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The Great Exchange

Part XXXII

In several recent chapters of The Great Exchange, we’ve sought to show how false perceptions of multiple Bible prophecies have motivated certain teachers to attempt to exchange the timelines of prophetic sequences with eras in which the account is not intended.

In our last portion of The Great Exchange, for example, we addressed how Rapture Cult teachers have uniformly taught that the “scoffers” who come saying “Where is the promise of his coming?” would appear shortly before the “rapture,” when, in fact, the statement found in II Peter was intended for his own generation.

“There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (II Peter 3:3).

The core of the issue is related to a profound misunderstanding of time – and it is further exacerbated by a blindness concerning the identities of the parties.

The false prophets scrupulously avoid the verses in which the New Testament writers pointedly tell us that they were living in the last days:

“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (I John 2:18).

 Even Jude, who was the brother of the Apostle James, confirms the statements made in the New Testament regarding time, so this was a clear indication the Apostles understood they were living in the last time.

“Remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts” (Jude 1:17,18).

This was a reference to Peter’s statement concerning the “scoffers,” which our last writing addressed in some detail. In that work (Part XXXI), we showed how the “scoffers” which Peter referred to were the “many antichrists” which John referenced – and as the citation of John stated, it was the arrival of the “many antichrists” that made the Apostles aware that it was indeed the “last time.” 

“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (I John 2:18).

The assertion that the Apostles thought they were living in the “last time” does not mean they were in error. It means that we are not thinking along the same lines as the fathers of the faith in the first century.

After the resurrection, the disciples of Christ were acutely aware that the end of the primacy of Israel was at hand. As they knew that Israel was the center of the LORD’s plan, the rejection of the Gospel on the part of Israel was the equivalent of the end of the age.

From the earliest time in Christ’s ministry, it was clear that the coming of the Messiah was to be Israel’s last chance. The prophet Amos said precisely that:

“Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not pass by them again” (Amos 7:8).

The “plumbline” is still used as a device of measurement in construction. God was saying he was going to “measure” Israel one last time, so from the perspective of the Apostles, once Israel had rejected her Saviour, they perceived that it was the end of the age.

John the Baptist said the same thing, as he indicated the arrival of the LORD signaled that God was making His final move toward mankind, and Israel was central in that Israel was the mediator to the Gentiles under the only covenant they knew at that time. 

“And now also the axe is laid to the root of the trees” (Luke 3:9).

In short, John was saying the consummation of all things was about to begin. And Peter, John, Jude, and the Baptist were not alone. The writer of Hebrews (who most believe to be Paul), said the same thing.

“God…hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:2).

The book of Hebrews makes a very similar statement in a later chapter as well, which again tells us the Christian writers knew that they were approaching the end of the only world they had ever known.

Hebrews confirms the fact seen in Amos, where it tells us that the salvation delivered by Jesus Christ will not be repeated (“I will not pass by them again”), but only occurs once.

“But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

The Greek word rendered “world” in our English Bible is aion (usually anglicized as eon), and it is commonly rendered as age, or ages. To put it another way, the New Testament writers rightly understood that the introduction of Christ meant the end of the age was at hand.

A related point is made when we consider the complexity of the question posed by the disciples of Jesus, when He launched into His lengthy statement concerning the events at the end of the age.

A fascinating convergence of dimensional timelines occurs just as Jesus left the temple – when He predicted the devastation that would inevitably strike the Jewish temple.

“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:1,2).

From the disciples’ point of view, the destruction of the Jewish temple would be the end of the world – and Jesus told them that was indeed what was going to happen. In the ensuing presentation -- usually dubbed the Olivet Discourse – Christ answered with an elaborate sequence of events that would occur.

The disciples’ question indicated their level of perception at that point in time.

“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).

 Since the term for “world” was aion in the Greek which Jesus and the disciples spoke, Christ did not need to correct the form of the question which the disciples put forth.

Moreover, since Jesus rolled out an extensive series of statements concerning what was to occur after His ascension to the Father, it was very clear the disciples could not have misunderstood, and thought the world was going to literally come to its end in their time. They did understand that it was the end of the age, so for all intents and purposes, they wrote that it was the time of the consummation of Israel.

This is confirmed by the fact the word “world” is used again in the very same presentation by Christ, but the manuscripts tell us the Lord used a different Greek word than aion.

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).

The word rendered “world” here is oikoumene, which has a terrestrial meaning – indicating the gospel would be preached to the very edge of civilization.

Thus, since it is self evident the “world” did not come to an end in the days of the disciples, we recognize that the end of the age which elapsed leading up to the time of Christ, did indeed come to an end.

Furthermore, it coincided with the end of Israel, for a few short decades after the establishment of born again Israel as “a Spiritual house” (I Peter 2:5), the Christ rejecting, flesh and blood nation of Israel came to a devastating end, as the age of salvation in JESUS CHRIST was inaugurated.

When the disciples queried Christ concerning the end of the age, the LORD’s comments concerning the destruction of the temple merged into the mystical, as we will see.

First, Jesus had just exited the temple, so we might ask why does the text say the disciples came “to show him the buildings” of the temple?

“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the [stones] of the temple. (Matthew 24:1, Mark 13:1).

The parallel account in Mark has the disciples mentioning the stones of the temple, and as adjacent Scriptures show, the LORD sees the creation in non-corporeal terms.

For instance, when the Pharisees told Jesus He should rebuke His disciples as they shouted Hosanna at His triumphal entry, He likened the stones to the creation, which would “shout” in victory if the disciples were to hold their peace, at the epic moment when the Son of God arrived in Jerusalem.

“And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40).

As the New Covenant was opening through the emergence of Christ, the transition was occurring, in which the disciples were the temple, as the glory of God had been long removed from the earthly temple. The “shadow” of the heavenly “substance” recorded the details of how God had just left the earthly temple for the last time, even as the firstfruits (James 1:18) of the New Covenant temple arrived.

That is but one of the reasons the Apostle Peter refers to the LORD and those in His body as “living stones.”

“The Lord…[is] a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house” (I Peter 2:4, 5).

We have previously noted how Revelation tells us Jesus is He that is holy, because He is the one with the allegorical “key” of David, who is able to shut the door of salvation through the Old Covenant physical temple, even as He opened the door of salvation through His own blood, as the New Covenant Mediator between God and man.

“These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Revelation 3:7).

On that fateful day as Christ exited the temple, as the disciples came to Him, the shadow (Hebrews 10:1) of the heavenly substance (Hebrews 11:1) shows the fate of the earthly temple was certain, even as He opened the door to heaven through His sacrifice on the cross.

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will thee things which must be hereafter” (Revelation 4:1).

-- James Lloyd                

To Be Continued

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