Introduction to the End Times

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In my many years of ministry, I have discovered that more people are interested in END TIME PROPHECY—OR ESCHTOLOGY—than in growing Spiritual in Christ.

More books are sold on prophecy than on any other subject.

Christian Television is awash with prophecy teachers and preachers.

People are fascinated and transfixed by the Book of Revelation and the scroll and the seven seals and the 4-horsemen of the apocalypse.

Historically speaking, the corporate Church, which includes Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant, was not interested in End-Time Prophecy. You will not find any substantial writings on the subject prior to the 1800s.

Three men in the 1800s would change all this. William Miller, John Nelson Darby, and Cyrus Scofield.

Everything changed in 1844 with William Miller. The focus on “End Time” prophecy began with the Millerites. During the Second Great Awakening in 1831, a rural New York farmer and Baptist lay preacher, William Miller, began studying Daniel Chapter 8. After several years of Bible study, particularly the prophecy of Daniel 8:14—”Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed”—Miller, predicted the return of Jesus Christ to the earth. He eventually settled on a date sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. This created SOMEWHAT MASS HYSTERIA. When the date came and went, Miller set another date, April 18, 1844. When the date came and went, he set another date, October 22, 1844. When the date came and went, it became known as the “Great Disappointment.”

The genesis of “dispensationalism” began in the mid-1800s and took off after the civil war. John Darby is noted in the theological world as the father of “dispensationalism.” His eschatology was adopted and later made popular in the United States by Cyrus Scofield’s Scofield Reference Bible.

Dispensationalism is a religious interpretive system and metanarrative for the Bible. It considers biblical history and God’s plan being divided into multiple ages or dispensations. According to dispensationalism, God acts with humanity in different ways in each “dispensation.” Dispensationalists’ presuppositions start with the inductive reasoning that biblical history has a particular discontinuity in the way God reacts to humanity in the unfolding of their, sometimes supposed, free wills.

The number of dispensations varies from three to eight. The most widely taught and believed model has seven-dispensations:

  1. Innocence — Adam under probation prior to the Fall of Man. Ends with expulsion from the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. Some refer to this period as the Adamic period or the dispensation of the Adamic covenant or Adamic law.
  2. Conscience — From the Fall to the Great Flood. Ends with the worldwide deluge.
  3. Human Government — After the Great Flood, humanity can eat meat, can’t drink blood, or eat anything strangled, and the death penalty for murder is established. Ends with the dispersion at the Tower of Babel. The term Noahide Law is used to describe this dispensation.
  4. Promise — From Abraham to Moses. Ends with the refusal to enter Canaan and the 40 years of unbelief in the wilderness. They used the term Abrahamic covenant regarding this dispensation.
  5. Law — From Moses to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Ends with the destruction fo the Temple and the scattering of Israel in 70 AD. The term Mosaic law is used regarding this period of dispensation.
  6. Grace — From the cross to the rapture of the church. The Wrath of God and the Great Tribulation follow the rapture. They used the term Age of Grace or the Church Age regarding this dispensation.
  7. Millennial Kingdom — A 1000-year reign of Christ on earth (Revelation 20:1–6), centered in Jerusalem, ending with God’s judgment on the last rebellion led by Satan.

By the mid-1920s dispensationalism had gripped the Protestant Church as a whole.

Hal Lindsey is probably the first notable End-time preacher/teacher most people have read or heard about. He wrote several best-selling books:

  • The Late, Great Planet Earth.)
  • Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth
  • The Liberation of Planet Earth
  • There’s a New World Coming
  • The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon
  • The Final Battle
  • The Terminal Generation
  • Planet Earth: The Final Chapter
  • Rapture
  • Planet Earth – 2000 A.D.
  • Apocalypse Code
  • Blood Moon
  • Vanished into Thin Air: The Hope of Every Believer
  • The Everlasting Hatred: The Roots of Jihad
  • The Road to Holocaust

Many of the teachings and claims made by Lindsey in his books did not occur.

