Does the Nation of
Israel Have an End Time Role?
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Problem 2: The
Judgment, the Rapture, and the 70th
Week
Because the terms and
conditions of the two covenants are
often mixed up and inappropriately
merged together, advocates of
dispensationalism have devised a
mechanical solution (called “a
pretribulation rapture”) to
solve their problems of mixing and
merging the two covenants. In a
nutshell, dispensationalists believe
that God is still obligated to
fulfill His promises to the
biological offspring of Abraham
because God’s calling and
promises are irrevocable. (Romans
11:29)
Let me be clear,
God’s unconditional
promises are irrevocable.
Heaven and Earth will pass away
before God’s Word fails.
(Matthew 5:18) For this reason, we
can be sure that God will fulfill
everything He unconditionally
promised to Abraham, but His
conditional promises to the nation of
Israel are another matter. In
fact, if it were not for the
revocation of the Old Covenant, there
could not be a New Covenant! Jesus
terminated the Old Covenant because
the nation of Israel passed the point
of no return. “But God found
fault with the people and
said: ‘The time is coming,’
declared the Lord,’ when I will
make a new covenant
with the [redefined] house of
Israel and the house of
Judah.’” (Hebrews 8:8,
insertion and emphasis mine) See also
Isaiah 24:5 and Ezekiel 23.
Because Israel refused
to receive Christ as the Messiah,
dispensationalists believe that God
raised up Christians to
temporarily fulfill the gospel
commission – that is, Christians
were appointed as trustees of the
gospel until the times granted to the
Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)
Then they believe, when the world is
seven years away form the Second
Coming, Jesus will remove “the
believers” from Earth via a
pretribulation rapture so that he can
fulfill His promises to the nation of
Israel. Dispensationalists believe
this event will somehow cause 144,000
people within the Jewish race to
convert to Christianity and these
people will then go throughout the
Earth during the seven years of the
Great Tribulation proclaiming the
gospel of Jesus.
I have several
problems with this schematic. Here
are three: First, let us suppose
there was a pretribulation rapture
and all the Christians were removed
from Earth. Isn’t it true that
anyone converting to Jesus Christ
after the rapture would have to fall under
the provisions of the New Covenant? Think
about this: The Old Covenant required
converts to be adopted into the
nation of Israel (Genesis 17:12,13,
Exodus 12:48, Deuteronomy 23) and
this adoption process involved
circumcision and it required the
services of priests from the tribe of
Levi. (Hebrews 7:11) The problem now
is that Jesus Christ, the High Priest
of the New Covenant sits at the right
hand of God and He comes from the
tribe of Judah! In other words, if
the terms and conditions set forth in
the Old Covenant are still valid and
binding, who from the tribe of Levi
is worthy to mediate in Heaven for
those who missed the rapture? It
makes no sense to remove the trustees
of the New Covenant with a
pretribulation rapture so that the
terms and conditions of the Old
Covenant – terms such as
circumcision, temple sacrifices and a
Levitical priesthood – can be
reestablished. The Old Covenant was
abolished long ago. (Colossians 2)
The second problem
with the pretribulation rapture and
modern Israel’s role during the
Great Tribulation concerns the 70
weeks of Daniel 9. I believe
advocates of dispensationalism have
badly distorted Daniel 9 to make the
rapture doctrine plausible and the
result is total confusion.
Dispensationalists claim the 70th
week is detached from the 69
weeks. They believe that a gap of
almost 2,000 years must be inserted
between the 69th week and
the 70th week. I cannot
find any support for this claim in
the Bible. I believe the Bible
affirms that the 70th week
immediately followed the 69th
week which immediately followed the
68th week, etc. In other
words, the Bible does not teach there
is a gap of centuries between any of
the 70 weeks, including the 69th
week and the 70th week.
This is easily proven in two ways.
First, time itself is an unbroken
continuum. When one day ends, another
begins. When one month ends, another
begins. When one year ends, another
begins. Therefore, it is impossible
to insert a span of 2,000 years
within a period of 490 years (70
weeks). Second, and more importantly,
history proves the 70th
week immediately followed the 69th
week because the specifications given
in Daniel 9 were fulfilled between
457 B.C. and A.D. 33. The 70 weeks of
Daniel 9 began and ended on time.
Here is a brief
explanation on the fulfillment of the
70 weeks. The decree that marked the
beginning of the 70 weeks was issued
by King Artaxerxes in the spring of
457 B.C. Of the four decrees issued
to restore and rebuild Jerusalem,
only one decree occurs in a Sunday
year – always the first year in
a week of seven years, and 457 B.C.
also happened to be a Jubilee year.
