Only What the Bible Teaches, Not Opinions- God’s Got it Covered 

1. Watch and be Ready

In his book, Ancient Church Fathers what the Disciples of the Apostles Taught Dr. Ken Johnson goes through the writings of the early church fathers. Some of the information below contains quotes from that book. For the first 200 years, the early leaders of the Church all agreed on the basic doctrines. But by 300 A.D. allegorizing the Bible had become widespread.

The disciples of the Apostles taught Premillennialism, which means that Jesus will return to earth in the future, and set up a Kingdom that will last for a literal 1,000 years (Millennium) as prophesied in the Scripture. Jesus will reign from the city of Jerusalem. Prior to this, there will be a seven-year period during which the Antichrist will rule the Earth. During the last days, the Jews will return and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. In the years, A.D. 200–300, a movement arose teaching that these doctrines were symbolic of historical events.

Polycarp traveled with the Apostle John, who died in 118 AD, for more than 20 years. Polycarp had a disciple named Irenaeus. A young Irenaeus knew John, and would ask Polycarp to ask John to answer questions like what does 666 mean. Irenaeus wrote Against Heresies in it he said that those Premillennial prophecies above must be fulfilled. Against Heresies 5.35 “these are literal things, and Christians who allegorize them are immature.”

There are teachings that some of the main line denominations hold to today that are not contained in the Scripture or taught by the early church fathers. One of those is Amillennialism. It teaches that there is a Second Coming then comes Heaven. They leave out that the Messiah has an Earthly Kingdom, which he will rule with a rod of iron. You know, the lion will lie down with the lamb stuff, see Isaiah 65:16-25. We as Christians will be in our eternal state. 

Because the 1000 year Millennium period is mentioned only in the book of Revelation, the focus is on how Revelation should be properly interpreted. Most of the older denominations do not believe it should be interpreted, literal, or, at least, never talk about it. By the fourth century, Amillennialism was the standard, and the legend that the book of Revelation was never originally designed to be read, or studied by the average Christian was firmly in place.

Revelation has details but most future prophecy is in other scripture, Daniel, Isaiah, Matt 24 etc. A person can teach almost complete End Times truth without using the book of Revelation.

Revelation starts with, 1:1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. 

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw--that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 

3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

 Revelation ends with, 22:10 And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 20 Jesus says, “I AM coming soon!” Amen come Lord Jesus!

 I’m a big Jesus guy; I’ll take his advice, and not in some Church tradition. He is calling us not to seal up, but to take Revelation to heart and by reading it to be blessed by it.      

After his Resurrection, Jesus met two disciples on the road to Emmaus that were downcast after the crucifixion, Luke 24. Jesus scolded them for not applying prophecies, to understand that he fulfilled the qualifications for the Messiah. Is this an example for us today that we are going to be held accountable for including prophecy as a part of our Christian hope?

Luke 24:25 Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. 26 Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” 27 Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

We are not supposed to set dates for Christ’s return, but some do. Some people will refer to them as examples of why we should not examine prophecy. This is called a “Straw Man” argument, not addressing but skirting around the subject. We must use the Bible only, not someone’s opinion. Some will use Matthew 24:36 to discourage people from understanding the basics of Bible prophecy. In it Jesus said, “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.”

 

Every person in Jewish society knew this expression; it is from the Jewish wedding ceremony. The father was in charge of telling the son when he could go get his bride, only he knew when.

John 14 describes some of this; the groom would go to the bride’s house to pay a dowry. Then go to his father’s house to build an addition for himself and his future bride. About one year later the father would tell the son to get his bride, usually in the middle of the night. The bride would meet him outside her house, and go to the groom’s father’s house for the ceremony.

 

 In John 14:1 Jesus says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 

2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” (At the Father’s House, Heaven)

 

The “imminent” return of Christ. The New Testament writers taught and believed that Jesus would return in their life times: James 5:7-9, 1 Peter 4:7, Rev. 1:3, 22:7,10,12, 20 and many more.

Jesus himself tells us to watch and to stay alert for him coming for his Bride, because it could happen at any moment. That is what is meant by the term “imminent.” The opposite of staying alert and being ready for Jesus’ return is to scoff at it, ignore, or even allegorize it.

2 Peter 3:3 …in the last days scoffers will come mocking the truth… 4 They will say, “Where is the ‘coming’ he promised? …everything goes on as it has since the begging of creation.”

 

Mark 13:33 And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert! 34 “The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip…35 You, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know when the master of the household will return—37 I say to you what I say to EVERYONE: Watch for him!”

 

Prophecy’s purpose is to comfort us! If you miss that you miss the whole thing. A major theme in the entire Bible is that, this is not the perfect world that God created, and that he is going to judge this fallen one. After that he will create a “New Heavens and Earth.”  We as Christians are “the children of God.” We will never be judged of our sins, they were paid for by Jesus, the Son of God, on the Cross. We are not appointed to the judgement and the wrath of God. That will be against the unbelievers at the end of things, please read Isaiah 24, Mat. 24.

Jesus said that, “everything written about him WILL come true” (Isaiah 53 is an example). He’s not pleased when some allegorize or spiritualize his Bible or ignore it.

Prophecy is difficult to put together but it's our HOPE, not our doom, after all it’s more than ¼ of the Bible! If someone tells you that they don't do prophecy, tell them, "What a shame, there's a great chapter in Isaiah that is real powerful, Isaiah 53."

We are commanded to "Watch and be Ready".

2. Hope at the End Times

Romans 8:18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. 21 All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

 23 And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 

24 Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.

God has promised mankind justice, also in Romans 8 Paul says that Creation is waiting for the “do over” after the judgement, for itself. There is more going on here then we know.

God is the righteous judge and for the unsaved world, it is a terrible thing to fall in the hands of the living God, Hebrews 10: 31. For the saved, there is NO condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus, Rom. 8:1 and “we are not appointed to wrath,” because we are the “Children of God” by our faith in the completed work of Christ.

The end of things is scary stuff. In Isaiah 24 where God judges the world, and at the end, the earth wobbles and staggers like a drunk, and never recovers. Then God judges the rulers of the heavens, that’s the fallen angels, and the rulers of the Earth.

Apocalyptic stuff! The judgment of God is on a sinful world, and also the fallen angelic realm. I heard someone say one time, if you’re being harassed by the dark side; remind them that the “great white throne judgment” is coming, Rev 20:12. They are terrified of their coming judgment. When Jesus cast the demons into the pigs the demons said, “have you come to judge us BEFORE the time?” The Bible, without the book of Revelation, is full of this stuff.

 

Paul tells Titus in 2:13 that: Looking for that “blessed hope,” and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; So how can Paul say to Titus it’s our “blessed hope” when Judgement is connected to his coming?

In second Peter 3, Peter describes the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men where the heavens disappear with a roar the elements will be destroyed by fire. Then he says, “look forward to the day of God”, and he says “we are looking forward to a new heaven and new earth” also” dear friends since you were looking forward to this.” Wow this is something he says the first century church was excited about.

Isaiah 42: 8 “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols. 9 Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.”

In another verse, God says that “He knows the end from the beginning.”

For God, who stands outside of time, he’s not like we would think, predicting this, he’s telling us what will happen. In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth by speaking them into being. His ways are above our ways, and too high for us to understand, that includes telling the future before it happens.