Edgar C. Whisenant was a former NASA engineer and Bible student who predicted the rapture would occur in 1988, sometime between Sept. 11 and Sept. 13. He published two books about this, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 and On Borrowed Time. The teachings and claims made by Whisenant in his books did not occur. The world did not end, and Christ has not returned.

Harold Egbert Camping was an American Christian radio broadcaster, author, and evangelist. Beginning in 1958, he served as president of Family Radio, a California-based radio station group that, at its peak, broadcast to over 150 markets in the United States. Camping predicted the Second Coming of Christ would occur on May 21, 2011, whereupon the saved would be taken up to heaven in the rapture, and that “there would follow five months of fire, brimstone and plagues on Earth, with millions of people dying each day, culminating on October 21, 2011. The teachings and claims made by Camping did not occur. The world did not end, and Christ has not returned.

John Hagee and Mark Biltz made headlines a few years ago, talking about the significance of the BLOOD MOONS. Hagee and others preach the blood moon prophecies are a series of prophecies in the Bible. These prophecies state that a series of four consecutive lunar eclipses—coinciding on Jewish holidays—with six full moons in between, and no intervening partial lunar eclipses which began with the April 2014 lunar eclipse, marks the beginning of the end times as described in the Bible in the Book of Joel, Acts 2:20, and Revelation 6:12. Again, the world did not end, and Christ has not returned.

The Jews, and the Greeks, and the Romans of Jesus’ day were familiar with many apocalyptic teachings. Historically speaking, most civilizations have an apocalyptic teaching which predicts some type of final societal and mystical convulsion, culminating with the appearance of a messianic figure ushering in eternal utopia for everyone.

Jesus would have been aware of the many divergent apocalyptic teachings of his day. His speaking apocalyptic would NOT have raised any eyebrows.

Here is a summary of the coming messiah and the new earth from the Jewish Babylonian Sanhedrin.

“The tradition of the school of Elias: The righteous, whom the Holy Blessed God will raise up from the dead, shall not return again to their dust; as it is said, ‘Whosoever shall be left in Zion and remain in Jerusalem shall be called holy, every one being written in the book of life.’ As the Holy (God) liveth for ever, so they also shall live for ever. But if it be objected, What shall the righteous do in those years in which the Holy God will renew his world, as it is said, ‘The Lord only shall be exalted in that day?’ the answer is, That God will give them wings like an eagle, and they shall swim (or float) upon the face of the waters.” Where the Gloss says thus; “The righteous, whom the Lord shall raise from the dead in the days of the Messiah, when they are restored to life, shall not again return to their dust, neither in the days of the Messiah, nor in the following age: but their flesh shall remain upon them till they return and live לעתיד לבוא to eternity. And in those years, when God shall renew his world (or age), ויהיה עולם זה חרב אלף שנים this world shall be wasted for a thousand years; where, then, shall those righteous men be in those years, when they shall not be buried in the earth?” To this you may also lay that very common phrase, עולם הבא the world to come; whereby is signified the days of the Messiah: of which we spoke a little at the thirty-second verse of the twelfth chapter: “If he shall obtain (the favour) to see the world to come, that is, the exaltation of Israel,” namely, in the days of the Messiah. “The Holy Blessed God saith to Israel, In this world you are afraid of transgressions; but in the world to come, when there shall be no evil afffectiong, you shall be concerned only for the good which is laid up for you; as it is said, ‘After this the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king,’ ” &c.; which clearly relate to the times of the Messiah. Again, “Saithi the Holy Blessed God to Israel, ‘In this world, because my messengers (sent to spy out the land) were flesh and blood, I decreed that they should not enter into the land: but in the world to come, I suddenly send to you my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before my face.’ ”

John Lightfoot, a notable Rabbinic scholar, summarizes this writing: See here the doctrine of the Jews concerning the coming of the Messiah:

  1. That at that time there shall be a resurrection of the just: משיח עתיד ליונין ישיני עפר׃ The Messias shall raise up those that sleep in the dust.
  2. Then shall follow the desolation of this world: עולם זה חרב אלף שנים This world shall be wasted a thousand years. Not that they imagined that a chaos, or confusion of all things, should last the thousand years; but that this world should end and a new one be introduced in that thousand years.
  3. After which עתיד לבוא eternity should succeed.

