5 Common Mistakes When Studying End Time Prophecy

There seems to be a growing interest in the study of end time prophecy (eschatology) these days within the Body of Christ, or perhaps I should say a growing emphasis upon the subject, as a reaction to the recent developments in the Middle East, in North America and in the rest of the world. This is certainly nothing new. In the past, many have predicted the return of Jesus Christ and have worked up their followers into a kind of frenzy of anticipation, embracing charts and commentaries on ancient Bible prophecy, convinced they know the hidden answers. Unfortunately, many end up deceived, disappointed and often disillusioned. Jesus said: "Take heed that no man deceive you." (Matthew 24:4) The problem lies with men teaching the ideas of men and other men falling for it. We need to be led by the Spirit of God which is the Spirit of truth.

Today I am seeing various false teachings arise within the Church, some terribly influential, others gaining strength, taking captive many to their subtle impositions. Much of this is the direct result of unintentional deception, where members are ignorantly teaching something they have only been fooled into believing; but the uglier side of this points to the schemes and lies of the devil trying to lead astray precious souls from God. We then can find ourselves dealing with false prophets and false teachers or worse. The important thing to remember is the warning and exhortation of Christ Jesus our Lord: "Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." (Mark 14:38) If ever there was a time to watch, it is now.

End time prophecy is a fascinating and relevant part of the Word of God, constituting nearly 40 percent of the entire Bible, and oh how we need Christians to begin to rightly divide the word of truth in this area for our day. Eschatology is incredibly practical, utterly fundamental and desperately essential; I wholeheartedly encourage people to dig the mines of this valuable treasury, but let us make sure we do so correctly so to avoid fallaciousness.


THE 5 COMMON MISTAKES OF END TIME STUDY

When studying end time prophecy, I have observed five very common mistakes that Christians fall into which opens the gate for false teachings to flood in. This article is written as an introductory overview in the hope of raising the awareness of these errors and curbing future misconceptions that corrupt the intended meanings of Biblical prophecies. I can only pray that the reader will remember these as he/she continues to study or be taught the subject.

1. Starting from the Wrong Place
One very common mistake people make when studying about the end times is that they immediately jump into the book of Revelation, or the book of Daniel, or any of the expressly difficult, apocalyptic books that contain much imagery and symbolism, and thereby attempt to paint a description of what will take place at the close of the age. In doing this they break one of the most elementary rules of Biblical hermeneutics, and that is: that figurative Scripture is to be interpreted by literal Scripture and not the other way around. Error occurs when people draw a scenario from the book of Revelation and then try and re-interpret the words of Jesus or the words of Paul to fit their figuratively conceived notions.

Where students of end time prophecy should start when they begin to study the Scriptures is at the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'The Word of God', and secure what He has to say about the subject before proceeding further into the abstract content. Our Lord spoke very plainly and clearly about His own return; what better place to start than with the One to whom these things concern? In essence, it is like building a house. The first thing to do before assembling the frame is to lay down a solid foundation where the rest of the house will be aligned and set. If the foundation is straight, the house will be straight. It is also like constructing a human skeleton from a pile of bones. It is very difficult to deduce which bone is which and where each fits, but if you establish first the spine, then the rest of the bones fall into place one by one from that anchor point. It is exactly the same when studying Bible prophecy. Make sure you begin at the right place to avoid future error. The right place to start is with Jesus.

2. Reading Beyond the Text: Imposing a Presupposition
This fallacy applies not only to Bible prophecy but also to any study of the Word of God. It is the error of reading the Scriptures with a preconceived idea and imposing it into the text without plainly receiving what is actually being said. Simply put: it is pressing 'truth' into the content instead of drawing truth from the content. Our understanding of Scripture must be so pure that if someone else across the world were to read the same thing we would both come out with the same conclusion. I am not negating the fact that some passages of Scripture are more difficult than others, but regardless of difficulty, we must forcibly refrain from any and every speculation or interpretation that is not plainly drawn from Scripture. I believe it is for this reason that there is so much division and falsity within the Church regarding doctrine. We must remember 2 Peter 1:20 and hold to it doggedly, which is: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." If you do not know the meaning, do not guess! Simply take away with you what is plain until God makes the rest clear.

Let me draw an example for clarity using a straightforward Scripture that has been repeatedly abused in this way. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 reads: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Now from this very Scripture amazing speculation has been deduced. It is said:

1) this is not the coming of the Lord Jesus
2) this is a secret snatching away of the Church
3) this will not be seen, heard or felt by anyone but the Christians
4) this preludes "the Great Tribulation"
and so forth...

Now the question is, where in this Scripture did they read this? Try going back and reading the Scripture again to find these imaginations; they cannot be found! How could a person without any previous predilection gather these points from these words of the apostle Paul? The answer is simply: they have imposed their speculation within the text. These ideas could not have been concluded by the simple reading of the passage. The important key to remember in all this so as to avoid error is to only seek the pure milk of God's Word and not the modified chocolate milk from a man-induced manufactory (1 Peter 2:2). Be ever so keen on this one.

3. Misunderstanding the Church
Biblical prophecy deals primarily with three specific groups: Jacob (the unbelieving Jewish people), the Church (the redeemed of God) and the heathen nations (everyone else), termed Goyim in Hebrew. Most people haven't any trouble understanding who the Goyim are and can identify them quite easily within Scripture, however, we cannot say the same about the other two companies. Doctrinal error can arise from failing to determine which people group is being conveyed at the time, and so it is important to take notice of the context of the passage; precisely who is speaking and to whom. Yet although it is necessary to give mention of this point, there is a far deeper mistake in this area that needs to be addressed.

