The Antichrist

Posted on January 11, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #6)

Before we shift this series into a full-blown event-by-event study of the tribulation period and beyond, we need to devote an entire post to that man scripture calls “the Antichrist.” I have already mentioned him in previous posts and will have more to say about him in coming ones, but this man is such a pivotal figure in Bible prophecy that he merits an entire post himself. What we are going to find is that even though the Bible doesn’t name him by name, it certainly gives the world a ton of information to use to identify him once his time has come.

Let’s start with seven of the titles the Bible gives him:

  1. the Antichrist (1 John 2:18, 1 John 4:3)
  2. the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
  3. the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
  4. the lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2:8)
  5. the beast (Revelation 13:1-4)
  6. the little horn (Daniel 7:7-8)
  7. the prince who is to come (Daniel 9:26)

Now, let’s list five of his impressive abilities:

  1. His Ability in Politics (Daniel 7:1-8): These verses describe four successive empires in terms of beastly symbolism. The first beast, a lion with eagle’s wings, depicts Babylon. The second beast, a bear raised up on one side with three ribs in its mouth, depicts Medo-Persia. The third beast, a leopard with four wings, depicts Greece. The fourth beast, a ten-horned, iron-teethed creature, depicts Rome. In the end times, the final version of the Roman empire will be centered around ten kings (Daniel 7:7-8, Daniel 7:23-24, Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:12). The Antichrist is symbolically described as an eleventh horn (a “little horn”) or “another” king who will arise from this Roman empire and somehow “pluck out by the roots” (uproot, overthrow) or “subdue” three of the ten kings (Daniel 7:7-8, Daniel 7:24). Following this impressive political feat, he will take control of the entire empire as the other seven kings will “give their power and authority to him” (Revelation 17:12-13).
  2. His Ability in Oratory (Revelation 13:5): The Antichrist will have a mouth “speaking great things” (Revelation 13:5) and “pompous words” (Daniel 7:8,11). Much of his rousing oratory will involve speaking blasphemy against God (Daniel 7:25, Daniel 11:36, Revelation 13:5-6).
  3. His Ability in Religion (Revelation 13:11-15): Just as ancient Babylon’s legendary king Nebuchadnezzar understood the value of having a one-world, man-created religion that involved a gigantic image (Daniel 3:1-7), the Antichrist will as well. He will work with a false prophet who is demonically empowered to perform great miracles, including calling fire down from heaven, and the two will have an image of the Antichrist built. A law will then be enacted that forces everyone to worship the Antichrist by worshiping the image of him. Anyone who refuses to do so will be executed. The false prophet will even somehow cause the image to speak (Revelation 13:11-15).
  4. His Ability in Commerce (Revelation 13:16-18): The false prophet will also institute an economic program wherein everyone will be required to receive a mark either on their right hand or forehead. Without this mark, no one will be able to buy or sell. The mark will be some kind of name or a number that represents the Antichrist.
  5. His Ability in Warfare (Daniel 11:36-45): The Bible indicates that the Antichrist will be peaceful during the early part of his reign. Even though he initially goes forth “conquering and to conquer,” he is symbolized as a rider who has a bow but no arrows (Revelation 6:2). This means that his early rise to power will be accomplished by means other than military. Even when he signs his seven-year treaty with Israel, it will be a peace treaty, not a treaty signed at the edge of a sword (Daniel 9:27). But as the years of the tribulation period continue to roll, he will begin flexing more and more of his might as a military leader. Daniel 11:36-45 describes some of the Antichrist’s military maneuvers. In addition to these maneuvers, the Antichrist and his army also end up at the battle of Armageddon at the close of the tribulation period (Revelation 19:11-21).

Here now are some other random items of information about the Antichrist:

  1. His title “Antichrist” can be understood two ways. On the one hand, it can mean that he is against everything about Jesus. Under this definition, the Antichrist’s main purpose is not so much promoting himself as it is opposing Jesus. On the other hand, it can mean that he presents himself as another option to Jesus. Under this definition, his main purpose is presenting himself to the world as another Messianic option besides Jesus. The fact is, both definitions fit the Antichrist and the things he does.
  2. His deeds will be “according to the working of Satan” and will be marked by “power, signs, and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). Revelation 13:2 says, “The dragon (Satan) gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” This element of the supernatural and miraculous will make the Antichrist so much more than just the latest hotshot political figure on the world scene. If you question how millions of people could line up to the take the Antichrist’s “mark of the beast” and fall down and worship his image, you aren’t factoring in the signs and lying wonders that will swirl around the man.
  3. He will somehow survive an assassination attempt which will elevate him to “God status” around the world. Revelation 13:1 symbolically depicts the Antichrist as a beast that has seven heads, ten horns, and wears ten crowns. But then Revelation 13:3 talks about one of the heads being mortally wounded. Many students of prophecy interpret this symbolism as an assassination attempt on the Antichrist’s life. The fatal wound, however, will somehow be healed, and all the world will marvel and follow the Antichrist (Revelation 13:3-4). This will be the Antichrist’s grandest and most impressive feat, mimicking the resurrection of Christ. (I’ll have more to say about this “resurrection” in a later post.)
  4. There is at least a possibility that he will be a homosexual. The New King James Version translates the original Hebrew of Daniel 11:37 as: “He shall regard neither the God of his father nor the desire of women…” That aligns with the way the translators of the King James Version, the New American Standard Version, and the Amplified Bible translate the Hebrew. If this translation is accurate, it opens up the possibility that the Antichrist will have no regard for the desire of women, which would mean: (a): He might be a homosexual (b): He might be so consumed with achieving world domination that he won’t have time for a woman or (c) His celibacy might be merely another aspect of him imitating Christ’s ministry as Jesus showed no sexual desire for women, either. However, it should be noted that translators are not in agreement on how the original Hebrew of Daniel 11:37 should be translated. As evidence of this, translations such as the English Standard Version, the New International Version, the New Living Translation, and the Revised Standard Version all render the verse something along the lines of: “He will show no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the one desired by women…” Obviously, that rendering changes the meaning completely and dismisses the idea that the Antichrist might be a homosexual.
  5. Anyone who denies that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh is displaying the same basic spirit the Antichrist will take to its furthest degree. The apostle John is the only Biblical writer who actually uses the term “Antichrist.” Interestingly, however, John never uses the term in The Revelation. Instead, he uses it in 1 John 2:18 as he says, “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know it is the last hour.” John then goes on to explain that these lower-case ‘a’ antichrists were people who once attended churches but eventually fell away from the church (1 John 2:19) and began to deny that Jesus was actually God in human flesh (1 John 2:22-23). He returns to this same subject in 1 John 4:3 as he says, “and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist…”

Now, for the last section of this post I want to address what is probably the single most debated question about the Antichrist. That question is: Will the Antichrist be a Jew or a Gentile? By way of covering both possible answers to this question, I’ll give you five pieces of evidence that can be used to promote each answer. I myself am of the opinion that the Antichrist will be a Gentile, but if you reach the conclusion that he will be a Jew you’ll have plenty of company.

The Evidences That the Antichrist Will Be a Jew

  1. Daniel 11:37 says the Antichrist will not regard “the God of his fathers.” While this term “the God of his fathers” could theoretically refer to any god and the race of any father, it is classically considered a Jewish phrase especially in regards to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
  2. Jesus was a male Jew. If the Antichrist is to be a counterfeit Jesus, it makes sense that he would be a male Jew as well.
  3. Many believe that the Jewish people will come to look upon the Antichrist as their long-awaited Messiah. Certainly, if it turns out that he plays the primary political role in helping them get a new temple built, this belief could be correct. But would the Jews accept a Gentile, no matter how much he helps them, as their Messiah? That is highly doubtful.
  4. In John 5:43, Jesus says to a group of unbelieving Jews, “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” Some take these words to be a prophecy that one day the Jewish people will accept a Jewish false Messiah, the Antichrist.
  5. In Genesis 49:17, as a part of the elderly Jacob pronouncing prophecies upon his sons, he says concerning his son Dan, “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider shall fall backward.” There are some who couple this prophecy up with the fact that in Revelation 7:1-8 the tribe of Dan is omitted from Israel’s list of tribes and conclude that the Antichrist will come from the Jewish tribe of Dan.

