. They left no
wickedness unpracticed;
see the New Englander, April, 1844, pp. 285, 286.
This seems to be a much more
plausible explanation in light of the fact that Paul’s description of the nature
of, “the man of sin,” immediately follows his reference to this person.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing
himself that he is God. 2 Th. 2:4,
I’ve
read several accounts of Popes who claimed that their word and dictates were
superior even to Scripture. To believe
that the “man of sin” is man’s carnal nature is more sensible than to say that
this verse is referring to THE
Antichrist.
Finally, we were led to believe
that this Antichrist was going to cause everyone who would not worship him to
receive a mark in their forehead or hand which is the number, 666. I have found that it is a good practice when
you are researching anything in Scripture to go to its original use in the Word
itself.
Therefore shall
ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a
sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. Deut. 11:18
Here
we have the first reference in Scripture to a sign upon the forehead and upon
the hand. The Pharisees thought that God
meant this literally and made phylacteries and bound them with leather thongs
around their foreheads and around their wrists.
He actually wanted them to do what He would do under the New Covenant,
to write His laws upon their hearts and upon everything they set their hands to
do.
Another
significant point about this number, 666, is that it is the number of a
man. I think most Christians will agree
that 6 has been the number of man since the time of creation and the fact that
it is here tripled expresses completeness and is emphatic. The number 666 implies doing everything that
one does according to man’s reasoning or man’s methods. If you accept man’s religious system, man’s
government and man’s economy, you have already received the mark. If your thoughts are wrapped up in man’s way
of doing things, including our political system, our way of acquiring property
and wealth and man’s “religious” churches, you have the mark. There is coming a time very soon when you
will not be able to buy or sell if you do not have the mindset of 666.
Books
such as, “The Late Great Planet Earth,” and “Left Behind” have made millions of
dollars for their authors but there’s not a shred of truth in them. Lumping together isolated verses that have
nothing to do with each other and creating a doctrine from the flimsiest of
“evidence” seems to be standard practice for most Judeo-Christian
“theologians.” For those who think that
some leader is going to tattoo everyone or implant a chip into their hands, I
think you have missed the mark.
Suggested reading, audio and
video: “Secrets of Time” by Stephen Jones http://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.org/book_list.cfm