God's Final Week - 9

Tribulation and Strong Delusion

CHAPTER 9

TRIBULATION AND STRONG DELUSION

Discernment is not a matter of telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right.

— Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Have you ever asked yourself the question, why did Jesus not reveal himself to the Jews at large following his resurrection? Why did only his closest disciples bear witness to the risen Lord?

The answer has much to reveal regarding the nature of these end times.

As the Bible repeatedly testifies, God has ordered the world in such a way that the truth remains hidden from the wicked and undiscerning, those who love evil and are blinded by the satanic psyops of this world. It has pleased him, however, to reveal these things to those who love him and who rejoice at the appearing of his Son.

Interestingly, this is at bottom one of the same reasons Jesus spoke to the people in parables. To his disciples he confided, “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10).

If this was Yeshua’s approach in the years leading up to the cross, should we expect a radical departure from this natural order of things in the years leading up to his return? I think not.

Simply put, I believe that the last days – or the tribulation period, as some would call it – will be hidden from view of the plebeian masses. Only those who are awake and watching will perceive the approach of the thief in the night.

Doubtless this defies the expectations of the modern pre-tribulation rapture crowd, who envision an ending at once so terrible and so blindingly obvious that all of mankind will surely see it coming a mile off. This is not to say that there is no rapture. There is undoubtedly a rapture, and I must tip my hat to the pre-tribbers (as they are sometimes called) because they have picked up on some important clues which many have missed, and which round out the story rather nicely. But that does not mean their paradigm as a whole stands up to serious biblical scrutiny. As we shall see, it does not.

In my mind, the firmest testimony against the excessively obvious – or fleshly fulfillment – version of the end times, which we see becoming increasingly popular today, has always come from the Word itself. It is the little anomalies, found in passages either ignored or hastily explained away, which must be our guides.

For starters, have you read the words of Paul in I Thessalonians Chapter 5 lately?

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

— I Thessalonians 5:1-3

Somehow the words “peace and safety” do not comport with the dystopian carnage anticipated by so many Christians today. Perhaps we have all seen a few too many Terminator movies for our own good.

Another anomaly, upon which I place a good deal of weight, comes from the Olivet discourse.

But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

— Matthew 24:37-39

From the sound of it, people will be downright complacent right up until the very end. Giving in marriage and feasting are not the first activities which come to mind after a nuclear bomb has gone off. Once again, this picture doesn’t quite match up with the World War Three scenarios most people seem to be playing in their heads when thinking of the time just before Christ’s return. And yet it does match up rather nicely with many of the ancient heathen myths (Satan’s counterfeit of biblical prophecy) which speak of a coming golden age. I find this interesting to consider.

So where is the disconnect coming from for most Christians who believe in the dystopian version of the end?

In my mind, at its essence, the pre-trib rapture viewpoint seems to begin with a desire to explain a handful of verses which appear, at first blush, to contradict each other. This is a worthy endeavor. However, the question is, do we harmonize the verses and see how they could possibly fit together? Or do we instead decide they can never possibly fit and that they must point to both a second and a third coming, something itself never explicitly mentioned in Scripture?

The texts at issue are the ones above pointing to peace and safety and normal activities such as feasting and giving in marriage. Luke 17:26-30 also belongs in this group. And on the other side are passages such as this one.

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

— Matthew 24:21-22

In my mind, there are multiple conceivable ways to harmonize these seemingly contradictory passages. Perhaps the tribulation spoken of is hidden from the masses, and so this time period, though fraught with existential peril, can appear outwardly to be characterized by peace and safety for many. This is not all that hard to imagine for anyone with the barest of insights into what is truly going on in our own time.

Those who opt for the dispensationalist pre-trib rapture approach instead insist that these passages must be speaking of two different events. Apparently, there are two Second Comings. Again, to my mind, they make this claim with nothing in the way of scriptural support. The Day of the Lord is spoken of frequently in Old Testament prophecy, yet we have no hints of two comings in the end times. Likewise in the New Testament, the pre-tribbers have no single straightforward textual interpretation on which to hang their hat. Instead, they rely on wresting Scripture and performing feats of mental gymnastics to deny the explicit and obvious meanings of many passages.

While they may begin with a noble goal, I would hope, once they have taken the road for a while, they might grasp that the discrepancies they have now created with their disjointed paradigm far exceed the simple one which started their journey in the first place. Why not retrace their steps and opt for the simpler solution of harmony?

The pre-trib rapture perspective also relies on some key misinterpretations of both the book of Revelation and the Olivet discourse.

