Will Britain stand with Israel in the end times?

We can forecast the Beast from the East...but can we recognise the signs of the times?

The weather forecasters did a good job warning us of the approach of the ‘Beast from the East’. Of course, it did not prevent many roads being closed, cars getting stuck and accidents happening: but at least we were warned in advance so that we could take precautions or change our travel plans. But how good are Christian preachers in giving forewarning to people of what is likely to happen in the nation?

Where Are Church Leaders?

There is increasing anger in the Brexit debate – people are getting fed up with constant bickering among politicians and news programmes swamped with journalists arguing among themselves – always emphasising the bad news and stirring up controversy and confusion.

Now the EU has put forward their plan, which would require Northern Ireland to stay in the European Union and would break up the United Kingdom – wilfully adding to the problems facing our negotiators and stirring divisions among Brits in the hope of causing the Government to fall and, in the resulting chaos, the decision to leave the European Union will be reversed.

The EU leaders are aided and abetted by people like Tony Blair, George Soros, John Major, and many others, who want to keep us tied into the oppressive (demonic?) institutions of the EU and their vision of an atheist, secular humanist world empire.

But where is the voice of the Church? Why do we not hear Christian preachers thundering from their pulpits about the spiritual forces of evil that are creating chaos and confusion? Could it be that they are like the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to Jesus asking for a miraculous sign? He replied,

When evening comes, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red”, and in the morning, “Today it will be stormy for the sky is red and overcast.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times! (Matt 16:2-3).

The weather forecasters were able to warn us of the ‘Beast from the East’ – but where are the Christian preachers able to warn about what is coming to the nation?

Wrong Theology?

Could it be that our Church leaders are unable to discern the signs of the times because they’ve got their biblical theology all wrong? Earlier this week I received an email from a minister of a London church reporting a message he had given to his congregation promising them a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and of supernatural power to overcome the enemies of Christ because we are now in the last days leading up to the coming of Jesus!

I was horrified to read this because it is a distortion of the truth! The great shaking of the nations may lead many to give their lives to God but there is no promise that Christians will rule the world. In fact, the first words of Jesus on the subject were warnings about deception!

He also said that in the last days, nation will rise against nation, there will be an increase of wickedness with persecution and betrayal of believers, with false prophets and teachers deceiving the people and many turning away from the faith (see Matthew 24).

Isn’t this what we are seeing today? There are plenty of signs of growing tension between the nations as well as the terrible wars in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Nigeria, Myanmar, South Sudan and many more places around the world, where people are being slaughtered and vast numbers of refugees are on the move.

Could it be that our Church leaders are unable to discern the signs of the times because they’ve got their biblical theology all wrong?

Jesus also said that the Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world - and this is also undoubtedly happening today, despite all the persecution of believers and the falling away from the faith in the Western nations. The Church worldwide is growing at a faster rate than ever before in history, with vast numbers of new believers in China, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Africa and in South America.

In fact, the Gospel is even growing in the Middle East where Christians are evangelising in the refugee camps and Jesus is appearing to Arabs in dreams and visions, leading to increasing numbers of secret believers among the Muslims.

These are amazing days if we are willing to recognise the signs of the times!

Heresy in the Church

But Jesus also warned about the love of many growing cold. Peter actually says that judgment will begin with the family of God (1 Pet 4:17). And he warns about false teachers coming into the Church and “secretly introducing destructive heresies, even denying the Sovereign Lord” (2 Pet 2:1).

Christians should be on their guard against false teachings and destructive heresies that sound so attractive and appealing – promising great power to perform miracles and heal the sick. Popular prophecies today are promising that Christians are going to take control of broadcasting and TV and spread the Gospel through the mighty power they will exercise, which will enable them to take control of the Government and enforce righteous laws which will prepare the way for the Kingdom of God.

They believe that once Christians have established the Kingdom of God on earth, Jesus will return and they will present the Kingdom to him. This is the teaching variously known as, ‘Kingdom Now’ or ‘Dominionism’ or ‘Latter Rain’. But this teaching is not in the Bible!

Beware!

Many Christians in the Western nations, especially in the USA and in Britain, are embracing this dangerous false teaching. It is dangerous because Christians who imbibe these beliefs are preparing for the wrong things.

Dominionism is dangerous because Christians who imbibe these beliefs are preparing for the wrong things.

It’s like if the weather forecasters, instead of warning us that the ‘Beast from the East’ would bring snow, promised sunshine and warm temperatures so that we put on light clothing and suntan lotion instead of getting out our wellies and shovels!

The message to Christians should be, “Beware of deception!” Read your Bible and see what Jesus and the Apostles said about the days leading up to the second coming of Jesus. Lift up your heads and rejoice even in the dark days when our faith is severely tested! Maranatha! Come quickly Lord!

Clifford Denton's second article on the end times emphasises the importance of reading Scripture through the right lens.

The Masterpiece of the Bible

The Bible is like a tapestry. A multitude of themes trace their way through the scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation. These themes intersect and overlap so that they are both single themes and part of a whole.

The picture of the end times is one of those themes. Echoes from Genesis are in Revelation. The plagues of Egypt remind us of the woes that God will pour out on the entire earth right at the end of time. We learn about the heart and mind of God, the separation of the saved from the unsaved, judgment on sin and much more.

So, to understand the end times, we must read the entire Bible.

Greek versus Hebrew

How, then, do we approach the reading of Scripture with the end times in view? We must beware of an overly-analytical approach. Western philosophy and scientific analysis emerged from ancient Greece. This has fostered methodical, 'logical' attitudes to world issues based on human rationality, but as far as the scriptures are concerned another mindset is needed.

Western education, influenced by those Greek patterns of logic, has unfortunately trained our minds away from the biblical, Hebraic mindset through which we should approach Scripture. This has even influenced our theology, including perspectives on the end times, contributing significantly to the divisions and conflicting conclusions on the topic which exist among Christians today.

To understand the end times, we must read the entire Bible.

The Hebraic mindset is founded on faith and leads to a seeking after God through a prayerful walk. It is a mindset that encourages questions - but not questions of the philosophical kind that expect straightforward, rational answers. We must not approach God with our questions expecting to walk away with the single answer that ticks all the boxes of our theology.

Instead we find ourselves enquiring about aspects of a larger truth. Our questions are held in the background, in our spirits, and are part of an ongoing communication which results in God feeding us, edifying us and gradually revealing something richer and clearer on questions that are deeper than we first thought. Sometimes God hears one question and raises another as an answer. We find this in the biblical record of Jesus' own teaching.

A Walk of Discovery

For this walk God has provided us with Scripture, that wonderful tapestry of intertwining themes that builds into an overall picture.

The walk is both personal and corporate, so we each have a testimony that we share with others as they also share with us, as we sit prayerfully together with the scriptures open and as we share our questions.

Through Word and Picture

There are two main ways in which God communicates prophetically. One is in pictures; the other is in words. These are not independent. As we often say, 'a picture paints a thousand words'. Language gives rise to pictures in our imagination, and pictures can be described, interpreted and celebrated in words.

Nowhere are these connected forms of communication clearer than in the created universe, which God created in all its visual splendour to speak of himself. Psalm 19 expresses this profound truth: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard" (NKJV).

There are two main ways in which God communicates prophetically: pictures and words.

While scientific enquiry has revealed much about the laws of nature and the structure of the universe, giving many people of faith further understanding through which they praise God all the more, science has never proven or disproven the existence of a God of Creation. Indeed, more and more scientists in our day have become side-lined by theories of evolution that seemingly do not require a Creator. Far better to prayerfully gaze with wonder on Creation and let God speak of himself to us in his own way, by faith unspoiled by too much logical analysis.

Communicating Heart to Heart: Illustrations from the Arts

God made mankind in his image, so we (in a limited way) are able to express ourselves through words and pictures. Though we are all human and prone to impurity, through the expressions of the various creative arts, we can begin to understand how Creator God communicates to us.

A painted masterpiece will hang in a gallery and one can look at it for hours, seeing the overall picture, while from time to time focussing on a detail that makes up the whole. If the picture were broken down into individual details the overall impression would be lost.

Poets use words to convey their thoughts in the same way that artists use paints on canvas. Many of us fall short of understanding poetry if our scientific mindset seeks to over-analyse the structure of the poem, which was often (for some of us) how we learned to approach poetry at school. We were taught to dissect it through metre, rhyme, structure, figures of speech and so on, rather than just reading it.

C Day Lewis described this error in reading poetry, where the reader "doesn't take off his critical controls and allow the poem to pass direct to his imagination".¹ Lewis was considering what makes a good poem and how it should be read. He understood that a good poet communicates from his heart through particular choices and combinations of words – that is his craft. We, the readers, are intended to trust the poet as a communicator and allow him to speak to us through the end result of his writing.

How much more so than any human artist or poet does God, the Creator of language and all visual expression, seek to communicate truths to us heart to heart. And so to the key point of this article.

How much more so than any human artist or poet does God, the Creator of language and all visual expression, seek to communicate truths to us heart to heart?

God the Creator Communicates

The Hebraic way to approach Scripture's words, pictures and visions, including the passages relating to the end times, is to simply read them in a prayerful attitude as part of our walk with God. He is less concerned that they be scientifically analysed and more concerned to reach into our hearts and minds, to plant there the message behind the words and pictures – rather like C Day Lewis explained that poetry should be read.

This will not leave us with the overall picture alone, as a general abstraction. From time to time we will find ourselves focussed on a particularly relevant detail. However, this is not so we can reconstruct scientifically what God is saying, such as many have done with various time-lines of the prophetic scriptures, only to find that they have pushed the idea too far and into disagreement with someone else's system – or indeed into conflict with factual events as they unfold.

Let us trust God, the Greatest of all Communicators, and read together what he has said of the end times. Perhaps some of us should start afresh and read the scriptures with this renewed mindset. Simply read the entire Bible and see what God says. Do it the Hebraic way.

Next time: Harmony among the prophetic scriptures.

For other articles in this series, click here.

References

1 Introduction to A New Anthology of Modern Verse 1920-1940. Methuen, 1941 p XV.