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Series Contents

Title:  Looking at Preaching Afresh

Contents:

  

Series Contents

    

Introduction

1A. End Times

1B Israel

Part 2

2A Tunnel Vision

2B Distortion

2C Division

Part 3

3A Interpretation

3B Prophetic

3C Name Israel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Series Contents

    

Introduction

1A. End Times

1B Israel

Part 2

2A Tunnel Vision

2B Distortion

2C Division

Part 3

3A Interpretation

3B Prophetic

3C Name Israel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Series Contents

    

Introduction

1A. End Times

1B Israel

Part 2

2A Tunnel Vision

2B Distortion

2C Division

Part 3

3A Interpretation

3B Prophetic

3C Name Israel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fresh Thoughts on Preaching:

        PART 3. Preaching involving Prophetic Scriptures  

                 ABBREVIATED VERSION FOR FASTER READING!

 

Contents:

Part 1: Difficult Prophetic Areas

Part 2: Bad Uses of Prophecies

Part 3: Failures of Understanding

  

  

Introduction   

  • Beware that tendency to get caught up with some particular aspect of prophecy in the Bible and then major on that to the exclusion of all else.
  • Popular subjects: the End Times and Israel 

 

Part 1: Difficult Prophetic Areas

 

Perhaps if we may begin with the example of the end times and then go on to consider Israel.

  

     

1A. End Times Prophecies

 

We will limit ourselves for the moment at least, to specific teaching in the New Testament about these days.

  • May we distinguish between teaching given by Jesus and the apostles in the Gospels, Acts or the epistles, from that which arises in the book of Revelation.
  • The reason? There are very different rules of interpretation between
    • straight teaching and
    • revelation in the form of prophecy.

 

An Uncertain Time

i.e we do not know when the things spoken of will happen. Jesus' words in Matt 24 are a useful starting point and we need to note:

•  He is speaking about what appear to be literal historical events

•  The order of them appears clear, but not when

•  They seem to start from that day and continue to the end

•  And it's not terribly clear! 

     

For the details of the verses, please se the main page.

•  A similar suggestion is made by Paul in 1 Thess 5:1-11 – who clearly thought it would happen soon.

•  The other apostles were of similar mind: James (Jas 5:8), Peter (1 Pet 4:7), John (1 Jn 2:18) and the writer to the Hebrews (Heb 10:25)

 

Paul seems to reiterate the ‘uncertainty principle' in 2 Thess 2 but makes the point that the end will not come until there has been

  • A period of great lawlessness and rebellion (v.3,4)
  • That is apparently headed up by a single figure setting himself up in the temple (note again the need for a temple)

 

Let's leave the last words to Jesus: No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mt 24:36) and if you didn't get it the first time, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Mt 24:44)

 

The wise preacher prefaces anything he says in this area with, “It may be that….” Possibilities, not dogmatic assertions!

 

A Clear Return

  

Continuing Matt 24 : He will be seen by all nations

The clarity of Jesus' return is also stated by the two angels at Jesus' ascension (Acts 1:11) – as visible from the sky – seen all around the world according to Jesus' previous words.

 

Note: Zech 14:4 Jesus coing on to the earth - but details unclear

 

Also Rev 19:11-21 Jesus coming to bring judgment on the earth as a conquering king. There, there is no indication of location etc. butit is not unreasonable to suppose that it may well be in Israel and specifically at Jerusalem.

 

There are various 'possibilities'. Perhaps not so clear as we might like to think.

Categorical assertions are unwise, for the reasons we gave earlier in this article.

 

 

    

1B. Israel

 

Israel: there appear two camps of extremists.

  • those who appear hard nosed and have declared that God has no further use for Israel having replaced them by the Christian Church.
  • those who appear to hold a romantic, unrealistic view of Israel that seems to inadvertently detract from the work of Jesus on the Cross and the work of the Spirit in sanctifying and empowering believers for service.

 

Israel's position is according to the New Testament :

 

Q1. Is a Jew saved automatically by being a Jew?

A1. On the day of Pentecost Peter preached the Gospel TO JEWS and it required them to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus as their Saviour (Acts 2:38). That never changed.

Check out: Rom 2:28,29, Gal 3:28,29, Gal 6:15, Mt 3:9)

 

Q2. Wasn't God for all of Israel throughout the Old Testament?

A2. Definitely not, only those who were obedient to Him and loved him. Read the prophets and again and again you find that the disobedient majority were under God's judgment and it was on the faithful and obedient minority, the ‘remnant' who were saved.

 

Q3. So aren't all Israel saved today?

A3. No, definitely not. Godless and unrighteous Jews are exactly the same as godless and unrighteous gentiles - unsaved and lost and needing to come to salvation.

 

Q4 . So does Israel not have a place in God's plans today?

A4. There are probably two answers to that.

  • First, in the same way that God used Israel 2000 years ago to be the environment into which His Son came from heaven, so in a similar way it appears that the Lord wants to use Israel as a both a signpost and a measuring stick in the last days.
  • Second, even though at this moment there appears only a tiny minority of Jews or inhabitants of Israel who receive salvation through Jesus as their Saviour, there does seem to be a time coming when God will bring what we usually call revival to Israel and many will be saved.

