Looking Ahead

Plenty of people are warning of difficult times ahead, but anyone with their eyes open can see that the world faces many problems. The challenge is to prepare God's people to remain strong through the times of distress and to be victorious out the other side.

The Church should be explaining how Christians can remain strong while the world is crumbling and weak. It should explain how Christians would be able to reach out to the people of the world who are struggling and draw them into a place of safety. It should be telling them how to start building the new thing that God wants to establish in the middle of the world's troubles.

We do not need more prophets warning of political and economic disasters. We need prophets who can prepare Gods people how to survive through the difficult times and deliver a new thing after the times of distress run their course.

The Bible describes the "men from Issachar who understood the times and knew what Israel should do" (1 Chron 12:32). Every society needs people who understand the times and know what God's people should do. Most of the time this gift has been lacking from the church.
When Rome fell, Christians were shocked. The Roman Empire had been around for 500 years, so they assumed that it would be around forever. Christians believed that it was part of God's plan for expanding his Kingdom. They were so used to it being there, that they could not imagine life without it.

Worse still, church structures had aligned with imperial power structures, so Christians found it hard to cope without the order of the empire. No one prepared Christians for the collapse of Rome. They had not prepared Christians to live in a world without an empire, so they struggled to cope, an enormous opportunity was lost. It took the church a 1000 years to regain the ground that was lost.

We have the same problem in the modern world. Democratic political power and the nation-state have dominated life in the West for so long that we find it hard to imagine life without them. However, they are not part of God's plan of salvation so they will not last forever.
Many Christians have identified democratic capitalism with the Kingdom of God. When the evils of democratic capitalism are exposed, they will be totally shocked. Just like the Christians shocked by the collapse of Rome.

When the western political system collapses, will Christians be ready to take advantage of the opportunity, or will we be stunned and confused like the Christians in the Roman Empire. Unless the quality of our prophetic ministry improves, we will be stuck in the headlights of disaster, just like them.

We do not need more warnings of political and economic disasters. We need prophets who can prepare Gods people how to survive through the difficult times and deliver a new thing after the times of distress run their course.

Seeking the Spirit

About a year after I chose to follow Jesus, I was feeling really frustrated. I felt like I had not made much progress in learning how to follow him. It felt like I had not changed enough.

I talked to the young woman who led the study and fellowship group we belonged to. She had been a Christian most of her life, but she did not give me answers. She wisely suggested that I read the book of Acts and see if I could find out what made a difference for the new believers in the church (Thank you Airini).

I quickly read right through the book of Acts looking for the thing that made a difference. The answer jumped out from every page. Things happened and people were changed because the Holy Spirit was active. I realised that I desperately needed the Holy Spirit in my life.

The next Friday night, I went to town and visited a Christian bookstore. I bought three books about the Holy Spirit. One of them was the The Holy Spirit and You by Dennis Bennett. He was better known for Nine O’Clock in the Morning, but I did not notice that one.

On Saturday morning, my wife went to work at 6.30 am. I did not get up, but stayed in bed and read the Holy Spirit and You. By midday, I had finished the book. At the end of the book, Dennis Bennett referred to a promise in Luke 11. I got my Bible and I read it carefully.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:9-13).

As I sat in my bed, it seemed obvious. I needed the Holy Spirit. The Father had promised that if I asked, he would give him to me.

So I asked.

And the Father delivered on his promise.

The Holy Spirit filled me with his presence. I began to speak in a language that I did not know (a spiritual language has been an important part of my life ever since.) It was like in the book of Acts, but in my bedroom.

About a week later, I felt led to pray for a member of my family who was sick. I just knew that if I laid my hand on her back and prayed, she would be healed. When she went to see a medical specialist a few days later, he could find no trace of the problem.

I have always said that once you have seen the Holy Spirit heal one person you are ruined. You can no longer say that God does not heal people anymore. You cannot say that the Holy Spirit does not want to heal people, because you have seen it with your own eyes.

I gained the joy of having the Holy Spirit in my life, but I gained the frustration of knowing that he could heal, but was not seeing enough of it.

When we moved to Dunedin, we belonged to a group called prayer and praise. The Holy Spirt was moving and we often prayed for people who were sick. Being a curious person, I got a notebook and listed every person we prayed for and what was wrong. The following week, I would check up and see how the person was.

