Some Kind of Love

I can't remember exactly when Tyler (Gen 2434) and I discussed this, but one of the points I made in that video was how the closer we get to the end, the more confusion there will be in the ranks of the watching remnant. I referenced this phenomenon with an aviation illustration when flying an airplane under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) and entering into the "cone of confusion."

Essentially, as an airplane flies toward a respective ground station beacon (which sends out signals/radials in every direction), the plane starts picking up multiple signals. As the plane flies on an inbound radial and passes over or near the center of the beacon, your instrument (CDI/HSI) inside the airplane, briefly, starts receiving ALL the directions at the same time causing them to start acting wonky (full deflection, reverse, or spin).

(IMG Source)

Thankfully the wonkiness only lasts for a few moments, as you quickly pass over the beacon and continue on your merry way. However, the point we made back then was that the closer we draw to the end, is identical to that of approaching a cone of confusion since we are starting to receive ALL the signs of the end at the same time. In fact, Daniel 9:26 states that it will be this when the passage concludes with "the end of it shall be with a flood." Not only would the end come like a flood, but it will also come with all the trappings of various deceptions that Jesus mentions in His epochal Olivet Discourse. This means the 13 major signs listed between Matthew, Mark, and Luke's versions, will increase and intensify like birth pangs until its ultimate conclusion.

I don't know if you'd say we were in the birth pangs now, or simply experiencing the premature "braxton hicks" contractions, but one thing is for sure- things will never go back to the way they were.

Assessment

Remember the former things of old,

For I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like Me,

10 Decsdlaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things that are not yet done,

Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

And I will do all My pleasure,’

Isaiah 46:9-10

With all the aforementioned said first, in being students of Bible prophecy, none of us KNOWS with 100% certainty how everything is going to play out exactly. Included in that "us" is every prophecy teacher, preacher, pastor, theologian, personality, skeptic, scoffer, pundit, etc.

Even though the Bible provides an excellent outline of things to come, and that outline decidedly shows a pre-tribulational rapture exit for the Church, there are details (finer points) in between the outlined major events that none of us can predict. Case in point, I can't remember a single prophecy teacher publicly saying or warning us that a global event like Covid-19 would happen before it did. I may have referenced some pandemic type things in my yearly "The Year in Review," but even I had no idea things would play out like they did.

Like I said, we have an amazing outline in Scripture that gives us all the general trends, directions, and even some specifics to validate its veracity, but what we are all struggling with, is the finer points. One of the best illustrations of this knowledge gap we all suffer from was created over a hundred years ago by the legendary dispensationalist Clarence Larken. Instead of calling it the finer points, he called them the "valleys."

It would appear, that in our finite mortality, we face the exact same problem many in the Old Testament times faced because even though they understood the mountain peaks of prophecy, they couldn't see the valleys. They couldn't see with true clarity, the two comings of the Messiah. Even after Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, there was still confusion on how or when the promised Kingdom would come (Acts 1:6-7).

If they didn't get it 100% right, we shouldn't beat ourselves up too badly when we don't.

Granted, we have some major advantages that those in ages past didn't have, primarily in the forms of historical hindsight, the indwelling Holy Spirit's discernment, and a completed New Testament. Still, there are things happening today that we struggle to make sense of given our limited view of tomorrow...which is, of course, God's domain exclusively. Therefore regardless of whether you have a B.A., M.A., Th.D, Ph.D., or no degree at all in theology, when Scripture is not explicitly spoken on a "thing," then what we are limited to is deductive reasoning. We start with the known and use that to come to a reasonable, scriptural, conclusion.

For example, the Bible teaches that the Church is both the body and the Bride of Christ (Col. 1:18; Eph. 5:25-27) and the 70th Week of Daniel is all about wrapping up the 70 Weeks of years for national Israel. This final week of years will come with 21 increasingly terrifying and compounding judgments. These judgments are cast upon the earth dwellers to both refine/discipline national Israel through firey tribulation, as well as destroy the gentile power structure in the world (Jer. 30:7-11, Zech. 13:8). Since the born-again Church (from Pentecost to present) is not Israel, have not rejected Christ's free gift of salvtion, nor are we of this world, the Church does not fit into any category subjecting us to the 70th Week of Daniel. This can only mean one thing; the Church cannot enter into the 70th Week of Daniel.

