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A Biblical Response to Eric Douma – Part 4

by Alan Kurschner
written by Alan Kurschner

I am responding to Eric Douma’s sermon on April 3rd 2011, “The Day of The LORD: A Look at the Imminent Day of Salvation and Judgment.” We continue.

Douma claims that the term “birth pangs” in the Bible is a technical term for the day of the Lord. That is, every time it is found in the Bible it must refer to the day of the Lord. This is categorically false and unproven. It is an assumption he makes to maintain the unbiblical doctrine of imminence. What do I mean by this?

Since Douma claims the rapture must occur before the great tribulation (so the church can avoid encountering the Antichrist), he interprets Jesus’ expression in Matthew 24:8, “the beginning of birth pangs,” to refer to the day of the Lord. He argues that since Paul uses the birthing metaphor in 1 Thessalonians 5 drawing from Isaiah 13 to refer to the day of the Lord, then Jesus must be using it in the same way. Therefore, he concludes that Matthew 24:4–35 describes the day of the Lord.

However, his premise is deeply flawed, for Jesus’ purpose of using the metaphor of birth pangs is just the opposite of Paul’s purpose.

Let’s begin.

Paul says,  “Now when they are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape” (1 Thess 5:3). Paul’s analogy of “labor pains” is drawn from a day of the Lord passage in Isaiah 13:

(6) Wail, for the LORD’s day of judgment is near; it comes with all the destructive power of the sovereign judge. (7) For this reason all hands hang limp, every human heart loses its courage. (8) They panic—cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red. (9) Look, the LORD’s day of judgment is coming; it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, destroying the earth and annihilating its sinners. (10) Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations no longer give out their light; the sun is darkened as soon as it rises, and the moon does not shine. (Isa 13:6–10; see also Isa 26:17–21)

We should not confuse Paul’s use of the birth pangs analogy with Jesus’ use of it in the Olivet Discourse, for it serves a completely different purpose than Matthew 24:8 (“All these things are the beginning of birth pains”). There are six differences that demonstrate that Jesus does not use the birth pangs metaphor to refer to the day of the Lord:

1. Jesus’ usage in Matthew 24 occurs before the great tribulation; Paul’s usage is found at the inception of the day of the Lord. In other words, Jesus uses the birthing metaphor to warn that the end has not arrived (“Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come. . . All these things are the beginning of birth pains”). Paul uses it to announce that the end has arrived (“then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains,” cf. Isa 13:7–8).

2. Accordingly, Jesus emphasizes the tolerable stage of “the beginning of birth pains” (Matt 24:8); hence, the reason he reassures, “Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come” (Matt 24:6). In contrast, Paul is drawing from Isaiah’s labor imagery focused on the intolerable stage of actual giving birth, “cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth” (Isa 13:8).

3. Jesus teaches that the “beginning of birth pangs” is what Christians are destined to experience (Matt 24:4–8); Paul teaches just the opposite that Christians are promised exemption from the hard labor pains, the time of God’s wrath (1 Thess 5:9).

4. The labor pains in Matthew 24 refer to natural events such as false christs, wars, famines, and earthquakes (Matt 24:5–8). Paul’s reference is to the supernatural event of the day of the Lord (2 Thess 1:5–8).

5. Jesus’ usage of the beginning of birth pangs occurs before the celestial disturbance happens (Matt 24:8–29). But in the Isaiah passage that Paul is drawing from associates the birth pangs of the onset of the day of the Lord with the celestial disturbance (Isaiah 13: 8–10).

6. Jesus uses the birthing metaphor to apply to both unbelievers and believers (Matt 24:5–8). While Paul uses it exclusively applied to unbelievers (1 Thess 5:3–4).

So we have seen that Douma is mistaken to think that Jesus is speaking of the day of the Lord. A red flag should go up whenever someone claims that this or that is a “technical term,” for the danger is not taking contexts into consideration and thus flattening out an author’s intention. In this case, Douma has abused Jesus’ intention of the birthing metaphor to serve his own theology of imminence.

 

 

 

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AmillennialismChurch HistoryDay of the LordHermeneuticsOlivet DiscoursePremillennialismPreterismPretribulationismPrewrathThessalonians 1&2

The Didache (c.50–c.120)

by Alan Kurschner
written by Alan Kurschner

The early church consistently and vigorously taught when Christ would return he would establish his kingly millennium and rule over the nations from Jerusalem. This teaching began to be abandoned during the fourth century through the influence of the reign of Emperor Constantine, Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, Augustine’s writings, and the third century theologian Origen whose allegorical system of interpretation explained away the natural reading of Old Testament prophecies of a millennium and a future for Israel. These four men laid the foundation for what would be known as amillennialism, until premillennialist theologians could emerge again without the threat of persecution by the state and church.

