Revelation 1:6: “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

Notice that it says that Jesus has made us, not will make us. We are kings and priests. As of right now we are despised, rejected, and persecuted, but one day we will rule and reign with Christ. During the Tribulation this great announcement will be made:

Revelation 11:15: “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

This triumphant reign is discussed later in Revelation. It begins after the Second Coming:

Revelation 20:4: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

At that point we will reign with Him. As the Bible says, His dominion is an everlasting one, and His kingdom will never end. This is what Daniel had to say about it:

Daniel 2:44: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”

Daniel 7:14: “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

A full discussion of this is outside the scope of this post. The point is that God has made us kings and priests, and one day in the future we will reign with Jesus over the Earth. This is a guarantee: it is not something we can mess up, or lose, or forfeit. It is going to happen. Those who are Christians (be they living or dead) will live and reign with Christ. It is a mighty promise, and one to look forward to.

Revelation 1:5: “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,”

Jesus is the first-begotten of the dead: He was the first one to be resurrected. So far He is the only one to be resurrected and receive a glorified body. Enoch was translated so that he never died, but he has not yet received his glorified body (since, if he had, Jesus would not have been the first!). The same can be said for Elijah, who was also taken up without dying.

One day this situation will change. As the apostle Paul taught, when the Lord returns for us we will all be changed:

I Corinthians 15:51: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 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.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

A full discussion of this event is beyond the scope of this post. The point is that, as Jesus was raised from the dead, so one day those who were saved will also be raised from the dead. As Jesus has been given His glorified body, so one day we will be given ours as well.

That day is coming. No one knows when it will be, or how near it is. This is how Paul looked at it:

Romans 13:11: “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”

Before Isaac was born, Abraham was visited by three people – one of whom was probably the preincarnate Christ. These three people had come to see just how bad things really were in Sodom:

Genesis 18:20: “And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.”

The Lord decided that He wanted to check out Sodom and Gomorrah in person. Now, we know that God sees all things; there is nothing that is hidden from God and there is no place one can go to get away from God:

Psalm 139:7: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”

There are some people who think that Hell is separation from God – that it is the one place in the universe where one can finally get away from God altogether. As we see in verse 8, however, that is not the case. God is there as well, pouring out His endless wrath upon those who refused His mercy.

So, then, we know that God sees all things; nothing is hidden from Him. He did not need to leave Heaven and go to Sodom in person to know what was going on, but He chose to go anyway. This actually emphasizes the extreme depravity of Sodom. By way of an analogy, imagine hearing something so bad that it wasn’t enough to simply hear about it; you have to go in person and see it for yourself. The sin of Sodom was so great that God actually went there to take care of the situation in person. This is similar to the Second Coming, when the Lord will return with the armies of Heaven so that He can take care of the Antichrist personally.

As the Lord was on this mission to investigate Sodom, He asked Himself whether or not He should tell Abraham what He was about to do:

Genesis 18:17: “And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”

The Lord decided to tell Abraham everything, and the reason was because Abraham and his descendents were going to keep the way of the Lord. They were going to walk in His ways and God was going to bless them for it and make them a great nation. Since God knew this would happen, He told Abraham what was going on. Abraham interceded on behalf of Sodom, asking God to spare it if there were just 10 righteous people there, and God agreed. God did not find 10 righteous people in Sodom, though, so He destroyed the city with fire and brimstone:

Genesis 19:24: “Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.”

What we see here is a sharp contrast. On the one hand is Abraham, who kept the ways of God. On the other hand is Sodom, whom the Bible describes like this:

Genesis 13:13: “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.”

God treated Abraham and Sodom in very different ways: He blessed Abraham, and He utterly destroyed Sodom. The man who obeyed God was blessed, and the men who were exceedingly wicked were burned alive with fire and brimstone before the Lord.

The reason I bring this up is because nothing has changed. Yes, those who follow Christ in this life will suffer persecution, and will go through trials and hard times. Ultimately, however, they will be spared God’s wrath and will be blessed, going on to inherit everlasting life and joy. Those who reject Christ will be cast into the lake of fire, where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever – and, just like the people of Sodom, burned alive.

We know that we are not saved by our works. The apostle Paul makes this quite clear:

2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,”

Our works do not save us; we are saved by grace and grace alone. I want to emphasize that our works play no part in our salvation. However, works are a result of salvation, and all true faith will result in works. This is the point that James made:

James 2:7: “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

Our works demonstrate that our faith is real; they are the certificate of authenticity. A faith that produces no works is a dead faith – one that is false, counterfeit, phony. Real faith always results in works.

The Bible is clear that Abraham was saved by his faith, not by his works:

Romans 4:2: “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

What saved Abraham was his belief in God. He believed God and that was counted to him for righteousness. It was his faith that saved him. We can tell that Abraham’s faith was genuine because it was followed by works: when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he obeyed. Abraham’s works showed that his faith was real. The fact that he kept the way of the Lord demonstrated that he had genuine, saving faith.

The reason this is so important is because there is an epidemic in the modern Church. There are many people who call themselves Christians but who utterly reject the authority of God over their lives. They do not believe that God has a right to tell them what to do. They do exactly what they please, when they please, and they laugh at the restrictions found in the Bible. There is an idea going around that you can be a Christian without ever submitting to the lordship of Christ – that you can say “God, forgive my sins, but don’t you dare tell me what to do. Just stay out of my life and keep me from going to Hell. Thanks.” That is not a saving prayer – but it is the fervent belief of countless people.

It is easy to spot people who have rejected God’s authority over their life. For example, just look at the way people treat the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible claims to be nothing less than to contain the inspired, infallible, and flawless words of God Himself. It is God speaking to us directly, communicating His laws and values and decrees. The Bible contains God’s will for our lives.

Today, however, people despise the Bible. This is not limited to nonbelievers, but includes Christians; in fact, many supposed Christians are often the very worst. It never ceases to astonish me when I try to teach a Christian something from the Word and am told “Well, I just don’t care what the Bible says”. Other times I hear “Well, I know the Bible says that but I just believe differently.” Then there is the horrific “I know the Bible says that, but I will never, ever obey that. Ever. I completely reject that.”

Let’s be honest here. There are many people who attack the authority of the Bible. They claim that it is full of errors, or that the apostle Paul was wrong, or that you can’t really believe what the Bible says. However, the people who make those claims have no ground to stand on. They cannot prove that the Bible is in error; many people have tried but no one has ever succeeded. They cannot prove that the text of the Bible has been corrupted. They cannot prove that the apostle Paul was wrong. In fact, the majority of people who claim such things have never even tried to prove their point or demonstrate that they are right. Those claims are just excuses. The real issue is that the Bible tells them things they don’t want to hear and so they reject it. The criticism of the Bible is just an attempt to hide their own rebellion.

