The Damaging Effects Of Retrofitting Bible Prophecy With Human Wisdom

The Damaging Effects Of Retrofitting Bible Prophecy With Human Wisdom

Jonathan Brentner

I believed he had disparaged the Rapture as well as those of us who watch for Jesus’ imminent appearing. Later that day, I wrote an email to the associate pastor asking him about his morning sermon on John 11.

He denied doing so, but responded by telling me that after a previous pastor took him through the Bible passages supporting the pre-Tribulation Rapture and premillennialism, he adopted those beliefs. However, after reading a couple of books authored by amillennialists, those who don’t believe in a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus, he adopted their view of the Millennium and added that he no longer believed in the Rapture.

In other words, when this assistant pastor relied on Scripture, he believed in Jesus’ imminent appearing and a literal fulfillment of Revelation 20:1-10. But when guided by human wisdom, he adopted a spiritual interpretation of John’s words concerning the Lord’s thousand-year reign.

The Prophet Isaiah made a startling comparison between those who trust the Lord’s guidance, the words of Scripture, versus those who walk by the light that they themselves generate (by their own insight or wisdom): “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.”(Isaiah 50:10-11)

At the end of a chapter full of references to the Messiah, the prophet contrasts those who rely on God versus those who walk by their own light or understanding.

Despite the many warnings of judgment that came through the Prophet Isaiah along with circumstances that already seemed dire, Isaiah urged the people to remain confident in the Lord rather than rely on their own insight into the future of Israel.

In my dealings with those who adhere to the various forms of amillennialists, I have discovered a consistent reliance on their own interpretations of Bible prophecy rather than the words of the prophets and apostles.  Some believe that the nation’s rejection of their Messiah negated God’s promises to the Jewish people (despite the clarity of Romans 11:1-2). Others assert that the church is the continuation of Israel and thus heirs to all the promises the Lord made to the nation.

Both camps dismiss modern Israel’s place in Bible prophecy, and based upon that assumption, they retrofit all the Scriptures that say otherwise to fit their own understanding of Israel and the church. They illuminate their self-guided journey through Bible prophecy rather than follow the advice of the Psalmist: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).

In order to support their view of Bible prophecy, those who deny a future restoration of Israel must change the original intent of what the authors of Scripture wrote about it. With the well-known messianic prophecy of Isaiah 9:6-7, they must change mid-sentence from a literal interpretation to one based on the erroneous premise that the church is the new Israel.

How would the initial readers of Isaiah’s prophecy have regarded phrases such as “the government will be upon his shoulder?” Would they not have pictured a literal kingdom when they heard the promise that the Messiah would sit upon the “throne of David?” Of course, they would’ve pictured a physical realm. What other option was there?

In Ezekiel 36:22-24 we read, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.”

The remainder of Ezekiel 36 makes it abundantly clear that the Lord is promising a physical restoration for Israel in spite of the past behavior of its people. These things can’t possibly refer to the church.

And how do the modern torch-lighters interpret Amos 9:14-15, which also specifies a future restoration of Israel?: “I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God.”

In the above text, the Lord promises a physical restoration of Israel from which its people will “never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them.” Has that ever happened to Israel? On what basis can anyone change the Lord’s intent to a spiritual message for the church?

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