As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“The Bible tells us that the end of our sanctification will be our glorification, when all vestigial remnants of sin will be removed from our character. We will be pure. No more doubt. No more fear. No more error. No more pain.” - R.C. Sproul
Through nearly 40 years in the conservative evangelical world, I’ve heard many sermons about America. Often the point is to compare America with ancient Israel.
The problem is the Bible explicitly tells us that there is no other nation that is comparable to God’s chosen people and nation of Israel (see 2 Sam. 7:23; Ps. 147:19-20; Amos 3:2). In that regard, she is entirely unique—a direct creation of God, fashioned through Abraham out of the chaos and godlessness at Babel (see Isa. 43:1-15).
“We look back and remember Jesus’ death and resurrection each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. But have we forgotten that we observe this ordinance ‘till He comes’?” - P&D
In the last article, we examined the strange vision from Daniel 7. Here, we look at what this vision means.
Daniel 7 has the same message as Daniel 2 (see the article here). But, whereas Daniel 2 quickly sketches God’s victory over Babylon, Daniel 7 expands the message by way of more fantastic visions. It’s like how Genesis 2 expands on Genesis 1.
“John declares, ‘It is the last hour’ (1 John 2:18). So the last hour has been ticking over for two millennia…. Can we say we’re in the last days of the last days, or the final minutes of the last hour?” - TGC
Daniel’s visions are endlessly fascinating to Christians.1 So are those from Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Revelation. They stick in your mind so vividly because they’re exciting, dramatic, bizarre, otherworldly, almost fantasy-like. This is a very particular style of writing God uses to communicate hope to desperate people.
What is Jesus saying at John 14:2-3? What is “my Father’s house?” Where is it? When will Jesus take believers there? In the last article, we examined the theory that it refers to being “up there” in heaven, and that Jesus takes believers there at an event called the pre-tribulational rapture. We concluded this idea isn’t supported by the text and gave it a “D” rating for probability. That doesn’t mean the pre-tribulation rapture is false—it just means to “see” it in John 14:2-3 you must smuggle it in from elsewhere.
There will be a great spiritual transformation of Israel before Christ’s final return.
Those before us in Dispensational Theology developed the scriptural conviction that the people of Israel will one day be saved as a nation in their Promised Land. Dispensationalists taught this boldly—as was the case when The Friends of Israel was born in 1938, even before the modern State of Israel existed.
But this clear, biblical teaching has fallen on hard times, and many are conflicted.
In Part 2 of this series, we presented four options for understanding what Jesus meant at John 14:1-3:
We also suggested a grading scale for evaluating these options:
Discussion