WHY
LEFT BEHIND
SHOULD BE
LEFT BEHIND!
"For
LEFT BEHIND to be true it has to invent it's own set
of rules for Bible interpretation. What most LEFT BEHIND fans may be shocked to
discover is that all of Matthew was fulfilled by 70AD!"
And it
had to be since that what Christ said!"
"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass
away till all these things take place."
Matthew 24:34 (NKJV)
The highly
aclaimed atheist, Bertrand Russell, said this verse alone was enough to
discredit both the Bible and Jesus Christ!
Like many
evangelical Christians I was raised on a diet of End Times Prophecy. I was told
that those who didn't repent and accept Christ could find themselves in the
most gruesome Great Tribulation where people would be randomly executed daily
for not accepting "the silicon chip [mark] of the Beast". The
motivation for such a message was to encourage people to accept Christ before
the highly imminent "rapture".
But an
examination of what the Bible says about the end times may surprise those who
hold to the Dispensational view that God must remove the Church via a secret
rapture, then allow a period of tribulation to commence to introduce an
"Anti-Christ" who will set himself up in the Third Temple in Jerusalem
and then start annihilating Jews and defy the true Christ. But this is heresy! And it this scenario upon which the LEFT BEHIND series is based.
But in order for this fanciful interpretation to be true it requires the
acceptance of some patently unacceptable hermeneutics (principles of Bible
interpretation).
THE LAW OF "DOUBLE REFERENCE"
With very
little effort it can be shown that all of Matthew 24 has been fulfilled.
The LEFT BEHIND scholars accept that most of Matthew 24 may have been fulfilled
but that the Law of Double Reference demands that it must be fulfilled
again. Therefore, although the temple was unquestionably destroyed in AD70, it
will be rebuilt and then destroyed again under the rule of the Anti-Christ.
This is accepted by dispensationalists even though there is no reference to an
Anti-Christ in Matthew 24 or the entire Book of Revelation!
Secondly,
there is no reference or indication in Matthew 24 that the events which Jesus
foretold would have two fulfillments. In fact, there is no where in Scripture
where it teaches a dual fulfillment of any prophecy!
THE DELIBERATE CHANGING OF KEY WORDS
The
Dispensational system requires the changing of key words in Matthew 24 in order
to make its highly implausible interpretations have any possibility of
acceptance. For example, the use of the word "you"
in Matthew 24. Who is "you"? The clear meaning of Matthew 24
is the present disciples. To suggest anyone else is absurd.
Secondly,
the meaning of Matthew 24:30-31 is taught as the culminating return of Christ
when in fact the text makes no mention of Christ's return down to earth.
In fact, it is a direct quote from Daniel 7 which refers to Christ ascending
into the presence of His Father (the Ancient of Days) and receiving the decree
to judge
Thirdly, the
end of the Age is not the end of the World but the end of the Old
Covenant. While it is true that the Cross marks the legal end to the Old
Covenant, it wasn't until the integral elements of the Old Covenant (the
Temple, the Sacrifices, and the Priesthood) were done away with in AD70 that
the Old Covenant was finally abolished (note Hebrews 8:13).
Fourthly,
the term this generation is changed by Dispensationalists to read that
generation. Perhaps these people have been singing the Pentecostal song
"This is that" and they've carried over into their Bible reading!
This means "this". When Jesus said in Matthew 24:34 that
"this" generation would not pass away before all these things
happened, He didn't mean "that" generation as Tim LaHaye and other
Dispensational advocates teach. If we say that this means that then where do we
stop with the rest of the Bible?
Fifthly, the
word "world" in Matthew 24:14 is the Greek word for the
THE RAPTURE?
The
references in Matthew 24 to one being taken and one left, has nothing to do
with rapture but refers to the indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem during the Roman catapault attacks. Josephus describes this. The
passage in First Thessalonians 4 has nothing to do with rapture - it is
entirely about resurrection! Consider the context of that passage and
this will be immediately seen. Once these two key passages are correctly
understood, the Dispensational concept of a rapture
vaporises.
When Christ
does finally return to culminate time (Eph. 1:10) and judge the world (Matt.
25) after the Great and General resurrection (Rev. 20) there will be no
Anti-Christ figure challenging Him from a rebuilt Jerusalem Temple situated in
a reclaimed Judeo-Palestine at the end of Great Tribulation period. All of this
fanciful drama might sell books and form the basis for movies and radio plays,
but it has nothing to do with Scripture.
You may like
to read my unfolding commentary on the Book of Revelation which
explains some of these things in more detail. The first 4 chapters are
available online now and the entire audio series is also available for free in
our audio section.
Andrew Corbett pastors
Legana Christian Church (Assembly of God) in
© 2003, Dr. Andrew
Corbett