Tag: eschatology

A Letter to Those Who Expected Judgment Day

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

As a follow up to my post from yesterday, I came across this letter to those who expected Judgement Day. I have included a few excerpts but encourage you to read the whole thing.

This letter is… for those who are wondering: How did this happen? Why was I deceived? Why did God allow me, when I sought the truth in prayer, to believe this and go into the cities and distribute flyers and tell my loved ones that they should prepare for the Day of Judgment? How do I face the mockers now? And how do I know that my faith as a whole is not a falsehood as well? When I once went about with my youth group or college group or small group and proclaimed the gospel, and told people earnestly that Christ had died for them and that they should receive God’s gracious offer before the end “” was believing that and pronouncing that any different than believing and pronouncing that May 21st was Judgment Day? What if it’s all just a silly story, and I’m a fool to believe it?

…

Your heart was in the right place…. You were right to believe that God will, one day, gather his children unto himself and draw history as we know it to a close….

Our faith is not placed in a person or in a prediction, but in the good news of Jesus Christ….

We should remember the difference between scripture and an interpretation of scripture. The Christian scriptures did not say that May 21st would be Judgment Day. Harold Camping’s prediction was based on an interpretation of the scriptures that used some obscure tools and methods. An interpretation of the scripture does not have the same force as what the scripture says so plainly that no interpretation is required. So what was disproven in this case is not the scripture itself “” not remotely “” but an interpretation.

We should always beware the power of charismatic leaders and groupthink to sway our beliefs. I do not believe that Harold Camping is a crackpot or a cult leader, though some will construe him as such. I believe that he got caught up in a particular way of looking at the scriptures, and was eventually surrounded by people who believed likewise. I would guess it probably gave him a sense of extraordinary insight and excitement to believe that he could find hidden truths in the scripture that others could not. He should have been humbler. But his followers should also have been more critical, quicker to test him, and less quick to explain away the inconsistencies. They also should have listened to the gentle criticisms and encouragements they received from fellow believers who did not accept the May 21st prophecy….

…If some of you find that “your faith” is crumbling as the reality dawns that you believed in a falsehood, let me suggest to you, gently, that any faith that capsizes when Judgment Day fails to arrive is not a proper faith to begin with. If your faith is shattered here, then your faith was not in God but in a particular way of thinking about God and God’s plans. There’s a very important difference between the two.

**Read the whole letter.**

May 21, 2011 – The Day the World Didn’t End… What Now?

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

My heart was affected deeply when I read this account of Robert Fitzpatrick, a New Yorker who spent over $100,000 to warn the world about May 21,2011. 6pm, the time the global earthquake marking the start of Judgement Day (and the rapture of the elect) should have reached New York City, came and went, and Fitzpatrick was left surprised. The New York Daily News was with him in Times Square soon after 6pm.

He said: “I don’t know what happened. I don’t understand.”

The 60-year-old said he had no regrets. “I did what I had to do,” he said.

“I’m just surprised – I don’t understand it. It’s locked in for 2011.”

“I obviously haven’t understood it properly because we’re still here,” he said.

“Let’s just say I’m surprised that nothing has happened – everything in the bible indicated it.” [source, also see this report]

I’m saddened because Fitzpatrick, and countless thousands of others, have been misled by an apparently well-intentioned, radio teacher, Harold Camping (of Family Radio).

What’s worse, is that the world has front-page headlines about how the rapture didn’t happen, and how “Bible-believing Christians” are just a bunch of end-times-frenzied cooks.

Please hear me now. This does not represent historical, orthodox Christianity. The Christianity which can trace its general teaching from now back to Jesus himself, has not embraced this nonsense. And if you are reading this and you are also one who was surprised, or disappointed, that May 21 didn’t turn out to be “the day”, please keep reading.

Christianity isn’t a religion based on being a good person and trying to follow the Bible and “doing what you have to do”, like Fitzpatrick believed he had done. It’s a life of faith and trust in what Jesus Christ has accomplished on our behalf. This isn’t about an elect few sneering at the loss masses around them. Instead it is depraved sinners, recognizing that apart from Christ we too, would be without hope and bound in our sin.

Jesus Christ bore our punishment, the judgment day that we deserved, on the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ, God’s own Son – equal with God in power and glory, yet incarnate in human form – Jesus took our place. The Creator of this world, had a plan from before it began, to redeem a believing remnant of his fallen creatures and shower them with grace and joy for all eternity. His message is one of love, yet He is a God who will judge the world for sin. We will give account to God.