After a couple of months I was surprised by the results. About a third of cases were uncertain. For example, a person had a cold and a week later, they were better, but it was not possible to definitely attribute that directly to the prayer, because they would have gotten better anyway. For another third, nothing happened. But the remaining third were clearly healed, and it seemed like it could only be the Holy Spirit who had done it. Over those few months, a dozen people were healed of sicknesses.

That experience set me off on a searching path over many years. I was puzzled why some people were healed and others were not. It was not because the Holy Spirit is not strong enough to do it. There had to be other reasons and I wanted to know what they were.

So I dug into the scriptures and looked for patterns. I investigated every healing in the Bible and studied every passage that dealt with healing. I discovered some real insights. Five years ago, I put everything I have learned in a little book called Healing. It does not contain all the answers, but the book does have some important insights.

In some ways this is the most important book I have written, yet is actually the least popular. I suspect that it because many Christians have given up on the gift of healing and just accepted sickness as a normal part of life. That is sad, because Jesus was beaten for our healing, so it would be a pity if his suffering were wasted.

Jesus told his disciples to heal the sick and preach the good news of the kingdom. That is what he did. We tend to preach the good news, but we do not bother about the other bit. But Jesus never said it was optional. The best proof of the reality and love of God, and his power to rescue, is someone being healed. In this secular age, the good news of Jesus will only be successful in the way we want it to be when it is accompanied by the gift of healing.

My prayer is that followers of Jesus will press into the Holy Spirit and discover more of the gift of healing that the Father promised.

Church Season

After I had completed my theological studies, I was invited to be the minister of a Presbyterian church at Waikaka Valley in Southland. It was a rural parish near Gore. Most of the parishioners were farmers, so I felt comfortable with them and understood the seasons of their lives.

When I arrived in this parish, a verse of scripture really spoke to me.

See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain (Ex 25:40).

It is quoted in Heb 8:5. I probably found it there.

I knew that I needed to do everything according to God’s pattern. The problem was that I did not have a revelation of what that pattern should be. I had to work with what was already established, so I took on the traditional pastor role.

I enjoyed the preaching and teaching aspect of being a minister. People responded well to my messages, and appreciated what they learnt. However, I struggled with most other aspects of ministry, especially providing pastoral care for grieving and hurting people. The only thing that saved me was that most farmers are resilient, so they rarely go to a minister for help. I did not feel like a leader, but I was expected to be one.

I felt like I was expected to be skilled in many tasks, but was only skilled in a few of them. I was expected to be a Jack of All Trades, but master of only one. This frustration forced me to go to the scriptures. I knew it was not just me that was wrong. I realised that there was something wrong with the ministry that I was trying to do, too. So I decided to study the New Testament and see if I could find out how ministry was supposed to work in the church. I guess I was looking for God’s pattern.

What I found was astonishing. I discovered a variety of ministries that God needed in his church. They needed to be committed to each other and serving the body. I discovered the key ministry is the elder.

I preached what I had discovered in a series of eight sermons. They were quite radical, so I did not know how they would be received. I needn’t have worried, because the farmers loved them. They thought they were very sensible. One of them said, “You really need to put these sermons together into a booklet, so other people can read them”. Thanks Geoffrey Lietze.

I took his advice and I put them together in a little booklet called “The Bride of Christ”. I got a couple of thousand printed, but they disappeared like hotcakes. There was no internet back then on which to promote them, so news about the booklet mostly spread by word of mouth.
People who read the booklet wrote that the Spirit witnessed with the message. Some said that God had been saying something similar to them. I am not sure that many put it into practice, though.

A few years later, I realised that some parts of the booklet, were not clear, and that people had not understood the message. So I decided to rewrite the messages to make the meaning clearer. God told me to take all the stuff that was negative about the church out so it did not distract from sharing a clear vision. I put in several diagrams to help make the message clearer. This new revised book is called Being Church Where We Live. It is the message of my eight sermons to farmers made clearer.

When my wife was typing out the sermons for the original booklet, she said, “How can you be a minster of the church when you believe this stuff?” Initially, I did not see the inconsistency, but eventually I was convicted to practice what I preached. So in 1984, I resigned from the ministry and we moved our family to Christchurch, leaving work and home behind. God was good and provided for us in amazing ways during that change of season.

Being Church Where We Live is the most important thing I have written. It is the foundation on which everything else sits. The other writing that I have done about politics, economics, God’s plan for history, and the Kingdom of God, does not make sense if this book is not understood. They will not be practical, if they are not built on the foundation of Being Church.

More about Being Church Where We Live.