So, when Peter, James, John, and Andrew (Mark 13:3), asked Jesus about the LAST DAYS (MT 24:3) their understanding of messianic prophecy was about to get upended.

The disciples went into shock when Jesus said the Temple would be destroyed and not one stone would be left standing upon another. In Mt 24:3 the disciples plainly asked Jesus two questions: (1) When will this happen? That is, when will the temple be destroyed and not one stone left on another? (2) What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the Age?

Lightfoot says: From hence we easily understand the meaning of this question of the disciples (in other words how they understood things):

  1. They know and own the present Messiah; and yet they ask, what shall be the signs of his coming?
  2. But they do not ask the signs of his coming (as we believe of it) at the last day, to judge both the quick and the dead: but,
  3. When he will come in the evidence and demonstration of the Messiah, raising up the dead, and ending this world, and introducing a new; as they had been taught in their schools concerning his coming.

Conversely, as Jesus had done many times, his teachings about God and how things really are DID NOT support or coincide with their belief. LIKEWISE, most people’s understanding of END-TIME PROPHECY has been skewed by many factors, most notably “teachers having itching ears” and those “making merchandise” of Christ.

I’ll put it another way. Most teaching and books about the END-TIMES and the return of Jesus Christ are wrong. Most authors of END-TIME books play loose with the historical context of the scriptures and ignore the rules of good Bible study and interpretation (exegesis). Most often, they try to fit their novel idea of end-time prophecy, such as the Blood Moons, into a passage of scripture.

My view of End-Time scripture is more hindsightful.  We can connect the DOTS and understand the prophecy more clearly AFTER THE FACT or AFTER IT HAPPENS. We are like his disciples, who struggled with understanding what Jesus was saying.

Mark 8:14 Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” 16 They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” 17 And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Another peculiarity about prophecy is it can start and stop, meaning an interlude of time can pass between words or verses.

For example: Here is the messianic prophecy every Jew would have been familiar with.

ISAIAH 61:The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,  to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. 4 They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations… (continues to verse 11).

Here is its fulfillment in Jesus’ day.

LUKE 4:16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke records Jesus quoting Isaiah 61 verse 1, and the first part of verse 2, stopping and rolling up the scroll. The rest of Isaiah’s messianic prophecy, which centers on the restoration of Israel and judgement of the wicked, is to be fulfilled at another time.  There is a remarkable addon to Isaiah’s prophecy by Christ. Isaiah does not mention the “recovery of sight to the blind” as a messianic work. Yet Jesus announces this in the synagogue.  In explaining the parable of the sower to his disciples, Jesus mentions Isaiah 6:9-10.

9 And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’ 10 Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.”

This example shows that prophecy is “here a little and there a little.”

Isa 28:“Whom will he teach knowledge,  and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from milk, those taken from the breast? 10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” 11 Truly, with stammering lip and with alien tongue he will speak to this people, 12 to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”;  yet they would not hear. 13 Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,  line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little;” in order that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Think of exploring prophecy this way. It is like God took all prophecy and placed it in a Bible sized shot-gun shell and pulled the trigger. When it landed in the Bible, it is more like a jigsaw puzzle. Some pieces are close together and some pieces are all over the place. Only God knows where it is and how to pull it altogether, so it makes sense.

This does NOT mean we can’t understand prophecy. What it means is we must be cautious in our predictions, understanding and interpretation of scripture. Many preachers and Bible teachers fall into temptation of predicting dates, events and timelines for prophetic events. Most of us are aware of Jesus’s words of caution found in Mark:

MARK 13:32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

If Bible preachers and teachers are aware of this warning, why do they NOT heed it? Why do they preach and publish books where they predict events when Jesus said not to? Good question!