David,
It seemed to me that the gist of your argument is that since
the “Day of the LORD” is not explicitly mentioned early on in
Matthew 24, then therefore the church must go through the
Tribulation. Sometimes the absence of something may infer
something else, yet it is not axiomatic that the absence of
something “proves” something else.
The early believers
struggled with the unfolding mystery doctrine of the body of
Christ, which had been hid since the beginning, and was
beginning to be clearly defined through the epistles of Paul.
The council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 shows some of the
struggles. Something new was happening, that wasn’t Israel.
However, at Acts 2 it was Israel, and it was a fulfillment of
old testament prophecies concerning Israel, which had not been
hid as a mystery, but were clearly prophesied. Israel was not
being replaced, on the contrary there were prophecies related
to Israel being fulfilled in the Gospels and in the earlier
parts of Acts, and there are prophecies related to Israel in
the last days, also, as is the case in Matthew 24 & 25.
Simply because they were his disciples that he spoke to in
Matthew 24 & 25, doesn’t mean that these are prophesies
for the mystery body of Christ - on the contrary, the Gospels
were fulfillments of clear old testament prophesies to Israel,
in the context of the children of Israel, and in accordance to
the law that Jesus fulfilled. Matthew 24 & 25 must be
looked at in the same context that whole Gospel of Matthew is
given in – it is about the promised King of Israel who came as
prophesied, performed the miracles as prophesied, was slain as
prophesied, and rose from the dead as prophesied. Jesus in
parables in chapter 13 showed that there is a mystery aspect
of the kingdom, which he didn’t expound upon until Paul wrote,
and he mentioned the church in Matthew chapters 16 & 18.
The mystery was for the most part still hid. So on the Mount
of Olives, his disciples asked first about the temple, since
Jesus had said that the stones would be thrown down – the
temple is in context with Israel. Also there are 12 apostles
for the twelve tribes of Israel:
Matthew
19:28 And
Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which
have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man
shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Also, there is one
apostle to the Gentiles, Paul:
Romans
11:13 For
I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the
Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
II
Timothy 1:11
Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a
teacher of the Gentiles.
Paul further
evidenced this by showing the difference of the committing the
gospel to the circumcision by Peter, with the committing of
the gospel to the uncircumcision by
Paul:
Galatians
2:7 But
contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the
uncircumcision was committed unto me, as
the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
8
(For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship
of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the
Gentiles:)
This mystery of the
body of Christ, which wasn’t the context of the Gospels and
much of Acts, is also not the context of the time of Jacob’s
trouble, the tribulation, which wasn’t a mystery like the
body, but had been prophesied in the old testament and by
Jesus in the gospels, is about Israel, which was not a
mystery, but was clearly the context of the old testament and
the gospels – and it is again with Israel that the prophesies
of the tribulation deal. So, like as there were children of
Israel who became believers in Acts 2 in fulfillment of the
prophet Joel, it will again be the children of Israel becoming
believers in the tribulation, who will face the things
prophesied in the old testament and spoken about by Jesus in
Matthew 24. The body of Christ, which was hid until it was
clearly revealed in the ministry of Paul, will also be hid
from the tribulation, by Jesus taking his bride away before he
turns back to his people Israel, to fulfill the prophecies
relating to them.
Thank you,
Gino