The Evidences That the Antichrist Will Be a Gentile

  1. Daniel’s prophecies make it clear that the Antichrist will rise to power from an end-times version of the Roman empire. The fact that it is a Roman empire suggests that he will be a Gentile. Furthermore, Daniel 9:26-27 explicitly states that he will come from the people who destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. Again, that would be the Romans. As for the word about him not regarding “the God of his fathers,” that could be a reference to the Catholicism that has long dominated Rome.
  2. In Revelation 13:1, John says, “Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea…” As I mentioned earlier this “beast” is the Antichrist depicted in symbolic imagery. Furthermore, based upon Revelation 17:15, a common interpretation of the symbolism of this “sea” is that it refers to the Gentile nations of the world. So, if the Antichrist rises up from such a sea, he must be a Gentile. Even if this interpretation of this “sea” as being symbolic and representing the Gentile nations of the world is incorrect, another plausible interpretation is that John was literally standing on the shore of Patmos when he experienced this part of his revelation. This would mean that he was referring to the Aegean Sea which surrounded Patmos. The Aegean Sea, of course, is in actuality a part of the Mediterranean Sea, and when we think of the Mediterranean we think of Rome, which brings us back to the Antichrist’s connection to Gentile Rome.
  3. In the symbolism of Revelation 13:2, the Antichrist is a beast that has the mouth of a lion, the feet of a bear, and is like a leopard. This symbolism echoes the prophet Daniel’s depictions of the three Gentile empires that preceded the mighty Roman empire (Daniel 7:1-8). Daniel symbolically depicted Babylon as a lion, Medo-Persia as a bear, and Greece as a leopard. The meaning of Revelation 13:2 then is that the Antichrist will come from the lineage of these empires. Even more than that, he will possess many of the same leadership characteristics as the great rulers of these empires, men such as Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus the Great, and Alexander the Great. And since these empires were all Gentile and their leaders were Gentiles, it makes sense that the Antichrist will be a Gentile.
  4. We know from Daniel 9:27 that the Antichrist will make a seven-year covenant (treaty) with the Jews and break it three-a-half-years into it. It seems strange that a Jew would have to go to the trouble of creating a formal treaty with his own people. Getting back to the possibility that the Jews will accept the Antichrist as their Messiah it also seems strange that a Messiah would have to sign such a treaty with his followers. Furthermore, once the Antichrist breaks that treaty, he will begin an incredibly intense persecution of the Jews. Would a fellow Jew do that?
  5. Matthew chapters 24 and 25 make up Christ’s most extensive teaching on the tribulation period, and in Matthew 24:15 He talks about a time when “the abomination of desolation” will be seen “standing in the holy place.” The “holy place” is the Jewish temple of the tribulation period, and the phrase “the abomination of desolation” comes from the book of Daniel. In Daniel 11:31, Daniel prophesies about “the abomination of desolation” in the context of a prophecy centering around a “northern king.” Prophecy experts are unanimous in identifying this “northern king” as Antiochus Epiphanes, who once led 20,000 soldiers against Jerusalem, temporarily abolished Jewish worship at the temple (Daniel 8:9-11), and desecrated the temple’s altar by sacrificing swine upon it. This despicably blasphemous act was what Daniel called “the abomination of desolation.” What all this means in regards to Christ’s use of the term is that there will come a time in the tribulation period when the Antichrist will perform his own despicably blasphemous act in the Jewish temple of the tribulation period. This act will be akin to the Antiochus Epiphanes abomination. (And I’ll specify what that act is in a later post). The point, then, is that Antiochus Epiphanes was what we call a “type” (a “foreshadowing”) of the Antichrist. For one thing, he and the Antichrist are the only two Bible characters who share the term “the abomination of desolation.” For another, they also share the title “little horn” – the Antichrist being described by it in Daniel 7:7-8,24 and Antiochus Epiphanes being described it in Daniel 8:9-14. And since Antiochus Epiphanes was a Gentile, specifically a Greek Gentile from the Syria/Asia Minor kingdom ruled over by Alexander the Great’s General Seleucas, many believe the typology requires that the Antichrist be a Gentile.
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Will Christians Go Through the Tribulation Period?

Posted on January 9, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #5)

(Unless otherwise noted, all references are from the N.K.J.V.)

One of the most disputed questions about Bible prophecy is: Will Christians (the church) go through the tribulation period? Another way to word the question is: When will the Rapture take place in regards to the tribulation period? Some sincere students of prophecy contend that Christians will go through the entirety of the tribulation period. This is called the post-tribulation Rapture. Other equally sincere people contend that Christians will go through the first half of the tribulation period. This is called the mid-tribulation Rapture. And then there are those folks, every bit as sincere, who contend that Christians won’t go through any of the tribulation period. This is called the pre-tribulation Rapture.

It is not my purpose in this post to belittle anyone else’s interpretation or point of view, but I do want to present the evidence for a pre-tribulation Rapture. Yes, I’m in the pre-trib. camp. But it isn’t because I just don’t like the idea of me and my family possibly having to experience the tribulation period. I’m in the pre-trib. camp because I’ve reached the honest conclusion that this is what the Bible teaches. You say, “I need some evidence on that, Russell.” Okay, let’s get to it.

Evidence #1: The book of The Revelation is organized in a very specific way.

By in large, the book of The Revelation is organized in a chronological, step-by-step, event-by-event order. Chapter 1 finds the apostle John in persecution exile on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. While he’s there Jesus appears to him one Sunday and thus begins the incredible revelation that makes up the book. Jesus tells John, “Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this” (Revelation 1:19). That’s the outline for the entirety of the book.

Part 1 —  “the things which you have seen” — is recorded in chapter 1 as John had seen Jesus. Part 2 — “the things which are” — is recorded in chapters 2 and 3 as Jesus relays messages through John’s writing to seven specific churches that were located in the Asia Minor region at that time. Finally, part 3 — “the things which will take place after this” — is recorded in chapters 4 through 22 as all the future events of the tribulation period and beyond are unfurled.

Clearly, then, a major division in the book occurs with the opening verses of chapter 4, and this division leads into the bulk of the book. So, what happens to John in those opening verses? He sees a door standing open in heaven, hears a voice like a trumpet that says, “Come up here,” and finds himself immediately standing before God’s throne in heaven (Revelation 4:1-2).

If all this sounds familiar, compare it to the description of the Rapture that is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. By doing so you’ll see why many prophecy experts make the case that John experienced what we might call a Revelation version of the Rapture. That case is further bolstered by the fact that the 24 elders that John subsequently sees in heaven (Revelation 4:4, 9-11) symbolically represent the church, which is comprised of all Christians. The song they sing in Revelation 5:8-10 leaves no doubt as to their identity.

What makes John’s experience so important to the debate about when the Rapture will take place is that it took place after Christ’s messages to those seven churches. Consider this: The words “church” and “churches” are used 19 times in Revelation chapter 1 through 3, but neither word is used again until Revelation 22:16, which is a verse found in the context of John closing out the book. As for the events of the tribulation period, they are laid out in chronological order beginning with the opening of chapter 6 and ending with the closing of chapter 19. Again, though, the church is never mentioned in all those chapters. This is excellent evidence that the church will be raptured away before the beginning of the tribulation period.

Evidence #2: The early Christians were looking for Jesus Christ, not the Antichrist.

First, in Titus 2:12-13, Paul says that Christians, “…should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Notice that Paul doesn’t say that Christians should be looking for the Antichrist, the tribulation period, cataclysmic events, etc. There isn’t any “hope” in all that.

Second, in Philippians 3:20-21, Paul says of his fellow Christians, “…we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body…” It’s hard to misunderstand what Paul is saying in these verses. Not only were he and his fellow Christians eagerly awaiting Jesus, they understood that when He came He would transform their earthly bodies into glorified bodies like His. That is as plain a reference to the Rapture as one can find.

Third, in Colossians 3:4, Paul says to the Christians of Colosse, “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Here again we have a clear reference to the Rapture. Those early Christians believed that when Jesus appeared, they would immediately be with Him, not on the earth but in glory.

Fourth, the Christians of Thessalonica were confused by recent events in view of their expectancy of the Rapture. Do you know why we have Paul’s classic description of the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18? It’s because those Christians had expressed their concern to him over the fact that some of their fellow Christians had died and Jesus hadn’t returned yet. Those deaths had caused the surviving members of the church to lose hope in the coming of Jesus. That’s why Paul explained to them about the Rapture and told them not to “sorrow as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13) and to “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). The point here is that those Thessalonian Christians weren’t expecting the Antichrist, the tribulation period, and all the rest of it. Not only were they expecting Jesus at any moment, they were expecting Him to come before any of their fellow church members died.

Fifth, we have Paul’s words from 1 Thessalonians 1:10. There he encourages those Christians of Thessalonica to, “…wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” While it’s true that the phrase “wrath to come” might refer to God’s eternal judgment rather than the events of the tribulation period, it cannot be denied that this verse shows again that Paul and those early Christians were waiting for Jesus Christ, not the Antichrist. (For the record, the promise that the Christian will be delivered from God’s wrath, whatever exactly that specifically means, is also found in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 and Romans 5:9.)

Really, though, in light of what had happened when Jesus had ascended to heaven, how could those early Christians not have been looking for Him to return? Remember that as Christ’s followers had stood there, having just watched Jesus disappear into a cloud, two men in white apparel — no doubt angels — had said to them, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

You see, that’s the event those early Christians were expecting each and every day. Jesus had disappeared into the clouds and He would surely come back to snatch them away into the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Even old John himself, who wrote The Revelation, remembered Jesus saying to him and the rest of the chosen 12, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3, N.A.S.B.).