Furthermore, since the Church was not part of the first 69 Weeks, nor are we mentioned as being on the earth after Revelation 3, these "arguments from silence" scream pretty loudly reinforcing the logical deduction that we aren't on the earth when it begins. As a bonus, there are bountiful pieces of evidence strategically placed throughout the rest of the Bible both in type (OT types), and plain text (Luke 17:26-30, 21:36; John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 1:10, 4:13-18, 5:1-9; 1 Cor. 15:51-55; Titus 2:13; and Rev. 3:10) See also here for even more reasons why the Church isn't in the Tribulation.

Conclusion

The reason our community of watching believers is called a "remnant" is because there aren't many of us anymore. While I might pat myself on the back for getting five thousand hits on an article, or ten thousand views from YouTube, I'm quick to remind myself of something: the children's song Baby Shark has thirteen billion views. Ryan's Toy Reviews- 1.9 billion. Even the big names in our group like Amir Tsarfati and Jack Hibbs can't compete with that level of exposure. Heck, if Katy Perry decides to do a quick video about plucking her eyebrows, it will easily rack up millions of views in a matter of days easily eclipsing both Jack and Amir's videos combined!

Let's face it. We are a tiny community.

The truth is, most people in the world aren't watching and waiting for Jesus to come back. Just like the days of Noah, people were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. They had succumbed to the normalcy bias of their day, just as people in our day disregard the coming judgment. Nevertheless, deep down, they know at some basic level that something is wrong with the world, but haven't a clue as to what it is. They want to address the symptoms of collapse, but never the root cause (sin). The only ones who really knows what is going to happen, is you and I. We know this NOT because we are so smart, or can see into the future, but because we have and believe in the prophetic outline as found in Scripture. For as much as we don't know about tomorrow, it's still head and shoulders above what the world knows.

Speaking specifically about Bible prophecy, the point of all this is to say, again, none of us KNOWS with 100% certainty how this all plays out exactly because none of us can see into tomorrow. Sometimes we get things wrong. Sometimes we get things right. Sometimes we get overly excited, and sometimes we let our reasonable deductions curb our enthusiasm.

The Bible in no way, or nowhere, has appointed other brothers and sisters to serve as enthusiasm police to suppress each other's excitement. Let's face it, as crappy as this world is, with each passing day, we are increasingly closer than we have ever been to the Lord's return- and that is exciting!

Neither has Scripture given us the license to form circular firing squads the first time any one of us thinks out loud a little too loudly.

All we have is what God has chosen to reveal to us in His word. We take that, along with the promptings by the Holy Spirit, the God-given intellect He has gifted us with, and we do the best we can to faithfully and accurately let Scripture guide our path forward through these times of rampant deception and increasing confusion. Look, we are never all going to agree on every little point, and that is ok. If God wanted us to agree on every point, He would have structured the Bible that way. God could have made us turn into hive-minded automotons once we were born again and sealed by the Holy Spirit, but He didn't. We are all unique, and uniquely gifted, to compliment the body of Christ in ways we can't fully understand (1 Cor 12). And despite our flaws and differences, it is far better for us as remnant body going forward if we stick together, instead of dividing over petty issues that are of no eternal significance.

In closing, we know all scripture is God breathed and profitable (2 Tim 3:16), however, there are some curious things that often get overlooked, I believe we should take note of. The four Gospels were written with specific audiences in mind:

• Matthew- to the Jews, has an Olivet Discourse

• Mark-to the Romans, has an Olivet Discourse

• Luke-to the Greeks, has an Olivet Discourse

• John-to the Church, does not have an Olivet Discourse, rather, has the Upper Room Discourse.

In this upper room conversation at the Last Supper, Jesus gave His disciples (and by extension, you and I) a new commandment.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:34-35

Last time I checked, Jesus' commands to us were not optional.

So let us all (myself included) be slow to anger, quick to forgive, always emanating love to each other so much so, the world marvel's saying they have some kind of love! And if we do have issues (real or perceived), we go to that brother or sister in Christ first, in private, and see if we can reasonably reason together, before airing our dirty laundry for the world to see. By this, we can show the world not only with our words but also with our deeds, that we are the Lord's and His return, is soon. So let's show a little grace and love towards each other because are almost at the finish line and eternal glory awaits.

Shalom and Maranatha!