Rapture Fever
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Rapture Fever

by Gary North by Gary North

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Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 51 eschatology (end times). They were writing prophetic warnings to people of their own era regarding crises that were almost upon them, not crises of Christians and Jews living at least 1,900 years later. Let me ask an obvious question, which futurists never publicly ask: If your church were in the early stages of a life-anddeath crisis - the public execution of the church’s founder - and he gave you a warning regarding problems that would face Christians two thousand years from now, would you regard his warning as timely, fully rational, and relevant to your immediate needs? Would you regard this warning as being of crucial importance to your daily walk before God or the life of the local church? No? Neither would I. Neither would Jesus’ listenem Therefore, I conclude that the immediacy of the disciples’ concern was the reason why Jesus warned them of the coming tribulation of national Israel: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Matt. 24:32-34). Another question: If that hypothetical warning from the founder referred to events that will be seen by “this generation,” would you instinctively conclude - as all dispensational expositors of this verse have concluded and must conclude, given their need for a coherent system of interpretation - that the phrase “this generation” refers to some generation living at least 1,950 years later? No? Then why not take Jesus’ words literally? “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” All of these things were fi.dfilled: in A.D. 70. But What About the Beast? Well, what about the Beast? If my thesis is correct – that the phrase “the last days” refers to the last days of Old Covenant

52 RAPTURE FEVER Israel and the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70- then who was the Beast? After all, if New Testament prophecies regarding the Beast were not fulfilled during the lifetime of John, but refer to some individual still in the Church’s fiture, there would seem to be no reason to believe that the other prophecies regarding “the last days” were also fulfilled in his day. These prophecies must be taken as a unit. It is clear that the Beast is a figure who is said to be alive in the last days. This is why it is imperative that we discover who the Beast is or was. If he has not yet appeared, then the last days must also be ahead of us, unless we have actually entered into them. If he has already appeared, then the last days are over. Gentry’s studies prove beyond much doubt that the prophesied Beast was in fact the emperor Nero. (So, for that matter, does David Chilton’s commentary on the Book of Revelation, The Days of Vmgeance). 22 Gentry’s books are not filled with prophecies about brain-implanted computer chips, tatoos with identification numbers, cobra helicopters, nuclear war, and New Age conspiracies. This is why most fundamentalists are not interested in his books. Customers of most Christian bookstores too often prefer to be excited by the misinformation provided by a string of paperback fidse prophecies than to be comforted by the knowledge that the so-called Great Tribulation is long behind us, and that it was Israel’s tribulation, not the Church’s. (For biblical proof, see David Chilton’s book, The Great Ttibukztion.)28 They want thrills and chills, not accurate Bible exposition; they want a string of “secret insights,” not historical knowledge. Like legions of imaginative children sitting in front of the family radio back in the 1930’s and 1940’s who faithfully bought their Ovaltine, tore off the wrappe~ and sent it in to receive an official “Little Orphan Annie secret decoder,” funda- 22. David Chilton, The Day of Wszgeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Ft. Worth, Texas Dominion Press, 1987). 23. David Chilton, The Great Ttilrzdation (FL Worth, Texas Dominion Press, 1987).

Fear of Men Produces Paralysis 51<br />

eschatology (end times). They were writing prophetic warnings<br />

to people of their own era regarding crises that were almost<br />

upon them, not crises of Christians and Jews living at least<br />

1,900 years later.<br />

Let me ask an obvious question, which futurists never publicly<br />

ask: If your church were in the early stages of a life-anddeath<br />

crisis - the public execution of the church’s founder -<br />

and he gave you a warning regarding problems that would face<br />

Christians two thousand years from now, would you regard his<br />

warning as timely, fully rational, and relevant to your immediate<br />

needs? Would you regard this warning as being of crucial<br />

importance to your daily walk before God or the life of the<br />

local church? No? Neither would I. Neither would Jesus’ listenem<br />

Therefore, I conclude that the immediacy of the disciples’<br />

concern was the reason why Jesus warned them of the coming<br />

tribulation of national Israel: “Now learn a parable of the fig<br />

tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves,<br />

ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see<br />

all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily<br />

I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these<br />

things be fulfilled” (Matt. 24:32-34).<br />

Another question: If that hypothetical warning from the<br />

founder referred to events that will be seen by “this generation,”<br />

would you instinctively conclude - as all dispensational<br />

expositors of this verse have concluded and must conclude,<br />

given their need for a coherent system of interpretation - that<br />

the phrase “this generation” refers to some generation living at<br />

least 1,950 years later? No? Then why not take Jesus’ words<br />

literally? “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass,<br />

till all these things be fulfilled.”<br />

All of these things were fi.dfilled: in A.D. 70.<br />

But What About the Beast?<br />

Well, what about the Beast? If my thesis is correct – that the<br />

phrase “the last days” refers to the last days of Old Covenant

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