Evidence #3: Jesus Himself spoke of an escape from all the tribulation period.

In Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Jesus gives His most extensive teaching concerning the tribulation period. As a matter of fact, the term “the tribulation period” stems from His words in Matthew 24:21 as He says, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Matthew isn’t the only gospel writer, however, who provides us with a record of that particular teaching. Luke’s account of it is found in Luke chapter 21, and even though he doesn’t give us nearly as much of the teaching as Matthew does, he includes a few quotes that Matthew doesn’t. One of them is Luke 21:36, which in Luke’s gospel serves as Christ’s closing statement to the teaching. And what does Jesus say to close out His most detailed teaching on the tribulation period? He says, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to ESCAPE ALL these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man (Christ’s favorite title for Himself).” So, how could it be possible for anyone to escape all the events of the tribulation period and come to stand before Jesus Himself? You got it: the Rapture.

Under this same heading, it should also be noted that Jesus promised the Christians of the church in Philadelphia that He would keep them from (not through) the tribulation period. This promise is found in Revelation 3:10, and it’s a part of Christ’s words via John to that church. Jesus says to those Christians, “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” The phrase “the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world” simply cannot refer to anything other than the coming tribulation period. No other “hour of trial” ever involved “the whole world” simultaneously. Therefore, if Jesus promised to keep those Christians of Philadelphia from the tribulation period, it shows us that He promises the same for all Christians. After all, He sees each one of us as being part of the same body (Ephesians 5:23).

Furthermore, many students of prophecy apply a secondary interpretation to each of the churches to whom Jesus speaks in The Revelation. Under this secondary interpretation, each church represents not only a literal body of believers that was in existence during John’s lifetime but also a distinct era of church history. For example, the first church to whom Jesus speaks — the church of Ephesus — represents the earliest decades of the church age. Those decades began with Christians having a zealous love for Jesus, but over the course of the years that zealous love waned somewhat. Next, the second church — the church of Smyrna — represents the era when the Roman government leveled its most intense persecution upon the church.

On and on the interpretation goes like that, making its way chronologically down through the major eras of church history by having each of the seven churches represent an era of that history. Under this interpretation, then, the sixth church to whom Jesus speaks — the church in Philadelphia — represents the era in which the Rapture will take place. That’s why Jesus said as a part of His remarks to that church, “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Obviously, the “hour of trial” He is describing must involve “the whole world” (not just the Roman empire), and it will test “those who dwell on the earth” (a phrase that is very different from “those who are part of the church,” “those who are believers,” etc.).

By putting all of this together, we can see that the phrase “the hour of trial” can be taken to be a reference to the tribulation period, the Christians who live in the era just prior to the beginning of that time will be kept from that hour, and the seventh church — the church of the Laodiceans — can be understood to figuratively represent the false church that will continue to meet in the tribulation period after the Rapture. Because every “member” (for lack of a better word) of that false church will in actuality be a lost unbeliever who missed the Rapture, it makes perfect sense that Jesus says of that church, “I will vomit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:16).

Evidence #4: The Holy Spirit has to be removed for the Antichrist to be revealed.

The passage here is 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8. In those verses, Paul says to the Christians of Thessalonica: “And now you know what is restraining, that he (the Antichrist) may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one (the Antichrist) will be revealed…”

Okay, so who is this “He” who is doing so much restraining that the Antichrist can’t be revealed until He is taken out of the way? The answer is: God the Holy Spirit. No single  individual or human institution is big enough and powerful enough to restrain the devil from unleashing his masterpiece of destruction upon the earth. Only God can handle that job. And where does God the Holy Spirit dwell upon this earth? He dwells inside the bodies of born-again Christians (Romans 5:5, Romans 8:5-11, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 2 Corinthians 5:5).

Ask any true Christian why he/she doesn’t do certain sinful things they’d like to do, and the answer you’ll get is, “It’s because the Holy Spirit inside me brings me under so much conviction.” You see, the Holy Spirit is a restrainer of evil even among Christians. So, if you think this world is morally deplorable now, just imagine how much worse things will get when all the restraining that God the Holy Spirit is doing through Christians is taken out of it.

It should be understood, though, that there will be people who get saved during the tribulation period (I’ll talk more about that in another post) and the Holy Spirit will have a ministry during those years. Whatever is meant by the Spirit being “taken out of the way” it doesn’t mean that He will retire to heaven and never been heard from again. What it does mean is that in the tribulation period the Spirit will no longer play the role of restrainer. During those years the “mystery of lawlessness” that was already at work in Paul’s day will run loose and rampant to the fullest degree, and as a part of that the Antichrist, who is called not coincidentally “the lawless one,” will be fully revealed upon the earth.

As an aside thought here, let me point out that we Christians don’t give ourselves enough credit for the job we’re doing in holding back Satan’s tide in this world. In 1 John 4:4, the same John who wrote The Revelation says to Christians, “…He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” The “He” who is inside each and every authentic Christian is none other than God the Holy Spirit, and when you get multiplied millions of Christians around the world allowing the indwelling Holy Spirit to work and minister through them, it makes for a powerful restraining force against Satan’s evil tide. That force is gone, though, at the moment of the Rapture, and that will allow the Antichrist to step forward to the spotlight of the world stage and start ushering in Satan’s tribulation-period agenda.

Now, in closing, let me say one final thing concerning Christians going through the tribulation period. For the most part, those who teach that Christians will go through all or part of the tribulation period cite as their reason the idea that Christians must somehow be “purged” through the trying events of those years to be made ready for heaven. Oftentimes you’ll hear it described as the bride of Christ (the church) being made spiritually spotless and without blemish for her wedding.

While I do understand this line of thought, there are two facts that it doesn’t take into account. First, just because a Christian is forced to endure trying times, it doesn’t automatically mean that the Christian will repent of his/her sins. To the contrary, sometimes trying times can cause the Christian to become angry with God and frustrated to the point of sinning all the more because living a holy life doesn’t seem to be helping. Could this not happen to Christians in the tribulation period?

And then, second, the truth of the matter is that millions of Christians have already missed their opportunity to be “purged” and made ready for Jesus by way of the tribulation period. They missed it by dying and going to heaven before the period began. Is there any valid reason then why God would force the Christians who have the misfortune of being alive when the period begins to go through it? Surely there isn’t. Therefore, this becomes yet another piece of evidence that the Rapture will take place before the tribulation period and Christians really will miss all of those dark and trying days.

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The Tribulation Period

Posted on January 7, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #4)

The tribulation period is a seven-year period that Bible prophecy teaches will come upon this earth. These seven years will be unlike anything human history has ever experienced. They will be so devastating, catastrophic, and horrific that Jesus said if God didn’t bring them to a close, no one would be left alive upon the earth (Matthew 24:21-22).

As is so often the case with Bible prophecy, we must go to the book of Daniel to find the beginnings of this subject. In Daniel 9:20-27, we have the record of how the angel Gabriel came to the prophet Daniel and gave him what is known as “the prophecy of the 70 weeks.” This prophecy is without doubt one of the most important prophecies in all of scripture. The term “70 weeks” comes from the King James translation’s rendering of the passage. In the K.J.V., Gabriel says to Daniel, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city” (Daniel 9:24).

What we must understand, though, is that the Hebrew word that is translated in the K.J.V. as “weeks” is shabua. In Hebrew, a shabua is a unit of measure that is used to designate a collection of seven things. Just as the English language uses the word “dozen” to refer to a collection of twelve, the Hebrew language uses shabua to refer to a collection of seven. Therefore, what Gabriel literally said to Daniel was, “70 sevens are determined upon your people and upon your holy city.” As a matter of fact, this is exactly how the N.I.V. translation translates the phrase. In the same vein, the New Living Translation translates it as “seventy sets of seven.” Furthermore, since the context for the entire chapter involves years of Jewish history (Daniel 9:2), these “sets of seven” obviously refer to years of Jewish history. Putting it simply, Gabriel told Daniel about a 490-year period involving the Jewish people.

Now, Gabriel got very specific as to when this period would begin. It would begin with “the issuing of the decree to restore and build Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:25, N.I.V.). Keep in mind that as Gabriel was speaking to Daniel, Daniel and his fellow Jews were living in Babylon as exiles from their homeland. The Babylonians had been responsible for that exile and the destruction of Jerusalem, but now a new world power had arisen and defeated the Babylonians. That new world power was Medo-Persia (an alliance between the Medes and the Persians). Even though Daniel didn’t know it as Gabriel was speaking to him, the Medo-Persians would deal kindly with the Jewish exiles in Babylon by allowing them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it.