God, however, is not amused. He is very clear about how He sees His word:

2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

Notice what it says: all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It is not a mixture of the “words of God” and “words of men”. It is not part truth, part corruption, and part lie. It is all given by the inspiration of God – every last word of it. Peter put it this way:

2 Peter 1:20: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

This really could not be any more clear! Scripture did not come by the will of man; instead, “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”. This is true not just of prophecy but of all Scripture. It is all the words of God. As the Psalms says, the Bible is true from the very first chapter:

Psalm 119:160: “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”

Nor is the Bible full of lies and error. The Bible is clear that all of God’s words are true, and there is no error or deceit among them:

Proverbs 30:5: “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.”

Not only is the Word of God true, but it is also filled with power:

Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Many supposed Christians absolutely hate the things that Paul wrote, and so they dismiss him entirely. They have no problem saying that Paul was wrong about a lot of issues and that it’s fine to reject anything he said. However, the apostle Paul was clear that this way of thinking was a grave error. He made it very plain that the things that he wrote were nothing less than commands from the Lord Himself:

1 Corinthians 14:37: “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.”

Lest you think that was just Paul trying to prop himself up, the other apostles agreed with him. Peter made it clear that the letters of Paul were just as much holy Scripture as the Old Testament itself:

I Peter 3:15: “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”

Peter said that many unlearned people deceitfully misinterpret both Paul’s epistles and the other scriptures, thus putting Paul’s letters on the same footing as the rest of the Bible. Paul’s writings are not the scribblings of a deranged lunatic, even though that is what many supposed Christians believe today; they are the very commandments of God, and those who reject them are rejecting God Himself.

That is the real issue: the Bible contains the words of God, and those who reject it are rejecting God. It is not any more complicated than that. As Christians we are called to obey God, not reject Him. This is what Jesus Himself had to say:

Matthew 4:4: “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Jesus said that we are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. We are to highly esteem the words of God; we are to know them and obey them. Jesus expected His followers to live by every last word of God.

But that’s not how things are, is it? Instead we have churches full of people who are utterly ignorant about the Bible. The reason they are ignorant is because the Bible doesn’t matter to them. I know this because they aren’t embarrassed to tell me that. These self-professed Christians are completely comfortable saying things like “I don’t care what the Bible says” and “what the Bible has to say just doesn’t matter” and “I don’t care if the Bible says it; I will never, ever do that”. They don’t study the Bible because it doesn’t matter to them. They don’t understand the Bible because it doesn’t matter to them. They don’t obey the Bible because it doesn’t matter to them. They see the teachings of the Bible as being utterly unimportant – not worth their time or attention, and certainly not binding over their life.

The Bible has a very different viewpoint. The apostles taught that we ought to be very concerned about what the Bible has to say:

Hebrews 2:1: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”

Where do we find “the things which we have heard”? In the Bible. The things that God has borne witness to – the signs and wonders and divers miracles – where do we find those? In the Bible. It contains the things that we ought to give “the more earnest heed” to.

But many modern Christians have utterly rejected the Bible, and they have also rejected its authority over their lives. If Christians actually cared about the Bible they would not approve of homosexuality. We would not have churches led by homosexual clergy. We would not have entire congregations gathering to ask God to forgive them for the “sin of condemning homosexuality”. We would not have rampant adultery and divorce in the church. The Church would be a radically different place if Christians actually cared about what God had to say – but they don’t.

Yes, I realize there are those who do, but they are the exceptions. So many churches are utterly and breathtakingly corrupt. Many congregations have made peace with the world and have accepted sin, and simply don’t believe the Bible anymore. I am utterly, thoroughly sick of hearing Christians tell me to stop telling them about the Bible because – as they themselves explain – they don’t care what it has to say. The fact that a Christian would actually dare to say “I don’t care what the Bible says” should shock us, but these days it’s normal.

One fact that we absolutely must realize is that if you have rejected God’s authority over your life then you are not a Christian. I don’t care if you are a deacon, a pastor, or a Sunday School teacher; I don’t care if you’ve been a missionary for 50 years or have been a church member since the day you were born. If you are telling God “You have no say in my life; I’m going to do whatever I please” then you are not saved. Period. Your Christianity is a lie and your faith is false.

You see, in order to be saved Jesus must be your Lord and Savior. One of the key parts of salvation – and one that many churches have tossed aside – is the element of repentance. The Bible says over and over that in order to be saved you must repent. In fact, that is the very message that Jesus Himself preached:

Matthew 4:17: “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 9:13: “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Why did Jesus come? To call sinners to repentance. Jesus condemned those who did not repent:

Matthew 11:20: “Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:”

Not only did He condemn them, but He made it clear that those who refused to repent would perish:

Luke 13:2: “And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

When someone tells God “Please keep me out of Hell. Thanks.”, that is not repentance. Repentance is where you are sorry for your sins and you tell God that the things you have done are wrong; you are agreeing with Him that you have sinned, and – this is key – you are placing yourself under His authority. It means that you ask God to forgive you for the wrong things you have done, and to change you so that you can walk in God’s ways. Repentance is a change in allegiance. It is putting an end to your rebellion against God. You are no longer living for yourself; you are now living for God. Jesus is now your master. We become what the Bible calls a living sacrifice:

Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

After we are saved we no longer live for ourselves. We no longer do what we think is right or what we think is best. Instead, we are bound to follow God and God alone, doing what God says is right and what God says is best. We obey God at all times, regardless of the cost. We do what God tells us to do; we believe what He has to say; we humble ourselves and accept His rule over our lives. Being a Christian means that God is our king – He is our master. It means that we acknowledge and accept His authority over us.

Where do we find God’s commands and decrees? In the Bible. Therefore, as Christians, we are bound by the Bible. We must obey what it says. We must believe what it teaches. We must treasure it and care about it because it is the very words of our master, Jesus Christ. It means that every last word in the Bible matters because they are God’s words. Those words are binding over us; they have absolute and unquestioned authority over us. Obeying them does not save us, but we must obey them.

Why? Because they are the words of our king – the words of the One Who purchased us with His own blood. There are many people who believe that they can reject the authority of God and still be saved. They think that they can laugh at God’s commands and somehow everything will still all work out in the end. This is a grave error. You see, if you reject God’s commands then you can no longer say that God is your master. At that point, you are the master. You are doing what you want to do. You have replaced God with yourself. This is a fatal mistake, because if Jesus is not your Lord then He will not be your Savior either. It is a package deal. If you reject His authority over your life then He will not save you.

Jesus made this quite clear in one of His parables. In the parable that we find in Luke 19, when the master returned he rewarded those who were faithful to him. Those who rejected his reign, however, were executed:

Luke 19:27: “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”

God is very clear about this: all of those who reject the authority of God and who refuse to allow God to reign over them will be damned. They will all be cast into the lake of fire, where they will be burned alive for all of eternity. Rejecting the authority of God has very serious consequences.