Jesus is our substitute, though, for those who have faith in Him. Jesus promises to accept all who come to Him, and He will not cast any of them out. Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross not only holds back the angry hand of God directed at us for our sin, it also turns God’s view of us into a loving and joyful embrace. Since we are united with Jesus Christ by our faith, God sees Jesus’ goodness when He looks at us. Our sins are gone, and our righteousness is infinite (since it is Jesus’ righteousness credited to us).

Through the Cross, God redeems His own people – those who repent of their sins and follow after Christ through continual faith and a desire to please Him – and He does more than that. He promises to remake this world – to undo the wrong that was done. He will rid the world of sin’s presence one day, at the Second Coming of Christ. And Jesus will reign and rule in splendor for all eternity with His own. The world will be a “new world”, and heaven will literally come down to earth.

Yes, Armageddon is part of this. God will judge sin. But the victory is sure, and it doesn’t depend on us recognizing the date or the hour, either! God’s people are to live lives that are eager for His coming – which is why they won’t be surprised when it does come. Their identity, their all and all, is Jesus. Sure they mess up and fail. Yes some of them get preoccupied with how bad the world is and all that needs fixing here and there. But at heart, all true believers know they aren’t better than anyone else. Instead they are thankful for God’s grace in their lives. They continue to hope, and the cling to the Word.

The Word of God is His message for us. But this message needs to be understood and read carefully. It is not an engineering text book, nor a blueprint or math game. It is a grand story. The story of Creation, Fall, Judgment, and Restoration. It is a story of God’s dealings with His people. The Bible says we aren’t to seek a “private interpretation”. God has given His people teachers down through the years and up through now. God says that in the Church He will be glorified through all ages, so the church age is not over (Eph. 3:21). In Bible-believing churches, there are safeguards from wide variety of radio, TV and internet teachers who would have us befuddled and confused. There are elders to guard the flock and safety in a multitude of counselors.

The mystery and hidden things of the Old Testament have been revealed in the New Testament. The church is the culmination of God’s plan for the ages. Jesus Christ is the final Word to mankind (see Hebrews 1). The Bible isn’t a jigsaw puzzle that’s intentionally obscure, it is a revelation of God’s will. The New Testament declares time and again that what was originally somewhat obscure has now been made plain for all through Christ. In fact, Paul and others believed they were living in the last days (see 1 Cor. 10:11 for an example). The last age is here. All that is left is for Christ to return and bring to consummation all His glorious promises for His own.

If May 21, which seemed so air-tight (when it comes to all the numerological connections that were given for it)– if May 21 is not the day, then perhaps you should consider that numerology is something not explicitly taught in Scripture. This whole approach to interpreting the Bible is bankrupt. I challenge those who had been believing Camping’s teaching to turn the radio off and go find a Bible-believing local church. Listen to the preaching and teaching for a while. Read the Bible without Camping’s books in front of you. Let God speak to you through His Word. He will guide you to the Truth.

If you have questions or comments, I’m happy to try and respond as I’m able in the comments section below or you can use the contact tab on the blog here, to talk to me privately. May God bless those who are in Fitzpatrick’s shoes tonight.

Picture credited Debbie Egan-Chin/News, accessible at this story page from New York Daily News.

Doug Wilson on Pessimistic Assumptions & the Piper/Warren Controversy

~ Bob Hayton ~ 23 Comments

Following up on my post from this weekend, I stumbled across this jewel of a video clip with Doug Wilson discussing the Rick Warren / John Piper controversy. He makes some insightful comments about how pessimism plays a role in the conservative church today when we assess situations such as Piper and Warren getting together to talk. We assume that something bad is going to happen, rather than looking for a positive outcome. I think Wilson is on to something here, even if I don’t totally buy into his eschatology. Listen to the clip below and let me know what you think.

Rick Warren and Desiring God 2010 (Part III) from Canon Wired on Vimeo.

Random Thoughts on Eschatology

~ Bob Hayton ~ 14 Comments

Recently, a friend asked for feedback on some thoughts she had shared about eschatology. Her blog post shared a summary and reflection on Kim Riddlebarger’s book A Case For Amillennialism. After I typed up my response, I thought it’d be good to share it here as well, as it gives a good summary of my current perspective on eschatological questions. As R.C. Sproul once said, “When it comes to eschatology, I land like a butterfly with sore feet!”