As for identifying the specific decree that Gabriel had in mind, there were three separate Medo-Persian decrees that involved the Jews returning to Jerusalem. First, in 538 B.C. Persia’s Cyrus the Great issued a decree that authorized the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s temple. The Bible mentions this decree in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Ezra 1:1-4, and Isaiah 44:28. Second, in 517 B.C. Darius the Mede issued a decree that basically just reaffirmed the previous decree that Cyrus had made concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s temple. The Bible records this decree in Ezra 6:1-12. Third, in 445 B.C. the Persian ruler Artaxerxes Longimanus issued a decree that allowed for the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall, its streets, and by in large the entire city itself. The Bible’s account of this decree is found in Nehemiah 2:1-10.

So, which of these three future decrees did Gabriel have in mind as the starting point for the 490-year period? Most prophecy experts identify the third decree, the one from Artaxerxes Longimanus in 445 B.C., as the beginning of Gabriel’s prophetic word. This makes sense because this decree is the only one of the three that deals with the restoration and rebuilding of the actual city of Jerusalem. The first two merely involved the rebuilding of the temple. If you need more specificity on the date for that third decree, scholars tell us it was given on March 14, 445 B.C.

Continuing on now with specifics of the prophecy, Gabriel told Daniel that the 490-year period would be divided into three parts. Part #1 would consist of 7 “weeks” (49 years), and by the end of those years Jerusalem’s wall and street would be rebuilt (Daniel 9:25). Part #2 would consist of 62 “weeks” (434 years), and after those years the Messiah would be “cut off” (Daniel 9:26). Part #3 of the prophecy would consist of the last “week” (7 years) of the 490 years, and as a part of it an unnamed person referred to as “he” would “confirm a covenant with many for one week (7 years)” (Daniel 9:27).

By the way, as we are interpreting the years of this prophecy, we should understand that a year on the Jewish calendar was 360 days, not the 365 that we Gentiles know so well. For example, the Bible says that the flood of Noah began on the 17th day of the second month (Genesis 7:11) and ended on the 17th day of the seventh month (Genesis 8:4). That’s five months, right? However, it also says that the waters decreased at the end of the 150 days (Genesis 8:3). And what’s 150 days divided by five months? 30 days per month. In terms of prophecy, we see this same thing in Revelation 11:2-3, where 42 months equates to 1,260 days, which again equals 30 days per month.

Okay, so now we are ready to start putting all this together. Actually, we don’t have to because it’s already been done for us. More than a century ago Sir Robert Anderson wrote a book entitled The Coming Prince, and in that book he painstakingly worked out the specifics of “the prophecy of the 70 weeks” as follows:

  1. March 14, 445 B.C.: The 490-year prophetic period begins with the issuing of the decree from Artaxerxes Longimanus concerning the restoring and building of Jerusalem.
  2. The prophecy’s first 49-year period (7 “weeks”) + the second 434-year period (62 “weeks”) = 483 years (69 “weeks”).
  3.  483 years at 360 days per year = 173,800 days
  4. Beginning at March 14, 445 B.C. and counting 173,800 days forward brings you to April 6, A.D. 32.
  5. According to Anderson, April 6, A.D. 32 was the day that Jesus rode that donkey into Jerusalem in what is known as His triumphal entry. That entry was Jesus publicly and dramatically fulfilling the Messianic prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 (Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-40). This was the “Palm Sunday” before Christ’s resurrection the following Sunday. However, the Jewish religious leaders hated Jesus, ignored His claim to be Messiah, and began plotting all the more to have Him killed. This they accomplished a few days later by persuading the Romans to crucify Him. All this fulfilled Gabriel’s prophetic word that the Messiah would be “cut off” at that time.

Is Anderson’s well-known and often-used interpretation and computation correct? It certainly could be. Even if it’s off a few days, a few years, or in some other way, it at least offers us a good example of how “the 70 weeks prophecy” might hash itself out in time and history. One thing is for sure: God knows all the relevant dates, actions, and outworking of the prophecy, and He’s the one keeping score. That’s why we don’t have to obsess over every last detail and date. All we have to do is trust Him and know that the future is in His capable hands.

But there is one thing that we really need to understand today about “the prophecy of the 70 weeks.” Once Jesus was “cut off,” the clock on the prophecy stopped ticking, and it hasn’t started ticking again yet even though some 2,000 years have now passed. You see, Gabriel didn’t tell Daniel about the church age, which began after Christ’s resurrection on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-39) and runs until the moment of the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53). Gabriel didn’t explain the church age to Daniel because “the prophecy of the 70 weeks” is all about the Jewish people, Jerusalem, and the Jewish temple. For that matter, the church age isn’t mentioned anywhere in the entire Old Testament. The church age exists between the end of the 69th “week” of Gabriel’s prophecy and the beginning of the 70th “week.”

And just when will that 70th “week” begin? That’s an answer that Gabriel did give Daniel, even though Daniel couldn’t have possibly understood it all in his time. Gabriel said, “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city (the rebuilt Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the rebuilt temple) (Daniel 9:26). The “prince who is to come” is a reference to the Antichrist (and I’ll talk about him more in a later post), and the people who destroyed the rebuilt Jerusalem and the rebuilt temple were the Romans in 70 A.D. approximately 40 years after Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. This means that the Antichrist will rise to world power from a revived Roman empire. Once he is in power, he will “confirm a covenant (treaty) with many for one “week” (seven years) only to break that covenant midweek (three and a half years into it) (Daniel 9:27). And what other name do those seven years of that last “week” go by? The tribulation period. The seven-year tribulation period is the 70th “week” of “the prophecy of the 70 weeks.”

As I begin to close, let me describe what’s going to happen at some point in the future. The Antichrist, who will have risen to power from an end-times Roman empire, will sign a seven-year treaty with the nation of Israel. Many believe that, as a part of this treaty, provisions will be made that will allow the Jews to build a new temple in Jerusalem. This belief might hold true, but I’m not ready to teach it as absolute, undeniable fact. What I will say with total certainty is that the moment the Antichrist puts pen to paper and signs the treaty with Israel, the old clock on “the prophecy of the 70 weeks” will start ticking again.

First and foremost, those last seven years will have to do with God’s dealings with Israel. That won’t mean, though, that the Gentiles on earth at that time won’t also come under the sway of what God unleashes. You can read about it all in Revelation chapters 6 through 19, Mark 13:3-37, Matthew 24:3-51, Luke 21:7-36, Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, and various other passages. Trust me, it won’t be a time for the faint of heart.

But will Christians be on the earth to experience it? Ah, that’s an excellent question, one that I’ll answer in my next post. So, until then, keep sorting all this information out for yourself and take the time to study all these passages. Even though it’s unlikely that the angel Gabriel will ever pay you a personal visit, if you own a Bible you have even more prophetic light to work with than Daniel did.

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The Rapture

Posted on January 5, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #3)

When it comes to God’s prophetic schedule, the next event due up is the Rapture. You won’t find the word “Rapture” anywhere in our English translations of the Bible, but the best passage on the subject is 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. In these verses, the apostle Paul makes a promise to the Christians of Thessalonica, and it’s a promise that extends to all Christians. He writes:

But I do not want you to be ignorant (uninformed), brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep (died), lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if (because) we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus (died as Christians). For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep (dead). For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

The Greek word that is translated as “caught up” in this passage is harpazo, and it means: to catch, to force, to pluck, to pull, to seize, to take, or to snatch. My favorite description of the Rapture is “the great snatch.” As for the actual word “Rapture,” before the New Testament was translated into English it was translated into Latin, and the Latin translation of harpazo is rapere. From the Latin rapere we get the English rapture.

The sequential order for the Rapture is laid out very clearly in scripture. It goes as follows:

  1. Jesus descends from heaven and into “the clouds.”
  2. The deceased bodies of all the Christians who have died from the beginning of the church age (the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1-47) until the moment of the Rapture are resurrected, glorified, and snatched up to meet Jesus in the air. There they will be reunited with the souls that once inhabited them, Jesus having brought those souls with Him from heaven.
  3. The Christians who are alive on the earth at the time will be caught up to meet Jesus in the air. Even though their bodies will have no need of resurrection, the bodies will be transformed into glorified ones just like the resurrected, glorified bodies of the deceased Christians. Likewise, since the souls of the living Christians will still be inside their bodies, there won’t be any need for those bodies to be reunited with the souls that once inhabited them.
  4. All Christians, now in glorified bodies that are fit for eternity, will return to heaven with Jesus and will never again be separated from Him.

Now, the vital thing to understand about the Rapture is that it is not the same thing as Christ’s second coming. They are two completely different events. At the Rapture, Jesus comes only to earth’s sky; at the second coming, His feet literally touch down upon the earth. At the Rapture, Christians are snatched up to be with Jesus; at the second coming, Christians come back down to earth with Him. At the Rapture, Jesus comes with salvation; at the second coming, He comes with judgment. At the Rapture, the world won’t really know what just happened; at the second coming, every eye will see Him as He is.