The men of Sodom utterly rejected God. They did not fear Him and they laughed at His commands. They were exceedingly wicked, so the Lord reigned down fire and brimstone from Heaven and killed them all. Abraham, however, was righteous. He believed God and he proved that his faith was genuine through his obedience. He was careful to keep the way of the Lord. The Lord blessed Abraham, and He will bless all those who chose to repent.

Abraham chose to keep the way of the Lord and the Lord rewarded him; the men of Sodom chose to reject that way and the Lord killed them all. Today the world is faced with the same choice. Those who repent and believe, submitting themselves to the lordship of Christ, will be saved and go on to inherit everlasting life. Those who reject God’s authority and mock His word will be tormented day and night in the Lake of Fire. There are no other options.

I am greatly afraid that many people who claim to be Christians have chosen the second option. They claim to have genuine faith, but they reject the authority of God and despise His words. These people are not Christians at all but are utterly lost. When they stand before the God whose authority they have rejected they will find only wrath – a wrath that will last for all of eternity.

My plea to you is this: do not join them. There are many who will go down the road to destruction, but I urge you to not go down that path. Do not follow them to Hell. Accept the Lord and yield to Him, while there is still time. The day is rapidly approaching when it will be too late.

In the book of I Kings we find a very odd story. A prophet went up to his neighbor and asked him to smite him:

I Kings 20:35: “And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the Lord, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.

As you can see, his neighbor said no. Usually when someone comes up to you and says “Please hit me”, saying no is a good idea. After all, who wants to be guilty of beating up a prophet?

However, in this particular case, saying no was the wrong answer:

I Kings 20:36: “Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.”

Since the man would not hit the prophet, a lion came and killed him. (Yes, he actually died because he wouldn’t do it!) The prophet then found someone else who was more accommodating:

I Kings 20:37: “Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him.
38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.”

Why did all of this happen? Well, the short version of the answer is that God had sent the prophet to condemn the king for being disobedient. In order to do this, however, the prophet needed to be wounded so God could use him as a sort of object lesson. It was therefore vital that the prophet actually be wounded – and in order for that to happen, someone had to wound him.

If you take another look at the first verse, you’ll notice that when the prophet commanded his neighbor to smite him he did so “in the word of the Lord”:

I Kings 20:35: “And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the Lord, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.

In other words, the prophet was not just saying “smite me”; he was saying it as the prophet of God, and as a direct commandment from God Himself. When the neighbor disobeyed, he was actually disobeying God – and since the wages of sin is death, the man was killed for his disobedience.

Today the situation is quite different. There are no prophets of God left. If someone comes up to you and says “God told me to tell you to hit me”, you can safely tell them that they are crazy. In the past God spoke to people in a wide variety of ways, but now He speaks to us through His Son:

Hebrews 1:1: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

God no longer speaks to us through prophets or dreams or direct personal revelation. Those days are over. Today if we want to hear the words of God we must read the Bible – for that is where His words are contained. That, however, is a subject for another time.

What we have here is a case where God told someone to hit one of His prophets, and when the man failed to do so he was killed for it. That surely qualifies as one of the oddest passages in the Bible.

Revelation 1:4: “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;”

These seven churches have prophetic significance. They were not the most prominent churches in the world, or even the most prominent ones in Asia. While they were all real churches, there is more to the story than that. Together they give a remarkable picture of Church history, which we’ll explore when we get to the letters. These seven churches offer a prophetic look at the history of the Church.

Also notice the description of Jesus: He is the one “which is, and which was, and which is to come”. In other words, Jesus is eternal, without beginning or end. Mormons teach that God had a beginning: they claim that He was born as a mortal and eventually earned His way to godhood. The Bible flatly contradicts this: God has always existed and will always exist. He is the self-existent one.

Revelation 1:3: “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

This is so important. Some people today like to be “pan-millennial”, claiming that “it will all pan out in the end” and so it’s not worth studying. After all, “whatever’s going to happen will happen; besides, what difference does it make?”

I find this attitude appalling. God apparently thought that it made a lot of difference or He wouldn’t have given this to John in the first place! Besides, God offers a promise: “Blessed is he that readeth”. Those who study prophecy are blessed. It is a worthy topic of study, and God spends a lot of time on it. For us to dismiss it as “unimportant” or “irrelevant” dishonors God and His Word.

Just how much time does God spend on prophecy? Take a look:

* In the Bible, 27% (8352) of all verses (31,124) refer to prophetic issues.

* In God’s Word, 22% (1845) of all prophetic verses (8352) refer to Christ’s second coming.

* All nine authors of the NT mention Christ’s second coming

* Next to the subject of faith/salvation, the theme of Christ’s second coming is most prominent in the New Testament.

* Only three out of 27 New Testament books do not mention Christ’s second advent (Philemon, 2 John, and 3 John).

* Of the approximately 333 specific biblical prophesies dealing with Christ’s two advents, one-third deal with His first coming and two-thirds deal with His second coming.

(Source: John MacArthur, Christ’s Prophetic Plans, pg. 14)

As you can see, the Bible makes a big deal out of prophecy. It is not a minor topic and it should not be treated as minor by Christians.

Why bother to study prophecy?

* Fulfilled prophecy proves that the Bible is true and inspires confidence in Scripture (Acts 13:32-25 with 42-44)

* The study of prophecy promotes obedience and provides the gateway to God’s blessing (Revelation 1:3; 22:7)

* Prophetic material equips the saints to refute those who mock the Christian hope (2 Peter 3:1-13)

* Prophecy provides answers to theological questions that are found nowhere else, such as the relationship between the resurrection and the rapture (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)

* Prophecy gives motivation for holy living today (I Thessalonians 5:6-9; Titus 2:11-14; 2 Peter 3:11-13)

* Prophetic expectation purifies (I John 3:2-3)

* Prophecy provides a biblical basis for prayer (Daniel 9:1-19 with Jeremiah 25:11-12)

* Prophecy is a source of hope, comfort, and encouragement for the Christian (I Thessalonians 4:18, 5:11; Titus 2:13)

* The study of prophecy encourages patient endurance in the midst of suffering and trials (James 5:7-11)

* Prophecy assures that unjust persecution of the righteous will be avenged by God (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)

(Source: John MacArthur, Christ’s Prophetic Plans, pg. 16)

Finally, “the time is at hand” – from God’s perspective. As Peter said when discussing the Second Coming, a day with the Lord is as a thousand years. Jesus has tarried so that many might be saved, but He will not tarry forever.

As promised, I’m posting the papers that were a part of this Sunday evening’s lesson. First, this is the lesson paper that was handed out to the class:

Concerning Bible Translations – PDF file; 13 pages

Second, here is a copy of the book that I mentioned, which goes into much greater detail:

Translation Issues: The KJV Controversy – PDF file; 640 pages

Thanks!