Another point of eschatological doctrine that the early church affirmed was that the church would encounter the Antichrist. Every early church writer in the first couple of centuries who wrote on this relationship agreed in a singular voice that the church would encounter the Antichrist (the prewrath position). One will search in vain for any writer who thought that the church would be resurrected or raptured before the Antichrist’s persecution (the pretribulational position).

The prewrath position is a refinement and development of the day of the Lord and rapture question. The essence of prewrath teaching reaches back to the early church period. In the next eight posts, I will cite eight early church writers who taught that the church would encounter the Antichrist.

We begin with what many believe to be the very first Christian document outside of the New Testament called the Didache (“The Teaching”), pronounced DID-ah-kay. It teaches that the church will encounter the persecution of the Antichrist, which will then be followed by the coming of Christ to rescue his people and resurrect his people.

The Didache is an extremely important early Christian document because it is a window allowing us to see the faith and practice of a segment of the primitive church. The date of the Didache has been estimated AD 50–120. It is agreed that it is a compositional document made up of several sources, of which the earliest of the sources were likely written before AD 70. The most probable place of origin is Syria, perhaps in the city of Antioch, which was the main Christian center at that time. The Didache contains three parts. The first is a code of Christian morals, the “Two Ways,” expounding on the way of life and the way of death. The second is a church order manual, a rules of conduct, prescribing correct practice of baptism, church polity, the Lord’s supper, etc. The final part concludes with an eschatological section of an outline commentary to the Olivet Discourse; hence, since this is the first interpretation in church history on Jesus’ teaching about his second coming, we will benefit from what it says.

The early church viewed this document as containing orthodox teaching, including its interpretation of eschatology. So important was this document that some early church fathers (albeit wrongly) accepted it as Scripture. But in the main it was used for instruction for church leaders, believers, and baptismal candidates. The eschatological section of the Didache is found in chapter 16. It states:

(1) “Watch” over your life: “let your lamps” be not quenched “and your loins” be not ungirded, but be “ready,” for ye know not “the hour in which our Lord cometh.” (2) But be frequently gathered together seeking the things which are profitable for your souls, for the whole time of your faith shall not profit you except ye be found perfect at the last time; (3) for in the last days the false prophets and the corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall change to hate; (4) for as lawlessness increaseth they shall hate one another and persecute and betray, and then shall appear the deceiver of the world as a Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders and the earth shall be given over into his hands and he shall commit iniquities which have never been since the world began. (5) Then shall the creation of mankind come to the fiery trial and “many shall be offended” and be lost, but “they who endure” in their faith “shall be saved” by the curse itself.  (6) And “then shall appear the signs” of the truth. First the sign spread out in Heaven, then the sign of the sound of the trumpet, and thirdly the resurrection of the dead: (7) but not of all the dead, but as it was said, “The Lord shall come and all his saints with him.” (8) Then shall the world “see the Lord coming on the clouds of Heaven.”

The main gospel source that the Didache 16 uses is Matthew, particularly chapters 24–25, alluding frequently from it. The first verse contains exhortations to be ready spiritually (e.g., “Watch” over your life”). In verse 2 there is given a cause and effect warning that a lack of consistent gathering with other believers will hinder faith-readiness. Next, verses 3–8 provide us with the chronology of key events:

vv. 3–4a—false prophets, corrupters, love shall change to hate, lawlessness increaseth.

vv. 4b–5—then shall appear the deceiver of the world [Antichrist] as a Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders and the earth shall be given over into his hands and he shall commit iniquities which have never been since the world began [great tribulation]. Then shall the creation of mankind come to the fiery trial and “many shall be offended” and be lost but “they who endure” in their faith [during the great tribulation] “shall be saved” [delivered from the day of the Lord] by the curse itself.

v. 6—And “then shall appear the signs” of the truth. First the sign spread out in Heaven, then the sign of the sound of the trumpet, and thirdly the resurrection of the dead [i.e., resurrection of the righteous].

v. 8—Then shall the world “see the Lord coming on the clouds of Heaven” [shekinah glory].

As is clearly indicated in the sequence above, the Didache understands that Antichrist will appear first before the coming of Christ to resurrect the righteous and deliver his faithful people who are alive.

Incidentally, it should be noted that in two earlier chapters of the Didache, it interprets the elect who are gathered in Matthew 24:31 as the “Church”: “so let thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth” Didache 9:4; and, “Remember, Lord, thy Church, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in thy love, and gather it together in its holiness from the four winds to thy kingdom which thou hast prepared for it” Didache 10:5.

It is fundamental to the prewrath position that the resurrection of the dead-righteous and the deliverance of the alive-righteous follow the Antichrist’s great tribulation. And this can be seen above in this Christian document. Our final authority is the Word of God and that is where we must find our inspired teaching for faith and practice. Even though it is not authoritatively binding, it is however wise to learn what others who have gone before us have said about the Bible. Church history can teach us a lot. Since this is the case, how much more weight carries for writings during the apostolic age such as the Didache!

 

 

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AmillennialismChurch HistoryHistoricismImminenceOlivet DiscoursePost-TribulationismPreterismPretribulationismPrewrathThessalonians 1&2

The Didache: The Very First Commentary on the Olivet Discourse in Church History

by Alan Kurschner
written by Alan Kurschner

The following is a brief note on the very first commentary in church history on the Olivet Discourse, which corroborates the biblical veracity of the prewrath position.

Prewrath eschatology affirms that the Bible teaches expectancy, not imminency of our Lord’s return. We believe that Christ could come back in any generation of the church, not at any moment. Pretribulational imminency, however, is a relatively new British/American teaching in church history that originated in the early 19th century by the Plymouth Brethren theologian John Nelson Darby. And if it is found in other parts of the world, it is only because it has been exported by American or British pretribulational missionaries since then. In contrast, the fundamental belief of the prewrath view reaches back to the very first century of the church.

The earliest attested Christian document outside of the New Testament writings is called, The Didache, written sometime between A.D. 50–120. There are two parts to it: (1) an instruction on the “Two Ways” and (2) a manual on church practice. The document concludes with a brief but salient commentary on Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. What is highly significant about the earliest commentary on Jesus’ teaching is that it explicitly places the coming of Christ to resurrect the dead after the Antichrist’s great tribulation, not before. Thus, it recognizes that the apostle Paul’s teaching on the resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4 is the same teaching that Jesus taught in Matthew 24. The Didache states:

“(4) For as lawlessness increases, they will hate and persecute and betray one another. And then the deceiver of the world [Antichrist] will appear as a son of God and “will perform signs and wonders,” and the earth will be delivered into his hands, and he will commit abominations the likes of which have never happened before [great tribulation]. (5) Then all humankind will come to the fiery test, and “many will fall away” and perish; but “those who endure” in their faith “will be saved” [delivered from the day of the Lord] by the accursed one himself. (6) And “then there will appear the signs” of the truth: first the sign of an opening in heaven, then the sign of the sound of a trumpet, and third, the resurrection of the dead [resurrection]—(7) but not of all; rather, as it has been said, “The Lord will come, and all his saints with him.” (8) Then the world “will see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven” [shekinah glory] (The Apostolic Fathers, Second Edition, Ed. Michael W. Holmes, 16:4–8).  Here is an online text of the document.

As is clearly shown the resurrection of the righteous follows after the Antichrist’s great tribulation.

The label “prewrath” is new, but its fundamental beliefs are ancient. Pretribulationism must wait 1,800 years to produce a document that teaches their theology!

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One Biblical Reason Why Judgment Day is Not on May 21, 2011

by Alan Kurschner
written by Alan Kurschner

The Bible gives at least five specific events that must occur before Judgment Day. In no particular order, they are:

1. Cosmic Disturbances (Joel 2:29-31)
2. Elijah must return (Malachi 4:5)
3. A great apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
4. Antichrist’s Revelation (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
5. The ungodly rejoicing that there is “peace and security” (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

None of these events have happened at this point.

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Dr. Robert Thomas and II Thessalonians 2

by Charles Cooper
written by Charles Cooper

Robert Thomas and II Thessalonians 2

A Critique by

Charles Cooper

Dr. Robert L. Thomas’ efforts to defend pretribulational imminence may be likened to gymnastic contortions with his exegesis of II Thessalonians 2:1-3, and suggest either a deliberate attempt to deceive his readers or an ignorance of the whole counsel of the Word of God. I refuse to believe either conclusion to be true. Therefore, I am at a loss to explain why Dr. Thomas takes the positions he does when seeking to interpret what some conclude is the most difficult passage for the pretribulational position to overcome.

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