There is much confusion among Christians surrounding the “doctrine of last things” or “Bible prophecy.” I thought maybe I could help clear up a little of the misunderstanding that one finds as they read or hear about this very essential subject. If I can help just one or two Christians (or unbelievers for that matter) gain a better understanding of what the Bible says about the “end times,” then this will have been worth the effort.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
In Christian circles prophecy is a very polarizing topic. Much has been written, and much more has been said concerning this fundamental doctrine. (Heb. 6:1-3) There are an abundance of authors to choose from as one navigates through “Bible prophecy,” and there are different thoughts or “doctrines” that accompany this basic teaching. We have “pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, pre-mil, post-mil” and all kinds of thoughts in between. This can get very confusing. So as we approach an author’s work, whether it’s a book, podcast, or CD it is most important to understand what particular category of dogma that they adhere to. It’s especially true of new Christians or believers that have just gained an interest in “Eschatology.” Eschatology is the word that Theologians use to describe the “Doctrine of Last Things” or “Bible Prophecy,”- the words in the Bible that are a prediction of the future when the prophet spoke it or wrote it down, whether it be Old Testament (OT) or New Testament (NT). There are so many great and learned authors in the Christian world on this topic, one would think that they all would come to the same conclusion, but that simply is not the case.

HOW DO WE FIX THIS?
My thought is simply, they violate one of the rules of “hermeneutics.”
That rule is “context.”
The most important thing about context is not reading something into the Biblical text that simply is not there.
Know to whom it is being written.
Look at the verses before and after to make sure one is not lifting the verse out of its proper place to make it fit what one would like it to say.
II Timothy 2:15.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

The four Gospels have historically always been seen to be the beginning of the New Testament. In every Bible you pick up the Old Testament ends with Malachi and the New Testament begins with Matthew
So I ask, when did this New Testament or Covenant come into being? What had to happen for God to fulfill this prophecy?
It is the culmination of the work that God would perform in and through Jesus.
“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (ll Cor. 5:19)
He wants to trade our sinfulness for His righteousness! This is the New Covenant that the prophets spoke about. Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter three “You must be Born Again”. (John 3:3)
Question is, did this happen at the break our Bibles have between the Old Testament and the New Testament? Or does the New Covenant start, being “Born Again”, when Jesus was raised from the dead? Of course it was realized after He was raised from the dead.
So the New Testament really started in the book of Acts.
Now, I’m going to use this information to try and help sort out some of the confusion about one of the doctrines of “Eschatology,” namely the Rapture of the Church?

WHERE DOES THE OLD TESTAMENT END?
As one reads through the Gospels, it can easily be shown, that to understand some of the parables and pictures that Jesus painted in their minds, one must be familiar with Jewish culture of the first century. Let’s look at some of the words Jesus spoke.
When Jesus referred to His cousin, John the Baptist, He said that John was the last of the Old Testament prophets
Matt 11:9-13
9;But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
10;For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
11;Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
12;And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
13;For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. This didn’t happen at the begging of the 4 Gospels, it happened towards the end of His life on earth.

Luke 16:16 Jesus says “The Law and the Prophets were until John” meaning John was the last of the OT prophets and He said this just months before He was crucified.

In the “sermon on the mount” (Matt. 5:1ff), Jesus talked about the Mosaic Law and how it had been hijacked by the religious leaders and twisted to mean things God had never intended. He then told them what God had originally meant- “But I say unto you” Matt 5:32, 34, 39, 44 this is Old Testament law Jesus is referring to.

In the “Olivet discourse” (Matt. 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21) we have Jewish disciples asking Jesus questions about what the Jewish people had already been taught from the Jewish prophets, Rabbi’s and sages.
Everything in the Olivet discourse is Israel-centered and must be understood from a first century Jewish reality.

As Jesus is speaking in the Olivet Discourse about the catastrophes of the tribulation that would come on the “entire world” in the very last days, it must be seen from the land of Israel and the Jewish perspective.

One needs to consider that the prophecies of Daniel’s seventy weeks of years come into play also.
Dan. 9:23-27
23; At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
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.
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.
26;And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27;And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Sixty-nine weeks take place and Messiah is cut off, and then a span of time until the final or seventieth week takes place.
We know this because we still see sin everywhere. Everlasting righteousness hasn’t started and the Old Testament prophecies are happening right before our eyes (v.24). When Jesus died on the cross is the time that messiah is cut off (v.26). That ended the sixty-nine weeks with one to follow.
I believe that that final week of years is within the timeframe of Matt. 24, Mk. 13, and Luke 21 and in the book of Revelation. But I don’t believe, that all of these chapters are just the seventieth week period of time. Simply because Jesus speaks about the Temple’s destruction (A.D. 70), famines, earthquakes, wars and so on and then says these are just the beginning of sorrows. And He speaks of them as reference to the whole of the end times with Israel being at the center of it all.
Matt. 24, Luke 21, and Mk. 13, is the history of the last years of the Jewish people in this present age (albeit partially future, then and now).

