Tag: Millennial Kingdom

The One Who Endures to the End

enduring to the end

“But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.” – Matthew 24:13

This post is a companion piece to the previous post “Two Gospels“.

After finishing the previous post, I looked a little longer at Matthew 24 and realized it is important to dig further into the context to better understand what Jesus is talking about with regard to “this gospel of the kingdom” in verse 14.

What I have concluded is that there are actually 3 Gospels in the New Testament.  There are two ‘gospels of the kingdom’ and one ‘gospel of redemption’.  As always, context is the key. 

Jesus said that whoever endures to the end shall be saved.  He was not talking about the salvation of the soul.  He was referring to the survival of the Jewish elect during the tribulation!  Right before Jesus said what He did about enduring to the end, He said that the righteous will be delivered up and be killed and that the love of most will grow cold.  What Jesus is saying is that only a few will survive and He tells them (Jews) what and how to do it in the next passages. 

He tells them to flee into the surrounding hills of Judea when the antichrist declares himself to be God in the holy place (Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4; Daniel 9:27).  Then He tells them to stay put when they hear that the Christ has come (24:22-26) because it will be gloriously obvious when He does come to earth (Matt. 24:27-30). 

“This gospel” is for the elect Jews, but it’s also for every person who gets saved after the rapture, throughout the earth, that is enduring the sufferings of the tribulation.  The point is verse 13 IS the ‘good news’ that Jesus is referring to in verse 14.  But it is not about the salvation of the soul, it is about surviving and entering the Millennial Kingdom that Jesus is going to reign over.  The Greek word for ‘endures’ (hupomeno) literally means  ‘to survive’.

The first gospel of the kingdom preached before Jesus was killed was simply that the Messiah had come and therefore repent and turn your heart to God because Jesus was about to reclaim earth and establish His kingdom.  (I believe that message was a diversion – read “The Covert Mission of Jesus Christ“)  The second gospel of the kingdom in Matthew 24 is essentially for those who become believers in the tribulation.  The good news is that if you survive, you will live in the righteous kingdom on earth and never die.  This is the context of Matthew 24, particularly verses 9-14.  When Jesus says ‘this’ message of good news in verse 14, He is referring to the message of verse 13. 

Dan Baker

Two Gospels

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.”  – Matthew 24:14

I was reading an article about Anne Graham Lotz’s eulogy for her father’s, Billy Graham, funeral.  The article said that Anne had found that the day Billy died was on a day that the Jews remembered Moses’ death – February 21.  She said that it could be a sign of end times in that when Moses died, Joshua came after and that the name Joshua is the same in Hebrew as Jesus, or Yeshua.

You can read the article here.

She said perhaps God is telling the church that Jesus is about to return because her father could be a type of Moses.  This is essentially my interpretation of the point she was trying to make.  She said that her father was a great liberator as Moses was and Joshua was the one who lead Israel into the Promised Land.  So perhaps her father, being called out of this earth, will be replaced by Yeshua who will lead the Church into heaven. 

She then capped her point by saying that Jesus said this: “…when the gospel is preached to the whole world as it is today in this service, as it is through churches, missionaries, ministries, Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, ‘When the gospel is preached, then the end will come.”

So the question is, is this a correct interpretation of what Jesus meant?  Most Christians, in my experience, would agree with Mrs. Lotz.  The idea is that technology and missionaries have enabled the gospel to reach everywhere and so it is a sign that we are at the ‘end’.

I do like the analogy of Moses and Joshua, but unfortunately Billy’s daughter is incorrect in her interpretation of Matthew 24:14.

There are two messages labeled as ‘gospel’ in the New Testament.  There is the ‘gospel of the kingdom’, as labeled by Jesus in Matthew 24 (and John the Baptist in Matt. 3:2), and there is the ‘gospel of salvation’ as labeled by Paul in Ephesians 1:13 –

“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise”

There are similarities between the two, but the distinctions between the them are critical when it comes to understanding what Matthew 24:14 is talking about and when it takes place.

The similarities are that they are both ‘good news’, because that’s what gospel means.  They both are meant to cause people to repent, or turn their hearts and lives back to God.  And both are soul saving messages requiring faith with Jesus as the focal point.

The difference in the messages, while nuanced, are significant.  One message is the good news of the Kingdom of God about to be established on earth, and the other is the good news of the redemption of man.  One is about the restoration of God’s kingdom on earth with Jesus ruling from Jerusalem, and the other the restoration of man to God.