Task for this Season

I grew up on a farm beside the Pareora River in South Canterbury. It was a marvellous life, so I left school early to become a farmer. After a couple of years working on the farm, I realise that I did not have the strength and stamina that farming needs.

I was really concerned about the poverty and suffering rampant throughout the world. The problems seemed to be economic and political, so I decided to go to university and study political science and economics. By the time, I had completed four years study, I realised that I was digging a dry well. These disciplines did not have the answers to the problems that worried me.

While growing up, our family had gone to church every Sunday, but for me it was just a habit. When I reached university and studied philosophy, I decided that I was an atheist. However, I found it is hard to be an honest atheist, because life loses meaning and purpose. So I constructed a safe philosophical god that suited me.

While I was studying for a Masters degree in economics, I had a deep encounter with the living God. He said, “I am who I am. You are trusting in an empty box. If you want to follow me, you need to accept me as I am”. I surrendered to him and decided I would live by his Word and Spirit.

A few months later, I had an exam for a paper on comparative economics. The lecturer was a staunch socialist. Full of my newfound faith, I wrote in my paper that Marx has no solution to the problems of mankind and that Jesus is the answer. I gave a similar response in a second exam paper.

Surprisingly, I passed the degree with excellent grades. But they must have decided to tackle the problem, because one of my lecturers asked to meet with me. He acknowledged that He was an atheist. He said that he could not understand it, but he admitted that my faith seemed to be real.

He said it was not enough to say that Jesus was the answer. He said that I needed to explain how the answer would work out. Then he asked a telling question that has haunted me ever since. “What would the economy and society look like if everyone was a Christian”. I had no answer to that question. I knew it would be different, but I could not explain how.

My lecturer suggested that I should enrol in a Ph.D programme and he would supervise me while I developed an answer to that question. I took his advice, but after a couple of months, I realised that I simply did not have enough knowledge to tackle the problem. There were very few books or journal articles to draw on.

So I pulled out and moved to Dunedin to study theology in preparation for ministry. However, I always knew that I would come back one day and answer that important question. In this next season, my first task is to publish my book called the Government of God (it is nearly done). My main task is to answer the question that beat me back when I was a young economics graduate.

Since then I have studied and thought deeply about both theology and economics. I am now prepared to answer the tricky question. I am planning to write a book about economics from God’s perspective. I will probably call it God's Economy. I expect that it will take me at least a year to compile and write all the thoughts and concepts that I have developed.

Enjoy the Season

I began 33 years of employment in 1984, when I had resigned from my role as a Presbyterian minister. We moved to Christchurch with three young children, needing a home and income. There were not many jobs going at that time, so I took the one I was offered, even though it did not seem to be right, assuming that something better would turn up.

I had resigned on principle of faith, so I presume I was hoping for something more spiritual, or more important. It took me quite a long time to realise that God had put me in this place to bless me.

Some of the things I have gained over the 33 years in employment include the following.

• My first manager was a really good writer, something that I always struggled with. She taught me to write clearly and precisely. She showed me that using the right words is essential for communicating a message. I did not realise at the time how important that would become.

• For ten years, I was responsible for editing many of the organisation’s information releases. I learned how to produce really tight writing, with clear, readable, concise, accurate information.

• I learnt html, which has been really useful for building a website and putting books in Kindle format

• I was manager of a large division for five years. I really struggled with this task, but I learned a lot about how good leaders operate and relate to the people following them.

• Just as I had to be a pastor of a church to discover what the church could be, I needed to be part of a large bureaucracy to understand how bureaucratic organisations can lose their way. Bureaucratic or political power can bring out the worst in people.

• I learned that the government is not the solution, despite appearances, and immense hopes.
  

• For the last twelve years, my role has been advisory. I have had to learn how to have an influence in situations where I had very little authority. I have discovered that people are not necessarily persuaded by the truth or strength of your arguments. Influence depends much more on the quality of your relationships and the strength of their respect of you.

• I worked with some incredibly clever conceptual thinkers. I learned how to work through step-by-step from first principles to realistic practical solutions. I learned how to expose implausible assumptions and false logic.

• I have interacted with a diverse range of people. People from many nations, a variety of religions, and every other difference that you can think of. I have learned to see the image of God in people who are very different from me.

• I discovered that if you see the best in people, they become better.

• I have made some really good friends, and got to know some people whom I can really trust.

• I have had the opportunity to travel to about a dozen different countries and meet with some very interesting people.

