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SELAH 1
And He changes the times and the seasons..
At a recent meeting in 2018 we were asked to comment on the remark made that, `Some people see the Rapture in the story of Noah'.
One of my concerns in the Christian world is that there is the persistent crossing-over from one Dispensation to another in Christian teaching, therefore sowing confusion amongst the respective adherents who merely repeat what has been said without checking Scripture for themselves. Indeed to further confuse the saints there are many teachers who do not accept the concept of Dispensations, preferring to teach or walk along an unbroken straight line. Again some `ministries' use the words from 1 Chronicles 12:32 recording Issachar and their understanding of the times and what Israel should do. There is nothing wrong in that but to use such Scripture as a title for a Ministry brings the danger of a limited view of what Israel should do. In the times of tremendous upheaval in Israel following David's victories, and through change in the administration of David's kingdom, the tribe of Issachar saw the need of stable government for Israel (which is needed in both `old' and `new' Israel) but such Scriptures should not be used to teach a return to the status quo ante of a National Secular Social Democratic Nation. For a more full understanding of the times, the `Church' needs to consider Daniel 2:21-22:
" And He changes the times and the seasons . . . . He gives wisdom
to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding. "
As you know the Book of Daniel was not included in the Prophetic Books of Hebrew Scripture for Daniel's calling was onto a world-wide stage to see how the surrounding nations would affect Israel, which was then in captivity in Babylon and is today very much in captivity through seeking assimilation into the nations which brought them into captivity - and here I am using the word `Israel' to include `old Israel' and the `Redeemed Israel' for they are two halves of the `one Israel'.
So much for the background of my continuous concern for `as in the days of Noah', and also the many and varied teachings on Matthew chapters 24 and 25. These clearly spoke to the Jewish people of those days but then carry on to those unbelieving Jews who have followed on since Peter's Declaration in the Temple Compound two thousand years ago. Matthew 24 and 25 refer to a coming Tribulation, the Day of Jacob's Trouble, which of course is in two parts of three and a half years each - that is, the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation. When speaking to His disciples here in Matthew's Gospel Jesus was referring back to an Age before the Patriarchs, to the times of Noah and the Noahic Covenant. That Covenant was given for all mankind regardless of colour, race or creed, and for all living creation, the beasts and `the trees of the field'. This Covenant was given that God would never again destroy the world by water, and the sign confirming this was the rainbow in the sky which could be seen by every living creature throughout all Ages as its ends touched and encompassed the world. This Covenant was for all people in all Ages, bearing witness to the Lordship and Grace of a Righteous God Who required only an obligation from all people to abide by His natural laws for their benefit and peaceful existence.
The Covenant given to Abraham, and confirmed to Isaac and Jacob, was given to a specific people chosen by God for His purpose, eternal and undergirded by the Everlasting Covenant. The Covenant given through Moses was limited in time and given to a specific chosen, called-out people. The New Covenant, spoken of by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, lays firmly within the Abrahamic Covenant - for the `New' is always first revealed in the `Old'. This `New Covenant' is seen within the events of Genesis 22 where Abraham is told to sacrifice his son Isaac, through whom the promises of God were to be fulfilled. Only at the very last moment of testing was a substitute sacrifice of `a ram caught by his horns in a thicket' provided! In Matthew 26 we find the `Ram of God', His strength `caught up in a thicket', saying to His disciples at the Passover Supper, `Take, eat, this is My Body'. Then He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, `Drink from it all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins'.
Therefore the words spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24 and 25 were spoken to the same specific past and continuous people of God chosen for His purposes, for the old is not dead but lives in the present, and together with it is fulfilled in a further Age as God determines. Jesus, in referring back to `the days of Noah', was referring to the End of an Age - that is, the Tribulation of the whole earth as in `the days of Noah' when `the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth' and Noah had built an ark in obedience. In those days yet to come `two men will be in a field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding corn at the mill, one will be taken and the other left'. These words of Jesus refer to the faithful remnant of `old Israel', seen in the 144,000 and the great multitude of Revelation 7 who have come to faith in Jesus as God's Messiah during those terrible times. `One will be taken (into the Ark), the other left to face the consequences of their final rejection of God's Grace. These chapters do not refer to the redeemed people of God of this earlier Age for they will have been `caught away to be with the Lord for ever'.
Just as the Covenant given through faithful Noah was for all humankind and all living creation, so the mention of it by Jesus in Matthew 24 and 25 is also for all of God's remaing creation and refers to the End of the Ages, when following the Kingdom of Heaven on earth the Messiah is again rejected in rebellion. A flood, this time of fire, will sweep all away and, `I, John, saw a New Heaven and a New Earth, for the first Heaven and the first Earth had passed away'. Such is the Forbearance and Grace of a Holy Righteous God for all who are created in His image! We trust this answers the remark that `some see the Rapture in the events of Noah's ark' and marks the end of our concern, and ask, as always, that you pause and carefully consider.
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You may E-mail us at: derek@northernstyletrust.com or Telephone (01493) 444494 (UK)
Our Web Address: www.northernstyletrust.com
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