If you would like to contact Rob or arrange a speaking engagement you can leave a comment, connect via Facebook or email him directly at twowingstoGod(at)gmail.com.
If you would like to contact Rob or arrange a speaking engagement you can leave a comment, connect via Facebook or email him directly at twowingstoGod(at)gmail.com.
Hi Rob I have done extensive study into the scriptures and have a much different view than you do about these things and would kindly share just a portion of the evidence in favor of dispensational theology. I hope you consider some of the ideas I present and would welcome a volley of debate style criticisms and defenses of your point of view. In light of the scope of the subject it will be difficult to confine the arguments without cutting and pasting numerous scriptures as part of my case. I know it makes for a lot of text but I hope by placing the scriptures along side of my arguments to be able to show some context for the entire greater idea. I use NKJ
1st off since this subject deals with prophecy and interpretation my rules for Biblical interpretation are found in the Bible where the law of the prophets was given. This is found in Deut 18, “20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”
From this text I see that the prophet must be 100% accurate under penalty of death so I note what has been said and see if it can be understood in the plain language and then did it ever happen. The second rule is similar and it is based on interpretation and is found in 2nd Peter 1 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed,fn which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,fn 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of Godfn spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
These two rules are key to my study as I will not place a private interpretation over the words. So the scriptures should all integrate to form a single functioning harmonious relationship with each other since they were words moved by the Holy Spirit.
Id like to compare just a few scriptures that integrate in such a way that clearly are within the two rules of interpretation that I have laid out. I will limit my scope to just a few that demonstrate that there is a plan for Israel and the kingdom of God with a 1000 year reign of Jesus beginning with the 2nd coming of Christ.
Lets start with the prophecy of Zacharias, John the Baptist dad and see what he had to say in Luke 1.
67 Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:
68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
Who have been since the world began,
71 That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
74 To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
Now according to Deut and Peter the 2 rules we see that Zacharias spoke by the HOly Spirit and promised that God has raised a horn of salvation for his people that they would be delivered from their enemies and worship and serve him with out fear all of their days. We see he cites the keeping of the covenant with Abraham so my view would hold that this is not ever fulfilled. There are still enemies of both the church and Israel so either way it is future.
Now lets look at the 2nd coming of Jesus as depicted by Zechariah I will past the entire chapter but every element of this word to Zecharias is fulfilled from this day forward. You will see the LORD come with his saints and establish a kingdom on earth. Note that this is clearly the 2nd coming of Jesus and it ends with all the nations required to keep the feast of tabernacles or they get no rain. Here is the passage and we can look at it some more.
Zech 144
1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then the LORD will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus the LORD my God will come,
And all the saints with You.fn
6 It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
7 It shall be one day
Which is known to the LORD—
Neither day nor night.
But at evening time it shall happen
That it will be light.
8 And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea;
In both summer and winter it shall occur.
9 And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The LORD is one,”fn
And His name one.
10 All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalemfn shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.
11 The people shall dwell in it;
And no longer shall there be utter destruction,
But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:
Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet,
Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets,
And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.
13 It shall come to pass in that day
That a great panic from the LORD will be among them.
Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor,
And raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand;
14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem.
And the wealth of all the surrounding nations
Shall be gathered together:
Gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.
15 Such also shall be the plague
On the horse and the mule,
On the camel and the donkey,
And on all the cattle that will be in those camps.
So shall this plague be.
6 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Now according the the two rules of prophecy it is certain that this has never happened. According to Peter we cannot put a private interpretation on it so lets see if the literal makes any sense. This declares this is the day of the LORD. Israel is being overrun the women are being ravished half the city is in captivity. It says the LORD comes out to fight against the nations who have come. And the LORD’s feet will be on the Mount of Olives and the mountain will split in two (this has not happened ever) then it says the LORD will come with His saints. Well time to insert a couple of other verses about this . Jude 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
This sure seems like the day Enoch saw that Jude records. How about Rev 5
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.”
Now these guys are already deceased and sing about coming back to reign on earth.
More interesting is this verse in Rev 20 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for afn thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Lets integrate these ideas the clear idea is those beheaded with Jesus will rise and reign while Satan is bound for 1000 years. Have any of those beheaded come back yet to reign and yet the literal view will show that Israel is being delivered right here and those people that Jude wrote of and JOhn are now come too. This is keeping with 100% accuracy in prophecy and no private interpretation.
Lets get back to Zechariah for more proof this is still future.
Verse 8 and 9 are key. Again has this river ever flowed from Jerusalem a new one that flows year round? no it says two amazing things in verse 9. In that Day the LORD shall be king over all the earth and they shall say His name in one.
Daniel described in Ch 2 the 2nd coming of the LORD The stone cut with hand descends from heaven and crushes the image and grinds it to powder and blows them away forever. This stone becomes a mountain that covers the whole earth and is the kingdom that will not end. Jesus descends and is here destroying the kingdoms of man and is now taking over and establishing his throne from Jerusalem.
The second note gives me chills as it says in that day they will say the LORD is one. Which day is this? Jesus is come Israel is not reciting the old idea of God but is saying the LORD Jehova is one and they are including Jesus in the idea. They recognize the messiah as Jesus God incarnate at this moment. Paul said blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. From the abomination of desolation it is said that Jerusalem shall be trampled for 42 months by the Gentiles. Well this day will be exactly 42 months from the abomination of desolation. Nothing happened after 42 months in 70 AD.
The next section of Zechariah shows the enemies of God being dissolved again this has not happened and Israel and Judah are distinctly still in existence as God swore to Jeremiah in ch 31 the same passage that promised a new covenant also promised that as long as sun and moon kept their places Israel would not cease to be a nation.
Verse 16 on wards speaks of a continuation of events transpiring on earth after Jesus has come with his saints. The nations have never had to keep the feast of Tabernacles or face drought. The conclusion I make is that all these verses and for that matter the whole package fits together within these rules of interpretation. The curse is reverse and Satan is bound for the 1000 years. I hope you consider that Gods word says in Rev when the 7th angel sounds its thunder the mystery of God as revealed by His servants the prophets would be finished.
This is a short list of many many ideas that looked through this lens integrate without contradiction. God’s word is coming to pass and these days are overtaking us now.
Matthew: Truth & Life RSV-CE
Matthew 24:36
36 ” But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,but the Father only. †
How does your prophesy hold up to the words of Jesus?