My Approach to Prophecy
Part II
by Harley Pinon
In My Approach to Prophecy, I tried to outline my basic approach to understanding prophecy, so what is "Part II"? After many months of teaching after putting my first list together, I realized that there are some understandings that I have come to have that affect my basic understanding and approach to scripture. These understandings may cause me to approach scripture with certain expectations that others do not have, so I have decided that I should spell those out the best way that I know how.
God isn't through with the earth! -- It isn't all bad.
Some people have a very negative view of the earth. One woman, in conversation said, "This old earth . . .," and said it with contempt for the earth. That may be an extreme, but many Christians seems to look upon this earth as something that is almost disgusting. Something that we need to get rid of.
My view has become very different from that. I see the earth as a beautiful creation of God. I see problems with the earth, of course. The water vapor canopy has collapsed, and that means great extremes of temperature on the earth. Some places on earth will be many degrees below zero while at the same time, there are other places with temperatures well over 100o, yet this problem could be solved with the restoration of the water vapor canopy.
I guess to make it simple, what I see happening is what Peter was preaching about when he said, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, {20} "and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, {21} "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:19-21 NKJV)
Just look at that verse and all that it says. "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things." "The restoration of all things!" If you take that statement literally, what does it mean? I take it that it means Jesus is in heaven until God decides to put this earth back the way it was originally -- you know! Like the Garden of Eden! When everything was beautiful.
(Isa 11:6-8 NKJV) "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. {7} The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. {8} The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den." Now what is difficult about this passage?
Some may find it difficult to believe "the bear shall graze," but this is simply
restoring things to the state before the flood. Genesis 1:30 is pretty
clear: "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every
bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is
life, I have given every green herb for food"; and
it was so." Now, if you just put what I have written in read, you have a
pretty simple statement: "To every beast of the earth,
I have given every green herb for food" That
seems pretty plain to me, but maybe we can understand things better if we add
another passage. Meat was added to man's diet, and I assume it was at that
time that meat was added to the diet of animals. I wish the text were more
complete, but notice what it says, (Gen 9:3-5 NKJV)
"Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I
have given you all things, even as the green herbs. {4} "But you shall
not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. {5}
"Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every
beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every
man's brother I will require the life of man." My point is that it appears
from the account in Genesis 1 that animals originally did not eat other animals.
If God restores the earth as it was, then that would make (Isa 11:6-8) a
reality.
What's difficult for some people is that they have the "This old earth. . ." mentality. A thinking that says, "This earth is terrible! It's just a temporary "holding cell" until we can get a decent place to live. What these forget is that this world is a beautiful place. I still see the beauty of nature all around me. I still see the sweetness, gentleness, and kindness of God in all the little babies and young animals of God's creation. Who doesn't see something cute and innocent in a baby chick that just broke out of an egg shell, or a baby puppy, or a baby, almost anything. God is an awesome God! He is an awesome Creator. Sin and the devil have played havoc with God's beautiful earth, but He made it, and He can an will restore it.
"I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. {8} Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession." (Psa 2:7-8 NKJV) What does this passage say? Is it meaningless? What does it mean if God is through with this earth? If it is just something to be disposed of, why would He speak of giving it to Christ? Who would want "This old earth. . ."? No, I don't think God is through with this earth. I think the passages above, and numerous others, speak of a restored glorious earth.
God isn't through with Israel either! -- Even if we think He should be.
Many would like to make the church spiritual Israel, and then transfer all the promises about Israel to the church. I don't believe it works that way. When we begin thinking in those terms, then all kinds of things get out of line, and prophecy becomes confusing beyond recognition of what has and will take place. What is the basis of what I'm saying. The passages of scripture that refer to God's future dealings with Israel are many, but we will deal with only a few to keep this as short as practical.
(Rom 11:25-29 NKJV) For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. {26} And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; {27} For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." {28} Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. {29} For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
There are many thoughts in those few verses. I've colored a few just to help with some of the important concepts. "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." Again, this is an idea expressed more than once, and it implies that this time of the Gentiles has an end. We are in the time of the Gentiles. I am a Gentile. Most Christians today are Gentiles, but times will change. God will deal with Israel. Do I understand it? Does it matter? What matters is that Almighty God said He would do it, and that's really all that matters. He is Almighty, and sense He is, there is no way to stop Him from doing what He plans to do, and why would anyone want to?
The verse says the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Simply put, that means they cannot be changed. Who gets the benefit? The Jewish people. Why? because they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. If you are familiar with the Old Testament, you are aware that God had many people He loved. He made them great promises, and He always kept His promise. He made great promises to David, yet his son Solomon made a terrible mess of his life which included going along with the idolatry of his 1,000 wives. God was angry, but would not tear the kingdom from him. Why? "For my servant, David's sake." David appears to still be a part of God's plans for the future. When we read for the sake of the fathers. we better listen. Is God through with Israel? My Bible says, no, so what I have to say about it doesn't really make any difference in what is going to happen.
God will establish His Kingdom here on earth and I'm not referring to the establishment of the church.
Christ taught us to pray, "Your kingdom come.
Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven."
I've heard people say, "Don't
pray that part of the prayer because that has already happened. The church
is the kingdom. The church has been established, so stop praying 'thy
kingdom come.'" I have a problem: "Your will be
done On earth as it is in heaven." isn't happening.
Christ is coming to set up a kingdom. As the Lord was about to ascend into
heaven, we read, "Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him,
saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" {7} And He
said to them, "It is not for you to know times or
seasons which the Father has put in His own authority." (Acts 1:6-7
NKJV) Notice what He said, "It is not for you to
know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority."
He didn't say, that's a very poor question. You just don't
understand. You are to go into Jerusalem and you will receive power for
God, and then you will set up the kingdom.
Summary
So as I study and as I teach, my understanding of scripture assumes these statements. They help establish my way of thinking about prophecy and things that are yet to be.
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