• The income provided for the needs of my family while they were growing up. I once said that it was a good trough to have your snout in. The comments yesterday suggest that the organisation got good value for the money.

• For the last fifteen years, I have been able to work part-time, and still receive a good income. This has freed me up to do the things that God has called me to do. I have written and published four books. I have added hundreds of articles to the Kingdom Watcher website. For a time, I assisted with the leadership of a house church. I have been able to do this and still have time for my family.

So it was a good place to be, although I did not realise it when I started.

Changing Season

For the last thirty-three years, I have been employed in a technical advisory role by a large professional organisation. Yesterday that came to an end. They called it retirement, but for me it is just a new season in my life.

I wanted to sneak out quietly, but my manager Sarah said that was not allowed. Some of my colleagues said they loved me too much to let me get away with a quiet departure. So they put on a morning tea, with a large cake, speeches, and messages from colleagues in other places who could not be there.

The following words were used:

• wisdom
• clear thinking
• pragmatic logical approach
• visionary
• mentoring
• thoughtful
• clever and kind
• encouraging
• integrity
• wise and thoughtful

I am pleased that some of Jesus grace has shone through for people to see.

Tomorrow, I will describe what I learned during this season.

Blessed Eschatologist takes a Break

Thats It. My long series on Change of Season is finished.

The Blessed Eschatologist is going back to being the Blessed Economist for a while.

In a few days time, I will start a series on the Kingdom and Community. This is important for understanding how the Holy Spirit will use Suffering Church to release the Kingdom on Earth.

►Man of Lawlessness

The epochal event that marks end the Times of the Kingdom is the coming of the Man of Lawlessness. Paul describes this man in his second letter to the Thessalonians. They had been unsettled by prophecies and false rumours that the second coming had already occurred. People explains that Jesus will not come again until after "the rebellion".

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction (2 Thes 2:3).

An evil man will lead a rebellion against God’s law at the end of the age. This man is called the Man of Lawlessness . He will be destroyed at the Second Coming.

As his name suggests, this man leads a rebellion against God’s law. (A few Greek manuscripts call him Man of Sin in verse 3, but not in verses 8 and 9. Lawlessness is at the heart of what he does so it is an appropriate name.) He will claim that local judges applying God’s law are not producing justice. He will advocate the restoration of human government to bring “proper” justice. Those who feel aggrieved by the decision of godly judges will join him in agitating for change.

Paul explains that this man has not yet come, but is held back until the proper time.

You know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way (2 Thes 2:6-7).

The Holy Spirit is the one who holds back the power of lawlessness. This power was at work through the Roman Empire in Paul’s time. When the Times of the Gentiles are complete, the Holy Spirit will completely restrain this power of lawlessness. At the end of the age, the Holy Spirit will release his restraint on evil, and the Man of Lawlessness will emerge.

When he first emerges the Man of Lawlessness will appear to be wise and good, but his true nature will soon be revealed.

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing (2 Thes 2:9,10).

These miracles, signs and wonders, might be worked using demonic powers. It is more likely they refer to an attempt to improve society using the powers of human government. He will promise to make the world a better place using political powers.

Lawlessness is not the absence of law. Lawlessness is rejecting God’s law and replacing it with human laws. The Man of Lawlessness will teach his followers that the world has changed and that God’s law is not sufficiently sophisticated to be a basis for justice in a modern world. He will advocate a return to democracy as a superior form of government. People who feel maligned by God’s justice will join him in his efforts to establish new laws using democratic processes.

Some people who appear to be living righteous lives will begin delighting in unrighteousness, but this will make them vulnerable to deception (2 Thes 2:12).

They refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie (2 Thes 2:10-11).

These people stop trusting in Jesus salvation and will begin to believe the lie of political power. This lie was discredited during the Time of Distress, but the passing of time allows it to take hold again. The Man of Lawlessness will stir up this discontent to instigate a rebellion against God’s law.

The Man of Lawlessness should not be called the Antichrist. He is a political leader, whereas anyone who denies Jesus divinity is called antichrist (1 John 2:22). The Man of Lawlessness must not be confused with the Beast of Revelation. The Beast is a national empire, whereas the Man of Lawlessness is a political leader. They operate in different seasons. The Beast rises to power during the Time of Distress, whereas the Man of Lawlessness is closely linked with the second coming of Jesus.

The lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming (2 Thes 2:8).

Jesus will overthrow the Man of Lawlessness on the day of his second coming.
This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels (2 Thes 1:7).

Advance of the Gospel (3) - Harvest of the Earth

The proclamation of the gospel leads to the great harvest of the earth. John saw Jesus sitting on a cloud a sickle in his hand. An angel is given a sickle to go out and harvest the earth.

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested (Rev 14:14-16).

When the Time of Distress are complete, the harvest on earth will be ripe. Jesus will send out his gospel messengers to bring in the harvest. Many Christians assume that a great harvest will occur just before Jesus returns. This is wrong. The great harvest comes after the Fullness of the Jews and it brings in the Kingdom of God.

While the angel was harvesting the earth, John saw another angel gathering grapes from the earth and throwing them into a winepress.

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia (Rev 14:19-20).

This is a symbolic presentation of the power of the gospel. The grapes represent the deeds of men. Many of them are sinful and deserve God’s wrath. The winepress outside the city is the cross on which Jesus paid the penalty for sin and turned away that wrath. As the sins of the world are taken to the cross, forgiveness flows out into all the earth. The blood of Jesus is said to be effective to a distance of 1600 stadia. 1600 equals 4 times 10 squared. 4 represents the earth and 10 is completeness, so 1600 represents the blood of Jesus being effective into the fullness of the earth.

After his vision of the earth being harvested, John saw those who had been victorious in suffering standing on a sea of glass and praising God. They were singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.

Great and marvelous are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed (Rev 15:3-4)

These words come to fulfilment when the law of Moses and the gospel of Jesus are brought together in unity by the Spirit of God. When the nations see the glory of God’s Kingdom, they will all surrender and worship God.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14).

Advance of the Gospel (2) - Eternal Gospel

After the sealing of Israel (Rev 7:1-8), John saw great multitudes being saved by the gospel.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb (Rev 7:9-10).

Those who see Revelation as a book of doom and gloom often miss these verses. The number of people saved by the gospel will be a multitude so large that no one can count them. When the Times of the Gentiles are complete, and the Jews join the team, the fulfilment of this promise will be possible.

A vision of the 144,000, representing the Fullness of Israel (Rev 14:1-4), is followed by the eternal gospel going to the nations.

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people (Rev 14:6).

When Israel has received the gospel, the church that includes Israel will proclaim the gospel of Jesus to every tribe, language and nation on earth.

Collapse of Human Government (3) - Sixth Seal

The opening of the sixth seal describes the collapse of human government and democratic power.

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place (Rev 6:13-14).

These events are not literal. The Old Testament prophets often described the collapse of a great nation in the same language. One exmple is Ezekiel’s descripton of the the defeat of Egypt by the armies of Babylon.

When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light (Ez 32:7).

These words are a graphically describe the collapse of Egypt at the hand of Babylon. The sun continued to shine, but the prophecy about Egypt was fulfilled. Other prophets used similar language to describe the collapse of a nation or empire. They described the collapse of a human government as the sun and moon falling from the sky. Other examples are Is 13:10 and Is 34:4-5.

References to the sun, moon and stars turning to blood or falling from the sky are an apocalyptic description of the collapse of human government and political power.

Fullness of Israel (3) - How

Many Christians are confused about how the Fullness of Israel occurs, but God’s solution fits the problem. The Jewish problem is "seeing". Paul explained to the Romans that their eyes have been blinded to prevent them from seeing the truth.

God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day. (Rom 11:8).

Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Rom 11:25).

This spiritual blindness lasts until the end of the Times of the Gentiles. The Jews will need to have their spiritual eyes opened and their hearts cracked before they can receive salvation (this is the only way anyone can come to salvation).

Zechariah prophesied that after the nations besieging Israel are destroyed in response to prophetic prayer, God will pour his spirit out on Israel so their eyes are opened to understand that Jesus is their messiah.

I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son (Zech 12:10).

At the end of Times of the Gentiles, the Spirit of the Lord will be poured out on the hearts of all Israel. They will receive a Spirit of Supplication that causes them to cry out to Jesus for salvation. The Spirit of grace will give them faith to receive the salvation that comes through grace.

The Holy Spirit will open the eyes of the hearts Israel to know Jesus. They will stop looking for a warlike messiah and realise that Jesus who died on the cross and "who was pieced" by a spear is their messiah. This realisation will produce a great flood of repentance. As Israel realises that Jesus reigns at the right hand of God and that they have been saved by the prayers in his name, the whole land will be filled with tears. When they realise what Jesus has done for them, they will weep with sadness and joy. The weeping will be greater than when King Josiah died (Zech 12:11-14).

The Spirit moves out after the nations besieging Israel have destroyed themselves.

I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD (Ezek 39:29).

Many Christians believe that the Jews will be converted when Jesus returns to Jerusalem. This is not true. Seeing is not believing. The Jews saw Jesus for three years while he exercised his ministry on earth, but they did not believe in him, because their hearts were hard (Rom 10). Nothing has changed, so seeing Jesus again would not bring them to faith. Israel’s problem is hardness of heart (Rom 10). The only cure for spiritual blindness is the Holy Spirit; he alone can change hearts.

The Jewish people will not come to salvation by seeingJesus return to Jerusalem. Their hearts will be changed when the Holy Spirit moves to open their spiritual eyes.

The fortress will be abandoned and the noisy city deserted till the Spirit is poured on us from on high (Is 32:14-15).

The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire (Is 4:4).

I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants (Is 44:3).

The Jews will be converted by an outpouring of the Spirit and the preaching of a prophetic church. This is not a change in game plan. The Jews receive salvation like everyone else, by repenting and believing in Jesus as the Spirit moves.

Fullness of Israel (2) - The Promise

God’s promise to Israel is most clearly stated in Romans 11. Paul promises that although the Jews have stumbled, they did not fall beyond recovery (Rom 11:11). The time will come when Israel is reconciled to the Lord again.

As far as the gospel is concerned they are enemies on your account, but as far as election is concerned they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable (Rom 11:28,20).

Although the Jews became enemies of God by rejecting the gospel, their election is still sure for the sake of the patriarchs. Once God calls a people he does not change that calling (Is 54:10, Jer 31:37).

When the Fulfilment of Israel comes, the vast majority of Jews will come to believe in Jesus. By believing in him, they will move back over the green line into the place of blessing. Paul described this as being grafted back into the olive tree (Romans 11:22-24).

If they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again (Rom 11:23).

They have been shut out for a time, but will eventually come back under blessing of.

Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved (Rom 11:25-26).

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable (Rom 11:28-29).

The church and Israel will become one in Jesus.

Salvation will come to the entire nation at the same time. Each individual will have to come to faith, but God will work things so that this happens to most of the nation at the same time. The entire nation will be touched by the Spirit during the same event. Just as the religious and political leaders rejected Jesus (representing their people), the religious and political leaders of Israel will believe and serve Jesus.

The restoration of the Jews is based on a promise of the book of Moses.

The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him (Deut 4:27-31).

Although Israel was dispersed among the nations, God was not breaking his covenant. Their dispersion was the fulfilment of the curses attached to the covenant, so when that punishment is complete, they can receive the blessings of the covenant again. The same warning and promise is given in Isaiah 51:17-23.

►Fullness of Israel (1)

The Fullness of Israel is one of the epochal events that marks the beginning of a new season. Traditionally, this event has been called the "calling of the Jews", but "fullness" is the biblical term.

Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness (Rom.11:12)!

The Fullness of Jews is one of the major turning points in history.

Looking at the history of the Jewish people, it would be easy to believe that God is finished with the people that he once called his own. That is not true. Although the Jews are under God’s judgment for their rejecting their Messiah, the Bible teaches that they will be restored to a place of blessing. This will happen when they acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah whom they have been seeking.

The following diagram shows God's covenant with Israel. To the left of the green line is the curse of the covenant. On the right of the green line is the blessing promised in the covenant. The blue line represents the history of Israel.

The ministry of Jesus is represented by the yellow line. Israel rejected Jesus and passed to the left under the curse of the law (Matthew 23:37-39). Jesus filled the terms of the covenant on behalf of all those who believe in him by dying and rising again, so the church (red arrow) receives the blessing of the covenant. (The new covenant is not really new, but is a fulfilment of the old covenant). As the church grows, the red arrow will become much larger.

The nation of Israel is currently on the left of the green line, under the curse. Although the nation of Israel has been restored, its restoration as achieved "by the sword" (Ezekiel 38:8) by military and political action, not by the direct hand of God. The restored nation will continue being trampled by the Gentiles. However, God has not forgotten Israel. The time will come when Israel is restored to blessing.

When the Fullness of Israel comes, the vast majority of Jews will come to believe in Jesus. Through believing in him, they will move back over the green line into the place of blessing.

Three to Let Go

To understand God’s plans for history, three passages of scripture that Christians cling to must be taken of the mix, because they have already been fulfilled. Applying them to the future causes confusion.

1. Jesus Big Prophecy (Matt 24:3-35, Mark 13:3-31; Luke 21:5-33)
This prophecy was fulfilled within the lifetime of those who heard Jesus speak.

Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened (Matt 24:34).

Jesus statement is very clear. This passage was fulfilled in AD 70, so it should not be used to explain the future (see Jesus Big Prophecy for more).

2. The Seventy Weeks of Daniel (Dan 9:20-27)
Daniel’s was praying for the end of the exile in Babylon. The angel told him what would happen in the next 490 years.

Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people (Dan 9:24).

These 490 years ended at the time of Jesus, so Daniel’s prophecy has been fulfilled. Some Christians insert a gap before the last week, but there is no biblical justification for this practice. Assuming that part of this vision still has to be fulfilled will produce confusion (see Seventy Sevens for more).

3. The Woman and the Dragon (Revelation 12)
The book of Revelation covers all of New Testament history. The birth and resurrection of Jesus are described in the vision of the Woman and the Dragon.

And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne (Rev 12:5).

The vision ends with Israel being scattered among the nations by the Roman Empire. Christians have confused themselves by applying this passage to the future (see Woman and the Dragon).

These passages are favourites of Christians who want to understand the future, but they have already been fulfilled, so it is time to let them go. We will not lose anything by doing this, as there are plenty of other passages that have not been fulfilled. Those who want to understand God’s plan for history should focus on these.

As long as Christians keep trying to push these three scriptures that have been fulfilled into the future, but ignore others that are relevant for the future, confusion is bound to continue.

Change of Season (7) - Gods Plan

The following diagram shows how various events fit together.

+ Enlarge

Where Are We Now?
Christians who think that we are transitioning into a new season are correct, but they often misunderstand what this means, because they are confused about the next season. Before we can know what we should do, we need to know which season we are in. We also need to know which season comes next. And because the next season is a tough one, we need to know what comes after that too, or we will lose hope.

We really are at a pivotal time in human history. The Times of the Gentiles are coming to an end. The reason that Christians feel that the seasons are changing is that we are entering this Time of Distress. This is the short season that runs in parallel to the Times of the Gentiles during the final stages of this much longer season. We should be getting ready for this transition.

The Times of the Gentiles and the Time of Distress end together with the Fullness of Israel. This opens up the way for the glorious season when the Kingdom of God comes on earth as it is in heaven.

These five seasons are clearly visible in the scriptures, not hidden behind images or numerics. To help our understanding, the five seasons will be discussed in more detail in the following posts.

Change of Season (5) - Times and Seasons

God is sovereign and is working out his plan for history. He knows the beginning from the end, and has determined times and seasons for life on earth. God has allotted periods and the boundaries for all nations and will decide their rising and falling (Acts 17:26). He expects his people to know his plans and understand what he is doing in every age (1 Thes 5:1).

The NASB translates the word "times" as "epochs". The word "epoch" is derived from a Greek word, which means pause. It is used to describe the breaks between the acts of a play. In God’s plan, each new season is started by an epochal event that marks the end of the old season and the beginning of the new one. God breaks in and changes the "state of the play" to start a new stage of history.

The key epochal events in the Old Testament were creation, the fall, the flood, the tower of Babel, the exodus, the kingship of David, the exile to Babylon and the return to Israel. The incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus was the ultimate epochal event that marked the beginning of the New Testament era. We should understand the times and seasons that were set into play by Jesus death, resurrection and ascension.

The New Testament era is a game of two halves. The first half began with Last Days of the Jewish religious system. This short season ended with the Fall of Jerusalem. This epochal event leads into a season that Jesus called the Times of the Gentiles. This long season dominates the first half of the New Testament age. The end of the Times of the Gentiles is marked by a relatively-short sub-season called the Time of Distress. The Times of the Gentiles and the Time of Distress both ended with the same epochal event.

Last Days =► Time of the Gentiles =► Time of Distress

The first half of the New Testament age is drawing to close and we are getting close to the half-time change over. The second half begins with an epochal event called the fullness of Israel, which opens the way for the Holy Spirit to give the saints the promised Kingdom. The glory of his Kingdom will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. God will enjoy his Glorious Kingdom, so it might remain on earth for a long, long time. The end of the season will be marked by an epochal event. The appearance of the Man of Sin opens a way for nations to rebel and reject the Kingdom. This Little Season of rebellion will be cut short by Jesus return, which brings the end of history as we know it.

Time of Distress =► Glorious Kingdom =► Little Season

Change of Season (4) - Plenty of Time

Christians always seem to be in a hurry for the second coming to come. God is generous and gracious wanting many people to come into his kingdom, so he is not in a hurry. Peter reminded us that God is not bound by our sense of urgency.

With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Pet 3:8,9).

These verses have used as a key to interpret biblical prophecy, but that totally misses the point. The real point is that time is different for God. A thousand years a like a day. The two thousand years that have passed since Jesus was crucified seems like a long time top us, but God it is just like two days. If only two days have gone by, God has no reason to wind up his show on earth. The opposite is true. He is not slow, but patient. He is willing to let many thousands of years so that more people can come to repentance and enter his kingdom.

Christians who want Jesus to return soon are out of touch with God’s heart. He did not send his son to die for just a hand full of people. He is gracious and generous and wants hundreds of billions of people to come into his kingdom. He will not establish his kingdom, and then immediately put it away like last years toy. He might enjoy watching his kingdom for thousands of years. God is patient, so he is quite happy to let several thousand more years go by, so he can keep his covenant for a thousand generations.

Here is a woe that should make us worry.
Woe to those who say, "Let God hurry,
let him hasten his work
so we may see it (Is 5:19).

God is not in a hurry. His people should be careful about making him hurry. He has many more promises to fulfil. His people should be as keen to see many billions more people coming into the kingdom. Those who want to rush Jesus coming do not understand his concept of time.

Ten thousand years is just like a few days to God. He will wait that long to fill his kingdom with billions of people.

God does not need to hurry. From his perspective this show has only been on the road for a couple of days. It makes no sense for him to close it down, because the opening day crowds were disappointing. He intends to establish his kingdom, so he will take as long as he needs to do it.

Change of Season (3) - Rock and Mountain

If we want to be part of what God is doing in this time, we must understand his plans. The key is understanding that human history this side of the cross has two halves. We are involved in a game of two halves (see the Rugby Parable). During the first part, the focus is on the church. During the second stage, the Kingdom of God grows to fulfilment.

These two stages are explained in Daniel 2. The Babylonian king dreamed about a great statue. God revealed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel. He explained that the statue represented four kingdoms. The head of gold symbolised the Babylonian empire. The feet of iron and clay represented the Roman Empire, which would come 300 years later. Nebuchadnezzar also saw a great rock smash into the feet of the statue and destroy it.

While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace (Dan 2:34-35).

When the Roman Empire has come to power, God would set in process his plan to destroy the empires of world.

The Hebrew word for stone (eben) is etymologically linked with the word for Son (ben). God sent his son into the world as the servant messiah. After his ascension, Jesus will send the Spirit from heaven to build the church on earth. This first part of the New Testament age is centred on the church, which is represented by a Rock.

Daniel explained that the second stage of history will be more like a Mountain. This is what Nebuchadnezzar saw.

But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth (Dan 2:34-35).

During the second stage, the Rock is transformed into a huge Mountain. Daniel explained its meaning.

In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever (Dan 2:44).

God will establish a kingdom that can never be destroyed. The Church will inherit the Kingdom of God, which is the great mountain that fills the entire earth. God will crush all other kingdoms of the world and bring them to an end. They will be like chaff that is swept away without a trace.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14).

God has promised that the glory of his kingdom will fill the entire earth. This promise has not yet been fulfilled, so we are still in the age of the Rock.

The Kingdom of God has not yet filled the whole earth, so even if we are getting close to the transition from rock to the mountain, we are still in the age that focuses on the church.

Change of Season (2) - Not the Last Days

Many Christians believe that we are in a season called the Last Days. This is a mistake. The Bible teaches that the Last Days began when Jesus was walking on earth.

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom He has appointed heir of all things (Heb 1:1-2).

The Last Days had already begun when these worlds were written. The explanation is that the term refers to the Last Days of the Jewish religious system. It is the season between the ministry of the Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. In this year, the temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were scattered among the nations. The end of this season ushered in a season called the Times of the Gentiles.

We are still in the Times of the Gentiles. It will not be ended by the Last Days, because they came before the Times of the Gentiles, not at their end. Those who are looking for the Last Days are looking for the wrong season, because it has already been completed.