It must be understood up front that these two pieces of prophecy are radically different. Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse of John, is a book of apocalyptic literature, and literal interpretations of these sorts of highly symbolic heavenly visions can quickly get you into trouble. (Do you really expect Jesus to have a literal sword coming from his mouth on the last day?) The Olivet discourse on the other hand – as found in Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21 – is Yeshua’s straightforward response to his disciples’ queries regarding the destruction of the Temple and his own future return. It is a one-of-a-kind confidential end times briefing. I believe that the Olivet discourse, simple and clear as it is, can safely be taken literally. However, while the wording itself is simple enough, that does not mean the task of interpreting Yeshua’s words is straightforward, as there are at least two separate events being described. Hence, the opportunity for confusion.

It is also worth noting that Jesus begins the Olivet discourse – in all three accounts, no less – with the admonition to take heed that we are not deceived. In other words, the forces of darkness will make it a priority to deceive believers regarding the end times.

Furthermore, the Olivet discourse refers back to the book of Daniel via this cryptic remark.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.

— Matthew 24:15-16

(Remember that this is one of the verses I called out at the end of the last chapter as holding important clues for our time. The first key distinction to make when interpreting this verse is that the abomination of desolation always deals with the theme of defilement of the Temple of God.)

A few verses later comes the line we have just examined: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Some take these words to point not to the future, but rather to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70 by Titus and the Romans. However, verses 29 and 30 say that “immediately after the tribulation of those days … they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Given the context, I do not believe this tribulation was fully fulfilled in AD 70. The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple may well have been a foreshadowing of the final judgment and a partial fulfillment of these verses – and I believe they were – but they themselves were clearly not that final judgment, nor that ultimate fulfillment. Nor do we have any clear indication of an abomination of desolation taking place in AD 70.

But now we have come upon the mystery once again. If these words do speak of the end, then how can the final fleeting moments of mankind’s history be defined both by “peace and safety” and by the greatest tribulation ever witnessed? How will earth’s inhabitants be caught up in the comfortable familiarity of feasting and marrying in the midst of such a time?

As I’ve alluded to already, I believe this apparent discrepancy is best resolved by assuming a concealed rather than overt tribulation. In fact, the Greek word translated tribulation here, thlipsis, is also translated elsewhere as pressure. A time of great pressure might well be a better rendering. This does not mean that the tribulation itself is undiscernible, merely that it will require wisdom to recognize and therefore will fly under the radar of the masses. In the end, is this not exactly as we should expect it?

I firmly believe that we find ourselves in the midst of this time of great pressure even now.

While I will remain silent on the second fulfillment of Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14, I will make plain what I believe to be the first one. It seems to me most probable that the abomination of desolation or desolating sacrilege, which led directly to the events of AD 70, was the Jews outright rejection of their Messiah, and their murder of a man who was in fact God in the flesh. What greater abomination is there than this? What could possibly be more worthy of utter devastation?

The cross was the ultimate fulfillment of the abomination of desolation.

Take note of Yeshua’s words in the Gospel of John.

Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.

— John 2:19-21

In the book of Daniel, the abomination of desolation consistently points to the desecration of the Temple of God. And Yeshua told the Jews plainly that his body was a Temple that was going to be destroyed. How have we missed this?

The cross was the ultimate fulfillment of the abomination of desolation, and the secondary fulfillment in our age is but a shadow of that sacrilege. First the dragon beat up the bridegroom, and then, just before the end, he beat up the bride. However, in a wonderous show of God’s longsuffering mercy, on the punishment side of the equation, the roles are flipped. The desolation in AD 70 was but a shadow of God’s ultimate worldwide judgment, whereby he will purify the earth by fire (II Peter 3:7). He is giving us all as much time as possible for repentance.

In fact, it is now plain that the time God gave the Jews to repent following the cross is mathematically related to the amount of time he is giving the entire world to repent following the cross. Interestingly, this understanding also helps us better pinpoint the year of the cross from an entirely new angle, which in turn, of course, tightens our precision for glimpsing the year 6000. But I will save the unsealing of that scroll for the next chapter.

A simple reading of the Olivet discourse accounts in the synoptic Gospels suffices to convince the average reader that Jesus is referring to the end of the age throughout each account. Matthew’s version of the teaching seems particularly focused on the end times, and not so much on AD 70. This leaves those who would point to the destruction of Jerusalem as total fulfillment of these passages in an utterly untenable position.

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

— Matthew 24:30-31

Believe it or not, there are those who would seek to claim that these verses were fulfilled in AD 70. But I cannot take these people at all seriously. Belief in a literal return of Christ and in a bodily resurrection of believers is a core tenet of the Christian faith. Casting aside the fundamentals in an attempt to explain away a few difficult verses is surely penny wise and pound foolish.

The satanic psyops so prevalent in modern eschatology invariably try to push you into one of two extremes. Either you are attracted towards preterism, believing that all biblical prophecy was fulfilled in the first century after Christ; or you gravitate towards the flavor-of-the-month futurism, which saves up nearly everything for the final seven years. Yet it is the narrow way of historicism which best explains the Bible’s many prophecies, including those found in the Gospels and in the Apocalypse of John. Biblical prophecy has been, is being, and will be fulfilled throughout history.

