We are to watch and pray for the Lord’s return. We will help you do so by keeping our eyes on the signs of the times and reporting them to you. Jesus chastised the Pharisees for not knowing the signs of the times in His day. So He wants to us know the signs today, for they instill in us hope for the future and encourage us to evangelize the lost while there is still time.
While we admire this man’s confidence in Jesus’ promise to return for us, is this really what Jesus meant by watching for His appearing? Although our English word for “watch” fits such passive behavior as looking out a window, the word in the original implies an active watchfulness or alertness
What does Jesus tell us to do in light of His return? What do His instructions tell us?
Believers who do not know how to defend the book of Revelation can become easy prey for those who seek to rob them of its message of comfort and hope.
Why do I make such a seemingly outrageous claim?
It’s because even some pastors of Bible-believing churches relegate much of the book of Revelation to allegory. While they preserve the prophetic nature of some things, they taint the book with uncertainty through their allegorical interpretations.
Notes Johnson: “One is hard pressed to think that all of the great minds from St. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Charles Haddon Spurgeon, that though they had read I Thessalonians 4 failed to understand the important teaching of a pre-millennial, pre-tribulation rapture.”
Then he lashes out with his best, Sunday punch.
“Pre-tribulation rapture theology is at its foundation conceited!”
I do not subscribe to a mid-trib (for lack of a better term) scenario. Although I will tie up my thoughts in the summary of his volume, I want to give some context as to the why our Rapture is at the beginning of the 70th week, rather than the middle. Furthermore, if we understand that Scripture never ties the Rapture with the start the 70th Week of Daniel, we can see how and why a gap must be necessary.
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