When will the Church Age end? Will it end at all? This post critiques another assertion of pre-Tribulation rapture theology – one which I blindly accepted and promoted for many years.
DISCLAIMER
I want to be clear at the outset that I’m thoroughly evangelical, and predominantly dispensational in my understanding of Scripture. I believe in a literal, future, thousand-year Millenium, and that God still has plans for the nation of Israel. Pre-Tribulation teachers frequently accuse their detractors of always being anti-Israel – they’re wrong.
This is quite a long article: scroll down to sub-headings if you want to.
WHEN WILL THE END OF THE CHURCH AGE BE?
The dispensational understanding of eschatology includes the view that since the time of Jesus Christ, and specifically the Day of Pentecost until now, the Christian world has been living in the “Church Age”. Teachers of the pre-Tribulation rapture insist that the Church Age will end before or at the same time as the beginning of a seven-year Tribulation, at which time the focus of God’s plan will switch from the Church back to the nation of Israel.
The rapture will occur before the “seven-year” Tribulation, according to this now-popular view, and God will be finished with the Church on the earth. Jews and believers who didn’t quite meet the grade will live through the trials of those seven years, while the Church will be partying in heaven, enjoying the wedding supper of the Lamb. After the wedding supper the Church, now the consummated Bride of Christ, will return to earth as a ferocious attack force to destroy the antichrist and his army.
Is this all clearly supported in Scripture?
SOME TRUTH
There’s no doubt that Israel and the remnant of believing Jews will be central to many events in the Tribulation, and they’re important to the fulfillment of much of Bible prophecy. You can’t deny this without allegorizing Scripture to oblivion, or at least to the point of extreme confusion and frustration. At this point real Israel-deniers offer their “correct” interpretation of Bible prophecy, denying the Tribulation entirely. However, numerous prophecies throughout the Bible indicate clearly that one objective of Antichrist will be the destruction of the state of Israel and its removal from Jerusalem, or its surrender of power over the city.
THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES
As the scriptural hub of God’s plan during the Tribulation will be Israel, does this necessarily mean the predominantly Gentile Church has no place in the Tribulation? Are Gentile believers really conspicuously missing from the last-days scene, according to Revelation and other passages? Is it really all about Israel, or should we still consider Gentiles to be a concern of God at that time?
ISRAEL SET ASIDE – TEMPORARILY
Paul wrote about the temporary setting aside of Israel as a nation, and its capital, due to unbelief. This setting aside occurred during the first century. Jesus, overlooking Jerusalem, cried out:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’ ” (Luke 13:34-35).
This statement alone shows that God hasn’t finished with Jerusalem or the nation of Israel, even though at that time, it had temporarily rejected him. To call the Church “Israel” as some do makes no sense, since Jesus is weeping over a specific place and a specific people, not a world-wide body of believers. Later, in his Olivet Discourse, Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple and the city, which occurred in 70 AD.
THE CHURCH IS NOT ISRAEL
Paul’s teaching is very instructive in this regard, and proves to be a strong indicator on the subject of the rapture, when used correctly. In his letter to the Romans Paul likened Israel to the branches of an olive plant. Some of the branches – representing unbelieving Israel – had been “broken off” or rejected, so that “wild” branches – representing the Gentiles – could be “grafted in”. The grafting in of wild Gentile branches has been in process for the last two thousand years. However, the rejection of Israel said Paul, is temporary:
“Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25).
There’s a distinction between Israel and the Gentiles, says New Testament Paul. The hardening of the nation of Israel is temporary, and at some point in the future, the natural branches of the olive plant will be restored, and will be joined with the Gentile world and with the Jews who already believe in Jesus as their Messiah. This will happen
“…when the full number of Gentiles has come in”.
THE BIG QUESTION
This is a very significant clue normally overlooked or ignored, because the answer isn’t a helpful one for pre-Tribulation believers. The question begging to be asked is, “When will the full number of Gentiles have come into the kingdom?”
Pre-tribulation teachers have given little or no time to the answer of this question. Instead, they insist on their foregone conclusion with the use of circular reasoning:
Since we “know” the Church is absent from the outworking of the prophecies of Revelation, and since we “know” there is a secret coming of Christ in the clouds for His Church which “must be” before the Tribulation, we can also “know” that the fullness of the Gentiles being come in; the process of grafting in Gentile branches to the root, will have been accomplished before the Tribulation.
The beginning of the “seven-year” Tribulation, they are sure, must follow the end of the Church age. Only Israel and weak, late comer “saints” are left behind. Is this all true?
IS THE CHURCH REALLY MISSING FROM REVELATION CHAPTER 4 ONWARDS?
I’ve gone into some depth on the claim that the Church is missing from the earth in Revelation chapter four onwards in previous articles and videos. I will leave a link to a relevant article at the bottom of this one, but please note I will be publishing an up-dated and more comprehensive edition soon.
GENTILES ON EARTH DURING THE TRIBULATION
Let’s look at the account of a great multitude recorded in Revelation chapter 7. It occurs after the sixth seal and before the final seven trumpet judgments. You might argue that the scene is not related to the timing of these seals at all, but you’d be denying the obvious. Here we learn an amazing fact. This multitude is: “…from every nation, tribe, people and language”. What’s more, they have “come out of great tribulation”.
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 (Revelation 7:9).
THE MULTUTUDE OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION INCLUDES GENTILES!
This multitude is standing in front of the Lamb – Christ – and wears white robes. Those present are from every tribe, people and nation: they’re Jews and Gentiles! We’re clearly told that they’ve been present on the earth during the Tribulation, and what’s more, they’ve been saved in exactly the same way as we are saved now:
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14).
There’s no other way to come to the Lamb during the Tribulation than the way we do now: by His blood and His eternal gospel. I discuss this in my article, “Rapture and The Holy Spirit”. Search for it in the little box at the top of this page.
PREACHING THE ETERNAL GOSPEL DURING THE TRIBULATION
Later in Revelation an angel is seen to preach this “eternal gospel” to the whole world, not just to Jews. In fact, the 144,000 we read of in chapter 7 are said to be specifically from the tribes of Israel, and they are therefore separate and distinct from the great multitude which no man can number. The angel preaches to all 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 (Revelation 14:6).
GENTILE BELIVERS DURING THE TRIBULATION
What would be the point in preaching the gospel to a Gentile world which God had already given up on before the Tribulation? Those who may respond to the gospel at that time are contrasted with those who accept the “mark of the beast” (16:9). Those who accept the mark are lost; those who refuse it in the name of Christ will be saved. How can these people not be a part of the Church?
People who resist the mark of the Beast overcome him “by the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). They will resist him because they’re faithful to Jesus:
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus (Revelation 14:11b, 12).
Here is unmistakable evidence that the full number of Gentiles has not yet come in – even during the Tribulation. God’s mercy continues to the very end. The fullness of the Gentiles has not yet come in, and will not until Christ returns in power and glory for all the world to see.
If Gentiles are still present and being saved in huge numbers during the Tribulation, then Paul’s description in Romans of the hardening of Israel until the Gentile branches have been grafted in has not yet been fulfilled. Since the fullness of the Gentiles being come in will be contemporaneous with the end of the hardening of Israel, as plainly stated by Paul in the verse above, a very pertinent question here would be,
WHEN WILL THE HARDENING OF ISRAEL END?
The answer to this question will perhaps more accurately mark the end of the “Church Age”, if indeed there is an end to it at all. The real answer is surprisingly accessible.
THEY WILL LOOK ON ME
The time of “Jacob’s Trouble is not only to deal with Israel’s enemies, but with their own pride and unbelief. Their transformation is therefore still in process, even during the last forty-two months. It’s when things look blackest for the Jews during the Tribulation that their Messiah will, says God through Zechariah, make his appearance, and deliver the remnant. It’s at this time, and not before, that the people of Israel will receive an outpouring of the Spirit of God. They will realize just who their Deliverer is, and that they took part in his death on the cross:
“On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. And 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… (Zechariah 12: 9-10).
During his earthly ministry Jesus, as we saw earlier, declared that Jerusalem and Israel would not see Him again until they say, “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. The question to ask is, when will the nation and Jerusalem see Jesus? The answer is in the verse above, and this one:
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
When Christ appears to destroy his enemies and those surrounding Jerusalem, God himself will pour out his Spirit on the Jewish nation, opening their eyes to the truth of the Son of God, who they “pierced” and have ignored as being a false prophet for two thousand years.
THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
The Messiah’s feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4). And look at what angels told the disciples of Jesus who were watching his ascension – also from the Mount of Olives:
“This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
Incidentally, if the Church is now Israel, why would Jesus come back to the Mount of Olives at His return? If it is not (and it is not) Jesus’s appearance here is most fitting.
THE SEVENTH SEAL
The return of Christ to the Mount of Olives occurs at the end of the Tribulation, at the time of the battle of Armageddon. The sequence of these events fits perfectly into New Testament accounts of the physical, visible return of Jesus Christ: He will come down from heaven, he will defeat his enemies, and his feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives. Perhaps it will not happen quite in that order. Perhaps the seventh seal is opened at this time.
THE END OF THE HARDENING OF ISRAEL
Here is an unmistakable indicator as to the timing of the end of the hardening of Israel, and therefore to the real timing of the end of the Church age. Again, we could argue that there will be no end to the Church Age. Perhaps such an ending is an invention by those intending to shore up their theories.
THE END OF THE CHURCH?
Where does Scripture indicate an end to the Church – The Bride of Christ? Surely, all those who belong to Christ – all those saved by grace through faith – of whatever nationality including the Jews, are part of the Church. What else could they be a part of? Having given themselves to Christ, is He going to disown them or put them in a different compartment of His heaven? My answer is an emphatic “No!”
NO PRE-TRIBULATION END OF CHURCH AGE
As, then, the hardening of Israel ends at the visible return of Jesus Christ, which is at the end of the tribulation, how can we say that the full number of Gentiles being grafted in will end at least seven years before this event? How would those multitudes from all tribes and nations-predominantly Gentiles- come to saving faith, if the full number of Gentiles had already come in seven years earlier? No, Christ has the Door open for as long as it needs to be, to bring in every single believer in Him.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 