Technology in the Kingdom

I received the following comment:

I read Zechariah today.  As a part of reading it I thought about how the tech in the Kingdom is shown as low tech.  The fact that they are using old-style weapons can be explained by the fact that at the start of the Kingdom all things weapon-like are destroyed.  But there is another explanation for the other things.  1) With the outpouring of the Spirit people would have less reason to need higher technology. 2) It is likely that by the will of God oil would be tapped out.

What thoughts do you have on this?

There does seem to be some indication that things will be more low-tech in the kingdom. There could be several reasons for this.

Inheritance in the Kingdom

I received the following question:

I have often wondered what Paul meant when he said, “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” if this is not THE REWARD OF THE INHERITANCE in Colossians 3:24. Certainly he is not saying in Ephesians that if one does these things they will not be saved in the end. I have taken it to mean that these would have no part in the reigning inheritance that would be theirs if they suffered and remained faithful until He appears. I have even wondered if these would even be raised from the dead until after the thousand years are finished since they were unfaithful. These are just some thoughts that I’ve had about this passage.

If it is talking about rewards at all, then I would agree that this would be the reward that we are to receive for faithful service, and the Lord is telling us that doing these things could strip you of this reward. However, I am not certain that it is talking about rewards at all.

Matthew 13 in Bins

I received the following question:

Concerning the Matthew 13 account. How do you know that it goes into the Millennium bin? The term it uses is “conclusion of the eon” (some manuscripts have “this eon”.) If we use the Jewish concept (which is from OT) of “this eon” as compared to “the eon to come”, it seems that it is talking about the “last days” which is the transition between the two eons. Again – why is the 1000 years the same as this “last days”?

The 1000 years is not the same as the “last days.” Rather, it follows the last days, as I have shown in my “Bins” study.

Caves in Isaiah 2

I received the following question:

In Isaiah 2:19-21 it mentions entering the caverns.  Where would you fit those statements into your prophetic sorting bins?  We can put a stamp of certainty on some parts of this chapter, but were back and forth on those particular verses.  Is a principal on Hebrew poetry on where different jumps in topic can be made or does the poetry factor make it even easier to switch from period to period?  We know it can have a present and future fulfillment at times.

Isaiah 2 is confusing in the last half there. The first 4 verses, of course, are talking about the premillennial kingdom, and the time when God turns on the light. Then, a definite change takes place. It seems as if He starts speaking of Israel at the time Isaiah was writing. At that time, it was true that “Their land is also full of idols; They worship the work of their own hands, That which their own fingers have made.” (Verse 8.)

God’s Sudden Revelation

In my message on “The End of Grace,” I professed the belief that the way God brings His current dispensation of grace to a close is by a sudden, mass revelation of truth. I set forth this idea based upon the statement in II Timothy 3:8-9, which reads:

8. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9. but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

This statement is made concerning men in the last days (II Timothy 3:2.) It makes the almost sensational statement that the folly of men who resist the truth will become manifest, that is, clearly obvious, to all. It is clear that the folly of such men is not manifest to all today. Many people are taken in and completely fooled by the cunning words of those who set themselves against the truth. The only way the folly of such men will be clear to all is if the same thing happens as happened in the case of Jannes and Jambres. It was the powerful work of God that showed these men up for the charlatans they were. And it could only be a powerful work of God that could ever cause the folly of truth-resisters to be evident to all, even to themselves. This verse suggest a sudden, powerful, worldwide revelation by which God makes His truth plain to all men.

The End of Grace

All who are familiar with the study of dispensationalism know that one of the most important purposes of such a study is to answer the question as to when the current work of God began. “When did God begin this great dispensation of grace in which we live?” we might ask ourselves. “When was it that God began dealing with men and with the nations totally and exclusively in grace? When did the mystery of Ephesians 3 take effect, and all nations start to hold an equal standing before God? When did Christ choose to no longer center Himself and His work among the Israelites, but instead among all the nations equally?” For the answers to these questions are crucial to understanding God’s work today, what the scope of it is, and what the purpose of it is.

Yet there is another question that every honest dispensationalist must ask himself. This question too is one of importance. It should be clear that, just as we need to answer the question “when did the dispensation of grace begin?” we must also search for an answer to the opposite question, “when will the present work of God end?” In other words, when does this current dispensation of the grace of God draw to a close, and God begin once again that kingdom work that He had begun in the time of Christ and the apostles? Thus I have written this message, and will herein examine this very important question.