So I say again, the seventieth week of Daniel is part of these three chapters, but I believe those chapters include more of the end days than just the seventieth week of Daniel. The prophets have a lot to say about the “end of days,” and I believe Jesus was expounding on what they had to say when He was answering the disciples questions.
We must remember Jesus is a Jew, and it was Jewish disciples that were asking Him about the Jewish scriptures that we refer to as the Old Testament.

As a young Christian I asked some older ministers about the Olivet Discourse.
My questions were simply: why is the rapture in there, it happens in the middle of the tribulation. What about the trumpet sound, isn’t that the rapture?
They would tell me, “That refers to the Jews.”

That’s what happens when it’s taken out of context. I was seeing the Church there because that is all I knew living at the end of the twentieth century. After all, the New Testament started at Matthew chapter one, and I thought that was the beginning of the Church just like most Christians today and through the ages have thought.

WHERE DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT START?
Once a person understands that the New Covenant or New Testament doesn’t begin until the book of Acts and that the Gospels are still part of the Old Covenant or Old Testament, one will finally see the true context of the Olivet Discourse.
As we read Acts chapters one and two, the being “born again” experience is very obvious, signifying the start of the New Covenant or New Testament.
Acts 1:1-8 (KJV)
1;The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2;Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
3;To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4;And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5;For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
6;When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7;And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
8;But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 2:1-4 King James Version (KJV)
1;And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2;And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3;And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4;And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

This is when the being “born again” took place. We must also keep in mind that Matthew to Revelation hadn’t even been written when Jesus was walking the hills and valleys of the land of Israel.The revelation of the New Covenant had to wait until after Jesus’ resurrection, when He would send the Holy Spirit to teach all who would believe in Him about this New Covenant, being “Born Again”.

That was such a radical change from the way they had been taught in the synagogues. The 12 Apostles, Matthias being the twelfth, had an overwhelming task of teaching this new way of thought. That is why the disciples chose deacons to minister to the people and said “we will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:1-6). The Holy Spirit was teaching them about this New Covenant.
Paul, who wrote down the lion’s share of the revelation about the New Covenant, received the same revelation in Arabia as the disciples in Jerusalem (Gal. 1:17). All they had was the Old Testament for scripture to get the revelation of what new thing God was doing, the same Holy Spirit teaching all of them. They all received the same revelation and it was about the “Ecclesia” or the Church. Ecclesia simply means “the called out ones.” God was calling out a people for Himself in Christ, which would be people from the whole world, to fulfill the great commission.

Matthew 28:18-20
18;And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19;Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20;Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

The teachings of New Covenant are from the book of Acts through the book of Revelation, which shows the Church how we should live until His return. This is where we find the time period between the “cross” and the Rapture, which is the Church age. After the Rapture, we find in the book of Revelation the final days of mankind’s rebellion against God. There is a very close similarity between the Olivet Discourse and the book of Revelation. Revelation 7:14 has two words that have an obvious reminder of these being parallel passages (Olivet Discourse and Revelation), and they are “Great Tribulation” (and Matt. 24:21).

In Revelation chapter seven, we see God’s great Mercy and Grace as He calls out and seals 144,000 Jews to do His final work of evangelism across the Earth. We know they are really Jews because it says that He seals 12,000 from every one of the tribes of Israel, and He calls the tribes by name (Rev. 7:4-8).
It is also apparent that they are soul winners because of verses nine through fourteen. Verse fourteen says they come out of “Great Tribulation,”

Rev.7:9;After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev.7:13;And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev.7:14;And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Gods sealing of this 144,000 is additional proof of His love for His people the Jews and that He has once again taken them to Himself. This is the time of the seventieth week that Danial speaks of when he said 70 weeks are determined upon thy people Israel. Then the bringing in of righteousness(Dan. 9:24) will happen when the last week is fulfilled. They, the Jews, must finish what He wanted them to do, and that is to show the world His mercy, His grace, and His love.

GOD HAS TWO PEOPLES

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to lay a very basic understanding of where the Old Testament ends and the New Testament starts.

My reasoning is quite simple, and that is to show the difference between the eschatological thought of the Prophets of the OT as different to the Prophetic writings of the New Testament.

God has a plan for the Church and a plan for Israel, two peoples.
The Rapture is strictly for the church (l Thess. 4:15, 17) Old Testament prophets were speaking mainly to the nation of Israel. It’s easier to separate the eschatological problem that some seem to see when they are trying to interpret these verses. The prophets in the Old Testament are speaking from the nation of Israel to Israel and sometimes to the surrounding nations.