 

Q5. What does Paul's teaching in Romans 9 – 11 say?

A5. For the detail, read the original notes.

  

Note: Use of Particular Words or Phrases 

The notes examine the use of:

  • ‘hardening', ‘rejecting', ‘choosing'.

See Notes for consideration of Replacement Theology

The same assessment of sins that applied then, still applies today – to both them and to gentile unbelievers. All are the same in that particular respect. Let's not sanctify unrighteousness!

 

I reiterate that I believe both are extremes which ignore Scripture and I therefore suggest that what follows is a far more balanced position than either of those ‘extremes' hold.

 

1. God's children are what they are by faith and not works, i.e. believing not self-effort.

2. Those who are saved are thus saved by faith and grace alone - by heart response and God's free gift in Jesus

3. Thus it doesn't matter whether you are Jew or Gentile salvation comes through Jesus alone and that is through all time. Anything less demeans the work of the Son of God.

4. Although Israel rejected the Son of God, their rejection of him made possible the divine sacrifice for sins and the availability of salvation. (Not in praise of Israel, just a comment by Paul)

5. God permits Israel 's continued existence (as a people)

  • for the sake of the Patriarchs and
  • so that members of the Hebrew race can yet be saved through faith in Christ, and
  • so that He may yet use them as signs and measuring sticks in the end times, and
  • so that He may eventually extend grace to them at the end - through HS revival? – when they will suddenly ‘see'.

 

Part 2: Bad Uses of Prophecies

 

Here are some of the ‘bad fruits' of such a narrow focusing:

    

2A. The Bad Fruit of Tunnel Vision 

Focusing on any single issue to the exclusion of all others is a clear mark of deception

Beware a person with“a bee in their bonnet”  

  

        

2B. The Bad Fruit of Distortion

Such people then spend a lot of time reading those who conform to their viewpoint as if to justify their stand, but

  • are rarely able to quote Scripture to back their position, except out of context.
  • resort to verse snatching, taking verses out of the Bible to justify their stance.
  • involving is a distortion of the truth by twisting Scriptures to fit the ‘doctrine' while ignoring other Scriptures or even the general tenure of Scripture etc.

    

     

2C. The Bad Fruit of Division

  • For this person this doctrine is all-important and is being ignored by large numbers of the church and therefore needs to be brought to the fore by constant references
  • What this person's constant references to their theme does then do is create a sense of division in the body.
  • The suggestion to ‘agree to disagree' is rebuffed and there seems an inability in these cases to recognise that there are doctrines of Scripture that are open to differing viewpoints.
  • The very fact that there are differing schools of thought, over a number of such issues, is an indicator that it isn't spelled out as clearly as such people would like to believe.
  • Yet, we find in them, a strong belief that the rest of us are clearly blind, and a crusading, divisive spirit prevails.
  • I have also observed a judgmentalism that sometimes accompanies this

    

Part 3: Failures of Understanding

 

Behind this tendency that we have been considering are two main failures of understanding and both need addressing:

  • Most Scripture need interpreting and
  • Prophetic Scripture need particular rules of interpretation and any attempts at suggesting fulfilments of prophecies, need particular care.

   

   

3A. A Question of Interpretation

  • The naïve claim that “I'm just quoting Scripture” is a naïve and indeed ignorant defence.
  • The reality is that Scripture needs interpreting and biblical scholars down through the years have formulated a number of rules of interpretation.
  • Those rules of interpretation form article 5 in this series.
  • Now the big difficulty with prophetic scripture is that it DOES need interpreting and its fulfilment can cause us difficulties.

 

Example: the different schools of interpretation in respect of the book of Revelation

  • Preterist school maintains that the majority of the prophecies of the book have been fulfilled and have therefore no significance for today, other than providing moral lessons from history.
  • Historicist school suggests that the book puts forward a complete human and ecclesiastical history, a struggle of good and evil down to the end of time.
  • The Futurist school sees it all as things yet to come.

 

   

     

3B. Understanding prophetic workings

a) General Rules for Interpretation

When it comes to understanding the workings of prophecy some further rules apply:  

b) Second Guessing Fulfilment

“Whenever God brings a word about the future it WILL always be fulfilled BUT frequently our attempts to guess how and when it will be fulfilled usually go wide of the mark.”

 

That statement needs a little clarification. Yes, there will be times when God says, for example, “Next month I will….” and it is clearly seen to be so, but many times the Lord gives more general words of direction or encouragement where a) we are given things to do and b) the timing of the eventual outworking is not specified.

 

Now I believe there are two reasons why this is so:

1. The Lord's desire is that whatever happens we are brought into a closer relationship with Him

2. Much prophecy is conditional on us responding in faith to what the Lord says.

 

  

    

3C. Difficulty in use of the Name, Israel

Six different uses of the word 'Israel' in Scripture need understanding.