Before you go any further you should read my post “The Covert Mission of Jesus Christ“.   Understanding what Christ’s mission was is critically important with regard to understanding the ‘gospel of the kingdom’.

Again, the ‘gospel of salvation’ is the message that if you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then your sin will be removed for eternity and you will become a child of God  (A person is not a child of God until they do this – John 1:12).

In Matthew 24, Jesus is NOT talking to the Church.  He is talking to the Jews.  This is the context.  Matthew 24 is all about the 70th week of Daniel, or the 7 years of tribulation.  In verse 14, Jesus is actually describing the spreading of the message of the imminent restoration of the kingdom of God to earth before He returns.  Most likely this is going to happen due to the witnessing work of the 144,000 in Revelation 7 and the 2 witnesses in Revelation 11.

Again, Jesus is talking to Jews.  His intention in Matthew 24 is to leave a survival manual of sorts for the remnant of Israel.  That is why He said in Matt. 24:15, the very next verse, “when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;”. 

The holy place is the Holy of Holies in the coming new temple in Jerusalem.  This is a message specifically for the Jews to save a Jewish remnant.

I believe the ‘end’ that Jesus is referring to is the end of the 7 year tribulation.  All of the 144,000 and the 2 witnesses will be killed during the first 3 1/2 years.  Then the ‘Great Tribulation’ (Big T) will begin (Matt. 24:21; Daniel 12:1), which will be the focused destruction of all the Jews and Israel by Satan (Rev. 12) that will last another 3 1/2 years (Daniel 12:7).

The message that was preached before Christ died was the ‘gospel of the kingdom’ meaning the Kingdom of God is at hand.  It will be the same message preached during the 7 years of tribulation.  The first time Jesus had to die, which deferred the literal restoration until Jesus returns to earth.  The mysteries of the kingdom are here now in the Church through the Holy Spirit.  But the literal kingdom with Jesus on the throne in Jerusalem for His 1000 year reign has not begun.

The message preached now until the rapture is the gospel of salvation.  It could only be preached after Christ died and rose.  All mankind has been atoned for (see “What God Has Cleansed“).  Now, to be reconciled to God, a person only has to believe in Jesus as his or her Lord and Savior.  Repent, turn to Him and denounce sin, accept Him into your heart, and you will become a new creature.  You will be forever bound to God through the Holy Spirit who will never leave you or forsake you – Ephesians 1:13-14.

Both messages are good news but for different times.

Dan Baker

The First Resurrection

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“The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.  This is the first resurrection.”  Revelation 20:5

I watched a video that was sent to me by a friend who asked me my thoughts about it.  It was a teaching by a minister named David Asscherick.  He has a very hyper-frenetic style of preaching that was hard to listen to.  But that aside, his topic was the Millennial Kingdom – it’s description and nature.   He made quite a few incorrect assertions but the one I’m going to focus on is that there will be no living mortals during the Millennial period.

His basis for saying that there will be no living people is the verse above.  He said all of the righteous (ever) will be resurrected at Jesus’s return, and all of the believers who are alive at that time (who survive the Tribulation) will be ‘translated’ up to meet Jesus in the air.    This is not true.

He also said all of the wicked who are alive at His return will be slain.  This much is true (Rev. 19:15, 21).

What Asscherick did was declare that the resurrection in Rev. 20:5 is the same resurrection as 1 Thess. 4:14.  This is something many Christians make the mistake of doing.  He based that on the fact that Rev. 20: 5 says it is the ‘first’ resurrection, therefore it has to be the same resurrection as 1 Thess. 4:14.  It follows, he asserts, that all of the righteous will be glorified and all the wicked will be dead, and thus there will be no mortal living beings during the Millennial.

To boil it down, Asscherick is saying that the rapture happens at Jesus’ return to earth (post-trib rapture).   According to Asscherik, right before Jesus lands on the Mount of Olives all of the dead in Christ are raised and those believers who are alive at that moment are ‘translated’ or raptured, and meet the Lord in the air (and then do an immediate U-turn to follow Christ to earth).

The problem, however, is that Asscherick completely skipped over Rev. 20:4:

– “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them.  And I saw the souls of THOSE WHO HAD BEEN BEHEADED BECAUSE OF THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS and because of the Word of God, and THOSE WHO HAD NOT WORSHIPPED THE BEAST OR HIS IMAGE, AND HAD NOT RECEIVED THE MARK UPON THEIR FOREHEAD AND UPON THEIR HAND;  and THEY CAME TO LIFE and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

This verse makes perfectly clear that the ‘first’ resurrection stated in verse 5 is the resurrection of the righteous who die during the tribulation (Rev. 6:9; 13:12-17; 14:9-11).  All he had to do was look at the cross references in the margin of his Bible.