“But why,” you ask, “won’t the world know what just happened at the Rapture?” It’s because the entire Rapture will play out in less than one second! The New Testament’s other classic Rapture passage is 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. In these verses, Paul writes to the Christians of Corinth:

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

The Greek word that is translated in this passage as “moment” is atomos. As you can see, it’s the Greek word from which we get our English word “atom.” This means that the Rapture will play out in an atom of time. That’s why Paul can say that it will be over and done with “in the twinkling of an eye.” You see, he is describing an event that will strike so unexpectedly and be over with so instantaneously that the world’s population won’t know what hit it. Christians will literally be here one second and gone the next. For this reason, the Rapture is sometimes called “the secret Rapture.”

If you think I’m exaggerating the miraculous rapidity of the Rapture, let me point you to the story found in Acts 8:26-40. I won’t retell the whole story, but it’s the story of Philip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch. What we need to focus upon is what happens immediately after Philip baptizes the eunuch. Verses 39 and 40 say:

Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Wow. Did you catch what just happened there? As soon as Philip and the eunuch came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit “caught Philip away.” Guess which Greek word is used there for “caught away.” You got it, it’s our word harpazo, the same word that is used for the Rapture. Therefore, we might say that Philip was raptured sideways to Azotus, which was located some twenty miles north of where Philip and the eunuch were. As for how Philip left the eunuch, the passage merely says: “the eunuch saw him no more.” Do you know what you call that? You call it being unexpectedly snatched in an atom of time and being suddenly caught away in the twinkling of an eye.

Alright, now that we have a good understanding of what the Rapture is and how it works, I want to close this post by answering some commonly asked questions about the Rapture. Since the number seven signifies completion in scripture, I’ll go with seven of these.

  • Do the bodies of the Old Testament believers get resurrected and glorified at the Rapture? No. Those bodies get resurrected and glorified at Christ’s Second Coming, not the Rapture (Job 19:25-27, Daniel 12:1-3).
  • If Jesus descends from heaven “with a shout,” “with the voice of an archangel,” and with “the trumpet of God,” how will earth’s inhabitants not hear all that? Evidently they will hear something in that split second, but everything will happen so quickly that they won’t have time to mentally process what they hear.
  • Will Christians literally just vanish off the face of the earth? Yes. Illustrations about cars crashing as they suddenly lose their drivers or planes crashing because they lose their pilots really aren’t far-fetched. Such things could happen.
  • Will children under the so-called “age of accountability” be taken in the Rapture? I believe they will. Just as I believe that the souls of children that are miscarried, aborted, or die very young go to heaven (2 Samuel 12:22-23, Jonah 4:11), I believe that children under the age of accountability at the time of the Rapture will be taken in the Rapture.
  • How will God be able to resurrect and glorify Christian bodies that have either long ago turned to dust or experienced some kind of dismemberment (lost a leg in a war, lost a finger in an accident, got blown up in an explosion, got eaten by a shark, etc.)? All I know is that the God who created Adam out of the dust of the ground and Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs can handle any procedure involving the human body. No Christian will be forced to spend eternity in a body that is in any way lacking.
  • What appearance of age will the Christian bodies have after resurrection and glorification? It’s impossible to answer this question with certainty because the Bible simply doesn’t tell us. There is some speculation that since Jesus was 33 when His body was resurrected and glorified this is the appearance of age that every Christian body will have in eternity. While this idea makes some sense, it’s mere speculation. All we can say for sure is that a glorified body will be perfect, pristine, and eternally awesome. Surely children will be “grown up” in eternity and the elderly will be “young” again.
  • Will graveyards, cemeteries, and mausoleums be disrupted by the Rapture? When we think about the aftereffects of the Rapture, the natural inclination is to envision graves blown out from the inside, mausoleums with the roofs torn off them, and church cemeteries that look like fields of open pits. However, we need to remember that Christ’s resurrection didn’t alter His tomb in any way. Yes, the circular stone that served as the entrance to it was rolled away by an angel, but that was to let eyewitnesses in, not to let Jesus out. Jesus, in His resurrected, glorified body must have simply passed straight through the rock of that cave. So, if His glorified body could do that, I suppose we should assume that every glorified body can.
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Discerning the Signs of the Times

Posted on January 3, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #2)

In my first post from this series, I explained that the human race has been living in the “last days” time period of history ever since the birth of Jesus. But the real question on most people’s minds is: Are we living in the final, closing days of that period? That’s a question that is open for debate, and in today’s post I’m going to offer my opinion.

To get things started, I’ll name four pieces of evidence that seem to suggest that we are living in the closing years of the “last days.” Each one of these is produced by taking the Bible in one hand and real-life events in the other. See what you think.

  1. The rebirth of Israel as a nation: You won’t study the Bible’s record of future events long before you run into some event involving the nation of Israel. Okay, so what’s the big deal? The big deal is that in the year A.D. 70 the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem, burned the Jewish temple, and put an end to Israel as a formal nation. Because of this, for centuries students of Bible prophecy had a major problem understanding future events in the light of Israel’s current status. All that changed, though, after World War II as in the wake of the Holocaust the United Nations approved a plan that would create two states in the land of Palestine: one Arab, one Jewish. The new state of Israel was officially declared on May 14, 1948. Since then Israel has been a formal nation and held a portion of their ancient homeland of Canaan (Israel, Palestine).
  2. The reuniting of Europe: The book of Daniel teaches that the coming Antichrist will rise to power from what Daniel’s prophecies describe as a Roman empire revived in the end times. The ancient Roman empire, you’ll recall, in its heyday ruled over much of Europe. Once that empire fell, Europe remained divided into independent, autonomous countries for many centuries. Leaders such as Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler all tried to unite Europe under their rule the way it had once been under Rome, but they all failed. However, what no dictator could do from a military standpoint the nations of Europe have now done from an economic one. The roots of this uniting can be traced back to the days following World War II, but the current edition of the union is known as the European Union, which replaced the previous European Common Market. Many students of prophecy see the European Union as a revived Roman empire.
  3. The explosion in technology: Daniel 12:4 says that in the time of the end “knowledge shall increase.” Surely we have to admit that the 20th and 21st centuries have seen a veritable explosion in knowledge – certainly technological knowledge if nothing else – and this explosion can be understood to have a definite bearing on certain prophetic passages. I’ll mention two examples. Example #1: Revelation chapter 13 describes the coming Antichrist and his right-hand man, the False Prophet. The chapter famously says that these two men will require the citizens of earth to receive a mark (the “mark of the beast”) on the right hand or in the forehead. Without this mark no citizen will be able to buy or sell anything. The means of implementing such a mark, complete with the mark’s impact on buying and selling, used to befuddle prophecy experts. Now, though, in this day and age of computer chips, scanning devices, bar-code technology, etc., anyone who has ever checked out at Walmart understands how the “mark of the beast” could work. Example #2: Revelation chapter 11 describes a time when the Antichrist will kill two men who are described as God’s “two witnesses” and people across the whole world will see their bodies lying in the streets of Jerusalem. For centuries it simply wasn’t possible for people across the whole world to witness any singular event. But now we have satellites, televisions, the internet, computers, and smart phones, and if a major news event happens in Jerusalem we can all see it instantaneously.
  4. The army of 200 million: Revelation 9:16 talks about an army of 200 million soldiers. While there is some debate as to whether this is an army of humans or an army of demons, the best interpretation is that it’s an army of humans who do the bidding of the four powerful demons (fallen angels) that are described in Revelation 9:13-15. If this interpretation is correct, the passage teaches that the army of 200 million will kill a third of mankind and the four demons will get the credit for the kills. That’s astounding enough, but what makes this prophecy even more incredible is the fact that when it was written there weren’t even 200 million people alive on the earth! That’s why for centuries an army of 200 million soldiers seemed like a fantasy to those who studied prophecy. It’s little wonder that many of them concluded that the army must be one of demons rather than humans. However, in this 21st century, world population numbers have now reached a point where China alone could send out an army of 200 million. This, of course, is to say nothing of China forming an alliance with some of the other countries of the far east (Japan, North Korea, South Korea, India, etc.). Along these lines, it’s probably not a coincidence that Revelation 16:12 talks about an alliance of “the kings from the East.”

Okay, I’ll admit that these pieces of evidence make a compelling case that we really are living in the closing years of the “last days.” However, before we run off completely unchecked with this idea, we should give a hearing to a couple of pieces of evidences that don’t quite fit the idea, at least not yet. Again, see what you think.