In these verses, Jesus is not playing tricks on his disciples, who have just asked him a few sincere questions. Instead, he is simply answering them in a straightforward yet profound way, a way in which parts of his answer happen to apply both to AD 70 – itself a foreshadowing event – and also to the final judgment, which they have expressly inquired about. Pattern itself, as we know, is prophecy.

The key here, once again, is to understand that God is using his chosen people, the Israelites, to warn all mankind of his coming judgment and of the costs of unbelief.

The popular modern-day eschatology uses the reference here to “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet” as license to take Daniel’s seventieth week and place it in the end times. As we know, this is scripturally unwarranted. And yet, this is only the beginning of the confusion.

From this initial misstep, a whole host of errors is commonly propagated. A literal third Temple in Jerusalem is envisioned, nay promised. An Antichrist who defies God and rises from the dead is preached. An implantable chip mark of the beast is foretold to usher in a unified society and a one world government. A rapture of believers many years before the end is enshrined as sound doctrine.

In short, fleshy fulfillments are anticipated while spiritual discernment (I Corinthians 2:14) is ignored.

And so, failing to see these things yet arise in their fullness, we may sleep soundly knowing the Second Coming is still a good way off. Or is it?

Have we fallen so easily for another barrage of syrupy sweet satanic psyops? Do we really expect these views to be both popular and true at the same time?

When considering these questions, myself, I find it useful to game theory the whole situation out a bit. For some time now, the dragon has been using the world and the lusts thereof to steal the hearts of men during their time in this mortal realm. It has been well on for a century now that we as modern humans have lived a life of extreme luxury and wealth. We may not always appreciate it as such, but our technology has surely dumbed us down and enslaved us to its own apparently mindless will. We are – most of us, anyway – entertaining ourselves to death.

With this in mind, would the dragon risk waking up mass numbers of humans from their deadly slumber? Would he really take away the mind-numbing entertainment and enticing luxury, giving humanity instead a bucket of cold water to the face? If he would, then he is not the charming deceiver I take him for.

On the contrary, it is clear that the dragon stylizes himself as an angel of light. From purely a game theory perspective, then, if Satan wishes to harvest as many souls as possible during these final years, then he will be best served by subtler tactics. Anything more noticeable risks people waking up to the lateness of the hour and turning their hearts to God just before the end.

And yet, though the dragon is the prince of this world, he does not rule the universe. Of course, we must expect that God will still intervene – overruling the dragon’s agenda – by providing his chosen people with unique, discernable signs of the times. I believe God is indeed providing these telltale signs during our day, invisible to the denizens of the world yet loud as clear-ringing trumpets to the faithful.

Of all the miscalculations engendered by the end times placement of Daniel’s seventieth week, perhaps none is more persistent than the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture of believers. Now, to be clear, I myself do believe in a rapture of believers. The issue here is one of timing. Simply put, when does the rapture occur in relation to the day of judgment?

I should also make it clear from the outset that I do not have anything against those who hold to this pre-trib view. In fact, some of the most faithful followers of Christ I have known hold to this belief in all sincerity of heart. Accordingly, I do not view these people as heretics, or wolves, or anything of the sort. They tend to be the sorts of Christians who are most watchful for Yeshua’s return and so I have nothing against their overall attitude. In fact, I admire it. I simply believe that this doctrine is not scripturally sound, and what’s more, that it is being foisted upon end times believers for a specific purpose. After all, if the dragon can have us focused on escape, then we will not be nearly focused enough on endurance. And, critically, we may be less likely to discern the signs of times we are not expecting to be around to witness.

The word rapture, being derived from the Latin, does not itself appear in Scripture. However, the Greek word harpazo, meaning “caught up” or “caught away,” appears thirteen times. Of these thirteen, five are related to the end times rapture. Perhaps none is so famous as the one found in Paul’s words to the Thessalonians.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

— I Thessalonians 4:16-17

So clearly there is a rapture, just not the Left Behind sort. Take special note of the trumpet of God.

Let’s consider a few more verses which shed a bit more light on this rather obscure scriptural event.

But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

— Matthew 24:37-42

Based on the overall context, I believe these verses mentioning one taken and the other left are indeed speaking of the rapture.

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

— I Corinthians 15:51-53

The last trump. That sounds pretty final, doesn’t it? Is this the same trumpet mentioned in Revelation 10:7? Does it have anything to do with the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Teruah?

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

— Luke 17:26-36

This passage provides the fuller context of the one taken and other left scenario, a.k.a. the rapture. Are you able to discern the truth from a simple, unhindered reading of the text? Read it again.

Until the day Noah entered the ark, they were continuing with life as normal. And in the same day that Lot was delivered up out of Sodom, God rained down fiery judgment upon the city. We do not have to conjecture that these two Old Testament stories are types of the final day of judgment. Jesus himself tells us plainly that they are. And he consistently throughout this passage refers to it as a single day or night. In that day. In that night. (In truth, at any given time it is night somewhere on earth and day somewhere else, so these two being used together makes good sense.)

I believe this passage is strong evidence that the rapture occurs on the same day God’s final judgment begins. Whether that judgment is concluded in a single day is up for debate. But either way, the rapture is clearly Christ’s way of delivering his bride from the wrath which he then pours out upon the unrepentant world.

If you need more evidence, read Paul’s words on these matters to the Thessalonians.

Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed ...

— II Thessalonians 1:6-10 (ESV)

When are we granted relief? When our Lord Jesus appears in flaming fire. That is the day he is glorified in his saints. Not seven years earlier.

You must decide for yourself whether reading a second and a third coming into end times passages such as this makes any logical sense, or whether it is evidence of a certain kind of madness. But for my part, I always have preferred a simple, unencumbered reading of the texts and a straightforward interpretation which slices through the apparent complexity. In other words, if the interpretation requires crazy mental gymnastics, to my mind it loses credibility.

The eschatology of the ancient Jewish rabbis taught that there would be a seven-year time of trouble right before the Messiah’s advent (and maybe they weren’t totally wrong). Perhaps it is merely a more virulent form of this same old persistent dogma which has resurfaced and transmuted into the dispensationalist pre-tribulation rapture of today. But does the rapture occur seven days or seven years before the end?

I believe that a time period closer to seven to ten days would better harmonize with the whole of Scripture. Interestingly, it also appears to better harmonize with the ancient Jewish calendar.

The oldest calendar known to be used by the Hebrews dates back to before the days of Moses and the writing of the Torah. In this oldest of conceptions, the year began in the fall, on the first day of the Month of Tishri. Traditionally, as we have seen, this was thought to be the date of the creation of the world.

When establishing the nation of Israel, God instituted a new ceremonial calendar for their use, in which the month of Nisan, in the spring, was to be the first month. Intriguingly, this now made Tishri the seventh month, which seems unlikely to be a coincidence.

The feasts God instituted were known as moedim in Hebrew, which means appointed times. They were rehearsals, shadows of important events yet to come.

The first feast of the year was the Feast of Passover, or Pesach, the Jewish holiday perhaps most recognizable in the Gentile world. Associated with Pesach was the Feast of Unleavened Bread which lasted for seven days. The Feast of First Fruits is also associated with Passover and occurs on the first Sunday following. The Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, was celebrated on the seventh Sunday after the Feast of First Fruits.

These were the four spring feasts. As we have already seen, Jesus Christ fulfilled all of them perfectly and precisely during his first coming. Notably, these fulfillments all took place during the year 4000.

But what of the fall feasts?

The first of the fall feasts is the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Teruah. This feast is the only ancient Jewish feast to occur on the first day of a month. It takes place, as we know, on Tishri 1, but also includes the next day, Tishri 2. The Feast of Atonement, in Hebrew Yom Kippur or Yom HaDin, takes place on Tishri 10. In between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are the ten “days of awe” for the Jews. These days are not officially part of any feast, but they are traditionally used for self-reflection in preparation for the future day of judgment, represented by Yom Kippur. Last of the seven feasts, is the Feast of Tabernacles, also called Sukkot, which begins on Tishri 15 and lasts for seven days.

Just as the four spring feasts were fulfilled in the year 4000, is it possible that all three fall feasts might be fulfilled during the year 6000?

Now, remember from our previous exploration that 6000 is the critical year, not 6001. Just like the year you were 10 years old, you had 10 years behind you for that full year and were actually living out your eleventh year on earth. So, too, year 6000 is actually the starting point for the seventh millennium.

After everything we have discovered in his Word, I hope it has not been lost on you that our God is precise. Therefore, would he not bring this world to a close at precisely the start of the 6000th year? This is the reality, the mystery, which I believe is hinted at in the book of Revelation.

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

— Revelation 10:7

As we will discover shortly, the book of Revelation is not limited to the final seven years. Far from it, this symbolic book is actually about all 6,000 years of mankind’s history. And so here the seventh trumpet, I would argue, refers to the beginning of the seventh millennium. This verse is the still, quiet confirmation of the Millennial Day perspective.

The seventh trumpet.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I firmly believe that Jesus Christ is coming back on Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets, Tishri 1-2. Now, let me be clear, this does not mean that we can ever know the day or the hour. God’s Tishri 1 is almost certainly not equal to the Tishri 1 celebrated by Orthodox Jews today. At least not in every year. And God is certainly keeping an accurate count, which is more than can be said of any human calendar system used over the millennia.

There are many clues all pointing to the Feast of Trumpets as the correct timing for the Second Coming. Firstly, there is the Tishri 1 hidden in bereshit, as we learned earlier. This feast also takes place, fittingly, at the time of the fall harvest. Yeshua was the first fruits from the dead, and we the Church – both alive and dead – are the final harvest of redeemed bodies and souls.

