Is Your Eschatology Connected to the Vine?
Does your eschatology simply inform you how everyone else will fulfill the negative roles laid out in the end time Biblical narrative, or does it inform you and inspire you to fulfill the positive roles and repent of fleshly ways of thinking? One leads to death, the other to light.
Daniel 12:1“At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.
2And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.
This is how you know your eschatology is on the right track: It causes YOU to change and get ready for Jesus to return.
If your eschatology is about what a bunch of people you don't know are going to do "someday" it's already false.
The flesh takes Bible information and tries to figure it out. That will always lead you to the wrong conclusion. The Spirit wars against our natural thinking (flesh) and vice versa.
The Spirit puts you in the story and let's the Word find YOU out. Instead of you solving the puzzle, Jesus cleanses you. This is Jesus 101. The end times are no different than the Gospel. The end times are the fulfillment of the Gospel. You can't separate them. The Gospel is the answer to the end times.
What you think about the end times reflects what you actually think about the Gospel! Most people in the church think they are done with the Gospel... "Christians" (just like Israelites told John the Baptist they were Sons of Abraham)... Not understanding they aren't bearing fruit worthy of repentance. It shows up in what you think God is doing right now. This is literally why most of Israel missed Jesus as Messiah. Just as Jesus sifted Israel, He has promised to sift the church.
Many cling to their ideas and interpretations... pre-trib, post trib, no trib positions, ideas about who is who, what will happen... Is it changing you?
The truth is, if you can't acknowledge you are in the tribulation, you might as well be pre-trib. It is still coming like a thief for you! If you are pre-trib, you are distant from the preparation required to endure the trib you are in right now (this has always been true for 2000 years). If you think you aren't appointed to even think about the tribulation, you deny the entire New Testament, which is written to prepare all believers for tribulation.
The rapture doesn't rescue you from tribulation. Tribulation prepares you to be raptured, which is to be glorified. Glorification is the crown of sanctification. Sanctification is the fruit of justification. No tribulation = no real incentive for sanctification. No sanctification = no glorification.
Satan convinces man to figure out what God is going to do, rather than give themselves to God to do something in them! Satan wants you to see yourself as an expert about God, as a scheme to keep you from being given over to God. That is what Satan thinks he is! God cannot be figured out, otherwise, you'd be God. Nothing can contain Him...especially your thoughts about Him or what He will do.
God wants you to give yourself to Jesus. Right now. Jesus is at the door. Right now (Rev 3).
Many pundits are punditing themselves right out of any glorification when Jesus returns. This is mostly because they are calculating an eschatology a little further out that requires other people be the negative ones... And thus there is really not a lot to do today except arm chair quarterback events that have nothing to do with themselves. This is a big mistake. Jesus will come on a day they didn't see, and Jesus is going to replace many shepherds for this exact thing... That will cause these very shepherds to fight the one they were appointed to ready people to receive!... They won't intend to...they will be confused, offended, grouped together and afraid of losing comfort and influence... Just like the Jewish people of Jesus' day. This is human nature.
Luke 17:20One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”
Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs.
21You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.”
22Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns, but you won’t see it.
23People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man,’ or ‘Here he is,’ but don’t go out and follow them.
24For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man comes.
25But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation.
26“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.
27In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28“And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—
29until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home.
32Remember what happened to Lot’s wife!
33If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.
Romans 5:1Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
2Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
3We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.
4And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
5And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
1 Corinthians 15:49And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—
52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Daniel 12:1“At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.
2And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.
This is how you know your eschatology is on the right track: It causes YOU to change and get ready for Jesus to return.
If your eschatology is about what a bunch of people you don't know are going to do "someday" it's already false.
The flesh takes Bible information and tries to figure it out. That will always lead you to the wrong conclusion. The Spirit wars against our natural thinking (flesh) and vice versa.
The Spirit puts you in the story and let's the Word find YOU out. Instead of you solving the puzzle, Jesus cleanses you. This is Jesus 101. The end times are no different than the Gospel. The end times are the fulfillment of the Gospel. You can't separate them. The Gospel is the answer to the end times.
What you think about the end times reflects what you actually think about the Gospel! Most people in the church think they are done with the Gospel... "Christians" (just like Israelites told John the Baptist they were Sons of Abraham)... Not understanding they aren't bearing fruit worthy of repentance. It shows up in what you think God is doing right now. This is literally why most of Israel missed Jesus as Messiah. Just as Jesus sifted Israel, He has promised to sift the church.
Many cling to their ideas and interpretations... pre-trib, post trib, no trib positions, ideas about who is who, what will happen... Is it changing you?
The truth is, if you can't acknowledge you are in the tribulation, you might as well be pre-trib. It is still coming like a thief for you! If you are pre-trib, you are distant from the preparation required to endure the trib you are in right now (this has always been true for 2000 years). If you think you aren't appointed to even think about the tribulation, you deny the entire New Testament, which is written to prepare all believers for tribulation.
The rapture doesn't rescue you from tribulation. Tribulation prepares you to be raptured, which is to be glorified. Glorification is the crown of sanctification. Sanctification is the fruit of justification. No tribulation = no real incentive for sanctification. No sanctification = no glorification.
Satan convinces man to figure out what God is going to do, rather than give themselves to God to do something in them! Satan wants you to see yourself as an expert about God, as a scheme to keep you from being given over to God. That is what Satan thinks he is! God cannot be figured out, otherwise, you'd be God. Nothing can contain Him...especially your thoughts about Him or what He will do.
God wants you to give yourself to Jesus. Right now. Jesus is at the door. Right now (Rev 3).
Many pundits are punditing themselves right out of any glorification when Jesus returns. This is mostly because they are calculating an eschatology a little further out that requires other people be the negative ones... And thus there is really not a lot to do today except arm chair quarterback events that have nothing to do with themselves. This is a big mistake. Jesus will come on a day they didn't see, and Jesus is going to replace many shepherds for this exact thing... That will cause these very shepherds to fight the one they were appointed to ready people to receive!... They won't intend to...they will be confused, offended, grouped together and afraid of losing comfort and influence... Just like the Jewish people of Jesus' day. This is human nature.
Luke 17:20One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”
Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs.
21You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.”
22Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns, but you won’t see it.
23People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man,’ or ‘Here he is,’ but don’t go out and follow them.
24For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man comes.
25But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation.
26“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.
27In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28“And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—
29until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home.
32Remember what happened to Lot’s wife!
33If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.
Romans 5:1Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
2Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
3We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.
4And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
5And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
1 Corinthians 15:49And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—
52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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