As we saw during our study of Abraham, the Lord made a covenant with him several times. The very first time was when the Lord commanded Abraham to leave his home:

Genesis 12:1: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

There are quite a few different parts to this covenant. Listed out, this is what God promised:

• To make Abraham a great nation
• To bless Abraham
• To make Abraham’s name great
• To make Abraham a blessing
• To bless those who blessed Abraham
• To curse those who cursed Abraham
• That in Abraham all the families of the Earth would be blessed

Later on, God made another covenant with Abraham. It was quite similar to the one in chapter 12 but it contains some additional promises:

Genesis 17:1: “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

As we can see, there is a lot of information there. (It should be noted that these promises do not cancel out the earlier ones; rather, this adds to what God had said before.) This is what God promised:

• To make a covenant with Abraham
• To multiply Abraham exceedingly (give Abraham many descendents)
• To make Abraham the father of many nations
• God changed Abram’s name to Abraham
• To make an everlasting covenant between Himself and Abraham, and between Himself and Abraham’s descendents
• To be a God to both Abraham and Abraham’s descendents
• To give to both Abraham and his descendents all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession

Those are the promises that God made to Abraham in what theologians call the “Abrahamic Covenant”. On the surface this looks pretty straightforward; there isn’t a lot of complexity here. Despite the simple nature of the passage, however, there are two entirely different schools of thought that have arisen to interpret these promises. One method of interpretation is called Covenant Theology, and the other is called Dispensationalism. These two approaches are entirely different, and they are as opposed to each other as they can possibly be.

It is vital that we understand both systems, because they impact the way the rest of the Bible is interpreted. The system that you follow will determine how you view Israel and how you view the study of end-times. It is an important area of study that is all-too-often neglected.

The names of these two systems are very misleading. Covenant Theology does not mean that you are interpreting the Bible as a series of covenants, and Dispensationalism does not mean that you are interpreting the Bible as a series of dispensations. Everyone agrees that there are covenants in the Bible; the Abrahamic covenant is one of many. (The word “covenant” appears in the King James Bible an astonishing 280 times!) Likewise, everyone agrees that the Bible speaks of something called “dispensations”. For example:

Ephesians 1:9: “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:”

The dictionary defines a dispensation as a “divinely appointed order or age”. For example, there was one order of doing things before the Fall in the Garden of Eden, and one afterward. There was one way of doing things before the Flood, and one afterward. There was one way of doing things before Christ died and rose again (in other words, before the Church Age), and one after. Those are examples of dispensations.

So, then, the dispute is not about whether or not the Bible has covenants and dispensations. The Bible clearly has both. Instead, the issue comes down to this: what method should a person use to interpret these covenants?

The cornerstone of Covenant Theology (which is a system I utterly reject) is the idea that the Church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen people. (This is why Covenant Theology is often called Replacement Theology.) It teaches that when Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah, God rejected Israel and replaced them with the Church. The only people who are special to God are those in the Church; the Jews have lost their special position. God no longer has a plan for them and they are no more special to Him than any other nation or people.

This has a lot of implications. First of all, covenant theologians teach that Israel has no right to any land in the Middle East. When the Jews rejected Jesus they lost whatever rights they might have had. This is why churches that believe in covenant theology are hostile toward Israel and often side with the Palestinians: they believe that Israel is an enemy of God and that Israel ought to be defeated and her land taken away and given to the Arabs. It is not at all uncommon to see such churches boycott Israel or speak up on behalf of those who are attacking her.

Because they believe that the Church has replaced Israel, they believe that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred to the Church. The many covenants in the Bible (like the Abrahamic Covenant) are re-interpreted in spiritual and symbolic ways. Instead of blessing the Jews, God now blesses the Church. All Scripture in the Old Testament that spoke of Israel is reinterpreted as speaking to the Church.

Since they believe that God has rejected Israel, they also believe that Israel will never reign over the entire world during a literal millennium. Instead, they interpret Revelation as speaking of the Church Age, and interpret the millennium symbolically. Covenant theologians always become amillennial, because the millennium deals with Israel specifically and they believe that God has rejected Israel.

So, then, Covenant Theology teaches:

• That the Church has replaced Israel
• That God has taken His promises away from Israel and has given them to the Church
• That Israel is not special in God’s sight
• That the modern nation of Israel has no right to exist and is not any more special to God than any other nation
• That Revelation should be interpreted symbolically
• That the millennium is purely symbolic, and not literal
• That prophecies and covenants should be understood spiritually, symbolically, and allegorically, not literally

For the record, this definition of Covenant Theology is exactly what any of the major covenant theologians will tell you. If you read men such as Charles Hodge in Systematic Theology or R. J. Rushdoony in Thy Kingdom Come, this is what you will see. If you attend a church that believes Covenant Theology (as I did for a number of years), you will hear all of these things said with great boldness and pride. This is where they stand.

The points of Covenant Theology are not arbitrary; they all logically follow from the idea that the Church has replaced Israel. Its entire system of interpretation comes from that point. For example:

• God made Israel certain promises – promises that have not been fulfilled. If the Church has replaced Israel and Israel is no longer special to God, then those promises must be transferred to the Church. Otherwise God would have broken His word.
• Many of the promises in the OT are very specific, and there is simply no way they could be transferred to the Church. (For example, no one believes that the Church has a right to the land of Canaan.) Therefore, the only way to make the system work is to interpret the prophecies “spiritually”, or allegorically. If you interpret them literally then you end up with Dispensationalism, which Covenant Theology despises. Covenant Theology forces you to interpret the Old Testament in a very non-literal way, because any other method of interpretation would disprove Covenant Theology.
• If God has rejected Israel and God’s promises to Israel no longer apply to Israel, then Israel has lost its right to the land of Canaan. Therefore, the Jews are occupying land that does not belong to them – and on top of that, they are enemies of the gospel since they have rejected Christ. Therefore, churches who believe in Covenant Theology are hostile toward Israel, often boycotting Israel, speaking against them, and so forth. They do this because their theology demands it.
• If you interpret Old Testament prophecies and the book of Revelation literally, they will tell you that God has set aside 7 years for chastising Israel, after which Israel will be saved, Jesus will return as Israel’s king, and Israel (with Jesus as King) will rule over the whole world for 1000 years. However, if you believe that God has rejected Israel, then God can’t possibly have set aside a time that is specifically aimed at Israel; therefore they interpret prophecy symbolically, since a literal interpretation will yield a result that they do not like.

The point I am making is that Covenant Theology will lead people to reject Israel, to interpret the Bible in a very non-literal manner, and to become amillennial. That is where the system invariably leads. The more you study it the more you will be drawn to those ends. It is simply inescapable.

Another very odd facet of Covenant Theology is that they teach that people in the Old Testament were saved by believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ – even though the Bible did not reveal any of those things until the time of Isaiah, and even though no one understood what Isaiah was talking about until after Christ actually died and rose again. They insist that people have always been saved in exactly the same manner, by believing in exactly the same thing.

Frankly, this idea is completely laughable. While Adam and Eve did know that a Messiah was coming, mankind was not told that the Messiah would die and rise again until thousands of years later. How could they possibly believe something that they were not told? How could Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believe a gospel that had not yet been revealed to mankind? It simply doesn’t make sense.

Dispensationalists agree that mankind has always been saved by grace through faith alone; the difference is they teach that the content of that faith has changed from one dispensation to the next. The Bible tells us that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness. God did not tell Abraham everything that He has told us; however, Abraham believed what he had been told, and God accepted that. People in the Old Testament were saved by believing what God had revealed – not by believing something they could not possibly have known.

As I said earlier, I reject the system of Covenant Theology; the evidence against it is simply too great. I believe that Dispensationalism is a much better system.
 

Has the Church replaced Israel?

If the Church has replaced Israel and is now the “true Israel”, then you would expect that fact to be mentioned somewhere in the Bible. However, that is not the case. There are no verses that say the Church has replaced Israel as God’s special people. Moreover, the Bible never refers to the Church as “Israel” (or vice versa). In every single case, the word “Israel” refers to Israel, and the word “Church” refers to the Church. The two words are used separately and distinctly, and are never used in place of each other.

What the Bible actually says about this matter is quite different from what Covenant Theology teaches. The Church has not replaced Israel; instead, we have been grafted in:

Romans 11:17: “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;”

The Bible says that some of the original branches of the tree – meaning Israel – were broken off, while we Gentiles were grafted in. That, however, does not mean that we have replaced Israel, as the chapter takes great pains to point out:

Romans 11:11: “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?”

Israel has fallen, but they have not been replaced. Through their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles – to us, the wild olive tree. However, God has not forsaken Israel. Our salvation is intended to provoke them to jealousy. One day they, too, will be saved, and will be grafted back in:

Romans 11:23: “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

Notice that last verse – the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. What that means is that when God makes a promise, He will not go back on it. God made a covenant to take away Israel’s sins, and that is exactly what He will do. God chose Israel as His own and they will forever remain exactly that. For a time Israel has been blinded and hardened, but that is not because God has rejected Israel; it is so that we Gentiles might be saved. After God has finished obtaining a people among the Gentiles He will take away that blindness and all Israel shall be saved.

God cannot and will never cast away His people. Not only does Romans 11 make this clear, but the Old Testament does as well:

Jeremiah 31:35: “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.”

There is simply nothing that Israel could do to forfeit the promises that God made to them. He will never cast them off. The apostle Paul said that all Israel shall be saved, and they will be. The Old Testament speaks of a time when their hearts will change:

Hosea 3:4: “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.”

Hosea tells us that “in the latter days” the Israelites will return and fear the Lord. Zechariah tells us the same thing:

Zechariah 12:10: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Before Jesus was crucified He said that Israel would not see Him again until they accepted Him as their Messiah. Zechariah looked forward to the day when that would happen – when Israel would look upon their Messiah, whom they have pierced, and would mourn for Him and repent of what they had done. The day is coming when Israel will repent and be saved, just as the Old Testament prophets foretold. That, in fact, is what the Tribulation is all about – it is a time God has set aside not just to punish the word for its wickedness, but to finish the trials of Israel and finally bring them to salvation. At the end of the tribulation the Israelites will repent and be saved, and Jesus will return and rescue them – but that is a topic for another time.

The point is that God has not abandoned Israel and has not cast her off forever. Israel has been blinded for a time so that we Gentiles might be saved, but that blindness is only temporary. As both the Old and New Testaments tell us, one day Israel will be saved.

People who are dispensational believe that God has not replaced Israel with the Church, but instead both are His people – and that Israel and the Church are two separate things. (There are some Jews who are saved and are a part of the Church, but Israel and the Church are still different – just as France and the Church are different. There may be Frenchmen who are in the Church, but that doesn’t turn the Church into France.) They believe that God still loves Israel and has a plan to save them.
 

Has God Taken His Promises Away From Israel?

Of course not. As Romans 11:23 said when talking about this very subject, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. There are no Scriptures anywhere that say that God has taken away God’s promises and given the to the Church instead. It simply doesn’t say anything like that.

Besides, if you look at the promises that God made to Israel, it becomes very apparent that they can never apply to the Church. For example, take a look at the promises that God made to Abraham:

Genesis 17:8: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Here God promised Abraham, unconditionally, to give him and his descendents all of the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. Notice the phrase everlasting. That means that, no matter what, for the rest of time, the land of Canaan would always be theirs. God may remove Israel from the land for a time due to their obedience, but the land would always be theirs.

Covenant Theology teaches that, due to Israel’s disobedience, they have forfeited this promise and no longer have a right to the land. But look at what the verse says! The land was given to them as an everlasting possession. If they lost the land then it wouldn’t be an everlasting possession anymore, would it? It would mean that God had broken His promise.

Covenant Theology also teaches that all of God’s promises to Israel have been transferred to the Church. Does that mean that the Church now has a right to the entire land of Canaan? Nobody actually believes that, so covenant theologians have “spiritualized” this verse to talk about some vague spiritual blessings. Does the Bible ever interpret this verse in that manner? No, it doesn’t. Nowhere in the Old or New Testament is this verse interpreted in any way other than literally.

The problem is that when this verse is interpreted literally it contradicts Covenant Theology. So covenant theologians have invented new ways to interpret these very straightforward verses – ways that have no Scriptural backing whatsoever. They are not interpreting the Bible with the Bible or reading it in a normal, straightforward fashion; instead they are imposing their own interpretation on these verses, in spite of what the verses actually have to say.

If you interpret the Bible in a normal, straightforward manner, you will arrive at Dispensationalism. People who are dispensational believe that God has not rejected Israel, and they believe this because the Bible says that God has not rejected Israel. They believe that Israel has an everlasting right to the land of Canaan because that is what God promised Abraham. It is not complicated; they simply take God at His Word and do not invent symbolic, allegorical interpretations that have no Scriptural basis.
 

Has God Taken Canaan Away From Israel?

This is something that I have talked about extensively in an earlier lesson, so I will not dwell on it here. The Old Testament makes it quite clear that God would evict Israel from the land for disobedience, but that He would also gather them back again. Covenant Theologians like to claim that the modern nation of Israel has no Biblical significance whatsoever, but they are wrong. As I explained in a previous lesson, the Bible foretold the Jews’ long absence from the land, the rebirth of Israel in 1948, the rebirth of the nation in a single day, and a great deal more. Modern Israel is actually fulfilling Bible prophecy. If Israel has lost their right to the land in the Middle East then why did God promise to give it back to them? Why did He promise to regather them to their land? Why did He promise to give them Jerusalem again? Why did He make so many promises to them regarding giving them the land “in the latter days”? It simply makes no sense.

