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THE GREAT EXCHANGE

Part XXXV

In Part XXXIV of The Great Exchange, we introduced the conflict between Amillennialism (which preaches a “Spiritualized” version of the 1,000 year reign of the LORD on the earth as the “church age”), and the Futurist view (now dominated by Future prophetic scenarios, including the “Jewish Fables” of the Rapture Cult).

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine…And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (II Timothy 4:4).

We also noted how a subset of Amillennalism is the faulty idea of Preterism, where all prophecy was supposedly fulfilled in the first century, with no trace of events in the last 2,000 years foreseen in the prophecies of the Bible. 

Preterists say the tribulation already occurred in 70 AD, at the siege in Jerusalem by the Romans.

Classic Rapture Cult doctrine, insisting on the complete separation of the “Church” and “Israel,” even tells us the revelation of the body of Christ is never seen in the Old Testament.

When we review the development of Christian doctrine since the time of the cross, a striking picture emerges. The short version is, we’ve learned that by examining the flow of changing doctrine within the Christian church over the course of centuries, our inspection regularly reveals Satan’s fingerprints at the scene of the crime.

The Holy Spirit warned the believers from the earliest time that such a circumstance would develop, and that particular admonition is found in the New Testament.

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3).

Jude goes on to address how “ungodly men” had already introduced heretical ideas into the body of Christ, and the teachings which were destined to flower into sophisticated false doctrines throughout the Christian era.

The heresies being addressed were brought in by men who were destined to be vessels of dishonour:

“[Such men] were before of old ordained to this condemnation” (Jude 1:4).

With the foreordination of these “filthy dreamers” (Jude 1:8) who “defile the flesh” through the doctrine embedded in their “great swelling words” (Jude 1:16), there is every indication the apostasies mentioned will continue until the “judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6).

Thus, the Christian era is indirectly addressed through the reference to the heresies mentioned in the text – and that is precisely what we have seen ever since the Christian age was inaugurated.

We note that Jude also mentions the Spiritual “chains” we mentioned in last weeks’ installment of The Great Exchange, which are said to bind the Devil for 1,000 years, during the Millennial Reign of Christ, spoken of in Revelation.

“The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6).

This verse actually provides an important clue concerning sequence, as it subtly points out just one of the inconsistencies in the Amillennial view. Remember, the non-Millennialists claim the “thousand years” (Revelation 20:4) of Christ’s reign on the earth is symbolic of the entire Christian age.

When Jude speaks of the fallen angels who “left their own habitation” (Jude 1:6), he was obviously referring to the Nephilim episode in Genesis, when “the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men” (Genesis 6:4), and bred hybrids who became the “mighty men” of the pre-flood epoch.

These evil angels were said to have taken any of the women “which they chose” for themselves, motivating them to abandon their heavenly “estate” (Genesis 6:2, Jude 1:6). Their infamous account is a Prophetic Parallel of the notorious tale of Sodom and Gomorrah, as the homosexual desire of “going after strange flesh” (Jude 1:7) was another Temporal Recapitulation of the unnatural union of fallen angels and the daughters of men.

To rephrase that thought, the aberrant nature of two classes of the creation – angels and human women – blended to produce an unholy physical third, that was Prophetically Paralleled in the unscriptural joining of the same sex of human kind in order to generate an unholy spiritual third – a perverted form of self centered carnal pleasure – as opposed to the heaven ordained, mutually enjoyable reproduction of the species.

“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another” (Romans 1:26, 27).

However, there is another point that may be made from the Scripturally stated Prophetic Parallel of these iniquitous incidents.

When Jude noted the “chains” which were used to bind the fallen angels who crossed over to the earthly realm, the episode occurred well before the giving of the law of the Old Testament; yet the “chains” which the Amillennialists tell us bind Satan during the Millennial Reign of Christ are the result of the victory of Christ at the cross – in the Christian era.

Remember, the Amils claim the verses referencing the reign of Jesus for 1,000 years is symbolic of the entire “church” age. Thus, since the “chains” mentioned in Jude reference a completely different timeline than the “chains” which bind the Devil during the Millennium, the theological divisions of differing timelines serves to confuse the issue. 

Something is wrong here, and it’s not the Scriptures, as they are the Word of God which “cannot be broken” (John 10:35).

What is amiss is our perception of the descriptions found in the Bible that reference time, as well as Spiritual locale, in addition to other aspects of the characteristics conveyed in the text.   

A good example of this myopia in our point of view is found when Jesus confronts the cluster of devils in the well known episode of the Gadarene madman. In that revealing account, Jesus arrived at the land of the Gadarenes, which was reached through travel over the sea.

“And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs” (Luke 8:27).

When we read stories like this, we tend to overlook what some might call the big picture, as our minds move right into the details of the story – and in this process, we fail to appreciate the setting seen in the Scripture which shows us the additional meaning, in which the Word of God informs us that Jesus traversed over the sea, to the land in order for this sequence of events to commence. 

“Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake” (Luke 8:22).

This type of statement is foundational to our understanding, as we’ve repeatedly sought to show how Prophetic Metaphor has many elements of doctrine imbedded within the various accounts. Once again, we refer to this phenomena as Apocalyptic Linguistics (see the book of the same name).

As we continue the recitation of the tale of the Gadarene madman, we  learn about the circumstances of the man that was mercilessly oppressed  by a multitude of devils.

“For oftentimes [the unclean spirits] had caught him: and he was bound with chains….and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness” (Luke 8:29).

The allegorical picture that begins to emerge is one of a shifting battlefield. The war against the Angelic Rebel Coalition (which we call the ARC) that raged in the heavenly sphere, featured divinely empowered Spiritual “chains” which bound Satan “a thousand years,” and they were not broken.

The text is indicating that when the “dragon and his angels” fought and “prevailed not” in the “war in heaven” (Revelation 12:7,8), the evil spirits were “cast out into the earth, and [the dragon’s] angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9).

With the account of the Gadarene madman, who involuntarily hosted thousands of Devils (his name was legion in the text), the metaphor communicated is telling us that, on his own, mankind is helpless to stop the unclean spirits.

“[The devils] coming out of the tombs [the place of Death], [were] exceedingly fierce…and he was kept bound with chains and with [foot shackles] and he brake the bands” (Matthew 8:28, Luke 8:29).

The imagery is clearly related to Spiritual captivity, which is one of the primary characteristics of the Spiritual power of the False Prophet – as opposed to Antichrist. Since the Gadarenes (also seen as Gergesenes in Matthew 8) were Gentiles, this not only documents a literal sequence of events as Jesus confronts, and then casts out the devils, it also serves as a text with enormous allegorical applications, as it anticipates the fact that Christ was already functioning in the role of the Mediator – long before the calling of the Gentiles.

“And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

As the text indicates the devils had taken the Gadarene captive, we see the release from captivity that Christ spoke about so frequently.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me…he hath sent me to…proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1).

In order to fulfill His great mission, the Son of God crossed over (Luke 8:22) the Spiritual “sea,” to the “earth” to rescue mankind. Further, we see the body of Christ, during what we now call the “church age,” was also able to cast out devils.

“And the seventy [disciples] returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name” (Luke 10:17).

Thus, Isaiah’s prophecy which referenced the “Spirit of the LORD God,” which was given by Jesus to His assembled body [the translated “church”], in order to bring about “the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1), predicted the supernatural abilities endowed on the believers.  Further, the authority given to the saints continues throughout the Christian age.

Moreover, both the Amillennialists and the Rapture Cult have been blinded (John 12:40), so they are unable to recognize the fulfillment of the exceedingly detailed prophecies in Daniel, which address the entire span of the Christian era, including the Holy Roman Empire and Imperial Spain that Prophetically Paralleled the Old Testament era kingdoms of Egypt and Assyria.

These two kingdoms were followed by the Christian era quartet of kingdoms predicted to rise in Daniel 7, as the British Commonwealth (the “lion” kingdom of Daniel 7:4), the Soviet Union (the “bear” kingdom of Daniel 7:5), Nazi Germany (the “leopard” kingdom of Daniel 7:6), and America (the “diverse” beast kingdom of Daniel 7:7).

In other words, the kingdoms described in Daniel concerning the Christian era not only destroys the Amillennial view that our time is the Millennial Reign of Christ on the earth, it also decimates the “Jewish fables” (Titus 1:14) that were used by the Rapture Cult to hijack the prophecies espousing Futurism. 

But further details on how we can harmonize the internal Kingdom of God put forth by the Amillennialists, and the external prophetic texts of the Futurists, will have to wait for the next installment of The Great Exchange. 

-- James Lloyd                

To Be Continued

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