  1. The lack of a rebuilt Jewish temple: Some of the prophecies that involve the nation of Israel center around a rebuilt Jewish temple. Prime examples of these prophecies are 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, Revelation 11:1-2, and Daniel 9:27. The obvious problem here is that the last Jewish temple was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70 and there hasn’t been one since. In 1987, an organization called The Temple Institute was founded in Jerusalem. This organization is devoted to the goal of building a new Jewish temple, complete with a full priesthood as well as authentic reproductions of the ancient priestly garments and ritual items that were used in temple services. This means that the building of a new Jewish temple (the one that is mentioned in prophecy) could take place in a relatively short amount of time if the Jews ever cleared all the political, logistical, and geographical hurdles to build it. It hasn’t happened yet, though. I should point out that many prophecy experts assert that the new temple will be built after the Rapture (and I’ll talk about the Rapture in the next post), and I myself tend to agree with that assertion. In all honesty, though, there isn’t anything in scripture that indicates that the temple has to be built after the Rapture.
  2. The numbers problem in the European Union: I’ll readily concede that the current European Union might be the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecies about a revived Roman empire in the end times. The problem, though, is that Daniel describes that revived empire as being a division of ten. I won’t go into all the symbolism and prophetic interpretation of Daniel’s prophecies, but we see this division of ten in the ten toes of the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2:1-45 and the ten horns of the fourth beast in Daniel’s dream in Daniel 7:1-28. For that matter, we see the same thing in the symbolic description of the Antichrist wearing ten horns in Revelation 13:1, with these horns being fully explained in Revelation 17:12. What all these passages teach is that the revived Roman empire the Antichrist will use as a springboard to power will be a union of ten. But how many countries are currently a part of the European Union? 28. I suppose it’s possible that the European Union could eventually set up ten districts or regions to categorize all these countries into broader territories. That might fit Daniel’s prophetic profile. It’s also possible that Britain’s recent “Brexit” vote to leave the European Union could start a domino effect that whittles the Union down to ten countries in the near future. As of now, though, the high number of countries in the European Union poses a problem for prophecy students who think the E.U. is the fulfillment of Daniel’s end-times prophecy.

Well, I trust that this post has offered a balanced take on the question: Are we living in the final, closing days of the “last days” time period? And now I’ll humbly offer my best current answer to the question. After studying Bible prophecy for over twenty years now, I am of the opinion today that the table is just about 100% set for the events that are prophesied to take place in the closing last few years of the “last days.” As I’ve pointed out, every single detail might not be precisely in place at this very moment, but I don’t think we should ignore the table, the tablecloth, the plates, and the silverware simply because the napkins aren’t on the table just yet. We’d be foolish to do so. That’s my opinion, anyway.

Of course, I could be wrong. I mean, it’s not like I claim to have any hidden knowledge that isn’t available to anyone else. Furthermore, I’m certainly not about to start setting dates and encouraging people to sell their homes and businesses so that we can all head out to a mountaintop to wait on Jesus to come. All I’m saying is that it seems to me that an awful lot of things are currently firmly in place for the Bible’s record of the closing years of the “end times” to start coming to pass. Jesus Himself rebuked the Pharisees of His day for not being able to discern the signs of the times (Matthew 16:2-3). That shows us that He expects us to keep up with what’s going on in our world in regards to scripture and prophecy. And when we do that today it really is hard not to think that this whole thing might be winding down a lot faster than most people realize.

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Are We Living in the Last Days?

Posted on January 1, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #1)

A farmer and his wife were lying in bed. It was midnight and the wife was asleep, but the farmer hadn’t dropped off yet. Suddenly the grandfather clock out in the living room began to bong. The old clock’s bonging was a familiar sound to the farmer, and he began to count off the bongs. Bong. “That’s nine.” Bong. “That’s ten.” Bong. “That’s eleven.” Bong. “That’s twelve.” “Okay,” the farmer thought, “now I can get to sleep.” But then the old clock got hung up and just kept on bonging. Bong. Bong. Bong. Bong. In a panic, the farmer shook his wife and said, “Honey, wake up, wake up.” The wife groggily opened her eyes, rolled over to look at him, and asked, “What’s the matter? What time is it anyway?” The farmer answered, “I don’t know, but it’s later than it’s ever been.”

Obviously, we are always living in a time that is later than it’s ever been, right? But are we living in the so-called “last days”? Would it surprise you to learn that the Bible answer is, yes? If it does, then you’ll really be surprised to hear that we’ve been living in the “last days” for over 2,000 years. According to scripture, the “last days” time period began with the birth of Jesus Christ that night in Bethlehem. As Hebrews 1:1-2 says:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, who He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. (N.K.J.V.)

This one passage might be enough to make the case, but the fact is that multiple other passages also teach that we are living in the “last days” period. Here are some more (all from the N.K.J.V.):

  • He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1:20-21)
  • Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. (1 John 2:18)
  • But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy….And from such people turn away! (2 Timothy 3:1-5)   (Notice that Paul encourages Timothy to “turn away” from such people, which implies that Timothy would be encountering them, which implies that Paul and Timothy were living in the “last days.”)
  • Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. (James 5:1-3)
  • “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh…” Acts 2:16-21   (The point of this passage is that the fulfillment of the prophet Joel’s “last days” prophecy (Joel 2:28-32) began on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13) and will carry on up through the incredible days described in Acts 2:19-20.)

Of course by now you might be asking, “But how can a period of time at least 2,000 years long and counting be described as the last days?” Well, consider a couple of meanings for the word “last.” First, the word can refer to the numerical end of something. For example, I might say, “I ate the last cookie.” Used in this way, “last” means that no more will follow. The “last days” time period fulfills this definition in that it concludes God’s dealings with the human race before Christ’s second coming. Think of it this way: Christ’s first coming began the “last days” and His second coming ends them. The “last days” are that period of time sandwiched between the two bookends of Jesus walking the earth.

Second, the word “last” can also convey the idea of being the most advanced version of something. For example, a car company might say of its latest model, “This car is the last word in luxury.” In that sentence, “last” means that no matter what cars are produced in the years to come, they’ll never outdo the luxury of that particular model. So, when the Bible uses the phrase “last days,” “last hour,” or “last times,” it means that the era that Christ’s birth ushered in for the human race is the most advanced version of God’s revelation to mankind that will exist before Christ’s second coming. We now have the life, death, burial, resurrection, miracles, and teachings of Jesus at our disposal, not to mention the Holy Spirit who comes to indwell each individual who believes in Jesus as Savior. And what is all this revelation? It is nothing less than the most advanced revelation from God that is available until Jesus returns to walk this earth again.

Now, the New Testament does provide us with many of the distinguishing characteristics that earmark this time period. The relevant passages are: 1 Timothy 4:1-5, 2 Timothy 3:1-7, James 5:1-8, 1 John 2:18-23, 2 Peter 3:1-4, and Jude verses 3-19. The sins described in these passages were being committed in the days in which the New Testament was being written and they are still being committed today. Certainly over the course of the centuries there have been ebbs and flows to the frequency and intensity of the sins, but there has never been a time since Christ’s ascension back to heaven that the sins haven’t to some degree been on display in the human race. We might think of this package of sins as the box in which humanity exists and will continue to exist until Jesus returns to the earth.

Still, though, my guess is that none of this information I’ve provided in this post has answered the question you really want answered, which is: Are we living in the last days of the “last days”? That, admittedly, is a different question, and in my next post I’ll offer my answer to it. Until then let me encourage you to read those passages that name the distinguishing characteristics of the “last days” time period. As you read them, I think you’ll find that by in large they read like a copy of today’s newspaper or the latest news feed on an internet site. And why wouldn’t that be the case? After all, mankind has had over 2,000 years and counting to perfect those sins.

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology" | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The State of the Blog (2016)

Posted on December 28, 2016 by russellmckinney

W.A. Criswell was the longtime pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Each new year, on the first Sunday, he would preach a message entitled “The State of the Church.” In these messages he would talk to the congregation about the church’s accomplishments from the previous year and goals for the upcoming year. He would also provide the most current information on the church’s programs, missions work, budget, financial state, etc.

Along these lines, I’d like to use this post to offer what you might call “The State of the Blog.” This will be just a general overview of where things stand right now with this blog. The information is geared toward my regular readers, but anyone is welcome to read it. I hope everybody finds it informative.

In August of 2009, I took the advice of my publisher and began writing the blog as a way to promote my book Straight Talk About God’s Will. What I didn’t know at the time was that the blog would make much more of an impact and have a much longer shelf life than the book. That first year I wrote 114 posts which received a total of 5,172 views. Obviously, many of those viewers were repeat viewers who checked in on the blog regularly, but it’s not like it was just one member of my family visiting the blog over 5,000 times. So, I was very pleased with that first year.

After that initial burst of writing, I scaled back sharply in 2010 and only wrote 29 new posts. The great thing about a blog, though, is that your old posts remain on the site to be found by new viewers each day. That, coupled with the views of the new posts, allowed my views for 2010 to increase a bit to 5,285. Then came 2011, my most prolific year for new material. That year I wrote 198 new posts and the views almost doubled to 10,067. The following year, 2012, I added another 107 posts and the views reached 15,671.