The reason Dispensationalists believe that modern Israel is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy is because they can point to a long list of specific Bible prophecies that modern Israel has fulfilled. Since we talked extensively about this earlier I will not repeat it here. The point is that, despite what Covenant Theology teaches, modern Israel is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. The reason they once again live in the land of Canaan is because God regathered them to the land and has protected them, exactly as He promised. Israel really does have a right to the land that God gave them as an “everlasting possession”, and covenant theologians are treading on very dangerous ground when they try to take that land away from them.
 

Is The Millennium Purely Symbolic?

Covenant Theology teaches that Israel is not special to God and that Israel has no right to any land in the Middle East. Because of this they reject the idea that Israel will one day rule over the world during the Millennium. Since they cannot accept a straightforward, literal interpretation of those verses, they instead teach that those verses should be interpreted symbolically. Covenant theologians argue that the Millennium is symbolic of the Church Age – the age we are living in now. They teach that at this very moment, Satan is bound and the Church is reigning triumphant over the world through the gospel. This interpretation is known as amillennialism.

There are two big problems with amillennialism. First, it is obvious to everyone that Satan is not bound, and second, it is equally obvious that the Church is not reigning triumphant. Revelation makes it clear that when Satan is bound he is unable to cause any more harm:

Revelation 20:1: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”

Notice the great pains the passage takes to make sure we understand that Satan has been utterly removed from the scene. He can no longer deceive anyone, or cause any harm, or oppose the Church. In fact, Satan can’t even go anywhere anymore; he has been cast into the bottomless pit and imprisoned. His days of causing harm are over for an entire millennium.

Does this accurately describe the Church age? No, it certainly does not. The New Testament warns us repeatedly that Satan is actively attacking the Church and that we must be on our guard:

1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

Notice how the passage says not only that Satan is “seeking whom he may devour”, but that he is walking around! Someone who is locked in the bottomless pit can’t possibly be walking around the Earth. If Satan was truly bound then he would be unable to seek and devour; if he could still kill and destroy while bound then then being bound loses all meaning. It should be emphasized that this verse was written during the Church Age – the very age in which covenant theologians teach that Satan has been rendered utterly harmless. The Bible contradicts them and warns us to put on the armor of God, for we are in a very real battle against the forces of darkness:

Ephesians 6:11: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Who does Paul want us to stand against? The devil. If Satan was bound and could no longer cause any harm then the devil wouldn’t be a problem, would he? But both Peter and Paul believed that Satan was not bound. They believed that he was still roaming around and was capable of causing great harm. The Bible simply does not support the idea that Satan is currently bound, and it teaches exactly the opposite.

The Bible also does not teach that the Church is reigning triumphant in this age. In fact, it says quite the opposite. The Bible teaches that the world hates the Church and persecutes it. We are not reigning over the world; instead, we are beaten down, hated, despised, and rejected. All over the world Christians are hunted, imprisoned, and executed. Paul went so far as to say this:

I Corinthians 15:19: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”

What Paul was saying is that if Christianity was only good for this life and had no value or reward in the next, then we are the most miserable of all men. Why? Because in this life Christians are faced with terrible persecution. Jesus told us this would happen:

John 15:18: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”

John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Did Jesus say that the Church would reign triumphant over the world during this age? Absolutely not! Instead, He said that we would be hated and despised, and would be hunted down and executed – and that is exactly what happened. It is utterly ridiculous to think that we are now reigning with Christ.

But there is another problem. Take a look at what the passage in Revelation actually says:

Revelation 20:4: “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”

Who lives and reigns with Christ? The martyrs. The passage clearly says that the martyrs are resurrected and live and reign with Christ. They were dead, but they lived again.

Has this already happened? Have the martyrs been resurrected from the dead, and do they now reigning over the Earth? Of course not! That is utterly ridiculous. Satan has not been bound, the Church does not reign, and the martyrs have not been raised from the dead. These things simply have not happened. Therefore, the idea that the Millennium is symbolic of the Church Age is entirely, conclusively wrong. Amillennialism is a false doctrine.

Revelation 20 should be interpreted in a normal, straightforward way, which is exactly how dispensationalists interpret it. They teach that one day in the future Satan will be bound and will be unable to deceive the nations any longer. The dead martyrs will be raised back to life, and they will live and reign with Christ for a literal thousand years. It is not complicated, and it will play out exactly as the Bible foretold.
 

Should Prophecy Be Interpreted Symbolically?

Covenant Theology teaches that prophecy should be interpreted symbolically. It claims that there is no Millennium; that is just symbolic of the age we live in now. There is no Tribulation; Revelation is just a symbolic look at the struggle between good and evil. It is all symbolism.

There are many problems with this approach to interpreting the Bible. First of all, while it is true that the Bible contains symbolism, the proper way to interpret the Bible’s symbolism is to use the Bible. The Bible always interprets its own symbols. If you want to know what a symbol means, all you have to do is look it up in the Bible and see how the Bible defines it.

For example, take this verse from Revelation:

Revelation 1:12: “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;”

How should the seven golden candlesticks be interpreted? The answer is not to decide for ourselves what we think they mean; that is a very great error. As we saw earlier, no prophecy is of any private interpretation. We do not have the right to assign our own meanings to prophecies. Instead, we must believe the interpretation that the Bible provides, which can be found a few verses later:

Revelation 1:20: “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”

What are the seven candlesticks? They are the seven churches. We know this because that is what the Bible tells us. This is how you interpret the symbolism in the Bible. This is the only way it can be done.

Covenant Theology, however, does not take this approach. Instead, covenant theologians decide for themselves what they think a passage might mean, based on nothing more than their own ideas. They do not use the Bible to interpret prophecy because the Bible does not support their system of interpretation. There simply are no Bible passages that offer a symbolic interpretation of prophecies. Therefore, they invent their own.

It is very telling that Covenant Theology’s system of interpretation has proven to be a dismal failure. The Bible has a great many prophecies about the first coming of Christ. Do you know how many of them were fulfilled literally? All of them. Do you know how many the Bible interprets symbolically? None of them. Every single fulfilled prophecy in the entire Bible – and there are hundreds of them – has been fulfilled literally. Not a single one has ever been fulfilled symbolically.

The same can be said for all of the prophecies that have been fulfilled since the time of Christ. The prophecy that Israel would become a nation again in a single day was widely mocked by covenant theologians – right up until 1948, when it was literally fulfilled. The prophecy that the Jews would regain Jerusalem was also widely mocked, until it actually happened. The prophecies that covenant theologians tried to interpret allegorically are being fulfilled literally. That tells me that there is something badly wrong with their system of interpretation: their predictions are failing over and over again, while the predictions of Dispensationalists are being proven right time and time again.

Prophecy has always been fulfilled literally; there is no reason to believe that will ever change. For example, let’s take a look at the 70 weeks of Daniel:

Daniel 9:24: “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.”

As you can see in verse 24, the angel Gabriel told Daniel that seventy “weeks” had been set aside. This is one of those times where our translations of the Bible are in error. The word in verse 24 is not the Hebrew word for week, which is shavuot. The verse instead uses the word shavuim, which simply means “sevens”. It does not refer to seven days, but seven of something. It is like the English word “dozen”. When someone says “dozen” it tells you that they are speaking of twelve of something, but without more information that is all you know. A better translation of verse 24 would be 70 sevens. In this context the item being counted is years. 70 sevens therefore refers to 70 periods of seven years, or 490 years.

Notice that these 490 years have been set aside for Israel and for Jerusalem. Notice also that this time period is being set aside to make an end of sins. This is God’s 490-year plan to save Israel and end their rebellion. At the end of these 490 years Israel will repent and believe in Jesus as their Messiah. This goes along with what Paul said in Romans – one day all Israel shall be saved. The 70 weeks is God’s plan to make that happen.

The Bible goes on to give more detail about those weeks:

Daniel 9:25: “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.”

This verse says that the Messiah will appear 483 years (that’s 69 periods of 7 years each) after the decree goes out to rebuild Jerusalem. This period of time broken into two parts; there is a period of 49 years that is followed by a period of 434 years. It should be noted, as a matter of historical fact, that after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued it took 49 years to rebuild that city (which you can read about in the book of Nehemiah). Then, 434 years after Jerusalem was rebuilt, the Messiah was crucified. There were exactly 483 years from the time the decree was issued to rebuild Jerusalem until the death of Christ on the cross. In other words, the first 69 weeks were fulfilled literally.

When Christ died, the Jews had two options. One option was to accept Him as their Messiah. If they had done so Christ would still have died, but history would have taken a very different course. The Tribulation would have started immediately after His crucifixion, and 7 years later the Millennial Kingdom would have begun. There would never have been a Church Age at all.

However, the Jews rejected Him. Because of this the last 7 years were put on hold, and the Church Age came into being. As long as the Church is here the end will not come. At some point, however, the Rapture will occur and take the Church out of the world. After the Church is gone the antichrist will rise to power and the last 7 years will begin, and the final of the 70 weeks will be fulfilled.

It is simply not reasonable to think that the first 69 weeks are literal and that the last week is symbolic. Prophecy is always fulfilled literally. Since the first 69 weeks were fulfilled literally, it only makes sense to believe that the last week will be fulfilled literally as well. Dispensationalism looks forward to a literal fulfillment of prophecy.

My point in all of this is simple: Covenant Theology (also known as Replacement Theology) is wrong. It is a failed system. God has not cast off Israel, Satan has not been bound, and prophecy should not be interpreted allegorically. The Jews really have been given the entire land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, and their temporary rejection of their Messiah has not caused them to forfeit the land. God really will bless those who bless Israel and will curse those who curse Israel – and will bring great woe upon those who try to take land away from His people.

That last point is, perhaps, the greatest danger with Covenant Theology. Many churches that believe in Covenant Theology actively try to cause Israel harm – preaching against them, boycotting them, and even aiding Israel’s enemies. As we saw earlier in the course, this is a terrible error. God has promised to judge those who try to cause Israel harm, and that is exactly what He has done throughout history. If you set yourself up as the enemy of Israel God will judge you for it, just as He has promised. Those who fight Israel are actually fighting God, and they will come to discover that God cannot be defeated. Those who insist on taking that road will be judged for it.

In the book of I Kings we find one of the strangest passages in the entire Bible:

I Kings 22:19: “And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
20 And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him.
22 And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.”

To say that this is unexpected is a vast understatement. It is quite shocking.

First, we need to understand that this is not a bizarre fantasy dreamed up by the prophet Micaiah; he makes it clear that he is saying nothing less than “the word of the Lord” (v19). This scene actually happened. God actually asked “Who will trick Ahab into going out and dying in battle?” and then took suggestions; He then picked the one that would work and sent the spirit to do the job.

Before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion, I want to point out that God knows all things. God didn’t ask this because He was at a loss and genuinely didn’t know what to do, nor was God asking this because He needed help. He knew exactly how He would handle this situation before He created the world, and He was fully capable of handling it without assistance from anyone.

No, what we’re seeing here is something different. We know that God works through people on Earth to accomplish His will; He uses us, and works through us, to do as He pleases. What we are glimpsing here is that God does something similar in Heaven with the angels. I don’t know how often this happens, but God apparently brings situations before His angels and asks for their input, then dispatches them to do His work.

What we have here is a truly odd passage that gives a little glimpse at the way things are done in Heaven. It’s not at all what we would expect – which is what makes it so fascinating.

Revelation 1:2: “Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.”

It’s worth noting that Revelation is a firsthand, eyewitness account. We are not being told something that was relayed by someone else, who had a friend who had a friend who knew about it. We are getting it straight from the apostle John – a person who actually spent three years with Christ Himself.

John was an eyewitness, both of these events and of the ministry of Christ. John was there when Jesus turned water into wine. He was there when Jesus fed the 5000, when Jesus raised the dead, when Jesus was crucified, and when Jesus was resurrected. John saw all of these things happen, and in the Bible we have his firsthand account, written by John himself. That should not be treated lightly.

To put it slightly differently:

1 John 1:1: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Revelation 1:1: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:”

There are a lot of issues wrapped up in this one verse that we need to address.

First of all, the word ‘revelation’ is the the same Greek word that we get ‘apocalypse’ from (“apokalupsis”). It means ‘unveiling’. Another translation of verse 1 is “The unveiling of Jesus Christ”. What we miss is that Jesus Christ is the one who is being revealed! In Revelation we see a picture of Jesus that is unlike anything we’ve seen in the rest of the Bible. It is a breathtaking portrait of Jesus. It is easy to get caught up in the events of the book and miss the way that this book reveals the character and person of Christ. Whatever you do, don’t lose sight of Jesus.

Also, notice what this verse says. God gave this revelation to Jesus, who then sent it to John by way of an angel. This is the revelation to John, not the revelation of John. John is the recipient, and he is passing it along to us so that we can know things “which must shortly come to pass”. This is a book of prophecy.

Finally, don’t get too hung up on the phrase “must shortly come to pass”. Revelation describes the “day of the Lord”, and the Old Testament often says that this “day of the Lord” is near at hand or about to take place. Since both the Old Testament and the New Testament (written centuries apart!) describe the day as being “near”, then there is no need to force an interpretation that requires the prophecies to have been fulfilled in 70 AD (especially when the text itself does not support that, which is something I have discussed here). These events are near from God’s perspective, not from ours. They will come to pass, and God wanted His servants (that would be us) to be aware of them. That is the point.

