THE CURSE OF THE JUDAIZERS

Imagine living in a time when travel pretty much consisted only of walking, boat, and horseback (or other beast of burden).  You travel many miles on foot, risking your health and even your life, bringing the good news, the gospel message of Jesus Christ to a mostly pagan and barbaric country.  You convert many to Christianity there and start a number of churches along the way.  Your message has been clear and direct, mincing no words, yet, spoken in love.  Before you leave this faraway land, the churches there are showing a lot of promise.  Ok, great.  But you find out some time later that the teaching for which you risked so much, and fought so hard to share, has been twisted in a manner that voids the whole message and puts their souls at stake!

Such was the situation in the Apostle Paul’s case.  On his first missionary trip, he traveled through the region of Galatia, preaching the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, Who (mercifully) came to pay the full penalty for our sins.  But the message got distorted somewhere along the way.  Paul’s famous question to the saints in Galatia jerked them back into reality… “O foolish Galatians, WHO HATH BEWITCHED YOU, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Galatians 3:1) 

 

No New Testament epistle has a stronger message than the one to the Galatian churches.  Paul states that the message that he first brought to them is, and always will be, the true gospel.  He says that if ANYONE (including himself) would preach a different gospel, that messenger is cursed:

“But though we, or an angel from Heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8-9)

Sobering words!  But what was it, exactly, that grieved Paul so much?  What was this other gospel that had crept into the Galatian church?  It was the message of the Judaizers.  It was simply a message that accepted Jesus’ work on the cross for salvation, but also added something else to it.  It was salvation “by faith plus works.”  The works that the Judaizers added were circumcision and the Law of Moses (Acts 15:1, 5).  Ok, so what’s wrong with adding the Law of Moses?  Wasn’t this law directly from God, and therefore the ultimate guide to righteous works?  Absolutely.  And wasn’t the Mosaic Law summed up in the Ten Commandments?  Indeed it was.  And did not Jesus, Himself, condense all these even further into only two commandments, i.e., love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40)?  So, what’s the big deal?  What could possibly be wrong with any work that would fit in the category of these two commandments? 

 

The fact is, ALL good works fall under this category.  So, nothing is wrong with the Mosaic Law itself, it’s the fact that it was added to the cross.  Therefore, any time we try to add good works…. any good works…. to the work of the cross in order to be saved, we are saying that Jesus’ work was just not quite enough.  But there is only ONE work that can save us… and it is HIS work, HIS suffering, HIS paying the penalty on the cross.  We can do nothing to add to our salvation at any point in our Christian walk.  In fact, if we even try to, we are insulting Him and we are cut off, we are severed from Christ and fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4)!  We have deserted Jesus for another gospel (Galatians 1:6)!  Any mixture of God’s grace and man’s works to be saved is fatal.

But the error of the Judaizers is not just a problem of the past.  We have many today who claim to be Christians, yet who strongly embrace this evil doctrine.  The Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and even many Protestant churches all claim to believe and trust in the work of Jesus, yet try to add some type of work(s) to the cross in order to be saved.  This creates a false gospel.  It may be water baptism, it may be speaking in tongues, or perhaps performing the “moral aspects” of the Mosaic Law, helping your neighbor, giving to the poor, becoming a martyr (dying for your faith), etc., etc.  All these things can be good, but they cannot be trusted in to save us, even partially.  They cannot contribute to our justification.  Salvation is a gift, and you don’t work for a gift (Romans 4:4-5).  There is no amount of suffering or work that can be “added to” Jesus’ work for salvation.  To add even one of these works is to say that Jesus did not completely pay the penalty for our sins (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:12; 1 John 2:2).  This is blasphemy.  No wonder Paul was so severe with the Galatians.

 

Are we claiming that Christians should not do good works?  No, we are not at all saying that.  But we should simply do good works out of a love for God, and in appreciation for what Jesus has done.  And we will be rewarded for our good works which are done in the right spirit.  The wrong attitude would be, “I am doing these good works to help my chances of getting into Heaven.”  But if Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross wasn’t enough BY ITSELF, then surely nothing could save us.

Put your faith, your trust, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.  Don’t put yourself under the curse… don’t be a Judaizer.