The context determines the meaning of ‘first resurrection’.

The resurrection in Revelation 20:4-5  is not the first resurrection EVER, it is the first resurrection in the context of the 2nd coming of Christ right before the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom.  Clearly this is not the first resurrection.  The first resurrection was Jesus Christ!  So the context must define the statement.  The second resurrection in this context is the resurrection of the unsaved dead (those whose names are not in the Book of Life) at the end of the Millennial Kingdom (Rev. 20:13).

He also completely overlooks Rev. 20:7-8 with regard to no living mortals during the Millennial Kingdom.  These verses clearly point out that there will be ‘nations’ all over the earth whom Satan tempt and gather for war when he is released at the end of the 1000 years.  Asscherik’s explanation for this is that these people are the wicked who are raised from the dead in Rev. 20:12-13.  The problem is that this resurrection takes place AFTER Satan’s brief uprising.

It’s always amazing how doctrines and teachings can come about by taking things out of their proper context or chronological order.

See also my post ‘Eternal Torment or Eternal Destruction‘.

Dan Baker

The Gog-Magog War IS Armageddon

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armageddon (2)

I was listening to a podcast by Michael Heiser on Ezekiel 38 and 39.  You can find it here.  Heiser asserts that the Gog Magog war takes place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.  He puts this war in Rev. 20:7. 

I disagree. 

I will make the case that the Gog Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39 is the final battle when Jesus returns as prophesied in Revelation 19 (which is the same battle mentioned in Rev. 16:14,16).  It is not my intention to try and determine who Gog and Magog are.  They are from the north, that’s all we can say conclusively.

I agree with many things that Heiser teaches.  His knowledge and understanding of ancient Hebrew and other ancient languages is fantastic.  But I think this issue is pretty simple and I believe Heiser, respectfully, kind of gets lost in his own vast amount of knowledge.

Let’s start in Ezekiel 36. 

Here God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to Israel that God is going to bring Israel back into His land that He gave to them and cleanse them, and give them a new heart, and remove the heart of stone from them.  This ‘cleansing’ is key because I don’t believe this is talking about the regathering that has taken place now.  It is the 2nd regathering as prophesied in Is. 11:11 and Matthew 24:31, that occurs after Jesus physically returns to earth. 

Read Ezekiel 36:22-38.  This describes a time that does not exist now:  ALL of the Jews will be back in the promised land and they will be cleansed, holy and following the Lord with a new heart, being careful to observe all of God’s statutes and ordinances. 

Does this describe Israel today?  No.  Israel is a secular nation with a heart of stone as described in Ezekiel 36:26.

Why is this important?  Because if the battle takes place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, as Heiser asserts, Israel would not be described as having been profaning God’s name among the nations (Ezek. 36:22-23).

Moreover, the passage mentioned above describes how all the other nations will know that the Lord is with Israel.  If the Gog Magog war takes place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, as Heiser believes, then the new earth and eternal state would follow it.

Does the passage in Ezekiel 36 describe the new eternal state, after the Lord has created a new earth as written in Rev. 21?  No it does not.  There will be no nations in the eternal state, and there will be no state of Israel.  There will only be the kingdom of God on a new earth.

Ezekiel 37 continues to prophesy about the future of Israel in the Millennial Kingdom.  Again, it is not about the 1st regathering of Israel which occurred in the last century and ongoing up until now.  The way to know this is in the passages. 

Ezekiel 37:21-28 once again clearly describes a scenario that is not present today:  Israel will no longer follow any other gods, they will live in ALL the land that was promised to Abraham and Jacob.  The Son of David will be ruling and His sanctuary will be permanent. 

This has not happened yet.  It will happen when Jesus returns to earth after the 7 year tribulation and it will be an immediate and complete regathering (Matt. 24:31).  And again, it does not describe the Eternal State of Rev. 21.

Ezekiel 38-39 is a recapitulation.  It is a way of explaining things by reversing and going back over what has been said already but with greater or different details.  Here God tells Ezekiel to prophecy about the Gog Magog war which happens right before what has been prophesied in Ezek. 36 and 37.

