PREFACE
Prophecy and future events have always fascinated me. Any topic that deals with "what's happening next" will always catch my interest. For Christians today the most significant, monumental event that may soon take place in our immediate future is the return of the Lord Jesus, or the Day of the Lord. The central emphasis of this book will be the Day of the Lord, and those events which lead up to and occur during and after that day. It is reasonably unanimous in fundamental Christian doctrine that the Day of the Lord is, in fact, when Jesus will return to earth. [1] In the Bible we see parallel passages mentioning the Lord's return by the use of such phrases as “.. the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,” and Jesus' words of, “I will come like a thief,” and Paul's use of the phrases in the book of Philippians of the Day of the Lord as "the Day of Christ". The truths surrounding the times and seasons of the Day of the Lord are controversial, however, and there seems to be an abundance of opinions being tossed around today about what's coming next in the fulfillment of prophecy. After visiting web site after web site on "last days" topics I have found that there are as many conceptions on "what's happening next" as there are different denominations. In one point I happen to agree with most students of prophecy in the fact that we are indeed living in the "last of the last days." But even if Christians who study eschatology (end times events) have a good idea of what the circumstances will be like, some are still unsure of when these events will occur. There has been much controversy about the return of the Lord and what events are to take place in these “end times”, especially as far as the Church is concerned and whether or not there will be a tribulation period, a rapture prior to this tribulation period, a world monarchy ruled by the Antichrist with a False Prophet beside him, and a millennium period in which Christ will reign for a thousand years. There is such an enormous amount of scripture that deals with eschatology that often times it becomes a gigantic puzzle, piecing verse after verse together to try and form some kind of picture that will unfold into a grand mural of revelation and truth. For many Christians solving this puzzle is too monumental or too time consuming. In the New Testament alone there are over 300 verses dealing with eschatology and the Lord's return, and in the Old Testament much more. Instruction in eschatology to pastors is primarily from second hand sources, (what a Bible institute will teach the pastor, or by what a certain denomination holds to be truth concerning the Day of the Lord). There are a number of believers who are not that concerned with eschatological events, and they even think that God doesn't want us to know what His plans are for these end times. God has revealed His plans to us, however, and through scripture we can know what God has intended for us concerning these future events. As Amos 3:7 states, "Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets." and Isaiah 42:9, "Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them". The return of Jesus is a fundamental, biblical truth and no aspect of any truth in Christianity is unimportant. Therefore, if there is biblical support for a doctrinal truth then it should not be ignored. Unfortunately, the interpretation of scriptural truth is where man falls short, and just like denominational differences over doctrinal issues (unfortunately), there are a wide variety of views in eschatology over the chronology of these last days.
This book was primarily written to students of eschatology who are being taught, or who have studied, the Premillennial / Pretribulation view of the end times.[2] For those who are unfamiliar with this 'pretrib' view, this view believes that the church will be removed from the earth before the beginning of this last seven years on earth, known to advocates of this view as the Tribulation. This pretribulation theory believes the Church will be taken from this earth, at least, but not restricted to, three and a half years before the Antichrist declares himself God in order for the nation of Israel to have Daniel nine's prophecy fulfilled. The Holy Spirit will be removed from the earth before this Tribulation period, and the Church (His temple), taken along with Him. Thus the Church will not be here to see this “man of sin", the "son of perdition” (the Antichrist) when he obtains lordship of this earth. The Church will be spared the repercussions of living under the rule of the Antichrist and the mark of the beast, and spared the outpouring of the wrath of God upon the beast, all of which take place in this last seven year Tribulation period. There are more indepth peripherals to this view, and I'm sure I've oversimplified this position, but rather than go into more details about the 'pretrib' position I would like to introduce to you another view. Actually, the views in this book are time honored views of the early church fathers, and only in the past few years (the mid 1990's to be exact) have they had a resurgence of partisans who have supported it.
This book was not intended to be a "scholarly" work, but a simple overview of eschatology (about 3 hours of reading). In this book I will try and present, through evident scriptures (New King James Version) and a little common sense, an understanding of the chronology of these last days and what God has intended for His people in these last days. I would also hope that you have a Bible handy to follow along and research the different conclusions I come up with, and any comments and suggestions are welcome. I want to begin this book by examining scriptures that deal with the Day of the Lord; an event which, I believe, must be the central focus for end time studies on prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus.
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Footnotes:
[1] I have not included the Partial Preterist or Full Preterist views when talking about the Fundamental / Evangelical end times position of eschatology. For information about, and a definition of, the Preterist & Full Preterist views please see www.preterist.org/whatispreterism.asp
[2] For those pretribbers who are 'well educated' in end times theology, you may want to only read the chapters entitled Summary, and A Reasonable Doubt.