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By Gene Fadeley
www.bibleprophecy.com
1st quarter, year 2000, newsletter
What Happened To The Rapture???
The year 2000 is here, what happened to the rapture??? During our lifetimes, many theologians have been proclaiming that the end of the world would occur by the year 2000. "All the signs are right" they repeatedly proclaimed. Were they correctly handling the word of God? Did prophecy really say or indicate that the physical world would be destroyed at the year 2000?
In recent years, we have been seeing theologians deserting their year 2000 prophecies like rats deserting a sinking ship. They hurriedly denied that they ever taught that the world would end by the year 2000, and are now scurrying about to pick new dates such as 2002 and 2018. Thus, they are continuing their misapplication of scriptures and are continuing to mislead the public.
What is the basis for this misunderstanding? How could mankind be so mislead? What is the root of this problem? Can Christianity survive the embarrassment now that all the year 2000 prophecies of these men have failed?
The root of the problem can be seen back as far as the first century. Why did the Jews reject Jesus? It was simply that Jesus did not meet their expectations. Was the problem with Jesus or with the Jewish expectations? We proclaim that the problem was not with Jesus but with the Jewish expectations? What was wrong with what they were expecting? Simply, they were expecting a physical king and a physical kingdom. Jesus did not provide them with either so they rejected Jesus as their Messiah. In spite of Jesus saying that "my kingdom is not of this world" and that "the kingdom of God is within you," they still held to their physical expectations.
How little has the expectations of 21st century people changed from the expectations of those first century Jews. People are still determined to have the physical king and kingdom that the first century Jews did not receive. However, the words of Jesus still ring true, "my kingdom is not of this world" and "the kingdom is within you."
The root of the problem has been the failure of seeing the difference between the physical and the spiritual. The world's materialism has blinded the eyes of mankind from understanding the much greater spiritual fulfillment of prophecy. The physical is a mere shadow or the much more glorious spiritual realm. Yet people demand the physical. The object of end time prophecies has been totally missed. The end time prophecies are not talking about the end of the physical world. They are addressing the end of a first covenant age and the beginning of a more glorious new covenant age. All end time prophecies involve God's covenant changing actions. One age was to end, another new age was to emerge. Thus, the end of the old age was the end of the Jewish old covenant age. God was about to bring judgment on the prostitute nation of Israel. She had been unfaithful to her covenant husband, God. These judgments can be seen in Revelation chapters 1 to 19.
The new covenant age is seen in Revelation chapters 20-22. In these chapters we read about the much more glorious new covenant Christian age. This is also the theme of the book of Hebrews. Christ is the king in his new covenant kingdom. Christ is its light.
Is Bible prophecy Y3K (year 3000) compliant? Absolutely. It was Y1K (year 1000) and Y2K (year 2000) compliant. It will also be Y3K and Y4K compliant. Bible prophecy never concerned the events of the year 1000, 2000, or beyond. It had reference to the age changing events of the first century. It is these events in which Christ completed his work of salvation for all mankind. The significance of these prophecies is missed when the prophecies are torn out of their first century historic setting and misapplied to events of the year 2000, for which they were never intended.
Certainly, there were some inconveniences due to mankind's mistakes in the computer world concerning the year 2000. Let us not make more mistakes by misapplying God's prophecies to a year of which they never spoke.
We are the recipients of God glorious salvation today because Christ kept his promises in the first century when he and the apostles said he would. He did not fail. What a great gift!!! He also gave us a magnificent universe in which to live and explore. This millennium may well be the best ever. However, we have to put away our "why polish brass on a sinking ship" attitude and understand God's great plans for us and his kingdom, the church
Ref.: John 18:36 and Luke 17:21
Yours in Christ, Gene Fadeley
Amazing Prophecy - Bible Prophecy Revealed http://www.bibleprophecy.com
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how can they make predictions such as this and what do they say when the deadline comes and goes and nothing happens.?
Its irrisponsible.
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