There is also the coincidence of the trumpet, or shofar, blast. Of course, any student of Scripture knows that the trumpet of God on the last day is a theme found throughout the Bible.

… at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

— I Corinthians 15:52

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

— Matthew 24:31

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God …

— I Thessalonians 4:16

The trumpet at the last day will not be the first trumpet on a seventh day to bring about the triumph of believers and the destruction of their enemies. This, too, was foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

— Joshua 6:3-5

Notice how it is stated that the people will ascend up. Do you see the imagery? This is also not the first time that a family of people have ascended up to escape judgment. Lot was spared when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with brimstone and fire from heaven.

And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain …

— Genesis 19:29-30

It is interesting to note that Sodom and Gomorrah were located adjacent to the Dead Sea, which is the lowest land-based elevation on Earth, at some 1,400 feet below sea level. In order to escape, Lot and his daughters would have necessarily had to ascend up.

And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.

— Genesis 7:17

Do you see the obvious foreshadowing here? We have three different judgment events of the Old Testament all quietly prophesying of how on the last day one house of people will be raised up off the surface of the earth, incorruptible. It is only those in the household of the Messiah who will be spared God’s wrath.

The feast of Yom Teruah was somewhat unique among Jewish feast days, in that it could begin on either of two days (most typically). To begin the month of Tishri, and initiate the Feast of Trumpets, required the first sighting of the new sliver of moon from Jerusalem. No one could know the precise day or hour when this would take place.

This matches strikingly well with what Jesus told us to expect for his Second Coming and leads many to believe that his reference to the day and hour no man knows may have been a Hebrew idiom, known to those of his generation, referring to the Day of Trumpets.

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

— Matthew 24:36

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor then hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

— Matthew 25:13

But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

— Mark 13:32

Jesus is God, and as part of the Godhead he knows everything. Understanding this, there clearly seems to be deeper meaning in these verses, which tends to support the Hebrew idiom view.

Furthermore, because the sliver of moon could appear at any time, owing to clouds and a host of other astronomical phenomena, the theme of the feast day was one of watching. This also agrees closely with Christ’s repeated warnings to his followers regarding the end of days.

If Yom Teruah is the last day, then how do the other fall feasts get fulfilled?

I must admit that I do not know the answer for certain. That said, I think we can make some reasonable guesses based upon the clues we have in Scripture.

In the book of Isaiah, there is an amazing passage which I believe speaks to the marriage feast of the Lamb.

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

— Isaiah 25:6-8

What I find intriguing is this section found a bit later on.

Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity …

— Isaiah 26:19-21

The first portion of this passage is clearing referencing the resurrection of the just, or the rapture. What is intriguing to me is the verse which directly follows in Isaiah, which speaks of God’s people entering into their “chambers” for a little moment.

Now, I know that those in favor of a pre-tribulation rapture would no doubt argue that seven years is a little moment when compared to eternity. But so is 70, or 700, to be perfectly frank. Why stop at seven? Besides, we have already debunked the notion of Daniel’s seventieth week being stored up until the end. Without the seventieth week, there simply is no seven-year tribulation as popularly supposed.

Now, it may well be that the Second Coming, the marriage supper of the Lamb, and the white throne judgment all happen in a single day. It could be so. But I rather tend to think that the spacing of the old Jewish fall feasts within the month of Tishri may be telling us something. Within the ten days between Tishri 1 and the Day of Atonement, on Tishri 10, there could easily be a seven-day period in the wedding chambers, as it were (John 14:2-3). This is certainly a possibility, though it is hard to be dogmatic about something with so little Scriptural evidence to go on.

There is also this simple question which for me is telling. Why does the new year start on Yom Teruah, but the Jubilee year does not start until ten days later, on the Day of Atonement? God set this gap up for a reason. Is it a clue?

Furthermore, if typology is to be our guide, what are we to make of the fact that Solomon dedicated the first Jewish Temple with a special one-time feast of seven days in length beginning on the Feast of Trumpets? The dedication of the Temple was surely a foreshadowing of the dedication of the Church, the bride, to the Lord on the last day. We are the Temple now. What a coincidence that this dedication began on the first of Tishri. And what a coincidence as well that there were precisely 120 priests sounding with trumpets for the celebration (II Chronicles 5:12).

In the end, I suspect we will have to wait until the year 6000 to figure out exactly how things will play out so as to fulfill the fall feasts. But I believe the evidence is strong that they will all be fulfilled in the same year. This is because of the simple fact that the rapture of believers takes place on the last day, at the last trump, and is the only thing that saves us from the imminent outpouring of God’s wrath.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

— II Peter 3:7

Given the clear testimony of Scripture linking Christ’s return to the rapture of his saints and also the judgment of unbelievers, why has the pre-trib rapture doctrine become so entrenched in the minds of the faithful? On one level, the answer is simple enough. Since the mid-1800s – again, such awfully convenient timing – the doctrine has been propagated through seminaries and churches the world over. Countless books have been written, sermons have been preached, and podcasts have been recorded, all in defense of a doctrine that gets some things so right and yet veers off the narrow path of the Word in the end. Until, with time, the masses of Christendom have come to embrace it.

But what is the point of this deception?

Most post-trib rapture proponents would argue that the deception exists to make the pre-tribbers faint when the tribulation they were expecting to escape arrives upon them. I disagree. Again, simple game theory dictates that the evil one will avoid the potential for mass repentance. Likewise, while God may indeed orchestrate a glorious final harvest, he does not seem likely to entirely depart from the subtle nature of the whispers by which he has wooed mankind throughout the ages.

Accordingly, I do not expect the great tribulation to appear as expected to the naked eye. Instead, I tend to agree with Pastor Joel Tillis, of The Soul Trap fame, that we are most likely destined for the persecution of prosperity in these last days. At least those of us in the first world. The thorns have been a curse to mankind since the very beginning, and they will rise yet again to choke us even in the last gasp of the creation (Matthew 13:22). But he that endures to the end shall be saved.

I believe the point of the whole elaborate deception is rather to convince the masses of Christendom that they will not be around for the abomination of desolation event, since this is now dogmatically placed at three and a half years after the rapture. Thus, they will be utterly blind to its devastating symbolic and spiritual – not entirely fleshly and outward – fulfillment.

So simple. So deadly. Another psyop wielded against us.

Paul knew all too well the potentially deadly nature of end times deception. And even in his day it was already searching for a foothold in the church.

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, not by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doeth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

— II Thessalonians 2:1-12

This is the whole point of getting Christians to reject a plain interpretation of the Bible and to instead wrest key Scriptures to their own peril. To blind them to the precise teaching Paul so plainly lays out here for us. “Let no man deceive you” he says.

A plain, humble reading of this text refutes any notion of a rapture years before the “day of Christ” (verse 2). On the contrary, “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “our gathering together unto him” (verse 1) cannot happen until “that man of sin be revealed.” Accordingly, any doctrine which claims this revealing will happen only after a rapture of the Church is fundamentally deceptive in nature.

The pre-tribbers may well be correct that we will be gone for seven. But I believe seven days would make much more biblical sense than the popular yet misguided notion of seven years.

At the end of the day, I love my brethren in Christ who have been confused by this deeply ingrained teaching. However, I believe them guilty of sloppy thinking. Logic is not their watchword. Simplicity is anathema to them. And so, the truth too, perhaps, may elude them in the end.

I do not believe the pre-tribulation rapture to be outright heresy, because I do not believe eschatology to be a matter of salvation. However, I do believe it to be a dangerous doctrine which will have the sad effect of damning many who will fall away at the last. To my mind, this final apostacy or falling away will logically happen when, after several years of geopolitical turmoil and endless fearmongering, a glorious new golden age arrives, precisely as long planned, and the end times suddenly appear very far off again. For Christians, the pre-trib rapture doctrine is the setup because it has people fooled into both looking only for fleshly fulfillments of end times events, and into placing many of those key events after the rapture. They are blinded to the truth. When the prophesied golden age (so-called) returns, they will be easily deceived into thinking they are in for a long life filled with plenty. Peace and safety.

Few will discern the times.

The linchpin doctrine behind the pre-tribulation rapture is the dispensational view of the Bible and of history. There is a grain of truth – as usual – behind the paradigm. That truth is that there is a sharp distinction between the Old and New Testament periods, as plainly declared in Scripture. Now, don’t misunderstand me, there are many commonalities and much continuity between the two, as well. For example, the ten commandments apply to both periods. The book of Hebrews likewise makes it clear that faith in God has always been the means of being born again to eternal life. However, clearly not everything from the old covenant applies to believers today.

Dispensationalism is a rather new dogma, having its roots in the Counter Reformation and in disinformation (aka propaganda) penned by Jesuit authors. In fact, it was a work by Manuel De Lacunza, a Jesuit priest from Spain, which influenced John Nelson Darby – considered by many to be the father of dispensationalism – in the early 1800s. The popes must have been laughing their heads off. In case you do not know your Church history, the papacy has long been identified by the Protestant Church as the antichrist power spoken of in Daniel and Revelation. They even ruled and oppressed – the saints were given into their hands – for 1,260 years, from AD 538 to AD 1798.

To be clear, I have nothing against Catholic believers. I know many. But I do have a serious problem with the institution of the Roman Catholic Church and specifically with the papacy. Any man who sits in the Temple of God declaring that he is God is not to be trusted. Moreover, it is abundantly clear that the woman who rides the beast in Revelation 17 (as identified by many astute Protestants throughout the past 500 years, including Dave Hunt, author of A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days) is in fact symbolic of the apostate Roman Catholic Church.

The Counter Reformation, launched by the Catholic Church as their power began to wane, was a propaganda campaign aimed at taking the spotlight off the pope (the true antichrist power). In time, the movement spawned the doctrine of dispensationalism. Nonetheless, the viewpoint has grown to swallow up the majority of Protestant Christian thinkers of our day, who seem unaware of the doctrine’s roots. From this perspective, the Church Age – as they refer to it – is distinct from the seven-year period of the tribulation. The people of Israel are also viewed quite distinctly and apart from Gentiles in all ages.

With this framework, the dispensationalist has a ready tool for handling difficult passages of Scripture with apparent contradictions. Rather than struggle with the texts and eventually discover the simple solutions lying on the far side of the superficial complexity, they all too quickly label texts as applicable only to one group or another. Certain passages, they would claim, are for the Jews only, and have no meaning or applicability for us. Still other passages are for us – the Church Age Christians – but not for the Jews or the tribulation saints. And yet further passages are for tribulation saints, but don’t apply to us or the Jews.

We have progressed from difficult passages with supposed disagreements to a full-blown logical quagmire. Again, it is one thing to be taught the various touchpoints of the dispensationalist position and to mindlessly parrot them. This verse belongs to the Jews, as does that one. This other one belongs to the tribulation saints, etc. It is quite another thing to step back and think critically about the gestalt, comprehending with time, and by comparing Scripture with Scripture, the sheer number of logical fallacies which have been propagated by the ill-conceived theory. Some people are highly susceptible to propaganda and do not ever do the work to truly tease out the underlying ideas for themselves. I cannot fault them for their own upbringing and mental makeup. But nor can I consider them to be entirely sound thinkers.

Dispensationalism is key to pre-trib rapture ideology because it allows for the discarding at will of unfavorable passages and the arbitrary eisegesis of others. If you can manage to see through dispensationalism, then the notion of the pre-trib rapture will surely fall along with it.

Perhaps no other book is more misunderstood by those seeking knowledge of the end than the book of Revelation. A full explanation of the book is beyond the scope of this present work. However, we may touch on a few important points.

Incidentally, it is interesting to note that the book takes its title from the very first word of the text, which is the Greek word apokalupsis. This word means a revealing, a revelation, a taking away of the veil.

It is the same word Peter uses in these verses.

And hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

— I Peter 1:13

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

— I Peter 1:7

The revealing of Jesus Christ is the key feature of the last day. He will return not as the Suffering Servant, but as the Conquering King.

However, while the book of Revelation certainly deals with the end times and the Day of Judgment, it does not wholly restrict itself to this time period. Instead, as many Bible scholars have pointed out over the years, the book of Revelation points back to the Old Testament hundreds of times. Indeed, it seems that the final book of the Bible has symbolic language pointing all the way back to the beginning in the Garden, while also declaring the Messiah’s glorious return at the end of the age. In other words, the book speaks to all of human history.

Most believers read through Revelation making a number of flawed and oversimplistic assumptions. They tend to assume that it is written in chronological order and that it all applies to the end times. And then they also suppose that it can nearly all be taken literally; or, in other words, that the language is not symbolic. This leaves them looking for fleshly fulfillments.

However, those who have spent lifetimes studying the book – I am not one of these scholars, but I have been blessed by access to their body of work – paint a very different picture of Revelation. For example, author James B. Jordan in his book The Vindication of Jesus Christ: A Brief Reader’s Guide to Revelation unpacks much of the book’s symbolism at a high level that is easily accessible to any Christian. Jordan points out that the entire book is structured chiastically, moving inward and then back outward thematically a number of different times. These well-ordered structures contained within the book are one of many signs pointing to its highly symbolic nature.

One of the advantages of symbolism in prophecy is that a symbol can signify several things at once. Symbolic narratives can exist at more than one level and therefore provide multiple depths of meaning to the text. Symbols also both reveal and conceal at the same time.

I believe the Apocalypse of John has many important details to reveal to us. But it does not seem to offer a blow-by-blow account of the final seven years of earth’s history. In the end, however, it does far more than this.

One of the most famously misunderstood symbolisms of the entire book, is perhaps the mark of the beast. Many Christians, missing the overt symbolic nature of the mark, try to treat it as a literal physical manifestation which has the power to damn a person irreversibly to hell.

My rebuttal is simple. Please explain to me the seal given to the servants of God in their foreheads.

And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

— Revelation 7:2-4

The popular idea seems to be making the mark of the beast literal, while keeping the seal of the living God symbolic. This is illogical. Rather, it is plain that both are in fact symbolic, as salvation (worship of God) versus rebellion (worship of the beast) is a matter of the heart. And out of the heart proceed all our thoughts and actions, symbolized by the forehead and right hand (Revelation 13:16).

The mark of the beast is not something we should be expecting to witness outwardly in our age. Instead, it has existed in all ages, within the hearts of men.

As seen in this example, even the modern dispensationalist view of Revelation admits that many aspects of the book must be taken symbolically. They, too, realize there must be a line in the sand somewhere. I would argue they just don’t know where to draw it, not by a long shot.

Revelation Chapter 20 is perhaps the only chapter in the Bible which speaks plainly of a period of time commonly referred to as the Millennium or the Millennial Reign. Many believers take this to be a literal 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth prior to the white throne judgment and the new heavens and new earth. What’s more, I have found that nearly 100 percent of those who come to embrace the Millennial Day perspective for the first six days quite naturally take the leap of accepting the doctrine of the Millennial Reign for the seventh day.

But I am not among them.

In the end, I suppose it is a simple matter of which you believe should carry more weight: six references to a thousand-year period in a single chapter, or the deafening silence of the rest of Scripture. For me, seeing as how that single chapter is found in a highly symbolic book full of other numbers which nearly all readers would agree are not to be taken literally, the natural and logical approach is to place the greater weight on the silence of the rest of Scripture. There also turns out to be an inescapable string of logic which points to Satan being bound at the cross (Mark 3:24-27). This is when I believe the Millennial Reign began, which means that Christ is already reigning right now (Revelation 3:21). The coronation is even recorded for us in Scripture (Matthew 27:28-29, 37). The kingdom of God is already here in a spiritual but no less real sense (Luke 17:20-21, Luke 11:20-22). It is simply not fully realized. With this in proper view, there is no need to look to some further future fulfillment here on earth.

Another important clue comes from the absence of an evening and morning for day seven in the Genesis account. In my mind, this indicates that the Sabbath is a symbol not of the Millennium but of the eternal rest which never ends. This is the viewpoint which I find to best harmonize with all of Scripture.

That said, I could be wrong.

For my part, though, I find it far simpler to suss out other possible explanations for the language used in Revelation 20, than to find ways to make numerous other passages fit with the Millennial Reign. The rest of Scripture does not teach it, and that is telling.

If you would like to understand more of the logical string of scripturally supported thought which requires Christ to be reigning now, then I would recommend The Dance of Life podcast, hosted by Tudor Alexander. Specifically, look for his “End Times” series, Episodes 3 and 4. Pure gold.

I believe that part of the confusion for most Christians comes from a misunderstanding of heaven, or the eternal state. There is a marked difference between the ancient Jewish conception of Abraham’s bosom, heaven as it exists today with the souls of our deceased loved ones in Christ, and the new heavens and new earth.

Jesus refers to the ultimate arrival of the kingdom of God as the regeneration.

And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

— Matthew 19:28-29

Thy kingdom come.

If you would learn more of the nature of the kingdom of heaven come down to earth, I can suggest few better introductions than the book All Things New: Heaven, Earth, and the Restoration of Everything You Love by John Eldredge. Heaven is not some ethereal realm in the clouds where we sit around with harps all day performing for the never-ending worship service in the sky. In fact, the real heaven is not remotely similar to the concept taught in most churches today. Instead, the new heavens and new earth will be a merging we cannot yet fathom of the familiar earth we know and love with the heavenly realm. It is a restoration of the paradise of Eden, the place where deep down all human hearts long to return. The place where God dwells with us.

Surely you have glimpsed it from time to time, hiding just beyond the edges of our world. In a sad song. A beautiful story. The face of a loved one. The flight of a hawk. Or in an old memory nearly forgotten. As sad as our world undoubtedly is, the beautiful truth is that nothing is lost which will not be restored one hundredfold in the kingdom. But as Dr. Michael S. Heiser says in his book What Does God Want, “If you’re expecting harps and clouds get used to disappointment.”

In the end, it is truly only the few who can manage to avoid the modern minefield of bad end times doctrines. Sadly, I find that many who have the key doctrinal points more or less together – rejecting dispensationalism and the pre-trib rapture – have unaccountably swallowed the lie that we cannot discern the day, nor the hour, nor even the season. Day and hour I will grant them. Yet season is a step too far.

As a result, many of these believers end up not watching for Yeshua’s return because they assume it cannot be done. Yet Yeshua told us to watch. And he told us to lift up our heads when these things begin to come to pass.

On the other hand, most of those watching diligently today seem to have bought hook, line, and sinker the commonly repeated false doctrines we have just spent time dismantling. They are watching but not for the right signs. And so, they too will miss the whole thing if they are not careful. Remember, at Christ’s first coming those Jews looking for fleshly fulfillments were not prepared. I believe it will be much the same for Christians who are looking only to Israel and outward fulfillments while missing the many spiritual signs of the times taking place all around them in these last days.

The key to true learning lies hardly in the learning itself. Instead, it is to be found in the unlearning, the clearing away, which must be done first.

Walking that good and narrow way in these days is far from easy. But the view is worth it.

How blessed are those rare few who see the end before it comes upon them.