See also this article:

 http://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2010/08/sola-fide-revisited.html

THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH

Few religious topics will generate as much discussion (and heat) as the Rapture does.  There are a number of different views on the Rapture of the church, but basically it is understood by most people as Jesus Christ coming back to take His church, both those Christians who are still alive at that time and the bodies of those who already died as Christians.  This event is also called the Resurrection.  This “Day of the Lord” is also linked to the Tribulation (7 years of great distress, trouble, pain and chaos, such as the world has never seen) and the Millennium (when the devil is chained for a 1,000 year period, and Jesus Christ reigns on earth in peace and righteousness).  Without going into great detail, some of the more popular views of these end-time events include:

• Pre-Trib view (Rapture happens before the Tribulation)

• Mid-Trib view (Rapture happens in the middle of the Tribulation) [A variation of this would be the Pre-Wrath view]

• Post-Trib view (Rapture happens at the end of the Tribulation)

• Amillennial view (Rapture and 2^nd Coming are the same event and the Millennium is just symbolic of “a very long time”)

Let me just mention at this point that the Catholic Church’s view generally falls into this last category (Amillennial).  For more details and comments on the Catholic view, see my other blog here:

http://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-rapture-and-catholic-eschatology.html

But from a biblical and logical standpoint, I believe that the Pre-Trib view is the only one that makes sense, given the whole of Scripture.  It is very important to keep in mind the distinction between God’s dealings with the nation Israel and His dealings with the church.  Remember, the Jews have always been God’s chosen nation.  But since the majority of them have rejected Jesus of Nazareth (their Messiah), God has then turned His focus, for an undetermined amount of time, to the (mostly) Gentile church (Romans 11:11), which has enjoyed the blessings and favor of God for over 2,000 years.  But when the Rapture happens, the church of Jesus Christ (including believing Jews) will be removed from the earth in an instant to meet Jesus in the air (1 Corinthians 15:51-52), and He will take us to Heaven.  But after the church is gone, God will turn His focus back onto the Jews on earth and deal with them through the Tribulation, where many of them will turn to God and accept Jesus as the true Messiah.  The purpose of this Tribulation is for the punishment of the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles.  This 7 year period is known as Daniel’s 70^th week (Daniel 9:24-27), and is a time of God’s wrath.

   

Note that the Bible uses different names for the same event – “Day of the Lord” (Isaiah 13:6-13; Joel 2:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-9), “the great and terrible Day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31), “the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6), “day of God” (2 Peter 3:10-12; Revelation 16:14-15), “the Last Day” (John 12:48), “Great Tribulation” (Matthew 24:21), “a time of trouble” (Daniel 12:1-2), the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7), etc. 

 

But how do we know that these terms all point to the same event or time period?  Because it will be a time in which man has never seen such chaos and judgment, nor will we ever see such again.  Since this is true, there can only be ONE such day / time period / season which is “like no other.”  And since the “Day of the Lord” is associated with “times and seasons / epochs” (1 Thess. 5:1), we know it is not just a 24-hour period. 

I believe that the Rapture is the very beginning of the “Day of the Lord” time period.  I will now give some reasons that support a Pre-Trib Rapture view.

The Church is NOT Appointed to (God’s) Wrath

1 Thessalonians 5:9, “For God has not appointed [“destined,” NASV] us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The context here is the “Day of the Lord” (verse 2), and the “us” that Paul is speaking of is the church.  The church of Jesus Christ will not go through His wrath (the 7- year Tribulation period).  The “elect” and the “saints” mentioned in Revelation are those who missed the Rapture, but got saved during the Tribulation.  They are not members of the church because the “church age” is a special dispensation, and its unique role on earth will be completed at the time of the “fullness of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:25).

     

Romans 5:9, “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”  Just a little earlier in this chapter (verse 3), Paul speaks of Christians going through “tribulation,” that is, personal trials, persecution, etc., to develop patience and grow as a Christian.  But this “personal tribulation” is not the 7-year end-time Tribulation to which the book of Revelation refers.  To be sure, it is the wrath of Revelation’s Tribulation from which the church is saved. 

 

Some say that not all of the Tribulation is “God’s wrath.”  But early on, during the fourth seal, we see the fourth horseman bringing death by “the sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:8 - NASV).  This is indeed the wrath of God, since we see God, in Ezekiel 14:21 (NASV), calling them “My four severe judgments.”  This is not just the wrath of man, or of the antichrist, or of the devil.  It is the wrath of the Lamb of God, who breaks ALL of the seals, and oversees all of the “trumpet” and “bowl” judgments, as well.