Failure to discern the Body of Christ, which is the Church of the living God, and having a skewed understanding of who the Bride is, is a serious mistake commonly made today. Many Christians hold to a false idea that the Church has replaced the nation of Israel as God's chosen people (Replacement Theology), or others have believed that the Church is a totally distinct entity from Israel, so that Jews who believe in Jesus essentially give up their Jewishness (Dispensationalism). Let me remind us of some basic Biblical facts:

First of all, the word "Church" comes from the Greek word "ecclesia" which means "the called out ones". "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:5) Our Father in heaven is preparing a Bride for His Son Jesus, made up of those who are called out of the world according to the foreknowledge and wisdom of God. The Church did not begin some time in A.D., but truly began when men began to call upon the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. It is not New Testament exclusive, but has been in motion since the foundation of the world. It is the household of Messianic faith. Hebrews chapter 11, known as the Hall of Faith, records those great individuals who laid hold of God through faith and won the good report. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses... all part of the company of saints. Verse 13 states: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Indeed the "called out ones" span the ages of time and the old racial barrier. Jew, Greek, slave, free, male, female, old, young... there is no boundaries upon who is in Christ.

Therefore, when we speak of the Church, or the ecclesia, we are talking about all those of the household of faith, the spiritual Israel, the Israel of God. Hebrews 12:1 recognizes a "great cloud of witnesses", John sees the Bride of Christ descending from heaven comprised of those whose named are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, Paul, when speaking of the coming of the Lord, describes the whole Body of Christ being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, starting with the resurrection of the dead, and followed by those "which are alive and remain", making it clear that the Church is not simply a body of presently existent Christians (Matthew 22:31-32). This is a large topic in itself which requires further explanation, but knowing the universal nature of the Church will significantly keep you from error.

4. Misunderstanding the Great Tribulation
This one misunderstanding, deliberate or not, has cost the Church much regression in the study of eschatology. The problem lies with Christians making the mistake of calling the great tribulation (a time prophesied as occurring immediately prior to the coming of the Lord) the wrath of God (the judgment prophesied as manifesting with the coming of the Lord) This simply is not true, and just as Jesus said: "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." There is much to be said about this fallacy, but I will only touch briefly upon it for the sake of this being introductory:

Our Lord Jesus first used the phrase 'great tribulation' when speaking of the prophecy of Daniel to His disciples on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:21), a conversation later called 'the Olivet Discourse'. He said: "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." Now notice that Jesus does not say "then shall be THE Great Tribulation", but merely 'then shall be great tribulation'. Too often we have a romanticized picture of what that time is all about. 'Great tribulation' is translated "megas thlpsis", meaning "big pressure". The fact is, ever since the beginning of Creation until the present day there has always been the reality of pressure. Jesus referred to this as "birth pains" or "sorrows" (see Matthew 24:8). As we grow closer and closer unto the end of the age, so do these birth pains grow in intensity and frequency; simply ask a mother who has gone through labour. The nearer to the return of Christ the more pressure is applied. Jesus purely said that in the end there would be great pressure, such as the world has never before experienced. This, my dear friends, is not the wrath of God but the groaning of creation, the painful road to deliverance, the necessary labour towards the advent of Christ and the mounting opposition of the enemy, the devil, who is trying everything he can to prevent the establishment of the Kingdom of God upon the Earth. But glory to God, we know what the end shall be, and what a glorious end! "Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." (John 16:20-22) Hallelujah!

Regarding the wrath of God, we know clearly from Scripture that when Christ the King shall appear, "...out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." (Revelation 19:15; see also Revelation 6:16 and 14:10) With Christ comes the wrath of Almighty God. With the Evil One comes great tribulation. There is no reasonable cause for confusion.

5. Handling Prophecy Chronologically
We come now to the fifth and final common mistake when studying Biblical prophecy, and that is in the mishandling of prophecy by assuming a neat and tidy chronological order of revelation. It is interesting to note that no well-versed Bible scholar would concede that the prophetic books of the Bible are chronological: Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Zechariah, for example, are all highly discursive (jumping from one subject to another) and segmented in their order of vision. If you were to read these books supposing an orderly sequence of events the final outcome would be confusing and inconstructible. Is it not characteristically the pattern of God to reveal unto His people discursive dreams and visions? I remember one night I received a vision in four separate segments; the first of which I saw myself as an elderly man; the remaining three I was my normal age. This may not seem logical to us, who would reason putting the eldest vision at the end, but our ways are not His ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

However, though Christians acknowledge Biblical prophecy is understood discursively rather than consecutively, many people fail to apply that same consistency to the book of Revelation and flagrantly handle it as if it were a chronologically received vision, thus falling into two large dilemmas. First, if you consider the book of Revelation in this way, you will find the vision at odds with what Jesus, Paul and the other Bible prophets disclosed about the things of the end. Secondly, you will find numerous discrepancies within the vision itself (for example, the baby Jesus being born in the end times? After the antichrist comes? Revelation 12:5) The book of Revelation is not one long grandiose vision that John received in perfect chronological order, but a variety of short discursive visions which he received back-to-back, the junction of these scenes being his repeated phrase, "I saw". Therefore the book cannot be treated any differently than the other prophetic books before it. To do so would be hermeneutically unrealistic.


THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

I certainly hope that by these brief points your study of eschatology and Biblical prophecy will be rooted and grounded in proper Scriptural understanding after a sincere love of the truth. The Lord did not set out to confuse His people in this area, but rather desires for us to know and apprehend these matters, even more so as the great Day approaches. May we always seek to be filled with the precious Holy Spirit of promise, that He may give light and understanding to our dark and feeble minds; light we so desperately need in this rapidly approaching midnight hour.

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." (John 16:13)