It was along about here, though, that I hit a wall in terms of writing. It’s not that I had run out of things to say or subjects to tackle. The problem was that I was fried. Writers aren’t robots, and sometimes you just have to go on hiatus and regroup. So, in 2013, I only wrote 5 new posts. Again, though, new readers kept finding the old posts and that allowed the views for the year to remain virtually the same as the previous year at 15,126.

And that’s when something really weird happened. In 2014, even though I didn’t write one new post, the blog’s views jumped to 25,924. The funny thing is, I didn’t even know it was happening because I wasn’t paying attention. You see, I had left the blog on the internet as a site frozen in time and had walked away. I hadn’t even bothered to periodically update my personal information, modernize my format, or provide a current picture of myself. None of that mattered, though, as people continued to visit the site each day and read something from it. Go figure.

I didn’t write any new posts in 2015 either, and I guess my inactivity (to say nothing of the now very outdated looking site) finally caught up to me as the views fell to 11,261. Still, though, considering the fact that I didn’t lift a finger to put any work into the blog that whole year, it was a pretty good year in terms of views. Then came 2016, and the blog’s status quo continued into September. That’s when I finally revisited the site, took a fresh look at the numbers, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the views were holding up reasonably well. For all intents and purposes, I had considered the blog-writing season of my life closed and had abandoned the site, and yet people had continued to find and read stuff that I had written. Again, go figure.

So, that’s when the Lord began to rekindle my fire for the blog. I could hear His still, small voice inside me saying, “For over 20 years as a pastor you’ve been wanting the opportunity to teach the Bible to more people, and here I’ve given you a platform for reaching far more people than you’ve ever reached through your pulpit ministry.” Not long afterward I gave the site a new format, updated my personal information and picture, and started writing new posts. Since October 3rd – my 50th birthday – I’ve written 37 new posts, and as of today the blog’s views for the year stand at 14,189. If I had updated the site and started writing new posts in January rather than October, my guess is that 2016 would have broken the 2014 high in views of 25,924.

Perhaps the most shocking thing about this past year is that the views have come from no less 137 different countries around the world. Can you believe that? I’m still having trouble getting my mind wrapped around it. Here is a random sampling of the numbers:

  • United States (10,296 views)
  • Canada (474 views)
  • United Kingdom (447 views)
  • Australia (262 views)
  • India (261 views)
  • South Africa (253 views)
  • Norway (137 views)
  • France (31 views)
  • Italy (29 views)
  • Vietnam (12 views)
  • China (10 views)
  • Japan (7 views)
  • Egypt (4 views)
  • Israel (4 views)
  • Fiji (1 view)

I’ll tell you, folks, the internet is an amazing thing, and kind of scary. I’ve had 6 views each from Namibia and Estonia and 5 from Qatar, and I didn’t even know those three places existed. All I can say is, God bless all those readers.

There are now 490 posts on the blog and the total number of views since 2009 currently stands at 102,698. The top three posts on the all-time list of views are: Does God Want Everyone To Get Married?, How Does a Worm Get Inside an Apple?, and What Does the Bible Teach About Divorce & Remarriage?. I will say, though, that if the all-time views for #2 and #3 were combined and that total doubled, it would still fall far short of the views for Does God Want Everyone To Get Married?. The views for that post are now just under 10,000. That humbles me because I wrote that post as a part of a series on marriage, and I only wrote it because I didn’t want the single readers to feel completely left out of the series. That just goes to show how much I know.

Getting back to 2016, the top ten most viewed posts for the year were:

  • Does God Want Everyone To Get Married? (1,618 views)
  • How Does a Worm Get Inside an Apple? (990 views)
  • What Does the Bible Teach About Divorce & Remarriage? (190 views)
  • Why God Hates Gambling (179 views)
  • What a Bird’s Nest Can Teach Us About God’s Will (167 views)
  • The Importance of Spanking a Child (161 views)
  • Church Attendance In the Summer (151 views)
  • Should We Pray Silently To Keep Satan From Hearing? (151 views)
  • Oral Roberts & “Seed Faith” Giving (127 views)
  • The Importance of Individuality In a Child (127 views)

 In regards to the most popular new posts from 2016, here are the top five:

  • Okay, Maybe I Wasn’t Finished (38 views)
  • A Story From the Lighter Side of Politics (31 views)
  • Is God Good All the Time? (part 1 of 3) (23 views)
  • A Bruised Reed & A Smoldering Wick (21 views)
  • False Expectations (16 views)

By the way, I should point out these numbers don’t factor in the number of people who read each of these posts when the post served as the blog’s home page. Hang with me here. When I publish a new post and the alert goes out to the 58 people who follow me via email and the 21 others who follow me on WordPress, if those people read the post that day or anytime before I publish a new post, their views get lumped into the general, nonspecific category of Home Page/Archives. The same can be said for any readers that visit the blog from the Facebook page or Twitter. This explains why 8,285 of the site’s 14,156 views this past year got filed under Home Page/Archives.

Think of it this way: For the most part, no new post gets its own listing on the “views” list until I’ve published another post to replace it as the site’s home page. So, because of this, each new post will get read by considerably more people than its views will eventually indicate. The exact number of extra readers will always be dependent upon how many people read the post when it is the home page, and that number varies from day to day. How often I publish new posts has a lot to do with it too.

Well, anyway, that’s enough of the technical jargon. Now let me close this out with, first, an announcement and, second, a word from the heart. The announcement is that I plan to devote the month of January to posts concerning Bible prophecy. I’m going to call the series “Bible Prophecy In Chronology.” I’ll be writing about topics such as: The Rapture, The Antichrist, The Tribulation Period, The Mark of The Beast, The False Prophet, The Battle of Armageddon, Christ’s Second Coming, and Christ’s 1,000 Year Reign. These posts will begin January 1, and I’m going to try to publish a new one every other day. If I can stick to that schedule, it will produce 15 posts in January. That should complete the prophecy series but if I have to spill over into the early part of February I will. I’m excited about the series and hope that you’ll join me for that journey.

And now for the word from my heart. I simply do not have the language skills to convey how much I appreciate you, the readers of this blog. When I sit down at a computer, work hard to write what I feel is a worthy post, and then hit the “Publish” button, I have absolutely no idea what to expect in return. I feel like a cook for a buffet-style restaurant. It doesn’t matter how many items I prepare or how good they taste, if nobody shows up to eat it’s all for nought. Thankfully, though, every single day some people show up at the blog site to eat, and for that I am beyond grateful. So, as we move now toward 2017, I’ll keep cooking and I hope you’all keep eating. I’ve enjoyed getting back into “blog mode” these past few months and, Lord willing, I’m going to continue churning out new posts for the foreseeable future. How He will use the blog in days to come is anybody’s guess, but if His track record in that department is any indication the blog’s readership will be just fine.

Posted in Personal, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Working Out Your Own Salvation

Posted on December 26, 2016 by russellmckinney

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12, N.K.J.V.)

A man bought an acreage of hilly land dotted with boulders and covered with weeds and briars. He then began his work on the land. First, he paid a backhoe operator and a dump-truck driver to dig up the boulders and haul them away. Second, he employed a man who owned a tractor with an attached mower to mow down all the weeds and briars. Third, he hired a fellow who owned a bulldozer to level out the land. Fourth, he brought in a well-drilling company to dig a well. Fifth, he contracted a builder to build a fine house on the site.

One day a friend came to visit the now beautiful homesite. As the two men gazed over the place, the friend said, “Praise God for such level land that doesn’t have any boulders, weeds, and briars.” The comment irked the landowner but he let it go. Next, the friend said, “And praise Him for such a fine well to go along with the land.” Again, the comment peeved the landowner but he held his tongue. Finally, the friend added, “And praise Him for such a beautiful house. My, my, God surely is good.” At that point, the landowner could no longer remain silent. He looked squarely at his friend and said, “Well, you can praise God all you want but you should have seen what He had the place looking like when He had it all to Himself!”

Let’s get one thing clear: Works play NO part whatsoever in regards to an individual’s salvation. The words of our text were written by Paul as a part of his letter to the church at Philippi, and in the opening verse of the letter (1:1), he calls his audience “saints.” That’s significant because “saints” is a New Testament word that is synonymous with “Christians.” Clearly, Paul considered those believers in Philippi to already be full-fledged Christians rather than Christian wannabes who needed to earn their salvation by working for it. For that matter, this is the same Paul who says in Ephesians 2:8-9:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (N.K.J.V.)

But now let’s get a second thing clear: Works DO play a part in how the Christian lives the Christian life. This is where our text verse comes front and center. The Christian is told to, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Notice that Paul doesn’t say, “…work for your own salvation…” No, what he says is, “…work out your own salvation…” That’s a different idea altogether.

