Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."
The Book of Revelation is to be understood cyclically and figuratively. That is, its symbols remain symbols, and the judgements are reinforced by repetition. If we take the book chronologically, then we reach the end of the story at 11:14-18.
The [dispensational] methodology itself prevents the interpreter from looking at all the data with any semblance of objectivity. Carried through in other instances, this would ... force us to argue that because the Bible reveals that there are three persons called God in the Scriptures, there must be three Gods.
When Jesus spoke with the two disciples on the day of his resurrection, did Luke say, "And beginning with the New York Times, CNN, Jewish dreamers, scientists, Pat Robertson, and John Hagee, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Israel, the millennial kingdom, and the Temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem" (see Luke 24:27)?
"This is the story of two radio and television prophets: one an 81-year-old host of 700 Club, the other a 90-year-old owner of Family Radio."
Who are these two witnesses with supernatural powers, who are resurrected and ascend into heaven after they are killed? Who are their enemies who want to kill them? Are they past, present, or future personalities?
It is the height of American arrogance to claim that 9/11 was a wake-up call for the church, as if the United States is God's holy people, and God is only concerned about Americans.
I don’t want to be left behind in all this excitement about the unfolding of prophecy right before our eyes on CNN and CBN, so I say, “Me, too!†Are dispensationalists the only ones who keep revising their prophecies? So here’s an update of two old posts regarding how Biblical prophecy must be interpreted.
The debt ceiling crisis, natural disasters, wars, famines, and other "signs" are not only for the "last days" before the end, but they are present in the world between Christ's two comings, the whole period known to New Testament writers as "these last days"
Jesus' teachings in Matthew 24 (Luke 17) "thoroughly inverts some popular understandings of the end times," the popular "left behind" concept of the Rapture.
The present secular state of Israel, however, is not an authentic or prophetic realization of the Messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, a day should not be anticipated in which Christ’s kingdom will manifest Jewish distinctives, whether by its location in “the land,†by its constituency, or by its ceremonial institutions and practices. Instead, this present age will come to a climactic conclusion with the arrival of the final, eternal phase of the kingdom of the Messiah.
Why are dispensationalists so vulnerable to datesetting? I believe that their eschatological system breeds datesetting. They see God's plan for the world as subservient to his great plan for saving national Israel.
11:03 PM Thursday, May 23 2013
