Click Here For Christian Media's First Video Channel

Christian Media

Communiqué

THE GREAT EXCHANGE

Part XXXIII

The previous installment of The Great Exchange began to approach one of the great conflicts in theology, as we demonstrated how the Apostles in the first century uniformly indicated they were living in the “last days.”

“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (I John 2:18).

The study showed how the disciples of Christ accurately recognized they were living at the end of the age – the conclusion of the world that was before the emergence of Christ.

When Jesus described the circumstances of the forthcoming destruction of the Jerusalem temple, the disciples inquired further, as the text shows they anticipated the end of Jerusalem and the temple was clearly the end of the world Israel had known for thousands of years.

“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the [age]?” (Matthew 24:3).

Since the underlying Greek word for “world” which the Authorized Version of the Bible (the KJV) uses, is aion (which means “age”), the end of Israel was indeed the end of the Old Covenant era, as it was superseded by the inauguration of the Christian age.

It is clear from the very question the disciples asked that they did not have certainty concerning how much time would elapse before the LORD returned as He promised – but it is also clear they accurately recognized that a momentous change had come about with the advent of Christ.

After all, they asked a very direct question of the LORD:

“When shall these things be?” (Matthew 24:3).

The fact that the disciples of Christ were not in a position to know the entire plan of God after the resurrection of Jesus, is confirmed by another question they asked Him before He ascended to the Father.

“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

This question is inevitably linked with an earlier query, which was triggered by the awesome event when Jesus was transfigured into a blinding white light, and Moses and Elijah appeared with him.

The disciples had just seen Jesus in His divine state, and it terrified them.

Jesus told them not to tell anyone of this astonishing episode until after the Son of man was risen from the dead and, not understanding what this meant, they spoke among themselves.

“And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean” (Mark 9:10).

Remembering the prophecy which was circulating among the scribes, yet realizing they had just seen the glorified Saviour, they then asked about the ancient prophecy concerning the appearance of Elijah:

“And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias [a variant spelling of Elijah] must first come?” (Mark 9:11).

This was a reference to the prophecy of Malachi, which says that Elijah, the great prophet of Old Covenant Israel, must come before the Day of the LORD.

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:6).

In addition to the chronological aspect wherein the Old Testament prophet has Elijah appearing before the “great and dreadful day of the LORD,” the text tells us that Elijah will bring about some form of reconciliation.

“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6).

To put this another way, since the disciples had just seen the glorified LORD, and they knew He was the Saviour, they wanted to know why the prophecy of Malachi said Elijah would precede the Messiah, because they had not yet realized John the Baptist had fulfilled the prophecy of Elijah’s appearance.

Further, since the prophecy of Elijah’s appearance includes the prediction the prophet will restore all things, and Elijah (and Moses) had just appeared with Christ, it was appropriate for the disciples to ask if this event meant the kingdom was about to be restored to Israel.

Responding to the question of why the prophecy says Elijah will arrive “before the coming…of the LORD,“ Jesus provided an important bit of information concerning the later question about restoring the kingdom to Israel – but it’s obvious they did not understand.

“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things” (Matthew 17:11).

Thus, when the disciples asked Jesus if this was the time in which He would “restore again the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6), it’s crucial that we recognize that Jesus also said that Elijah had already come.

“But I say unto you, that [Elijah] is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they [desired]. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them” (Matthew 17:12).

This means that Christ confirmed Malachi’s statement that Elijah must come first, and His arrival will generate a restoration – yet Christ also said that Elijah had already come. Thus, the definition of the “restoration” is the real issue.

A closer inspection of Malachi’s original prophecy is useful in this regard. Malachi provided further details about Elijah’s arrival.

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord, who ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant” (Malachi 3:1).

The characterization of what sounds like an abrupt appearance of the LORD, who shows up “suddenly” at “his temple,” is clearly descriptive of Christ. Further the details match nicely with the statements of John the Baptist, concerning Jesus.

“He is like a refiner’s fire…And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver” (Malachi 3:2, 3).

Like most of the other Old Testament prophets who used poetic terms to describe various sequences, the prophet described this move of God in rather dazzling language.

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven: and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up” (Malachi 4:1).  

This resonates with John’s statements concerning Jesus of Nazareth.

“He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire…and he will thoroughly purge his floor and…he will burn up the [stubble] with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:11, 12).

Although the false prophets try to claim this description of Christ only foreshadows the “great and dreadful Day of the LORD” (which they claim will not occur until the 2^nd coming), a process that “purges” and “purifies” Israel through a “refiner’s fire” certainly qualifies as “great and dreadful” (Malachi 3:2).

Subsequent Scriptures confirm the incendiary descriptions, and Christ is clearly the “hot” in Revelation that finds the “Lukewarm” so repugnant in Revelation 3:16. Even the transfiguration itself, replete with adjectives of His exceedingly bright and shining presence, was compared to “the sun” (Matthew 17:2).

The fiery cleansing is the same power verbalized in Zechariah, where that prophet states the LORD will preserve the “third part” in the midst of a great purification. Moreover, both Malachi and Zechariah apply this process to the exceedingly high temperatures involved in ridding gold and silver from their impurities.  

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried” (Zechariah 13:9).

It should be said that the idea of separating the “great and dreadful” day of the LORD from His 1^st century incarnation is yet another example of the phenomena of Temporal Dislocation, where the false prophets manipulate a Scriptural sequence in order to place it in the wrong time period.

After all, is it more likely the LORD will “purify” the believer at His 2^nd coming, when He clearly arrives to “judge the world” (Psalm 98:9), or during the aforementioned Christian era when those who have sought His salvation are collectively seeking to conform their earthly nature to His divine will?

Because many believers have recognized the eternal Spiritual nature of our existence when we are born again in Christ, the emphasis shifts to the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ – as opposed to His return. From this perspective, the fact the Scriptural narrative is routinely articulated in figurative terms has brought many to believe our present life in Christ is symbolically described as His Millennial Reign.

Such are referred to as Amillennialists, or Non-Millennialists. A subset of this view are the Preterists, who claim Christ’s descriptions in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Luke 17 and 21, and Mark 13), are symbolic, and no future prophecy still exists.

Opposing them are the Rapture Cult, who are part of a larger group called Futurists, because they see prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled – even as they apply an unscriptural form of rotating salvation in which the “Church” is sharply separated from “Israel,” so that all Jewish people will supposedly be abruptly saved after the alleged Rapture.

They are both in enormous error – thus providing yet another manifestation of the “two parts” which Zechariah says will not join the “third part” that He refines and purifies.

“And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them” (Zechariah 13:8).

By identifying themselves as the “Church” so they can qualify for the “Rapture,” literally millions of believers have been deceived by the Cult into forfeiting the Christian’s true identity as the Spiritually born again entity of Israel.

The Amillennialists are equally deceived as they refuse to recognize that Scripture includes a detailed history of the body of Christ and the nations throughout the last two thousand years, and prophecy is still unfolding in our time. The reader is directed to the decidedly Futurist paradigm where the Lion, Bear, Leopard, and Diverse Beast prophecy of Daniel 7 are fulfilled in England, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and America.

Just like the Cult that kidnapped Christianity, which adapted the Christian version of the lure of a “Rapture” a couple centuries ago (the “evacuation” doctrine actually predates Christ), the misidentification of the primary players has caused both “parts” to refuse the LORD’s voice of instruction.

In other words, in yet another regressive version of The Great Exchange, these two streams of aberrant prophetic belief have exchanged the truth of their standing as the chosen of the LORD, for a doctrinal mess of pottage in an exceedingly foolhardy transaction. 

-- James Lloyd                

To Be Continued

__________________________