Okay, so what does the idea mean? For one thing, it means that the Christian has a responsibility to actively pursue personal holiness in his daily affairs and to do everything he can to keep himself from the snares of sin. You see, sin always wants to bring the Christian back under its grip, and it takes work, real work, to resist that pull.

For another thing, it means that an inner salvation should produce outer works of service worthy of that salvation. As has often been said, “Salvation is not of works, but salvation works.” And how does it work? It works in that it produces good works. Good works cannot flow into a salvation experience, but they should flow out of one.

John Phillips compares the gift of salvation to a gold mine and says, “If someone were to give you a gold mine of incalculable worth, you would have a treasure, but the gold would not do you any practical good unless you worked it out of the mine.” Likewise, the Christian, having experienced salvation and thus been empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, has tremendous potential for good in resisting sin and serving the Lord, but that potential doesn’t automatically translate into tangible results. Just as it takes long, hard, extensive work to mine gold from the earth, the same level of work is required to mine the Christian ideal from the Christian.

And so, Christian, the point of this post is that your moment of salvation was merely the beginning of you living the earthly life that God wants you to live. It was God empowering you to live out the Christian ideal. But you being empowered doesn’t mean that you will stay tapped into that power and use it to resist sin and serve God. That takes some WORK on your part. Yes, your life can closely resemble the Christian ideal, but for that to happen you are going to have to grab your pickaxe and shovel and put in the required digging. So, tell me, how are you doing on that? If your gold mine hasn’t been producing much spiritual gold lately, why don’t you head down into the mine today and start putting in the work it takes to bring that gold to the surface?

Posted in Backsliding, Change, Commitment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Faithfulness, God's Work, Ministry, Personal Holiness, Priorities, Salvation, Service, Sin, Temptation, The Holy Spirit | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How to Have a Christmas Without Money

Posted on December 21, 2016 by russellmckinney

Margery Tallcott tells the story of a memorable Christmas that she and her husband spent with their six-year-old son Pete. It was during the time of America’s Great Depression and money was so tight that the family simply couldn’t afford to give gifts that year. With Christmas one week away, the father and mother were forced to break the news to Pete that he wouldn’t be getting any presents for Christmas. However, the father did offer a backup plan. He said, “I’ll tell you what we can do: We can make pictures of the presents we’d give each other if we had enough money to buy them.”

So, for the next few days father, mother, and son worked in secret to create their gifts by cutting out, drawing, coloring, painting, hammering, nailing, or whatever else it took to produce them. When a gift was finished, it was placed under the sparse little Christmas tree the family had managed to buy. No family member knew what any other member was making for them, and it was all great fun.

Finally, Christmas morning arrived and it was time to exchange the gifts. The “imagination” gifts to the father included a black limousine and a red motor boat. The gifts to the mother included a diamond bracelet and a fur coat. The gifts to Pete were all expensive toys that had been cut from magazine advertisements. Laughter filled the home as each family member opened each gift, and the careful thought and creativity that had gone into the gifts showed the incredible amount of love the members had for one another.

But then came the moment when Pete wanted to give his parents what he considered his best present to them. The couple had absolutely no idea what to expect, but they watched as he pulled out a crayon-colored picture that he had obviously gone to great lengths to draw. It was a picture of three smiling people – a man, a woman, and a little boy – with their arms wrapped around each other. Underneath the picture Pete had written just one word: US.

I have no idea where this Christmas finds you. I don’t know what your station is in life. I don’t know what your financial situation looks like. I don’t know what health problems you have. I don’t know what you are worried about. And I don’t know what the upcoming new year holds in store for you. But there are two things I do know. First, if you get to spend Christmas with your version of US, you are beyond blessed. And, second, regardless of whether or not you have an US, the gift that Christmas is really all about – God sending His Son to live among us, teach us, inspire us, die on the cross for our sins, resurrect, and ascend back to heaven – didn’t cost you one penny. For that matter, neither does the salvation that comes through you placing your belief in that Son as Savior (John 3:16).

Posted in Christ's Birth, Christmas, Money | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Incident on a School Bus

Posted on December 17, 2016 by russellmckinney

During some of my college years, I had a part-time job driving a school bus for elementary and middle school students. Since I myself hadn’t been a kid for a while, that job served to remind me just how cruel kids can be to each other. One episode in particular stands out from those days.

It happened during the winter months when my early-morning pickups took place before sunrise. I had a route that encompassed a long, winding road called “Bandana” that featured more ups, down, twists, and turns than a roller coaster. In addition to being the curviest route that any of our buses ran, the route was also the longest one. I had to be at my first stop around 6:30 a.m., and the way the route was designed the kids I picked up first in the morning were also the kids I dropped off last in the evening. I always felt for those children. They had to ride the bus twice as long as most kids.

It was a bitterly cold morning and I had six or seven kids on the bus as I made my way along the route. The heater was doing all it could do to get the bus warm, but the kids still had to keep wearing their coats, gloves, and toboggans to prevent hypothermia. Anyone who has ever been on a cold bus on a winter morning knows the scene I’m describing. Of course, it’s not like I could even see the kids in the darkness of the bus. I just knew they were back there freezing in their seats somewhere.

The sideroad I had to drive down to pick up a certain girl was called “Lundy,” and that girl was my one stop down that road. In other words, she was the only reason why the bus had to put in the extra time to run that sideroad. That in itself was enough to put her in bad standing with the rest of the kids.

I got to the stop that morning and everything was business as usual. Like all the other kids, the girl was wearing enough layers of clothing to pass for a deep-sea diver. All I could see of her was a portion of her face. Through all the layers, she was carrying an armload full of books the way little girls carry their books, using two hands and holding the books close to her chest. I watched as she walked up the steps of the bus and started making her way back through the dark aisle toward her seat. Once she got past me, I lost sight of her, but I sure heard what happened next.

Sometime shortly after she passed me, she tripped and fell. From the sound of it, she fell for days. The sound of her falling was accompanied by the awful sound of all her books hitting the aisle floor. Even though I couldn’t actually see her, I got a clear mental picture of her lying there in a heap, probably bruised and scraped from the fall, clothes dirty from the bus floor, and books and papers scattered all over the place. Bless her heart, it was an awful experience for her. What I didn’t know was that it was about to get worse.

Unfortunately for her, she happened to land in the aisle right next to the seat of boy who couldn’t have cared less about her problems. Rather than bend down and help her, or even ask if she was okay, this little fellow just sat there unfazed. Then he proceeded to utter the two most bone-chilling words I have ever heard one human being say to another. Sarcastically, he asked her one simple question: “Walk much?”

Those words were so cold they took whatever heat the bus heater was churning out and turned it into ice crystals that hung in midair inside that bus. I had never felt so bad for anyone in my life as I did that little girl at that moment. So, I stopped the bus and waited as she picked herself up, gathered her belongings, and made her way to her seat. I’m sure that I also threw out some kind of rebuke to the boy for his lack of basic human kindness, but I can’t really recall what I said. Whatever I said didn’t matter much anyway because those two simple words – “Walk much?” – were so devastating that they rendered all conversation that came in their wake mute.

Most people have heard of the golden rule, which is recorded in Matthew 7:12 as a part of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In that verse, Jesus says:

Do for others what you would like them to do for you. This is a summary of all that is taught in the Law and the prophets. (NLT)

I’ve read that variations of this rule were around long before the time of Christ and could be found in other religions such as Judaism and Hinduism. But what made Christ’s quote different was the fact that He reversed the spin. You see, the previous variations had all couched the rule in the negative. For example, one prominent Jewish rabbi had taught, “What is hateful to yourself do not to someone else.” In Jesus’ command, though, the rule is couched in the positive as the words “do not” are replaced with “do” and the listener is encouraged to do something good for someone as opposed to merely not doing something bad to them.

Getting back to my bus illustration, in Christ’s way of looking at things it wouldn’t have been enough for that boy to merely resist the urge to say what he said. Even more than resisting the temptation to say it, he should have gotten out of his seat, helped that girl up, and assisted her as she collected her books. That would have been Christ’s golden rule in action. Needless to say, that didn’t happen that morning. But I’m not picking on that boy. I myself, at various times in my life, have said or done things that were about as bad. Truth be told, many of us have.

And so, Christian, as the application to this post, let me encourage you to redouble your efforts at living out our Savior’s golden rule. There are people all around you who have in one way or another metaphorically fallen in the bus aisle and are just lying there in need of your help, and you can either sit there and gloat over them, like one of the Greek gods on Mount Olympus looking down upon a peasant, or you can do unto them as you would have them do unto you. The choice is yours, and it’s one you’ll face multiple times each day. Here’s hoping that you choose to put Christ’s golden rule into action each and every time.

Posted in Character, Children, Doing Good, God's Work, Influence, Mercy, Ministry, Personal, Service, The Sermon On The Mount, The Tongue | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment