End Time Articles by D. Eric Williams

Introduction to The End Is Near
© 1998 By D. Eric Williams

As we approach the year 2000, end time speculation among certain sectors of the Church is beginning to rise to a fevered pitch. Christians are confronted with a plethora of end time books; some claiming to be non-fiction, others openly called fictional accounts, all of which promise the reader a key to understanding the times. Whether one is reading a popular fiction or "non-fiction" end time book, he is told that he can rest assured that the speculations put forth are based on a sound exegesis of the Scriptures.¹ Yet, does the Bible really tell us that we are living in the last days? After all, where in the Bible do we read, "in the year (fill in the blank) the Antichrist will arise", or "when you see an ethno-political Israel back in Palestine it means that the terminal generation has arrived" or, "the signs described herein refer to the end of the of the 20th or the beginning of the 21st century" and so on? The truth is, the Bible never tells us that these days at the end of the 20th century are the last days. In order to arrive at that conclusion, one must interpret the prophecies in a certain fashion. The issue is one of interpretation; and an interpretation by definition is open to criticism. Of course, the writers of the popular end time books further assure us that their interpretations are correct - and if you disagree, your orthodoxy is suspect.

The questions are these: Is the interpretive approach embraced by the popular end time writers as sound as is claimed? Or, is it a misguided attempt to make the Bible prophecies "relevant" to our day? Is there reason to believe that the interpretive approach used by the popular end time writers is the most biblical approach? By what criteria do we judge whether an interpretive approach is biblical?

God told us that His thoughts are not like our thoughts and that His ways are not like our ways (Is. 55:8-9). Still, we have difficulty getting past a simplistic human approach to Scripture. All to often we search for meaning that we would expect to find in the Word of God² forgetting to consider that a transcendent God may have a different agenda, different "interests" than we. We need to³ remember that the Bible is not about human experience but about God's revelation of Himself to man. The purpose of the Word of God is not to entertain man with its powers of prediction but to glorify God.⁴ God is radically different than us and so His way of thinking is radically different than the natural human way of thinking. Certainly it is exciting to find reference to our contemporary experience in the Bible; nonetheless, it is a grave error to find nuclear missiles, super computers and scanning devises in the Bible due to our desire to find them there rather than their actually being there.

At the same time God is immanent.⁵ That is to say that He is intimately involved in, and concerned with the affairs of human history. He guides and fashions human history in order to bring about His purposes and to display His glory. And, the Bible is written in a way which the (Holy Spirit illuminated) human mind can understand. Therefore, the Bible is written so that we might think God's thoughts after Him.⁶ This means that the Bible prophecies are not closed to all but a few penetrating minds - minds that are current on the state of affairs in Russia, China and modern Israel; the world of finance; technology and so on. Any Christian who knows his or her Bible and who is led by the Holy Spirit is able to understand the eschatology of the Bible. Ultimately nothing else is needed: it may be helpful to have a grasp of ancient history for instance, but it is not mandatory in order to understand the eschatology of the Bible.

The point is this: in order to understand the Bible, we must submit ourselves to the authority of the Bible and refrain from imposing on the Word of God our human reason and experience. Yet, because of our over abundant self love,⁷ it is difficult for us to accept that the things that are important and familiar to us may very well not be important to God. Men of every age have been convinced that the eschatology of the Bible has to do specifically with their day. It seems inconceivable to each succeeding generation that God would not choose to end history during their (oh so important) life time.⁸

The way around such nonsense is to strive to remain within the interpretive framework provided by the Scripture itself. This is more than simply saying that we first strive to understand what the text meant to the original audience⁹ or that we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. These are critical¹⁰ to be sure. But more than that it means that we allow the Scripture to mold our very thought process¹¹ so that we will be able to see and understand what the text meant to the original readers and so we will allow the Scripture to interpret itself. Indeed, so that we will begin to think like God.

You see, it is not that the Bible is merely complex to the human mind, it's that it is impenetrable (1 Cor. 2:14-16). Yet, as born again Christians we have the Spirit of God and the mind of Christ and so we do have the ability to read and understand the Bible. However, our understanding is limited by the degree of Bible saturated thinking that we apply to our interpretation of the text. A Holy Spirit guided, Bible saturated mind is not produced over night. Therefore, we should be willing to change our views as we grow in maturity and understanding. Our goal is to "grow up into all things into Him who is the head - Christ" (Eph. 4:15), and it is dangerous - in reality sinful - to believe that we have arrived, in any way, this side of glory.

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In order to "utilize" the book of Revelation as we should - as God intended - it is important that we recognize our place in God's redemptive plan. A misunderstanding of who we are in Christ will cause us to misinterpret texts such as the Olivet Discourse and The Revelation and render them meaningless in a practical way. With that in mind, the first chapter of this manuscript introduces the reader to a biblical view of what we have and who we are in Jesus Christ.

The next three chapters pursue a study of prophetic language and the proper approach to understanding such language. If we misunderstand the language of prophecy (imposing our worldview on the original writers or audience), we will find ourselves far afield of the intended meaning of the text.

The fifth chapter is a survey of Matthew 24. In this chapter we will apply some of the ideas discussed in the previous sections of the manuscript: this in anticipation of our look at the book of Revelation.

The second section of the manuscript is a popular and practical exposition of the book of The Revelation. In this section we will apply the principles discussed in section one.

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1. I must admit that my view of the popular end time writers is not unlike that of the venerable Charles Spurgeon. In addressing the end-timers of his day he said: "Your guess at the number of the beast, your Napoleonic speculations, your conjectures concerning a personal Antichrist - forgive me, I count them but mere bones for dogs; while men are dying and hell is filling, it seems to me the veriest drivel to be muttering about an Armageddon at Sebastopol or Sadowa or Sedan, and peeping between the folded leaves of destiny to discover the fate of Germany. Blessed are they who read and hear the words of the prophecy of the Revelation, but the like blessing has evidently not fallen on those who pretend to expound it, for generation after generation of them have proved to be in error by the mere lapse of time, and the present race will follow to the same inglorious sepulchre." Charles H. Spurgeon, Lectures To My Students, (n.d.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1954, 1969), 79-80.

2. G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, (1925; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993), 189-190.

3. "By insisting specially on the immanence of God we get introspection, self-isolation, quietism, social indifference - Tibet. By insisting specially on the transcendence of God we get wonder, curiosity, moral and political adventure, righteous indignation - Christendom." G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith, (1908; New York: Doubleday, 1959, 1990), 134. The self centered reading of the Bible that characterizes dispensationalism and the relationship to the world produced by that understanding of the Bible is well described here - although that is not what Chesterton had in mind (and my dispensationalist friends would be upset with my comparing their world view to the world view of the Eastern faiths). On the other hand, the Reformed-Calvinistic view is also accurately characterized by Chesterton, although, again, that is not specifically what he had in mind (he was writing from the point of view of an Anglican; Reformed [read the 39 articles], but not with the Congregational, Reformed or Presbyterian "flavor" I have in mind) . A self centered reading of the Bible is ultimately defeatist and produces a self centered, socially indifferent mind set. Any dispensationalist would deny that his reading of the Scripture is self centered, but the fruit produced by that branch of the Church witnesses against him. Dispensationalism focuses on "personal spirituality" and the hope of being snatched away from this mess before we have to do anything about it. This self centered approach to life produces plenty of complaints about the current state of affairs, but never any "positive theological solution(s)" (C. Gregg Singer, A Theological Interpretation of American History, [Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1964, 1981], 187). The Reformed world view recognizes that God is the sovereign transcendent God and that view tends to move our focus outward and upward. Historically it has been characterized by bold, active participation in the world on behalf of Christ. See N.S. McFetridge, Calvinism In History, (1882; Edmonton: Still Waters Revival Books, 1989).

4. William P. Farley, For His Glory: God's Ultimate Purpose and Why it Matters to the Church, (Spokane: Pinnacle Press, 1997).

5. John M. Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction, (Phillipsburg NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1994), 40.

6. Frame, Apologetics, 50. Cornelius Van Til, The Defense Of The Faith, (Phillipsburg NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1967), 47.

7. "In the entire law we do not read one syllable that lays a rule upon man as regards those things which he may or may not do, for the advantage of his own flesh. And obviously, since men were born in such a state that they are all too much inclined to self-love - and however much they deviate from truth, they still keep self-love - there was no need of such a law that would increase or rather enkindle this already excessive love." John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans., Ford Lewis Battles, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), II:VIII:54. The more things change the more they stay the same. See also, Martin and Deidre Bobgan, Psycho Heresy: The Psychological Seduction of Christianity, (Santa Barbara: East Gate Publishers, 1987); Don Matzat, Christ Esteem: Where the Search For Self-Esteem Ends, (Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 1990); Jim Owen, Christian Psychology's War On God's Word: The Victimization Of The Believer, (Santa Barbara: East Gate Publishers, 1993).

8. David Chilton, The Days Of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation, (Ft. Worth TX: Dominion Press, 1987), 12-13. Chilton gives an example of a 19th century "exegete" who was convinced that the horses and riders of Revelation 9:17-19 described a "modern" (1873) calvary armed with rifles.

9. Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981, 1993), 22.

10. Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1970), 104. See also, Westminster Confession of Faith, I:VI, IX, X.

11. Dan McCartney and Charles Clayton, Let The Reader Understand, (Wheaton: Bridgepoint/Victor, 1994), 17, 273.

The End Was Near
The Purpose Of This Study
The Seed Of Abraham, Israel, The Land And All That
The End Is Near
The Sky Is Falling
Prophetic Licence
Survey of Matthew Chapter 24