It is important to know that 457 B.C.
was a Jubilee year because Daniel 9
divides the 69 weeks into two
segments by calling them “seven
weeks and 62 weeks.” God divided
the 69 weeks into two segments to
give Israel an important clue. He
wanted Israel to know that the decree
that started the 70 weeks would occur
in a Jubilee year – which is
always the first year of a Jubilee
cycle of 49 years.
According to Daniel
9:25, Messiah would appear of the
beginning of the 70th
week. According to Luke 3, Jesus was
baptized by John the Baptist in A.D.
27. A.D. 27 is the first year of
the 70th
week and it is a Sunday year,
exactly 484 years (counting
inclusively) from the decree of
Artaxerxes. Jesus appeared on time
and Jesus died on time, in the middle
year of the 70th week.
(Galatians 4:4) Astronomy and Bible
history leave no wiggle room on this.
Zero. Jesus died in the middle of the
70th week (a Wednesday
year) in A.D. 30. Jesus, the Author
of oblations and sacrifices caused
oblations and sacrifices to end at
the cross. Daniel 9 has been
fulfilled. The 70th
week followed the 69th
week and everything predicted for the
70th week
has been fulfilled. The bottom
line is this: Someone has to give the
gospel to the world during the Great
Tribulation. Will it be the twelve
tribes from all religions
preaching under the terms and
conditions of the New Covenant, or
will it be the people from the Jewish
race preaching under the terms and
conditions of the New Covenant? (This
really is not a valid question
because under the new Covenant, there
is no distinction between Jews and
Gentiles.) (For further study on the
70th week, please review
these articles:
http://www.wake-up.org/Daniel/Danchap6.htm.
http://wake-up.org/daystar/ds2000/Great%20Clocks.htm.)
The third and final
problem is that of the judgment bar
of Christ. Dispensationalists have
tied modern Israel’s end-time
role and a pretribulation rapture
together and made them codependent
doctrines. Given the intricate
relationship between these two
concepts, here is a problem that
every rapture believing Christian
should thoughtfully consider: Many
advocates of a pretribulation rapture
doctrine have not stopped to realize
that the rapture doctrine requires
two separate and distinct judgments
of the living. In other words, the
rapture doctrine presupposes a
judgment of the living before the
rapture (to see who will be taken
and who will be left behind) and then
there’s a second chance. A
second judgment of the living must be
held near the end of the Great
Tribulation to see who will be
saved at the Second Coming. The
problem is that the Bible does not
teach a second chance nor does it
teach there will be two judgments for
the living! The judgment bar of
Christ occurs once for the living. “For
we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each
one may receive what is due him for
the things done while in the body,
whether good or bad.” 2
Corinthians 5:10) Since the
rapture doctrine requires two
judgments of the living and the Bible
does not teach a second chance not
multiple judgments, this is an
insurmountable problem,
The Bible reveals
without ambiguity that the saints
of God will be persecuted during the
Great Tribulation. “The
beast was given a mouth to utter
proud words and blasphemies and to
exercise his authority for forty-two
months. He opened his mouth to
blaspheme God, and to slander his
name and his dwelling place and those
who live in heaven. He was given
power to make war against
the saints and to conquer them,
And he was given authority over
every tribe, people, language and
nation.” (Revelation 13:5-7
God permits persecution to rise
during the Great Tribulation to
separate the sheep from the goats.
The sheep will put their faith in God
and give up their lives if required,
but the goats will do everything
possible to save themselves. “For
whoever wants to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life
for me will find it.” (Matthew
16:25) For more information on this
topic, please review:
http://www.wake-up.org/Alpha/Chapter12htm
http://www.wake-up.org/Alpha/Chapter13.htm
Summary: A
House of Cards
My friends, I am
convinced the combined doctrines of a
pretrib rapture and the alleged
prophetic role of Israel during the
Great Tribulation stem from mixing
and merging Old Covenant and New
Covenant promises and prophecies.
Without trying to sound arrogant, I
believe these concepts are flimsy and
like a house of cards, they will fall
one day. Of course, the passage of
time will prove all things. I hope
you all will continue to study this
topic by reviewing the various
articles listed above. May the Holy
Spirit grant you wisdom as you study
further into the deep mysteries of
Christ and His saving grace.
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