Again, Jesus has “delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10), and He promises “to keep [us, the church] from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them who dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10).  Jesus also knows how to deliver the godly “out of temptations” (2 Peter 2:9).  In all three of these verses, the Greek “ek” means that we are delivered “out of” temptation and “out of” the wrath - not just offered protection while we’re in the midst of it.  This implies the Rapture of the church will happen before God’s wrath falls.  Notice that the context of 2 Peter 2 (just above) is the rescuing of Noah (verse 5) and Lot (verse 7), and the Day of Judgment (verse 9).  Which brings us to the next point…

As in the Days of Noah and Lot

If we must (as some suggest) go through the Tribulation and endure its suffering and distress, then why did Jesus give us Lot in Sodom as an example of the Day of the Lord (Luke 17:28-30)?  Was not Lot and his family “taken” (i.e., safely removed) by God from the danger zone, while the people of Sodom were “left behind” to suffer the wrath of God?  Remember, the angel said that he could do nothing until Lot and his family were safely out of the area (Genesis 19:22)!

And why use Noah as an example of the Day of the Lord (Matthew 24:37-39)?  Weren’t he and his family removed (“taken”) by God from the danger zone (the land) when they went into the ark?  And were not the inhabitants of the world “left behind” on the ground to suffer God’s wrath as punishment?  If the church were expected to actually go through the Tribulation, Jesus could have used passages like Daniel in the lion’s den (Daniel 6:16-22), or the 3 Hebrew children in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:19-26) as examples, since these actually stayed in the danger zone while God protected them.  But He didn’t use those as examples.  The fact that Noah and Lot are used as examples tells us that the church will be taken in the Rapture, missing the 7-year Tribulation, while the unbelievers are left to endure God’s wrath.

Taken and Left

Notice that in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, the righteous are taken and the wicked are left.  But in Matthew 13:30, 49-50, the wicked are taken and the righteous are left behind.  These two events cannot be the same thing, and are necessarily two separate events for two different times.  The former is the Rapture, the latter is the Second Coming.

What Happened to the Church?

There are several points here that, taken together, will certainly point to a Pre-Trib Rapture.  First, before the Tribulation starts, there is a door opened in Heaven (Revelation 4:1), in which a voice like the sound of a trumpet says, “Come up here.”  I (and many others) believe that the Rapture of the church happens here, before the 7 year period of trouble begins.  These same words are also spoken to the two witnesses in Revelation 11:12, where they, too, were lifted up into Heaven.  Also notice that nowhere is the church mentioned after Revelation 4:1.  Furthermore, in Revelation 19:11-14, we see Jesus Christ coming out of Heaven toward the earth with an army on white horses, wearing “fine linen, white and clean.”  It is interesting to note that there is no mention of a resurrection in this context, because this army is no doubt the church which was raptured / resurrected 7 years earlier, and coming back to earth with Him in His Second Coming.  In 1 Thessalonians 4:14, it says that Jesus will bring with Him from Heaven those who have fallen asleep (i.e., died in Christ).  But how can Jesus bring them to earth with Him if they haven’t been first resurrected and taken to Heaven (in the Rapture)?

The Barrier Removed

Apparently, today there is something or someone that is holding back the appearance of the antichrist (and, by extension, the 7-year Tribulation).  2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 speaks of one who must be taken out of the way.  Paul is speaking of the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit in the church.  Since the church is “salt” (Matthew 5:13), i.e., a preservative, and is also “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), it is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and therefore, holding back the tide of evil that is trying to enter into the world.  Once the barrier (the influence of the salt and light) is removed (in the Rapture), the onslaught will start.  Thus, a Pre-Trib Rapture is indicated.

A Known Day and an Unknown Day

Within the “Day of the Lord” time period, there is a day which will come unexpectedly as a thief, and there is a day coming which can be calculated.  Jesus told us that no one knows the day or the hour of His Coming (Matthew 24:36; 25:13).  Yet, we know that after the antichrist reveals himself in the temple (Matthew 24:15; Daniel 9:27) midway into the Tribulation, he will have 1260 days (Revelation 12:6) to do what he wants, that is, until Jesus comes back to put an end to his reign.  This is confirmed by Revelation 13:5 (42 months) and Daniel 7:25 (“a time, times, and half a time,” i.e., 3 1/2 years).  All three of these are referring to the same amount of time and the same event, one that is known. 

 

The “known” day and the “unknown” day are two different events… the “unknown” is the Rapture, and the “known,” which has a reference point and can be calculated, is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.     

Business as Usual

Luke 17:26-29 and Matthew 24:36-39 both tell us that at the time of the Son of Man’s coming it will be “business as usual.”  That is, people will be eating and drinking, planting, building, marrying and giving in marriage – all normal activity.  This certainly does not sound like the Tribulation, where there will be major unrest, earthquakes, famines, wars, terrible signs in the heavens, plagues, 100-pound hailstones, etc!  The unexpected “birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8) have not yet come upon mankind when the Son of Man comes in the clouds for His church, to receive them in the air.

