The Rapture Exposed: A Theology of Hope for the End Times (Week
1)
Presupposition for this series: HOPE…
is what we have to offer
each other and the world…
Four Week Series
nSept.
20: Origins of Popular Views of the End
Times
nSept. 27:
The Rapture Exposed
nOct. 4:
A Tale of Two Cities and Before the Judgment Seat of Christ
nOct. 11:
Toward a Theology of Hope for the End Times
Here’s the rub…
Dominant Apocalyptic
myth of violence
Vs.
Our
Story
(a gospel of peace, redemption and reconciliation)
nFuture is not a matter of speculation—it is connected to
the present
nThe future is significant in informing our lives now—who
we are and what we do now…makes a difference for the future, too.
nAs
Christians, we are invited take both long view and immediate view—the Kingdom of God is now and not yet.
nThe Book of Revelation holds this tension marvelously.
The Vocabulary of the End Times
nApocalypse—literally, “unveiling”—think:
Toto in the Wizard of Oz
nRapture—simultaneous
transport of Christians into heaven—possibly mentioned in 1 Thes 4:16-17 (but part of plea of hope from Paul to Thessalonians—hang
in there…)
For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with
the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the
air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever.
nTribulation—seven
years period before the Parousia
nParousia-second coming
of Christ (like royalty)—literally, Come and stay with…
nArmageddon
(only reference: Rev. 16:16)—battle between Christ and the Beast
nDispensationalism—one
form of pre-millenialism
--successive dispensations (economies) (ages)
nInnocence (before
the Fall)
nConscience (Adam to Noah)
nGovernment
(Noah to Abraham)
nPatriarchal (Abraham to Moses)
nMosaic
Law (Moses to Christ)
nGrace (Current age, via Christ)
nMillenial (Current age? Or future? Or figurative?)
nPremillenialism—Christ will reign on earth for 1000 years
(after this current age and tribulation)—literally interprets Rev. 20:1-6
nPost-millenialism—Interprets
Rev. 20—Christ will come after a 1000 year period (figurative time?)—and he will defeat the forces of evil
Problem: This dispensationlist premillenialism
is not a long-lived thread of biblical scholarship…
nJohn
Nelson Darby (1800-1882)
nAnglican priest from London
n“Father
of Dispensationalism”
nIn 1830s, developed notion of “secret
rapture” in which faithful Christians are snatched away.
nScofield
Reference Bible (originally published in 1909)
nre-released
in 1917 at end of war—seemed prophetic at the time given the destruction and end of optimism and prosperity
nfirst widely read version that offered a full commentary in notes
ninterpreted
texts literally—e.g., calculated Creation at 4004BC
nheld a premillenialist
view and focused on dispensationalism
Movement
Gains Traction
nHal Lindsey (1970s)
nThe Late Great Planet Earth
nCold
War and Nuclear Holocaust lead to the Apocalypse.
nTim LaHaye
and Jerry Jenkins (1990s)
nLeft Behind series
nstory designed to identify with disaster/destruction/violence
nVideo
Game—Left Behind: Eternal Forces (2000)
npostmillennial
warriors fight the anti-Christ and slay those left behind
All
this violence has found its way into mainstream American Christianity and into American politics.
So how do we retain hope for the future?
Fight against prevailing notions:
nModern notion that
religion no longer needed—human meaning is found within ourselves—there is no justice higher than human justice--leads
to cynicism, the weak lose, the strong gain, but in the end none of it matters—we will fail (tragic whimper)
nModern notion within religion that apocalyptic violence is the answer—evokes
fear.
Neither cynicism or fear are helpful stimuli—not
good (of God)
A Third Way: Proclaim the Gospel
npromise
of transformation of all…
ndevelop an alternative
vision for the future that involves HOPE
nA new “economy” (oikumene)
Revelation: A Tale of Two Cities
What we know about “John”
nIdentifies
himself as
n“servant of God” (1.1)
n“brother
who shares the sufferings” of those to whom he is writing (1.9)
nProphet (1.3, 22.7ff)
nJewish (well-versed in Ezekiel and Daniel)
nNative
of Palestine who fled to Asia Minor
nFamiliar with circumstances of the seven
Christian communities he addresses (itinerant preacher/prophet/apostle?)
nNot
the same John as author of gospel or epistles
Setting for the book
nCode Name:
Rome=“Babylon” (14.8, 16.19, 17.5, 18.2, 10, 21)
nTemple destroyed
(70 CE)
nPersecutions abound (1.9, 2.10, 12.17)
nExecutions
also (2.13, 6.9-11, 13.15, 17.1, 18.24, 20.4)
nPart of “apocalyptic”
genre of literature (Daniel, Enoch, part of Ezekiel, parts of gospels)
nApocalypse:
“revelatory vision about the future or the heavenly world, or both”
nOften
very dualistic (present evil vs. future age of blessing)
nWorldly clash (bet/
faithful minority and wicked majority) reflects cosmic battle bet/ God and Satan
nPresupposition:
after some time of great suffering, God will intervene (messiah?) and act decisively to vindicate the faithful and punish
their oppressors
Revelation 1:10-13
I
was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Write in a book
what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia,
and to Laodicea.’
Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning
I saw seven golden lampstands*, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe
and with a golden sash across his chest. (cf. Daniel 7.13)
*lampstands:
menorahs that burn continuously (Exodus 27.20-21, Lev 24:2-4)
A
Tale of Two Cities
nRev. 17-18
nGreat
Whore (“the great city that rules over the kings of the earth”)
nWritten
on her forehead: “Babylon the great, mother of whores and of earth’s abominations.”
nDrunk
with the blood of the saints and martyrs
nSitting on a beast with seven heads (seven
hills, seven kings) and ten horns (ten kings in the east)
nWaters around her
(the peoples of the nations) who will turn on her
Progression
toward the End
nRev. 18.2: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon
the great!
nThen the vision of the Defeat of God’s Adversaries
(along with rejoicing in heaven)
nThe Final Defeat of Satan
nThe
Dead are Judged
nTwo Books
nLake
of Fire
nAfter all this, then New Heaven and a New Earth
A New Heaven and a New Earth
Rev. 21: 3-4:
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they
will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
nv.5: And the one who was seated on the throne said,
“See, I am making all things new.”
God’s
Will: To heal, not destroy
Next
Week:
The Rapture Exposed:
Ge, Kosmos, and Oikumene
