Rapture Fever
by Gary North by Gary North
Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 47 book reviews in an in-house, small-circulation journal. ~y philosophical, theological, or ideological system that is not defended intellectually and publicly by its academic spokesmen, decade after decade, despite a growing mountain of cogent criticisms, is close to the end of its influence. Its brighter, younger recruits will drift away or else be recruited by the critics. Eventually, the defending institutions will drift theologically, as once-traditional dispensational Talbot Theological Seminary did after 1986 and as Grace Theological Seminary is drifting today (or so it appears: see Chapter 13). A defensive mentality, a “form a circle with the wagons” mentality cannot be sustained forever. If a movement does not move fomard, it either stagnates or moves backward czdturally. If a movement adopts a view of time which says that cultural progress is the product of its rivals’ efforts, that only “upward” movement (death) and “inward” movement (mysticism) are truly significant, then that movement has drunk the eschatological equivalent of “Rev.” Jim Jones’ Kool-Aid. This analytic principle applies equally well to the New Age mystic’s quest for inner escape or the dispensationalist’s Rapture fever. This is why dispensationalism is dying. Bible-believing Christians need an alternative.18 Last Days vs. End Times The last days are different from the end times. The last days refer to the last days of Old Covenant Israel; they are in the past. Still confused? So are millions of other Christians. The confusion stems from the fact that Christians have jumped to the conclusion - a wholly erroneous conclusion - that the “last days” spoken of in the New Testament refer to the last days of the Church (or to the misleadingly identified “Church Age”). This conclusion is not warranted by the various biblical texts The last days spoken of in the New Testament were eschatological last 18. Gary North, Unconditional SurrendeT: God’s Program for Victory (3rd cd.; Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1988).
48 RAPTURE FEVER duys only for national Israel, not for the New Covenant Church. The “last days” were in fact the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ. They inaugurated the New Covenant era. How do we know this? How do we know that we are not now living in the Church’s last days? Because the New Testament was written in the last days of Israel, which came to a close over 1,900 years ago. The New Testament clearly says so. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews specifically identified his own era as the “last days.” He wrote that God “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he bath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Heb. 1:2). He was quite clear: he and his contemporaries were living in the last days. He did not suffer from Rapture fever. The Destruction of the Temple We need to ask this obvious question: The last days of what? The answer is clear: the last day of the Old Covenant, including national Israel. The New Testament writers were living in the last days of animul sactijces in the temple. This is the primary message of the Epistle to the Hebrews: the coming of a better sacrifice, a once-and-for-all sacrifice, Jesus Christ. We read: “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator” (Heb. 9:15- 16). The inescapable concomitant of Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary was His annulment of the Old Covenant’s sacrificial system, which took place at the end of the Old Covenant’s world: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the
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Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 47<br />
book reviews in an in-house, small-circulation journal. ~y<br />
philosophical, theological, or ideological system that is not<br />
defended intellectually and publicly by its academic spokesmen,<br />
decade after decade, despite a growing mountain of cogent<br />
criticisms, is close to the end of its influence. Its brighter, younger<br />
recruits will drift away or else be recruited by the critics.<br />
Eventually, the defending institutions will drift theologically, as<br />
once-traditional dispensational Talbot Theological Seminary did<br />
after 1986 and as Grace Theological Seminary is drifting today<br />
(or so it appears: see Chapter 13). A defensive mentality, a<br />
“form a circle with the wagons” mentality cannot be sustained<br />
forever. If a movement does not move fomard, it either stagnates or<br />
moves backward czdturally. If a movement adopts a view of time<br />
which says that cultural progress is the product of its rivals’<br />
efforts, that only “upward” movement (death) and “inward”<br />
movement (mysticism) are truly significant, then that movement<br />
has drunk the eschatological equivalent of “Rev.” Jim Jones’<br />
Kool-Aid. This analytic principle applies equally well to the<br />
New Age mystic’s quest for inner escape or the dispensationalist’s<br />
<strong>Rapture</strong> fever. This is why dispensationalism is dying.<br />
Bible-believing Christians need an alternative.18<br />
Last Days vs. End Times<br />
The last days are different from the end times. The last days<br />
refer to the last days of Old Covenant Israel; they are in the<br />
past. Still confused? So are millions of other Christians. The<br />
confusion stems from the fact that Christians have jumped to<br />
the conclusion - a wholly erroneous conclusion - that the “last<br />
days” spoken of in the New Testament refer to the last days of<br />
the Church (or to the misleadingly identified “Church Age”).<br />
This conclusion is not warranted by the various biblical texts<br />
The last days spoken of in the New Testament were eschatological last<br />
18. Gary North, Unconditional SurrendeT: God’s Program for Victory (3rd cd.; Tyler,<br />
Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1988).
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