For me, I think there are a couple guiding principles which lead me in my thinking of Eschatology.

1) The New Testament use of the Old Testament is programmatic. In other words, it is an example of how we are to properly interpret the OT. You certainly can’t get the idea that we should never try to interpret the OT like the NT authors did, from a plain reading of the NT. They speak as if their interpretation is quite clear from the OT texts they are reading, and that they believe it is a normative interpretation.

2) We should interpret the unclear passages in light of the clear passages. In other words, obscure passages in the prophets or Revelation, should not form the foundation of our entire eschatological framework. Clear teaching in the NT epistles and elsewhere (as in the one parousia, and in the relief that we believers will find at the parousia — 2 Thess. 1), should factor in first, before grappling with picturesque language in Revelation, Gospel parables and OT prophecies.

Finally, an additional consideration comes to mind. Ultimately Christ will reign over all the Earth with His people forever. That can safely fulfill all the OT prophecies in a very literal sense. Prior to that eternal kingdom, we certainly have Christ ruling in some sense, even as the kingdom is here in some sense (but not yet fully). So this could be amillennial. But the ultimate rule is going to be much better than anything we have now, so a postmillennial flavor can be seen.

Premillennialism, for me, given that I accept the Church as being part of the one people of God (grafted in as Rom. 11 says), boils down to how you interpret Rev. 20. Nothing else speaks of a duration of time associated with the restored/renewed Davidic kingdom. Sometimes the amil arguments sway me on Rev. 20, but other times the literal exegesis of Rev. 20 seems to sway me the other way. It is an admittedly difficult passage.

To make one’s view of this one passage a litmus test for the level of their faithfulness to the Bible seems unwise to me.

I think that in dealing with Revelation, we need to admit there is much that we aren’t sure of. But the main message of the book is a wonderful blessing. The devil loses, Jesus wins! The bad guys get punished, and God rewards the faithful. Persecution now is not the end. God sees what is done and He will mete out judgment in his time. The plans and city of Man will not prosper. The beastly elements of religion and political might are nothing to Christ. I fear our tribulation saints’ merchandise, our intricate charts and end times maps, all conspire to make us lose the sweet view of the big picture given us in Revelation.

Four Millennial Views Explained: A Helpful & Free E-Book on Eschatology

~ Bob Hayton ~ 5 Comments

I’m never one to turn down a chance to open the proverbial “can of worms”.  I’ve gotten myself in heaps of trouble on my blog and elsewhere over the years.  (In fact I started a group blog on KJV Onlyism, so you know I have no sense left in me!)  So, on the heels of my recent post, “Doctrinal Disagreement (on Secondary Matters): Just a Teaching Issue“, I thought it might be good to test the waters with a post on eschatology.

I recently came across an excellent e-book explaining the four primary millennial views (yes there are four) that was a joy to read.  Even if I didn’t lean amillennial, I think I would have appreciated the clarity with which Dr. David Murray, professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI) explained the four positions: amillennialism, postmillennialism, historic premillennialism, and dispensational premillennialism.  The freely available e-book (download it as a .pdf or view it at Scribd), is laid out in a question and answer format complete with pictures — helpful pictures (there’s not many diagrams or end-times charts, unfortunately 😉 ).

This little book (57 pages but much shorter if you took out the pictures and repetition) is well worth your time, if only to help you see where the areas of disagreement are.  Knowing where we disagree will highlight how much we really do agree about.  Knowing why others hold to their views also allows us to see that our opponents may just revere the Bible and love Christ as much as we do.

I wish end-times theology wasn’t so divisive.  In reading through this, I was reminded afresh of the focus believers need to maintain on both this present earth, and Christ’s grand accomplishment which transforms our entire experience as well as on the future hope we have laid up for us in heaven, which will be realized with the re-creation of everything into a new heaven and new earth. Surely we can all agree on that.

I encourage you to give this little primer a read through.  Then feel free to speak up for your view of choice in the comments.  I want to close with a passage that was referenced all throughout the paper and which seems appropriate here:

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.  (2 Pet. 3:11-13 ESV)

Dr. Murray has additional resources at his blog, such as animated time-lines of the various viewpoints (and wow does this fellow have an accent!).  Don’t forget to feel free to dig in to the can of worms in the comments section below!

[HT: Nathan Bingham]