Bins for Bible Prophecies Part 6: Two Difficulties

In our previous studies, we discussed the concept of “Sorting Prophetic Material,” suggested by Otis Q. Sellers in his pamphlet of the same name. We talked about creating “bins” into which we could sort the prophecies of Scripture predicting events in the future. We had used the book of Revelation to establish four future time periods that are set forth in Scripture, and called these our “bins” into which we could sort future prophecies. However, by examining other evidence, we concluded that there was a fifth time period “bin” we could create, coming before all these, and which we called, as a working title, the “last days.”

Once we had established this fifth time period called the “last days,” we went through all the Scriptural occurrences of it to get an idea in our minds of what this term means. We concluded that this phrase does not speak of only one time, but that none of the time periods of which it speaks fit into that time period called “the millennium.” We concluded that the word “last” in this case means “result” or “outcome,” and the phrase “last days” indicates a time period that is the result of all that came before it. Thus, the last days of Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1 are the result of God’s great work to bring in His order upon the earth through His government.

Bins for Bible Prophecies Part 5: Sorting More Prophecies

In our previous studies, we discussed the concept of “Sorting Prophetic Material,” suggested by Otis Q. Sellers in his pamphlet of the same name. We talked about creating “bins” into which we could sort the prophecies of Scripture predicting events in the future. We had used the book of Revelation to establish four future time periods that are set forth in Scripture. From this study, we constructed four bins to sort prophecies. However, by examining other evidence, we concluded that there was a fifth time period, coming before all these, and which we called, as a working title, the “last days.” Once we had established this fifth time period called the “last days,” we went through all the Scriptural occurrences of it to get an idea in our minds of what this term means. We concluded that this phrase does not speak of only one time, but that none of the time periods of which it speaks fit into that time period called “the millennium.” We concluded that the word “last” in this case means “result” or “outcome,” and the phrase “last days” indicates a time period that is the result of all that came before it. Thus, the last days of Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1 are the result of God’s great work to bring in His order upon the earth through His government.

I had been bold in saying that the “last days” of Isaiah 2:2 cannot be the millennium. One reason I believe this is because of what the Bible says must happen “before the day of the LORD.” In our last issue, we examined this phrase, “the Day of the Lord.” An examination Revelation 1:10 led us to the conclusion that the “Lord’s Day” of Revelation is the same thing as the “Day of the Lord,” and so that all of Revelation takes place in that Day. However, the “last days” take place before the Day of the Lord, so they are a time period not found at all in Revelation, and that precede all the prophecies made there, including Daniel’s Seventieth Week, the Millennium, the Little Season, and the New Heavens and New Earth.

Bins for Bible Prophecies Part 4: The Day of the Lord

In our previous studies, we discussed the concept of “Sorting Prophetic Material,” suggested by Otis Q. Sellers in his pamphlet of the same name. We talked about creating “bins” into which we could sort the prophecies of Scripture predicting events in the future. We had used the book of Revelation to establish four future time periods that are set forth in Scripture. From this study, we constructed four time periods. However, by examining other evidence, we concluded that there was a fifth time period, coming before all these, and which we called, as a working title, the “last days.” Thus, we can construct a chart of five time periods, as is shown below:

The          Last      Days	Daniel’s Seventieth Week	The      Millennium	The             Little            Season	The New Heavens and  New Earth

      1                            2                            3                          4                          5                             6

Once we had established this fifth time period called the “last days,” we went through all the Scriptural occurrences of it to get an idea in our minds of what this term means. We concluded that this phrase does not speak of only one time, but that none of the time periods of which it speaks fit into that time period called “the millennium.” We concluded that the word “last” in this case means “result” or “outcome,” and the phrase “last days” indicates a time period that is the result of all that came before it. Thus, the last days of Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1 are the result of God’s great work to bring in His order upon the earth through His government.

Bins for Bible Prophecies Part 3: The Last Days

In our previous studies, we discussed the concept of “Sorting Prophetic Material,” suggested by Otis Q. Sellers in his pamphlet of the same name. We talked about creating “bins” into which we could sort the prophecies of Scripture predicting events in the future. We had used the book of Revelation to establish four future time periods that are set forth in Scripture: Daniel’s Seventieth Week, The Millennium, The Little Season, and The New Heavens and New Earth. We have examined these four future time periods, all of which we suggested considering as “bins” into which we can sort the future prophecies of the Scriptures. All of these take place after the dispensation of grace, the current time period we live in. If we have properly identified all the future “bins” into which prophecies can be sorted, then we should be able to fit any future prediction we find in the Bible into one of these four bins.