At the time of this war, there is a regathered nation of Israel that exists.  God is going to bring Gog up against Israel.  But it is not the Israel that God describes in Ezek. 39:22-29 – the Israel of the Millennial Kingdom.  It is the Israel with a heart of stone that exists today.  This is the conclusion of the war:

‘And the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day onward.  And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because they acted treacherously against Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword.  According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them”.  Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Now I shall restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I shall be jealous for My holy name.  And they shall forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid.  When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the many nations.  Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again into their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer.  And I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel’, declares the Lord God.”   Ezek 39:22-29

Clearly, this describes a regathered Israel that does not exist today.  The Israel of today is the rejected Israel that does not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.  The Israel described above is the purged and cleansed Israel that will enter the Millennial Kingdom. 

The 2nd re-gathering of Israel is that of the angels (Matt. 24:31) when Jesus returns to save the elect – the righteous Jews who survive the tribulation and recognize Jesus as Messiah.  The nations will see and know that the King of Kings is in Zion.

Also, notice in this passage in the second to the last verse above that God says He will bring all of the Jews into the land again and none will be outside of Israel after the regathering. 

This confirms that it is talking about a 2nd re-gathering which immediately precedes the Millennial Kingdom and it happens after the war, not before.  The first regathering does not include all of the Jews which is the situation now.  

Another reason we can know that this battle is right before the return of the Lord and not at the end of the Millennial Kingdom is Ezekiel 38:16.  It says that this will take place in the last days.  That does not refer to the last days of the Millennial Kingdom.  “Last days”  or “latter days” always refers to the end of time before the Lord returns to earth and restores His kingdom.

Also, the ‘Great Supper’ of God in Rev. 19, and the ‘Great Sacrifice’ of God are the same.  In Ezekiel 39:17-20, God tells Ezekiel to declare something.

“And as for you , son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, “Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.  So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.  And you will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war, declares the Lord God.”

Now read Revelations 19:17-21.  Remember, Ezekiel said this was the last days and it is in connection with the complete restoration of Israel and rule by the Lord Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom.

“And I saw one standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, ‘Come, assemble for the great supper of God; in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great’. 

The similarities in these passages cannot be dismissed.

I believe that the ‘one’ referred to in Rev. 19:17 is Ezekiel and not an angel.  Yes, the word is ‘aggelos’ or angel but it literally just means messenger or one sent.  Every translation makes this word angel, but I believe the messenger in this case will be Ezekiel because the commandment to speak this herald to the birds and beasts in Ezekiel 39 was given to him.

I agree with Heiser that this battle will be on Mt. Zion.  You’ll have to listen to his podcast or even read his book “The Unseen Realm”.  It’s a great read and gives fantastic insight into the spiritual realm of the Bible.  He explains why Armageddon is Har Magedon which is Mount of Assembly and not the Valley of Meggido.  I won’t go into it here.  He also summarizes it in the podcast which I provided the link for above.

During this battle, there will be a great earthquake.  It will be the mother of all earthquakes.  This earthquake, according to Ezekiel 38:19, will be so massive it will literally cause the mountains to collapse.  Revelation concurs saying that it will be the largest earthquake since man was created (Rev. 16:18).  According to this verse, Jerusalem will be split into 3 parts.  Every nation will feel it and all the mountains on earth will topple.   Isaiah 2:2 says that, “in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills”.   

This does not occur at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, but in the ‘last days’.  The passage goes on to say that “all the nations will stream” to the mountain of the house of the Lord be taught. This is not the eternal new earth, as Dr. Heiser’s position would dictate.  There will be no nations in the eternal kingdom.

Then, all the nations will know that God has won this battle (Ezek. 38:16,20,23; 39:7,21) because they will see Jesus coming in the clouds to earth with His army to save Jerusalem (Rev. 1:7). 

After the victory, the House of Israel will be cleaning up the litter of the battle and disposing of the bodies for seven months (Ezek. 39:12).  It is another proof that this takes place at the end of the age before Jesus returns, not the end of the Millennial Kingdom.  The ‘clean up’ at the end of the Millennial Kingdom is performed by the Lord Himself when He burns up everything and creates a new heaven and earth (2Peter 3:10). 

Finally, Revelation 20:7-9 says Satan will be released from prison briefly at the end of the 1000-year kingdom and he will deceive the nations and gather them with Gog and Magog.  This is undoubtedly the primary passage that Heiser is considering for his belief that Armageddon takes place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.  But this is not a battle. 

This is a crucial point.  Armageddon is a battle, but Revelation 20:7-9 is not.  It is just a gathering and a surrounding of Jerusalem.  This uprising is ended in one fell swoop by God sending down fire and devouring the entire army that Satan has gathered.  There is absolutely nothing left of them.  The verse says they are “devoured”, totally consumed!  There is nothing to bury or clean up.