Once the Church has been raptured God once again elevates Jacob (Israel), remembering His Covenant that He made with Abraham. Israel is always referred to as God’s wife; there are many verses that proclaim this (Is. 54:5-10; Jer. 3:1-14; etc.). But the Church is referenced to be the Bride of Christ (Rev. 21:9).
So what we have are two special and distinct peoples for God.
He has chosen those who are “in Christ” to be the Bride for His Son
He remains ever true to His Wife, which is the nation or people of Israel, which is also called Jacob. God will never break His covenant with His Wife, that’s impossible. (Jer. 33:25-26

However, there are some who want to say He has broken that covenant
The Church is now His object of affection; that the Church has now taken the place of Israel.
My response to that is simply, if He can break His covenant with the Nation of Israel, what makes you think He won’t break His covenant with you? If He could break a covenant that He Himself has made, that would make Him a liar, and to that I say; how ludicrous. Our Heavenly Father is a covenant-keeping God. He is not a man that He could lie. In the Old Testament there were only two groups of people on the earth; Jews (or the Nation of Israel, Jacob) and Gentiles.
In the time of the New Testament this verse in l Corinthians 10:32 shows we now have three groups, Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God.
I Cor. 10:32;Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
It has always been the duty of all of God’s people to show the Gentiles the way to God because “God’s not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9) (Proverbs 11:30).

All three of these groups play a part in the timeframe known as the Church age. From Pentecost to times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Rom. 11:25), which culminates at the rapture of the Church (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). At that point in time I believe Daniel’s seventy weeks of years will resume and is also called the time of Jacobs’ trouble.
Jer. 30:7;
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. (Please read the whole chapter to keep the context.)

Paul makes it very clear in the book of Romans that God is still a covenant-keeping God with His People, the Nation of Israel (also Jer.31; 33:20-26 and other verses). Paul is so bold as to say,(by inspiration of the Holy Spirit) “All Israel will be saved.” True, Paul says in Romans 10-11 that Israel is set aside for a time, but they have always remained a distinct people in all their wonderings. This in fact shows how special they are to God.

Nowhere in the Bible does God call anyone but the Jewish people by the name of Jacob, so the Gentiles nor the Church can say that these verses pertain to them.

Rom. 11:26-27
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.

This is still a future event that will take place because God said it would happen. Paul says in Romans that God has set Israel aside only until the fullness of the Gentiles come into the Church.
I believe the rapture occurs at that time, because he goes on to say that God will at that time be dealing with Israel once again. Until then there will be two very distinctive people of God on the Earth, the people of Israel and the Church. Once the Church is caught away to “meet the Lord in the air” (l Thess. 4:17), God once again takes His Wife in hand and brings Her to Himself and purges Her of all Her iniquities. (Jer. 31) This will be a very frightening time on planet Earth because the entire world will have turned on Israel, His Wife. Israel is the Apple of His eye (Zech. 2:8), so God will bring righteous judgment to all who have persecuted Israel.

His wrath will be poured out on all that have rejected the salvation that he provided to them in Jesus. But they snubbed their noses at Him, then trampled under their feet the Blood of the Covenant (Hebrews 10:9) which is the most HOLY thing this world has ever seen. Even in all of this judgment, He is still calling people to repent and be saved. What love He has for people, it truly is past finding out (Rev.7)! It will be a very difficult time on earth, for it is the time of Jacob’s trouble. This will be the time when Daniel 9:24 takes place.
Dan.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.

In this seventieth week, God makes a finish of transgression. He makes an end of sins, a reconciliation of iniquity, and brings in everlasting righteousness; and all prophecies for this time period will be sealed up and fulfilled. Then Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, will be anointed to rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, reigning for one thousand years, which is called the millennium.

CONCLUSION
So from Jesus’ crucifixion and being raised from the dead until the Rapture, God maintains two peoples that are His. They have a similar mission to do, and that is to show the world how Holy God is and that one-day everyone that was ever born has to answer to Him. It seems as though a fork was formed in the road of human history, the Jews on one road and the Church on the other. God has a timetable, and on the table there is an end. He will not put up with mankind’s rebellion forever. When He is finished with the time of the gentiles, the Church is taken out by the Rapture. Then He allocates judgment to the whole world as to how they treated Israel and the salvation He provided through Jesus. The Olivet Discourse and the Revelation of Jesus shows the world His Righteousness and He will put everything in its proper place. It will be the most frightening time the world will ever see. But in His Grace and Mercy He will save a great multitude.

This is why I believe in the pre-tribulation rapture of the Church. The Church has to complete Her mission and then God will keep His Word to His people… the Jews.

I pray this has not been confusing, and that those that care to read it will search the scriptures to see if what I’ve written is true to God’s word. Please study it out and be convinced in your own mind about what the Lord has said. I personally think the premise is true, as I await His calling me home, to meet the Lord in the air and so I will always be with Him. Maranatha!