Eternal Perspectives

Turn in your bibles to the New Testament, the Book of Acts. We’ll begin reading in chapter one, verse one. Now, I’m going to be reading from the NASB so if you have a different translation you might want to listen rather than read. Here’s the passage:

1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, ‘Which,’ He said, ‘you heard of from Me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’
6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’
7 He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’” - Ac 1.1-8

A week or so ago, Dan decided to give one of his ignominious Cowbell Awards to “hyperkinetic dispensationalists” who have done considerable damage to the Body of Christ as well as the Name of Christ. These “formerly rational blogs,” Dan warns, are threats to the sobriety of good Christian people: “Hyperkinetic dispensationalism run amok is threatening to drive hardcore orthodox amil- and premillennialists to drink. Maybe now’s a good time to be a Preterist!” he advises.

In a comment elsewhere, he especially points to the writings of Edgar Whisenant (this was well before he died of nerve gas poisoning on 24) and specifically his book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988. In fairness to Eddie, the title of his “book” - it’s really hardly more than a brochure - says “Could Be” and not what Dan recalled, i.e., “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Occur in 1988.” Whisenant was even able to ensnare the discerning darlings of the frenetic charismatics, Paul and Jan Crouch, and to get them to run taped programs during Sept 11-13, 1988, the time he had determined for the rapture to occur.

For non-Christians who might be watching, the revised programming included specific instructions on what to do in case Christian family members or friends disappeared and the world was thrust into the tribulation. ” - Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion

Yeah, that’s what I’d do if I were a non-Christian and millions of people had just disappeared from the planet: I’d watch TBN so I could hear the Gospel according to Paul and Jan! - and get some hairstyling pointers from them. Or I would make a bee-line to their home: their stash of hairspray and gel alone must be worth a fortune!

What Dan didn’t say is that Eddie came back in 1989 - when either the Rapture hadn’t happened or he and a lot of us got Left Behind^® - to say that he had miscalculated and that the rapture would be in - you guessed it! - 1989. He then changed the title of his book and came out with The Final Shout–Rapture Report 1990, followed by . . . 1991 . . . 1992 . . . 1993 and so on. Oh, that Eddie!

It is my intention in this post to address this “amokness” that someone left running. I should, however, first state my so-called qualifications for doing so.

First of all, I am dispensational in my theology (although “hyperkinetic” is probably not a term likely to be associated with me; perhaps “hyperlethargic” is closer to the truth). I did not become a dispensationalist through tradition - I did not grow up in any church, dispensational or otherwise - nor through education - both seminaries from which I graduated viewed dispensationalism as the bane of Christendom at best or an outright heresy at worst. In both instances I was challenged (from within, not without) to examine my beliefs and determine whether or not they were biblical; in both cases, I came away believing dispensationalism more firmly, albeit less dogmatically, aggressively, or arrogantly.

At times in the past, I have studied and yearned to be a Covenant Theologian but could never quite get over the hump of their reasonings and/or arguments. This is not to say that their positions cannot be supported Scripturally but only that I could not, in good conscience and with conviction, agree with them. They just didn’t fit, sort of like a Wal-Mart suit or my old Beatle suit. Just not me, you know?.

Inevitably and inescapably, I kept and keep coming back to dispensationalism. I’ve been one since my early days as a Christian, despite my ignorance: not knowing any better, the first Bible I ever bought was a Catholic one and the first church I joined was a liberal Methodist congregation that perhaps wasn’t even sure about the First Coming of Christ, let alone the Second.

So I am a dispensationalist but, as noted above, hardly hyperkinetic or frothing-at- the-mouth over prophecy and future things. Now, I do have and have used charts - to my great shame and embarrassment - and have a copy of Erich Sauer’s From Eternity to Eternity on my bookshelf. I also have books by Ryrie and Walvoord but have also read Ladd and Reformed theologians on the matter of eschatology. By the grace of God, there may be some balance - if not hope - for me.

But to return to our text: the verse I want to zero in on is 7. I’ll provide it in several translations to make sure we’re getting a good feel for what Jesus is saying to the disciples (and us) at this critical moment:

It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority . . .” - NASB

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” - NIV

“It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” - AV

“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” - ESV

“‘The Father sets those dates,’ he replied, ‘and they are not for you to know.’” - NLT

There seems to be a general agreement in the translations here, although I may be wrong (being dispensational and all). It would appear that Jesus is saying that it is not for us to know the time of his return, i.e., the Father is not going to tell us or even allow us to discover it. That’s the official dispensational position as I understand it: we don’t know and can’t know the time of Christ’s return. Our charts and eschatologies may indicate that everything is in place for His return, but we don’t have a countdown clock or an hourglass that tells us exactly when.

Dispensationalism does, historically, believe in a pre-trib, pre-mil rapture but that is not an essential or fundamental point. Personally, when I look at the New Testament I understand the basis for that teaching; when I look at the Old Testament, however, there seems to be a different pattern in God’s dealing with His people.

Obviously this is not a hill I’m willing to die on. I hope no one else will, either.