Original song by fellow Bible study student & fellow blogger Chris MacEnany:
If you haven’t yet made Jesus your personal Savior, today – right now – is the best time to do so. You can ask Him in your own words, or use some version of the Sinner’s Prayer. Remember, Jesus – Yeshua – turns no-one away.
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© 2022 Zero Faith Saint
It’s very common these days to hear preachers, both in churches and on TV, state that Jesus can “return at any time”. This doctrine of the imminent return of Christ was popularized in the early 1800s by John Nelson Darby. It certainly sounds nice, and can give Christians great comfort as the world around us continues to degenerate. But the simple truth — and I’m going to be blunt here — is that it’s completely wrong.
This idea stems I think from a misunderstanding of End-Time prophecy, particularly in relation to the Rapture. There are many theories of how and when the Rapture will take place: Pre-Trib, Post-Trib, Mid-Trib, etc. Something you’ll hear the “at any time” proponents say is that “all the prophecies have been fulfilled”. Which, again, is completely wrong.
Yes, several prophecies have been fulfilled; and some can legitimately be described as major. Two such prophecies often mentioned in this line of reasoning are Israel being reborn in a day, and Jews returning home to the land. You may even hear these two described as “the last prophecies to be fulfilled” — that is, they’re “all” fulfilled now, and so Jesus can return at any time. And again (third time, in fact), this is completely wrong.
There remain several prophecies which are yet to be fulfilled. But because I want this article to be a (relatively) short and quick read, I’m going to focus on just two. And frankly, I think each qualifies as major:
Let’s be clear here: Those who teach on and from Scripture — from professional theologians down to simple bloggers such as myself (whose primary gift seems to be merely the ability to take another’s teaching and break it down and rearrange it into an easier-to-follow form) — agree on this primary point: David is writing that God (YHVH / Yehovah / Yahweh) is speaking to Jesus (Yeshua). He, God, is telling Him, Jesus, to sit and rest at His, God’s, right hand until He, God, makes all of His, Jesus’, enemies His, Jesus’, footstool.
Or, without the flood of commas:
God said to Jesus, “Sit here at My side until I put all of Your enemies under Your control.”
So, simple question: Has that happened?
Have all of Yeshua’s enemies been put under his control?
Yes, one could argue that since God is always sovereign, all things are always under His control. Further, the argument could be attempted that since God exists outside of time (indeed, time itself is a creation of God), He always sees things as completed, and so Yeshua is thus already ruling over His enemies.
However, different elements of Scripture must be interpreted not only in the proper context but also from the proper perspective. Some things occur here in the real, physical world. Others occur in the spirit realm. Some things are simply metaphor or illustration. Others are accounts of actual occurrences.
The Bible mentions such things as births, deaths, famines, and wars. Each such mention refers to an actual event which occurred at its specific time in history, and which had its particular duration. (For example, when Genesis 40:20 – 41:1 states that two years had passed since Pharaoh’s birthday, that was two full calendar years.) These are things which people actually experienced. Therefore the proper perspective for Ps110:1 is that of human experience.
Has Satan been stopped from causing evil in this world? Have all people been freed from possession and torment by demons? Have we seen the end of crimes such as murder, rape, and theft? Have all corrupt individuals been removed from positions of power and influence?
How could the Lord’s enemies be His footstool if the Antichrist is still reigning on his throne? 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 clearly states that “[the] day shall not come [until] that man of sin be revealed”. Daniel 11:36 states that the Antichrist shall rule until “the indignation be accomplished”. Revelation 19 states in verse 6 that “the Lord God omnipotent reigneth”, in verse 11 that Yeshua “judge[s] and make[s] war”, and not until verse 20 does it say that the Antichrist and false prophet are “taken … [and] cast alive into a lake of fire…” How can Yeshua return if the Antichrist is not yet even in power on the world stage?
Further, 1 Corinthians 15:26 says “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Is human death a thing of the past?
Clearly, the answer to each and all of these questions is No. We still experience these things. Thus, all of these enemies are not yet under Yeshua’s control; they have not been made His footstool. Thus, more directly, this prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.
That particular phrase, “the fulness of the Gentiles”, is regarded by many Bible scholars to mean the full number of Gentiles, the full number of people who will be saved. (Indeed, several translations use variations of the phrase “full number”.)
God knows the literal, exact number of people who will be saved through Yeshua. There is a person, quite possibly alive at this time, who will be the last, the very last, person to accept Yeshua. When that happens, that’s it; the full number will have come in, and no-one else will be saved regardless how many people are left. At that point we move into the final stages of the End Time.
(Let me clarify here that there are thus two kinds of people in this world: the saved and the unsaved. To be blunt, there will be no “left behind” folks to be rescued. This will be addressed in more detail in a future lesson.)
So, if it is true that “Jesus can come back at any time”, it would have to mean that the full number of Gentiles has already been reached. If so, why are churches still open? Why continue to try to “win souls for Jesus” if there is no-one else who will listen and be saved? If today, or tomorrow, or next week, or at any future time, even just one more person accepts Yeshua for redemption and salvation, it can only mean that, at least up to that very moment, the “fullness of the Gentiles” had not yet been reached. That, plus the fact that we (the body of Yeshua) still not only seek to get people saved but also have the ache, the desire, to get people saved, can only mean that this prophecy too remains unfulfilled.
There are yet several prophecies remaining to be fulfilled before Yeshua raptures the saved persons and returns to defeat the Antichrist and begin His millennial reign (though in my humble opinion these two are among the more significant). And since Yeshua will not be returning until all prophecies are fulfilled, this means that for now – at least for right now – we still have time to win people.
If you have not yet given yourself over to Yeshua, today – now – is a great time to do so. John 6:37 promises that no-one who comes to Him will be turned away. You can ask Him using your own words; or if you’re unsure of how to phrase the request, you can use a version of the so-called Sinner’s Prayer, which you can easily find online.
You will still face challenges afterward, from the physical world and from the spirit realm. But when a challenge arises, remind yourself that you have the guaranteed promise of arrival in Heaven, where you will spend eternity in peace and perfection.
Also, consider getting your relatives and friends saved. I know it is very difficult, given today’s overly sensitive and politically correct sociopolitical climate – especially here in America – to bring up the subject. Here’s some advice: don’t force it. Just let the Holy Spirit present you with opportunities. And don’t worry about “getting it right” the first time, or every time. God does not expect your perfection; He only asks that you learn to rely on Him.
And don’t try to sound like an expert. Just state what you know as clearly as you can. Answer questions as clearly as you can. Admit it when you don’t have an answer. Recommend resources (such as this blog), provided you personally consider any such resource to be reliable.
No Christian wants to face the tribulation under the Antichrist. But the sooner we reach the full number of the Gentiles, the sooner Yeshua will actually return for us.
Copyright © 2021 Zero Faith Saint
Scripture portions presented in King James Version unless noted otherwise
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Because the Bible was such a strong guiding influence on America’s Founding Fathers, elements of Judeo-Christian Scripture have long been woven into the fabric of American culture. A particular good point about this is that many Americans, including many who are neither Jew nor Christian, are familiar with concepts, quotes and even more or less whole stories from the Bible.
Biblical elements are so deeply engrained in our culture that they have become infused into our pop culture. A particular bad point about this is that many Americans – in particular very many Christians – have incomplete or inaccurate ideas about what these various elements actually mean. As these stories and ideas have been passed down over the generations, errors have crept in and built up, to the point that the modern take on these things can be wildly different from their truth and intent.
(I briefly address this, the “whisper down the lane” effect, in my study on the Christmas story.)
Case in point: the story of Jacob and Esau, and the blessing from their father Isaac. This story is generally seen this way:
Isaac, now old, poor of eyesight and supposing he hasn’t much longer to live, calls for his son Esau, the firstborn fraternal twin. He asks the young man to hunt some game and then prepare it in a savory meal, after which he, Isaac, will give Esau his blessing. Unbeknownst to either, Isaac’s wife Rebekah is listening outside. After making a separate savory meal, she has Jacob, the second fraternal twin, dress up in Esau’s clothes (along with goatskins on his hands and neck, as Esau is particularly hairy), and has him take the meal to Isaac, pretending to be his brother. Isaac is at first unsure, because he hears Jacob’s voice; yet he feels he young man’s hands, and smells his clothes, and is convinced he is Esau. Thus, he places a rich blessing upon Jacob. After Jacob leaves, Esau arrives with the requested savory meal for Isaac. Together he and Isaac discover Jacob’s deception. Esau swears to kill his brother, so Rebekah tells Jacob to go hide out with her brother Laban (his uncle) for a while.
Now, if you read Genesis chapter 27, which contains almost the whole story of this deception, you’ll likely come away with the same view as I summarized above. (By the way, I’m not wagging fingers; I’ve been reading it this same way myself for decades.) However, a Bible Study classmate of mine, who has (as I pointed out in an earlier article) a unique perception of how information is presented in Scripture, has highlighted the logical relationships among various elements of this story which led us to an interpretation almost fully the opposite: that the real deception was actually by the parents, Isaac and Rebekah, upon their two sons.
To see how my friend arrived at this conclusion, we first have to consider something Christians are rarely reminded of, much less motivated to investigate: The original writings of the Bible were not divided into chapters and verses.
For centuries, Christians have been reading Scripture which has been broken up this way. It’s obviously very convenient for study. It’s helpful to be able to isolate, as it were, particular stories such as this one about Jacob and Esau. And many sayings are readily known by their chapter and verse, such as John 3:16 or the first line of the 23rd Psalm.
However, with careful study of Scripture (and perhaps a little guidance), one can discover that a particular story flows quite differently from its more-familiar understanding.
Note that I said that Genesis chapter 27 contains almost the whole story of Jacob’s deception. I phrased it that way intentionally, because it turns out that important portions of the story can be found beyond the forty-six verses of chapter 27.
Let’s take a look at Genesis chapter 26. The overwhelming majority of its thirty-five verses concern two closely-related stories: Isaac’s deception, towards King Abimelech, regarding his wife Rebekah; and the conflict between his and Abimelech’s servants.
But notice what the last two verses of this chapter say:
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
These lines about Esau’s wives seem quite out of context to the preceding verses. But let’s now re-read this last verse of chapter 27:
And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?
Thus, if we dismiss the traditional notion of the beginning and end of this story, we can see that it is essentially bookended by Isaac and Rebekah’s concern about Esau’s pagan wives.
We can logically extend this story out further. Starting with verse one of chapter 28, we see through verse five Isaac admonishing Jacob not to take a wife from among the local Canaanite women, and Jacob obeying this. In verses six through nine, we have Esau, already stung by the loss of the blessing to Jacob, going to his half-uncle Ishmael for yet another wife. From verse ten to the end of chapter, the narrative changes to Jacob’s travel to Haran, with the initial portion being that of his having the dream now commonly referred to as “Jacob’s Ladder”. So, we can say that the full story of Jacob’s deception actually runs from verse thirty-four of chapter 26 to verse nine of chapter 28.
It is at this point I can begin laying out the case for the “reverse deception” offered by my classmate. Note that the story, running from Genesis 26:34 to 28:9, mentions issues with Esau’s wives three times. Why is this significant? Let’s go back to chapter 24. In this chapter Abraham charges his main servant with finding a wife for Isaac. Specifically, he forbids the servant from taking a wife from among the pagan Canaanite women, directing him rather to travel to Abraham’s homeland to find a wife from among his kinfolk. In my earlier article, my friend points out that Esau and Jacob knew their grandfather for their first fifteen years. It is therefore completely reasonable to posit that Abraham would have imparted this same concern about wives to Isaac in regard to the twins.
Let’s now jump into chapter 25. In verses 19 through 26, we have interesting details regarding the twins: they are struggling within Rebekah’s womb; she asks the Lord about this, and He tells her the prophecy of the two nations.
I will once again address the idea of the Bible saying something when it doesn’t say something. First, the text clearly states that Rebekah spoke to God regarding her struggling twins. That is, Abraham did not speak to God on her behalf, per the text. However, my classmate suggests that she did go “through” Abraham, for this reason: As Abraham was the one to whom God first spoke the glorious promises, he was God’s man. Not merely grandfather to the twins, more than family patriarch, Abraham effectively had the role of his family’s high priest. Thus, he would’ve interceded on Rebekah’s behalf. While I don’t know that this can be conclusively shown outside of a deep study of the original Hebrew text and of Hebrew culture of that time, I personally do consider it reasonable. Many persons in the Bible are models of Jesus, our High Priest; and Jesus Himself says that Scripture points to Him.
Second, the Bible does not say that Rebekah told Isaac of the prophecy of the two nations. Yet again, nor is stated that Abraham gave Isaac the same admonition regarding wives as he had earlier given to his servant. But just a few paragraphs back I point out that Isaac gives the same admonition to Jacob, thus implying (or at least allowing the inference) that Abraham did so caution his son. And since Rebekah is exactly the kind of godly woman Abraham wanted in the family, we can safely presume that she did not hide the “two nations” prophecy from her husband. Thus we can equally safely infer that both parents not only knew of this prophecy early in the twins’ life, but also had it in mind at the start of the “deception” in chapter 27.
Here, things get perhaps a bit humorous (if not also somewhat unfortunate, or at least unnecessary). God, being both all-knowledgeable and all-powerful, can bring about any desired result as He sees fit, in whatever way at whatever time. Yet so often – both in Scripture and in our own lives – we see man interfering to “help the miracle along”. An obvious example of this is God telling Sarah, well beyond child-bearing age, that she will give birth within the year, and Sarah then instructing Abraham to impregnate her servant Hagar, which resulted in the birth of Ishmael, which resulted in a great deal of completely avoidable trouble. And then of course, God brings about the promised miraculous birth of Isaac anyway.
So, could God have brought about the “two nations” prophecy without any help – or interference – from Isaac and Rebekah? Of course He could have. And in a way He did so later, through the “crossed” blessings of Manasseh and Ephraim. But according to my classmate, Isaac and Rebekah did interfere – with the best intentions of course – by plotting to get Esau out of the camp for a while so Jacob could then be brought in to be given the blessing which should have gone to Esau.
My classmate’s theory is thus (paraphrased, of course): Prior to the deception, Esau had already married two pagan wives against Abraham’s admonition, showing that he did not value either the family bloodline or his grandfather’s instructions. Moreover, he was a hunter, spending much of his time out in the field; in contrast Jacob “dwelt in tents”, that is, around the family and in particular around his grandfather Abraham who, again, is God’s man and the family’s de facto high priest. So we have the illustration of one young man exposed to the things of God, and the other pursuing his pastime of hunting. Additionally, Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob, quite readily dismissing its value. But Jacob, being raised among family activities, understood not only the blessing that comes along with the birthright but the responsibilities as well.
Isaac and Rebekah see Jacob as capable of maturing into a good family man, whereas Esau seems only interested in hunting and in collecting pagan wives. So they concoct this deception so that Isaac may safely place his blessing upon Jacob: Isaac sends Esau out to hunt game (as a diversion), with the promise of the family blessing upon his return. Rebekah is stationed outside the tent to specifically “overhear” this promise. She then calls in Jacob, tells him what she “overheard”, and instructs him to bring her two kids from their goat flock so she may prepare a meal for him to take to his father. When he protests that Esau is much hairier than he (Isaac was advanced in years, and perhaps his eyesight was in fact failing him, so Jacob was concerned about being discovered by Isaac’s touch), she presses him to obey her. After preparing a meal from the kids he brings, she dresses him in some of Esau’s clothes, and wraps skins from the kids on his hands and neck. When Jacob approaches Isaac with the food, Isaac plays the “doddering old man” and pretends (despite clearly recognizing Jacob’s voice) to be fooled by Jacob’s disguise. He then dispenses a rich blessing upon the younger twin.
(Let me interject here that it’s not unreasonable that Rebekah’s use of the goatskins was not necessarily a “spur of the moment” idea but rather something she and Isaac had planned for, specifically to ensure their ruse.)
Shortly after Jacob leaves his father’s presence, Esau returns with fresh kill, prepares a meal for Isaac and brings it to him. Now Isaac commences “phase two” of the deception: When Esau enters Isaac’s tent with the meal and asks for his father’s blessing, Isaac feigns surprise and asks him, “Who are you?” When Esau identifies himself, Isaac continues his “doddering old man” act by trembl[ing] very exceedingly and telling him that someone had already brought him a meal and received the blessing. Thus together they “discover” Jacob’s deception.
So we see that Isaac and Rebekah, both aware of the “two nations” prophecy, and determining Jacob to be the more deserving son, conspire to “help the miracle along” by concocting this deception which would play on Jacob’s own name, which translates as “deceiver” or “supplanter”. My classmate postulates also that the parents had this additional motive for their deception: fear of violence by Esau. He suggests that the parents were concerned, had they simply directly chosen Jacob over Esau, or had Isaac not continued his “confused old man” act upon Esau’s return with the meal, that Esau would do harm to them and perhaps to other members of the family as well. Indeed, Esau does threaten to kill Jacob in verse 41. Further, in chapter 32 we learn that Esau has gathered an army of four hundred men to go after Jacob.
Sadly, and ironically, all this was completely avoidable. When a prophecy is given in Scripture, whether by God Himself or through a prophet, it is accompanied by the implicit guarantee, This will happen. Thus, when God gave Rebekah the “two nations” prophecy, He was telling her of a future event which would occur without need of any human intervention. Of course, being omniscient, God knew that the parents would interfere, and included that in His overall plan for Jacob. Let’s quickly look at what happens to Jacob in chapter 32, verses 24-30.
This is the well-known story in which Jacob encounters the Man who wrestles with him. Many (including me) consider this Man to be Jesus in a Christophany. As day breaks, the Man attempts to leave Jacob, who holds Him back and asks Him to bless him. After asking his name, the Man changes his name from Jacob to Israel, and then blesses him. Jacob is now Israel; all his descendants will be known as the nation of Israel, thus fulfilling a portion of the prophecy.
This happened after Isaac and Rebekah intervened, and after Jacob was on the run from Esau. But consider that God simply walked into Abraham’s camp and, after enjoying a courteous meal, told Abraham that Sarah would bear a son within the year. This suggests that God (or Jesus) could similarly have walked into Jacob’s life at any time and given him his new name and blessing, without any intervention by his parents.
The point is this: Both Isaac’s birth and Jacob’s new life-direction occur despite the parents’ intervention, not because of it. Thus it occurs to me that had Isaac followed tradition and given Esau the blessing of the firstborn, this in no way would have impeded God’s will for Jacob to become the progenitor of the nation of Israel. Additionally, considering that Esau had already sold his birthright to Jacob, it’s possible that Jesus could’ve chosen to appear just as Isaac was bestowing the blessing upon Esau, to ensure that it would happen according to God’s will.
In any Bible story there are several lessons to be learned. There are two lessons here that I wish to draw out, the first being what I’ve already mentioned: the implicit guarantee, This will happen. That is, God will see to it that all things work out according to His will. I’ve said to friends – and this is an oversimplification, but I think it holds up logically – that God interacts with mankind in one of three ways: 1) He causes an event to happen; 2) He prevents an event from happening; 3) He allows an event orchestrated by human planning to play out up to the point where He chooses to show His hand.
God caused the birth of Isaac, completely separately from the birth of Ishmael. He prevented Abimelech from touching Sarah and thus spoiling the bloodline. And He allowed Isaac and Rebekah’s deception – with all its subsequent results – to play out, waiting until the moment when Jacob was without his wives and children, pursued by his brother, alone and defenseless at the Jabbok. (That’s a third lesson here: getting to the point in one’s relationship with God of no longer relying on one’s own strengths. But that’s for a later article.)
The second lesson I want to highlight is closely related to that of God seeing to it that all things work out according to His will: that of people taking God at His word, and to that end God not only keeping His promises, but also helping us see and experience Him keeping His promises.
The God of Israel delights in practicing lovingkindness towards His children. I particularly like how the New Living Translation puts it, that He “demonstrates unfailing love” towards us. God understands each of us individually, and knows what will bring each of us, individually, closer to Him. Some of us find it (relatively) easy to trust God. But some of us struggle in this. So God tailor-crafts each specific life-experience for each of us, individually, to bring us to that position of trust.
As a certain “TV preacher” points out, in the Old Testament, before Jesus, God commands man, “Thou shall not, thou shall not, thou shall not”; while in the New Testament, after Jesus, God promises man, “I will, I will, I will”. That’s where each of us needs to get to, the place of simply taking God’s “I will” promises at face value.
I like to use the analogy of turning on a light. One does not “believe” the light into working; one simply hits the switch and the light comes on. If it seems that I’m talking about expecting a result from God almost as “automatically” as one expects a light to come on, that is essentially correct. For me, this is approaching real faith: expecting, in an almost literally automatic sense, God to come through on a promise. Because as with His prophecies, God’s promises have His implicit guarantee: This will happen.
God’s demand upon man is absolute perfection in meeting each and every one of His conditions; something not one of us could ever do. Jesus did that for us. And since He has met all of God’s conditions, God’s promises to us are now literally unconditional. So relax, and let His Holy Spirit get you to the place where accepting the promises is more than second nature to you: I am always with you. I will never leave you. I will always take care of you. I will always provide for you. I will always love you. Because you and I are on the same team.
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© 2020 Zero Faith Saint
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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