False Claims About Bible Prophecy Have Led To Misunderstanding Of The Gravity Of The Second Coming

False Claims About Bible Prophecy Have Led Many Christians To Misunderstand The Gravity And Purpose Of Jesus’ Return

Jonathan Brentner

 

The Lord was already talking about it many centuries before the Noahic flood (Jude 14-15). The Psalms often prophesy about the joy that it will bring to the earth. The Old Testament prophets wrote about the day the Messiah would come to reign over a gloriously restored Israel (as well as over all the nations). The grandeur of John’s description of the Second Coming in Revelation 19:11-20:4 stretches the limits of our imagination. It will be the most spectacular and earth-shattering event that the world has ever seen.

Even though I have studied Bible prophecy for decades, I’m increasingly caught up in the wonder of how God’s Word describes Jesus’ dazzling return to planet Earth. And to think that we will be there, riding behind Him on white horses. How can we even begin to imagine what we will feel?

John’s description of Jesus’ exaltation in Revelation chapters 19-20 is the high point of the book that magnifies the Savior from beginning to end. It’s a visual portrayal of what Paul wrote about in Colossians 1:15-20: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

During the past couple of years, I have become increasingly aware of how Jesus’ preeminence, especially as the apostle highlighted in these verses, dispels today’s popular beliefs of Jesus’ Second Coming and brings us back to a literal understanding of Revelation chapters 19-20.

A Distant End-of-the-Age Return Doesn’t Even Come Close

I have heard many pastors voice the belief that the next prophetic event is Jesus’ end-of-the-age return to judge sinners, wrap up human history, and inaugurate the eternal state. This view of Bible prophecy, Replacement Theology, teaches that God rejected Israel after Jesus’ crucifixion and transferred its kingdom promises to the church, albeit spiritually. John’s narrative of the last days mysteriously changes from an allegory to an eyewitness account with the White Throne judgment in Revelation 20:11.

I believe this teaching dishonors the Lord Jesus in at least two ways. First, it falls far short of the victorious return John describes in Revelation 19:1120:10. Jesus will do so much more than simply wrap up human history; He will forever change it. Christ doesn’t end the story of mankind; He visibly inserts Himself into it and rules over all the earth for one thousand years.

Second, Replacement Theology changes the focus of believers from the Savior’s return to his or her future in this life. Jesus’ instruction for His followers to watch for His return is meaningless if nothing related to Bible prophecy can happen before one dies, which its proponents say. Where’s the hope in that? Does this not also negate the expectancy that Paul wrote about in Philippians 3:20-21?

It’s perhaps the fastest growing teaching of Bible prophecy in the church today. This movement, often referred to as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) or Dominion Theology, teaches that the church will eventually triumph over the evil of our day and bring in a time of unprecedented peace, security, and prosperity for the world during which time it will reign, not the Lord.

As for Jesus, He will observe the church’s rule from a distance and return to the earth after its millennial rule.

Do you see how teachings of this group blatantly contradict what Paul wrote about Jesus’ preeminence in Colossians 1:15-20? Its proponents exalt the church’s role by making it the primary mover in Bible prophecy rather than Jesus. Such teaching greatly dishonors the Savior.

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