Some time after Abraham left his family home and moved to the land of Canaan, a famine arose. Since there was no food for him or his family, he left Canaan and went to Egypt. When the famine ended and he returned to Canaan, he and Lot had so many cattle that the land could not support both of them. The two men were forced to part company. Abraham gave Lot first choice, and he looked around and decided to live in Sodom:

Genesis 13:10: “And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.”

Life in Sodom was not as easy as Lot had expected. There came a day when a coalition of kings invaded Sodom and defeated it, carrying off (among other things) Lot and all of his possessions:

Genesis 14:1: “And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;
2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.
3 All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.
4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emins in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness.
7 And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim;
9 With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.
10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
11 And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.
12 And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.”

When Abraham heard about this, he armed his servants for war and fought the kings that had taken his nephew:

Genesis 14:14: “And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.”

This is when we meet a man named Melchizedek. When the king of Sodom came out to meet the victorious Abraham, Melchizedek came as well:

Genesis 14:17: “And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale.
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”

This is the first and only time that the mysterious Melchizedek appears. He is a very unusual and unexpected character. First of all, Melchizedek is the king of Salem. The city of Salem (which literally means “Peace”) is very famous; the rest of the Bible refers to it as Jerusalem. Melchizedek, then, was king over Jerusalem in the time of Abraham.

Melchizedek was not just a king, though; he was also a priest. Verse 18 tells us that he was “the priest of the most high God”. This makes him both a king and a priest, which is an unusual combination.

Right from the start we can see parallels between Melchizedek and Jesus. Jesus is also a king; during the Millennial Kingdom He will reign over the entire world. Jesus is our high priest, who gave His own life for us and who intercedes on our behalf. Also, like Melchizedek, Jesus will one day reign as king from Jerusalem.

It is interesting that Melchizedek was not just a priest, but was a priest “of the most high God”. Melchizedek is not a descendent of Abraham; he was not a Jew, or a Levite, or (as far as we know) even a relative. To find someone back then who was not related to Abraham but who still worshiped the most high God is quite amazing; to find someone who not only worshiped God, but who was also a king and a priest is even more amazing. Melchizedek simply comes out of nowhere and disappears. We don’t know anything about his ancestry or how he came to be king. His past is shrouded in mystery.

One thing we do know is that as great as Abraham was, Melchizedek was even greater. We know this because Abraham actually gave a tithe of the loot to Melchizedek:

Hebrews 7:4: “Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. …
6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.”

We can see that Melchizedek was an interesting person; he was both a king and a priest, he reigned over Jerusalem, and he was apparently greater than even Abraham. All of that is good to know, but his importance runs much deeper. The book of Psalms tells us that Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek:

Psalm 110:4: “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”

What does that mean? Well, in order to understand this we need to understand the Levitical priesthood. When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt to Mount Sinai, the Lord established the priesthood. The first priests were Aaron and his sons:

Exodus 28:41: “And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.”

Moses and Aaron were from the tribe of Levi:

Exodus 2:1: “And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.”

This is why it is called the Levitical priesthood – all priests were of the tribe of Levi. However, not everyone in the tribe of Levi was a priest; that was reserved strictly for the descendents of Aaron. The rest of the tribe was charged with ministering to the priests and keeping up the tabernacle:

Leviticus 18:1: “And the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.
3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.”

As we can see, only the descendents of Aaron were allowed to minister as priests and perform sacrifices. The priesthood was of the tribe of Levi and the line of Aaron. If you were not of the tribe of Levi and a descendent of Aaron, you could not be a priest.

The reason this matters is because Jesus is from the tribe of Judah, not the tribe of Levi:

Revelation 5:5: “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.”

How could Jesus Christ possibly be our high priest if He was not of the tribe of Levi? It is because God has made Him a priest after the order of Melchizedek, not the order of Levi:

Psalm 110:4: “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Melchizedek was not from the line of Levi and yet he was a priest. Jesus is our high priest, but He is not a leviticial priest, as the apostle Paul explains:

Hebrews 7:14: “For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”

Why was this necessary? Why did Jesus need to be a priest of a different order? It was because the levitical priesthood could not save anyone. The levitical sacrifices were completely unable to forgive sins:

Hebrews 10:4: “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

Not only were the sacrifices unable to take away sins, but no one could be saved by keeping the Mosaic Law:

Galatians 3:11: “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.”

As we can see, the levitical sacrifices could not take away sin, and keeping the levitical law could not justify anyone in the sight of God. (This is by design; the law was intended to point us to Christ, and was not an end in itself.) In order for salvation to be possible there needed to be a change in the order of things, and in order to change the law the priesthood had to change as well:

Hebrews 7:11: “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.”

In the days of Moses the Israelites were under the Mosaic Law and the levitical priesthood – but neither of those could save them. Today we are not under the law, but are under grace – and this is because the levitical priesthood has been replaced with something else. Jesus, our high priest, has done away with the old order and has created a new one – and that is only possible because He is not from the tribe of Levi. The old system has been annulled:

Hebrews 7:18: “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.”

As Christians, we know that we are not under the law but are under grace. We know that the Mosaic Law has no power over our lives; we are not bound to keep it, as Israel was. This is why we are not under the law. Because there has been a change in the priesthood, the law of the old levitical priesthood has been annulled, and replaced with a different law – the law of grace:

Romans 8:2: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

This is why these things are so important – in order for us to be saved, there had to be a change in the law and a change in the priesthood. The old law and the old priesthood could not save us. Christ, however, did not come as a levitical priest, but as a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and that made all the difference. Now salvation is indeed possible:

Hebrews 7:22: “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.”

Under the levitical system priests had to constantly offer up sacrifices, day after day after day. Jesus, however, does not need to do that. He offered one supreme sacrifice – Himself – and then sat down at the right hand of God. That one ultimate sacrifice was enough to pay the wrath of God.

Yet Jesus is still our high priest, and He still executes that office. One point that we often overlook is verse 25 – Jesus can save us because he ever lives to make intercession for us. Our eternal life depends on the eternal life of Jesus. We will continue to be saved as long as Jesus continues to live and continues to intercede for us. Our salvation is continually dependent upon Jesus for the rest of time.

Now we know that Jesus is the Eternal One; He has always lived and will always live. We also know that He will never stop making intercession for us. Our eternal salvation and everlasting life is absolutely assured and is beyond any possibility of doubt. What I want to point out is that we will always be dependent upon Jesus as our high priest.

When the Bible says that Jesus is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, that is not simply a useless bit of trivia; it is a vital fact that makes our very salvation possible.