Typology

The Jewish Wedding is one of the best symbols that can be used for evidence for a Pre-Trib Rapture.  It includes the “midnight cry,” the return to the father’s house, the 7-days of “hiding” in the wedding chambers, etc.  See these:

http://www.khouse.org/articles/2003/449/

http://www.bridalcovenant.com/wedding1.html

Zero Population Growth?

Isaiah 60:21-22; 65:23; 66:22; Revelation 20:8 - According to these passages, there will be a definite increase in population in the Millennium.  But some (like the Post-Tribbers) say that the Rapture and the Second Coming are the same event.  If this is so, then who would be left to populate the Millennium, since Jesus destroys all the wicked, and the righteous / raptured would all be given glorified bodies, unable to produce children (Matthew 22:30)?  There would be no “natural” people left to populate the land.  The Pre-Trib view doesn’t have this problem, since the church returns to earth with Jesus, and all the wicked are destroyed, but the righteous survivors of the Tribulation are still around (with natural bodies).  

Imminency

Last, but certainly not least, is the issue of imminency.  “Imminent” means forthcoming, approaching, threatening, unavoidable, inevitable.  And such is the Rapture.  Jesus told us over and over to be watchful and alert because He will come unexpectedly, as a thief (Matthew 24:42-43; Mark 13:32-33; Luke 21:34-36).  He said this because we don’t know the time of the Rapture.  Once the Tribulation starts, we can easily count down the days and calculate its end.  But there is nothing to “count down” to the time of the Rapture, there is nothing that must precede it… it can happen at any moment.  Imminency must be dealt with, but none of the other views can account for it like the Pre-Trib can.

There are still other arguments for the Pre-Trib Rapture, but I believe these demonstrate that the Pre-Trib view is a very reasonable and biblical conclusion.  It is not only comforting (1 Thessalonians 5:11), it is our “Blessed Hope” (Titus 2:13).

EVIDENCE FOR THE RESURRECTION

Although we intend to deal with many different topics on this blog, we thought it fitting that this first installment should specifically tie in very closely with the name of the blog.  This article is addressing an incredibly important issue.  It is about the life and claims of Jesus of Nazareth, and the fact of His resurrection. 

 

As Christians, we look to the Bible for truth.  And it is absolutely clear that the Bible teaches about the sinless life of Christ, His miracles, His crucifixion and death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection.  All Christians believe (or should believe) in these things, and should be persuaded by what the Bible says about them. 

 

But what about those who don’t believe the Bible?  If atheists, naturalists, etc., are right, and the resurrection of Jesus is not true, then all of Christianity is false and we (Christians) are to be most pitied and are left in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).  But if Jesus Christ was indeed raised from the dead, then all His statements are true and all His miracles actually did happen.

 

The skeptic might ask, “But are there any records outside the Bible that suggest that Jesus even existed in the first place?” Yes indeed there are.

There were very early non-Christian (pagan and Jewish) sources who testified of Jesus and His followers.  Some of these include Cornelius Tacitus (115 A.D.), Caius Suetonius (115 A.D.), Pliny the Younger (112 A.D.), Lucian of Samosata (165-175 A.D.), and Flavius Josephus (93 A.D.).  The evidence of these non-Christian historians and authors, taken together, demonstrates that there was indeed a person named Jesus, who was called the Christ, who was said to have done miracles (which the pagans called “magical superstition”), and who was considered a “lawgiver,” and was executed as a criminal and crucified by Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius.  His followers were said to have loved the truth at any cost, yet were despised and persecuted by Nero.  Even so, they experienced a rapid growth in their “new religion,” and they spoke of their leader as a god and still worshiped Him after His death.  See here for more details:

http://www.grantjeffrey.com/article/historicalev.htm

Remember, all this is from ancient pagan and/or Jewish historians.  None of the above historians were Christians, so no one can accuse them of bias toward Christianity.  Yet, much of what they said confirms what Scripture says about Jesus and His disciples.  Not only does this demonstrate the existence of Jesus, but it also strengthens the integrity of the other things mentioned in the gospel accounts.

