JULY 25 - Left Behind

THE RETURN OF CHRIST. The United Methodist doctrinal statements about the return of Christ and future judgment are very basic and brief:

Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return to judge all men at the last day.

All men stand under the righteous judgment of Jesus Christ, both now and in the last day. We believe in the resurrection of the dead; the righteous to life eternal and the wicked to endless condemnation.

The Southern Baptist Church has a helpful doctrinal statement that is very clear and very sound:

God, in his own time and in his own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to his promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

The theology of the book "Left Behind" (sometimes called dispensational theology) is much more complex. It teaches the idea of a rapture (over and apart from the Second Coming of Christ), where true believers are taken out of this world, while the world itself keeps on going otherwise. After true believers disappear, the world enters a terrible time of distress and torment. (But some new believers will be made during this terrible time.) The Second Coming and reign of Christ come later. There will also be another final conflict with Satan, 1000 years after the Second Coming. The series of "Left Behind" novels are all based on these speculations about how history will unfold.


WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THE SECOND COMING?

Dispensationalism uses a huge variety of verses (with particular interpretations in each case) to weave together a very complicated scheme of predictions.

The basic teachings of the Bible are much simpler. The New Testament teaches that Christ will one day visibly return in glory. His second coming is referred to with several different terms: "coming," "presence," "appearance," "revelation," or "the day of the Lord." The Scriptures clearly teach the following concerning Christ's second and final coming:

1. Christ will come visibly and all people will see him (Acts 1:11; Matt. 24:27, 30; Luke 17:22-24; 21:27, 35; Mark 13:24-26; 14:62; Rev. 1:7).

2. Christ will come in glory surrounded by the host of his angels (Matt. 13:39-43, 49; 16:27; 24:30-31; 25:31; 2 Thess. 1:7; Rev. 19:11-14; Titus 2:13; Jude 14, 24; 1 Pet. 4:13; Zech. 14:3).

3. When Christ returns, a bodily resurrection of all the dead will take place. Believers will be raised to salvation and unbelievers to judgment (John 5:27-29; 6:39-40, 44, 54; Rev. 20:11-15; 1 Cor. 15:12-57; Dan. 12:1-2). All believers, both dead and living, will, be "caught up" to "meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:13-17). Death will be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26, 54-57; Rev. 20:14).

4. When Christ returns, he will judge all people, both the living and the dead (Matt. 25:31-46; John 5:27; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Rom. 2:16, 2 Tim. 4:1, 8; Jude 14-15; Rev. 20:11-15). Believers will receive eternal salvation and unbelievers eternal punishment (Matt. 25:31-46; 1 Pet. 1:4-5, 7; 5:4; 1 John 3:2; Heb. 9:28; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Thess. 1:6-10). Satan and the Antichrist will be destroyed (2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 20:10).

5. When Christ returns, "new heavens and a new earth" will be created (2 Pet. 3:10-13). Nowhere, however, do the Scriptures teach that at His return Christ will establish a this-worldly, political kingdom or "millennium."

The date of Christ's second coming is unknown. Jesus himself taught, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matt. 24:36; cf. Matt. 24:42, 44; 25:13; 1 Thessalonians 5; 2 Peter 3). The times or seasons fixed by the authority of the Father are "not for you to know" (Acts 1:7). Therefore, speculation concerning the time of the end is unnecessary.

This much can be said: the fact that God has delayed it now for almost two millennia is due to his patience and mercy, for "the Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9). The Scriptural teaching concerning Christ's second coming has a very practical purpose. God desires that all come to believe in the Gospel, lead a holy life in service to Christ, and eagerly await the last day with patience (Rom. 13:12-14; Titus 2:11-13; 1 Pet. 1:13-15; 2 Pet. 3:11-12; 1 John 3:2-3; 1 Tim. 6:14; Matt. 25:14-30).


WHAT ABOUT THE THOUSAND YEARS? There are many interpretations of the biblical reference to the millennium - the thousand years, referred to, for example, in the 20th chapter of Revelation, describing a time in which Satan is bound. United Methodist doctrine has no specific statement at all on an interpretation of the millennium. The Lutheran Church has a very helpful document that helps explain some of the different explanations of the thousand years. Here are the primary interpretations of various Christian traditions:

PREMILLENNIAL - After times of tribulation and terror, Christ returns to defeat the antichrist and bind Satan, and institute his earthly reign. Sin and death still exist, but the strong power of evil is bound. After the millennium there is one last battle between good and evil, when Satan is finally defeated completely.

DISPENSATIONAL - This is a form of premillenial thought, with the added detail that Christians are removed from the earth (called "rapture"), and so Christians do not have to experience the time of great earthly distress and terrors (tribulation).

POSTMILLENNIAL - The millennium may not be a literal 1000 years - but represents an age of growing Christian influence on earth. In this approach, Christ's return, the judgment, and the resurrection come after ("post") the millennium.

AMILLENNIAL - This view teaches that the 1000 years is a symbol for the present reign of Christ, which began with his ascension into heaven, and will be fully manifested at his second coming.


MORE ON THE MILLENNIUM. The Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) has one of the strongest warning statements against some forms of millennial teachings. It is worth reading and considering:

We reject every type of millennialism, the opinions that Christ will return visibly to this earth a thousand years before the end of the world and establish a dominion of the Church over the world...or that before a general resurrection on Judgment Day a number of departed Christians or martyrs are to be raised again to reign in glory in this world.

Scripture clearly teaches, and we teach accordingly, that:

The kingdom of Christ on earth will remain under the cross until the end of the world. (Acts 14:22; John 16:33; 18:36; Luke 9:23; 14:27; 17:20-37; 2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 12:28; Luke 18:8)

The second visible coming of the Lord will be his final advent, his coming to judge the quick and the dead. (Matt. 24:29, 30; 25:31; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Thess. 2:8; Heb. 9:26-28)

There will be but one resurrection of the dead (John 5:28; 6:39, 40)

The time of the Last Day is, and will remain, unknown, which would not be the case if the Last Day were to come a thousand years after the beginning of a millennium. (Matt. 24:42; 25:13; Mark 13:32, 37; Acts 1:7)

There will be no general conversion, a conversion en masse, of the Jewish nation. (Rom. 11:7; 2 Cor. 3:14; Rom. 11:25; 1 Thess. 2:16)

According to these clear passages of Scripture we reject the whole of Millennialism, since it not only contradicts Scripture, but also engenders a false conception of the kingdom of Christ, turns the hope of Christians upon earthly goals (1 Cor. 15:19; Col. 3:2), and leads them to look upon the Bible as an obscure book.



MORE ON DISPENSATIONALISM...

The academic/theological term for the theological principles behind the LEFT BEHIND series is Dispensationalism. It is not a part of traditional Protestant theology. Seminary professor Ben Witherington of Asbury Theological Seminary has a power point presentation on his personal web site that helps Christians to understand the differences between dispensational thought and traditional Christianity. I have summarized parts of the slide show below.

(The slide show is done with bullet points, so many times I have tried to complete the bullet points into complete sentences, without changing the sense. Go to Witherington's web site if you would like to view the complete slide show as he presents it. Witherington's book The Problem with Evangelical Theology also has a section of this topic.)

ON DISPENSING WITH DISPENSATIONALISM - BY BEN WITHERINGTON

Dispensationalism is rooted in the teachings of leaders whose work is fairly "recent" in the history of Christianity - Margaret MacDonald, a a young 19th century Scottish visionary, and John Nelson Darby, founder of the Plymouth Brethren, and an evangelist in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom. The teachings began to really take root before and during the American Civil War.

Dispensationalism teaches that Christ will return TWICE - once invisibly, and once visibly. The first of the two returns coincides with what they call the "rapture" of the true believers into heaven for seven years. The second of the returns of Christ will be the establishment of the "New Jerusalem" on earth.

Witherington notes that Darby declined to predict the timing of either of these returns of Christ.

Dwight L. Moody was a popular American preacher who helped spread the teachings of Darby in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Cyrus Scofield is another important name is dispensationalism. He published a reference Bible that bore his name, that became a best seller in 1909.

In 1924, an institute was established to advance dispensational thinking - the Dallas Dispensational Training Center, which was the predecessor of Dallas Theological Seminary (NOT the Methodist seminary at SMU!!!). Several writers and editors have continued to popularize these teachings - including Charles Ryrie, Hal Lindsey ("The Late Great Planet Earth") and Timothy LaHaye ("Left Behind").

Witherington describes the teachings in this way:

"Dispensationalism is a theory of interpreting Biblical prophecy which does not have deep historical roots and is not well grounded in the history of the interpretation of the Bible by the church over many centuries. In particular, no one was arguing for a rapture doctrine before about 1830. This is severely problematic, not least because while many early Bible interpreters were pre-millenialists, they were not advocating a rapture theology, or a two track system of interpreting everything.

"One of the major difficulties with Dispensationalism is its theories about Biblical prophecy. For example, it fails to realize that most Old Testament prophecy was either: 1) conditional in character; 2) already fulfilled; or 3) speaking about a situation in the life of Israel long, long ago, not speaking about the eschatological age.

"Even more problematic is its failure to recognize that the writers of the New Testament are unanimous that all the prophecies and promises of God are fulfilled in Christ and his people (Jew and Gentile united in Christ), not in two different peoples of God, and not through two different "second comings" of Jesus.

"Most biblical prophecy is a late word from God for the present or very near horizon of events. When some Old Testament prophecy is viewed messianically in the New Testament, it is very rarely viewed as speaking about the remote or very distant future, and it is always correlated with events which involve Christ and/or the church, not world history in general.

"It was believed by New Testament writers that the eschatological age began in their own era, and they never speak precisely about the timing of the end of that era.

"The imagaic, metaphorical, and poetic nature of apocalypic literature also needs to be kept in mind. This sort of literature, even when it speaks of the more distant horizon, does so metaphorical and multivalent language, though clearly enough it is referential as well.

"God only reveals enough about the future to give us hope, not so much that we don't have to exercise faith, nor so much that we should spend our time engaged in theological weather forecasting."

Witherington goes on to discuss some biblical texts that are widely used in dispensational teaching:

REVELATION 4:1-2 is not a description of a magic carpet ride to heaven taken by John of Patmos. It is a description of a visionary experience, as is true of the rest of the book of Revelation. John "in the Spirit" is enabled to see into heaven, and to see into the future. The failure to recognize the character of apocalyptic literature as visionary leads to misreadings.

MATTHEW 24:29-41 discusses the events surrounding the coming of the Son of Man from heaven, including cosmic signs of distress (24:29). Thus the idea of this coming begin secret or clandestine is far fetched. Once the sign appears in the heavens, all nations will see it and mourn. He will come on the clouds with power, glory and angels. Verse 37 makes it perfectly clear that the same coming is being described in verses 37-41 as in verses 29-31.

An analogy is drawn between the days of Noah and the days of the end. The issue has to do with what is meant by "one is taken, and the other left." Those who are "taken" in the days of Noah are those who are swept away by the flood in judgment. During Jesus' time, being "taken" referred to those who were taken away by the authorities for judgment. Being "taken" - whether in Noah's day or in Jesus' time - was not a favorable outcome. It meant judgment. Notice as well that there is no reference to the person taken being "taken up" or being "taken to heaven."

1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-5:11 is the key text. To understand this text, one must realize that the return of the Lord described here (or "parousia") is not something different from the second coming, or the coming of the thief in the night, or the glorious appearing of Christ. These are all alternate ways of describing the same public and dramatic event. The public nature of the event is stressed. It involves a public herald, and a trumpet blast announcing to all that Christ is coming. An analogy is drawn with the appearing of a king before a walled city (compare Psalm 24).

The text says that the dead in Christ will go to meet Christ in the air, and will be joined by the living in Christ. The location of this reunion is not heaven, but the earth's atmosphere. More importantly, the place where the gathering goes thereafter is down to earth to reign, not up to heaven to escape an earthly tribulation. The analogy to a king being met by a greeting committee, and then returning to the committee's city is apt and would be well understood by the Thessalonians.

In other words, there is no concept of the "rapture" in the New Testament - if by rapture one means anything more than simply a meeting with Christ in the air at the Second Coming.

Witherington concludes: "Without the doctrine of the rapture, and without a two track model of prophecy fulfillment for two peoples of God, the Dispensational system collapses. Why would we expect, after generations of martyrs, that the final generation of Christians would be exempt from bearing the cross or dying for their faith in the final tribulation? This is escapist theology that is not well grounded in the Bible, especially not in Revelation, which was written to steel the audience for the possibility of martyrdom."

He also notes that "the return of Jews to Israel in 1948 is not a sign of the end times, or a basis for calculations. As even orthodox Jews in Israel stress, the modern secular Zionist government is not Biblical Israel. Romans 11:25 makes it clear that Biblical Israel will not show up until Jesus returns and "all Israel is saved."


WHAT DID JOHN WESLEY BELIEVE ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM (1000 YEARS)?

Here is one writer's take on this question: "John Wesley and the Millennium"