They will be “servants of our God” (7:3). The book of Revelation, however, clearly asserts that the 144,000 will not be unbelieving Jews but will be “redeemed” Jews (14:4). At the coming of Christ they will be saved and enter the kingdom with natural bodies then they will beget and bear children.6 Gundry tries to allow unbelieving Jews entrance into the kingdom with natural bodies by concluding that “the 144,000 will include both men and women who will populate and replenish the millennial kingdom of Israel.” According to Gundry, the 144,000 will be unconverted throughout the tribulation, but because they are sealed, they will escape God’s tribulational wrath. Thinking that the 144,000 are unbelievers Walvoord explains: “If a posttribulational rapture took place and the church met the Lord in the air while He was coming from heaven to the earth to set up His millennial kingdom, it is obvious that this judgment would be unnecessary as it would have already separated the sheep from the goats prior to the arrival of Christ to the earthly scene.”5 A posttribulational rapture would negate the necessity of judgments for the Jews and the Gentiles. Since the judgment of the Gentiles takes place at the beginning of the kingdom, posttribulationists are left with another problem. This obviously refers to the second coming of Christ to the earth at the beginning of the kingdom. Second, Walvoord observes that Matthew 25:31 expressly states that the judgment of the sheep and goats will take place “when the Son of man shall come in his glory” (25:31). These descriptors could not possibly refer to Israel’s condition during the millennial kingdom since at that time the Gentiles will lavish Israel with the wealth of the nations (Isaiah 60:5–7, 11, 13–17). Walvoord ably argues against this posttribulational solution.4 First, he notes that Matthew 25:35–39 pictures the “brethren” (Jews) as hungry, sick, naked, and in prison. Gundry, Kimball, and Moo move the judgment of the sheep and goats from the beginning of the millennium to the end of the millennium.3 They do this in order to allow unbelieving Gentiles entrance into the kingdom with natural bodies. Sensing their quandary, posttribulationists have proposed a number of possible solutions. Douglas Moo admits that he finds “this argument the most difficult to handle,” and he confesses that “the argument presents a difficulty for the posttribulational view.”2 One cannot prove pretribulationism solely by pointing to the weaknesses of other systems, but such argumentation definitely has its merit.Īttempting to move the sheep and goat judgment This presents a serious problem for posttribulationists. Since there would be no people with natural bodies entering the kingdom, there would be no people capable of procreation, and so there would be no possibility for unbelieving descendants to participate in the final rebellion.1 This leaves no time for unbelievers to turn to Christ after a posttribulational rapture, and this would preclude the entrance into the kingdom of saved people with natural bodies. This means that all the believers will receive glorified bodies, and they will immediately come back to the earth together with the Lord for His second coming to the earth. According to the posttribulational layout, the rapture will take place at the end of the tribulation.
Posttribulationists combine the rapture with the second coming of Christ. Sixth, the posttribulational rapture scheme would take all believers from the earth and give them glorified bodies immediately before Christ’s return to the Mount of Olives thus, the posttribulational scheme would not allow for the required presence of believers with natural bodies at the beginning of the millennium. Fifth, at the beginning of the millennium all its inhabitants will be believers, but many of the descendants of these believers will remain in unbelief so that at the end of the millennium the unbelievers will rebel against God for one final time.
Fourth, people with unglorified bodies, bodies capable of death and procreation, will inhabit the millennium. Third, those with glorified bodies cannot die, nor can they procreate.
Second, every participant in the rapture will receive a glorified, resurrection body. First, at the rapture every dead believer “in Christ” will be resurrected and every living believer will be “caught up” to the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The previous issue of the Faith Pulpit established six points regarding the inhabitants of the millennium and the timing of the rapture. September 2001 The Inhabitants of the Millennium and the Timing of the Rapture, Part 2 John Hartog III, Th.D.
0 kommentar(er)