Add to that the fact that Julius Africanus (215 A.D.), who was a Christian, speaks of a (pagan) Syrian historian called Thallus (52 A.D.) who acknowledged the period of darkness at the time of the crucifixion.  In the same passage, Africanus also refers to a (pagan) Lydian historian, Phlegon (138 A.D.).  Africanus writes, “Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth.”  (Chronicle, Fragment 18, Section 1)  The Christian historian Eusebius (300 A.D.) directly quotes Phlegon:  "However in the fourth year of the 202nd olympiad, an eclipse of the sun happened, greater and more excellent than any that had happened before it; at the sixth hour, day turned into dark night, so that the stars were seen in the sky, and an earthquake in Bithynia toppled many buildings of the city of Nicaea." Jerome’s translation (2005) of Eusebius’ Chronicle, Part II (Page 257 - online)

Both Thallus and Phlegon attributed the darkness to a solar eclipse, but even so, the point is that they both verified that this darkness was a real event.  But this was a supernatural darkness - solar eclipses don’t make it dark enough to see the stars, and they only last for several minutes, not three hours.  Not only is this event of the darkness referred to in Scripture (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44), but so is the earthquake that Phlegon mentioned (Matthew 27:51).  So we have unbelievers recording many things that verify the historical truth of the gospel message.  Is all this just a coincidence?  Surely not.  This should boost the Christian’s confidence in the truth of the resurrection (and the Bible, itself).

There are also many more modern writers who have spent a significant part of their lives diligently studying the facts of history, and have concluded that the resurrection did indeed happen.  These include historians, scholars, textual critics, lawyers, etc., some of whom are non-Christians.  As you will see, the resurrection is not just based on a “blind leap of faith.” Below is just a small sampling of those who acknowledge the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the basis of historical evidence.

Thomas Arnold, English educator and historian said:

“Now in this same way the evidence of our Lord’s life and death and resurrection may be, and often has been shewn to be, satisfactory; it is good according to the common rules for distinguishing good evidence from bad.  Thousands and ten thousands of persons have gone through it piece by piece, as carefully as ever judge summed up on a most important cause:  I have myself done it many times over, not to persuade others, but to satisfy myself. I have been used for many years to study the history of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them; and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind, which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort to the understanding of a fair enquirer, than the great sign which God has given us, that Christ died and rose again from the dead.”   Christian Life, Its Hopes, Its Fears and Its Close (page 15-16, online)

British scholar and theologian, Brooke Foss Westcott wrote:

"Indeed taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no single historic incident better or more variously supported than the Resurrection of Christ.  Nothing but the antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of deficiency in the proof of it.”  The Gospel of the Resurrection:  Thoughts on its Relation to Reason and History (Page 117-118, online)

Scholar and historian F. F. Bruce:

“The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt… in point of fact there is much more evidence for the New Testament than for other ancient writings of comparable date.”  The New Testament Documents:  Are They Reliable? (Chapter 2, online)

British lawyer, Sir Edward Clarke (King’s Counsel) in a letter to E. L. Macassey:

“As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences for the events of the first Easter Day.  To me the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the High Court I have secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling… as a lawyer I accept [the Gospel evidence for the resurrection] unreservedly as the testimony of truthful men to facts they were able to substantiate.”  Basic Christianity  (J.R.W. Stott, Page 58, online)

According to Simon Greenleaf (Harvard Professor and world renowned expert on evidence):

“It was therefore impossible that they [the apostles] could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact.”  The Testimony of the Evangelists: Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice (Page 29, online)

In the same book, Dr. Greenleaf also said:

“The evidence which we have of the great facts of the Bible history belongs to this class, that is, it is moral evidence; sufficient to satisfy any rational mind, by carrying it to the highest degree of moral certainty. IF such evidence will justify the taking away of human life or liberty, in the one case, surely it ought to be deemed sufficient to determine our faith in the other.” Ibid. (Page 46, Online)

Historian Philip Schaff, on “rationalistic” historians:

“The ablest of the infidel [unbelieving] biographers of Jesus now profess the profoundest regard for his character, and laud him as the greatest sage and saint that ever appeared on earth. But, by rejecting his testimony concerning his divine origin and mission, they turn him into a liar; and, by rejecting the miracle of the resurrection, they make the great fact of Christianity a stream without a source, a house without a foundation, an effect without a cause. Denying the physical miracles, they expect us to believe even greater psychological miracles; yea, they substitute for the supernatural miracle of history an unnatural prodigy and incredible absurdity of their imagination.” History of the Christian Church (Paragraph 15)

There are several “explanations” and “theories” today by skeptics as to why the resurrection can’t be true.  But an actual resurrection of Jesus Christ would explain ALL the evidence, e.g., the empty tomb, Jesus’ appearances to His followers, the change in the disciples’ boldness, the rapid rise of Christianity, etc., while the theories of the skeptics cannot.  The resurrection is the best explanation.

 

This has been only a small part of the evidence.  It is our hope that this evidence has encouraged and strengthened the faith of fellow Christians, and has also provided some food for thought for the skeptic.

See also:

http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html

http://www.reasonablefaith.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus