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POSTED 01 JANUARY, 2003
Editorial:
The Problem of Messianic
Pre-Tribulationists
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
“Why do you look at the speck that is in your
brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is
in your own eye? Or how can you say to your
brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your
eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?”
(Matthew 7:3-4).
In many cases, the Messianic community spends far too much time
criticizing mainstream Christianity, and far too
less time concentrating on the internal issues
and internal problems that we face. Sadly, what
can happen is that we can criticize the Church
for believing in a particular doctrine, and the
Messianic movement is portrayed as being
“spotlessly clean,” when in actuality that same
doctrine or teaching has every bit as much a
stronghold in the confines of Messianic
congregations as it does Christian churches.
This is something that has come to my attention
over the past several years, and it is
imperative that we address this issue lest we
think the Messianic movement is devoid of
internal problems.
Since the release of When Will the Messiah Return? in Fall
2002, I have received numerous e-mails and
communications from both Christians and
Messianics. Many Christians have told me that
they have been seriously challenged to examine
the Scriptures once again and re-evaluate their
position on the pre-tribulation rapture. Many
Messianics have told me that they have been
reinforced in their conviction of a post-tribulational
gathering of the saints. But then there is a
sector of Messianics who have reared their heads
up and have clearly fallen into the trap of the
clutches of pre-tribulationists.
Many of you know that the pre-tribulation
rapture teaching is problematic. While there is
considerable debate over texts like Matthew
24:29-31, “after the tribulation of those days,”
and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, “at the last
trumpet,” nowhere in Scripture can the ideology
of pre-tribulationism be supported. Its
ideology, pure and simple, is blatant
escapism. Its ideology advocates that the
Lord cannot protect His people during the
Tribulation period and He must give them an
escape. Its fruit has created a generation of
Believers who are not prepared in the least to
possibly be martyred for the cause of the
Messiah, but instead need to be pulled out at
the first sign of trouble.
Now we can see the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine’s fruit most
clearly evident in Christianity today. An entire
generation of new Christians are coming to the
forefront who believe that Yeshua can return at
any moment for the saints. Many of these
Christians are immature in their faith, and are
unwilling to possibly give up their lives for
the faith. They are unwilling to possibly face
the antimessiah/antichrist or even be put
through some difficult times. Some may say this
is being judgmental, but this is absolutely the
truth. This is largely based on my experience as
a college student with my own contemporaries who
constitute the next generation of “Christians.”
Now it would be unfair to simply chastise Christians and say that
this problem is not in the Messianic community.
While the pre-tribulation rapture is largely a
Christian issue, pre-tribulationists in the
Messianic community, as of late, have made
themselves known. Friends, whether we realize it
or not, this is a problem.
Many of you are most certainly aware that pre-tribulationisism
abounds in the liberal branches of the Messianic
community. It is present among those
“Messianics” who believe that keeping the Torah
is optional, including observing Shabbat,
the Biblical festivals, the dietary laws, etc.
They believe that disobedience to the Torah is
not sin, and as expected, they are mostly
pre-trib. These people believe that God has two
groups of elect, Israel and “the Church,” and
are dispensationalists. In my early days of
being in the Messianic movement, I had frequent
debates with these Leftist Messianics (if they
can even be called “Messianic”). But this is not
the problem that I am referring to.
Since When Will the Messiah Return? was released has come
forth an even bigger problem than Leftist
Messianics asserting their pre-tribulationism,
or for that same matter more Rightist Messianics
who are Torah observant asserting pre-tribulationism.
The problem that has arisen is that a group of
people who believe in the restoration of all
Israel, Judah and Ephraim, are asserting their
pre-tribulational views. Now I can give some
leeway to Messianics who reject the message of
the Two Houses of Israel being restored in the
end-times and are pre-trib. This is somewhat to
be expected. Many of them because of their
dispensational stance will not see the message,
or perhaps will not want to see it. But people
who believe in the Two Houses of Israel reunited
in the end-times? No. If you truly understand
the message of the unification of Judah and
scattered Israel/Ephraim—you can in no
way, shape, or form be pre-trib.
Daniel 9:7 tells us, “Righteousness
belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as
it is this day—to the men of Judah, the
inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those
who are nearby and those who are far away in all
the countries to which You have driven them,
because of their unfaithful deeds which they
have committed against You”
This prefaces the prophecy of Daniel 9:24 which
says “Seventy
weeks have been decreed for your people…” Surely, if you understand the message of all Israel being
reunited in the end-times, and know how the
Northern Kingdom of Israel/Ephraim was scattered
abroad, you can see how Daniel 9:7 references
all Israel, “your people.” This people is the
people that goes through the Seventieth Week of
Israel, more commonly called the Tribulation
period.
The way it is has been said to me in recent days, by supposed
Two-House advocates, is that the Body of Messiah
is to be raptured to Heaven prior to the
Tribulation period, and then during the
Seventieth Week Judah and Ephraim are to be
reunited and restored to the Promised Land.
Hello??
Now, I could possibly see a pre-trib dispensationalist who
nominally sees the message of the restoration of
all Israel say something like this. This pre-tribber,
while believing that he is a part of “the
Church” and not Israel, could believe that those
of scattered Israel/Ephraim would be gathered
back to the Promised Land in the Last Days, but
obviously because he will be removed via the
rapture to Heaven it would certainly not involve
him in some way. With a few modifications, this
is essentially what is being taught by
“Two-House pre-tribulationists” and presents us
with some serious problems.
Why does it present us with problems? The first problem should be
obvious. It annuls critical prophecies such as
Isaiah 11:14; Jeremiah 3:18; 30:3; and Zechariah
10:7, 10 that speak of the ingathering of both
Houses of Israel into the Middle East. After
all, if some of us, or our posterity, are being
prepared to one day be gathered into the Land of
Israel to fulfill these prophecies—or at least
be involved somehow—which seemingly occur during
or in close relation to the Seventieth Week, it
is important that we take heed of them. But if
we are to be raptured prior to the Tribulation,
what is the point of us studying them? They do
not concern us.
The second problem that exists is less obvious. Consider the fact
that 1 Corinthians 10:11 says, “Now
these things happened to them as an example, and
they were written for our instruction, upon whom
the ends of the ages have come.” What Paul communicates here is that what occurred to the
Ancient Israelites in the Torah is an
instructive “warning” (RSV) to us, specifically
those who are to live in the Last Days. Among
the Two-House community today are many,
including myself, who believe that we should
follow and study the Torah. Even more specific
is the admonition that we are to study the Torah
so that what happened in the wilderness to the
Ancient Israelites does not get repeated—so we
can more properly understand the times ahead and
the Last Days.
Is there anywhere in the Torah that implies a pre-tribulation
rapture of the saints? Is there any warning we
need to be made aware of? Let us consider the
widely known example of Moses and the golden
calf:
“Now
when the people saw that Moses delayed to come
down from the mountain, the people assembled
about Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make us a
god who will go before us; as for this Moses,
the man who brought us up from the land of
Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
Aaron said to them, ‘Tear off the gold rings
which are in the ears of your wives, your sons,
and your daughters, and bring them to
me.’ Then all the people tore off the gold rings
which were in their ears and brought them
to Aaron. He took this from their hand,
and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it
into a molten calf; and they said, ‘This is your
god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land
of Egypt.’ Now when Aaron saw this, he
built an altar before it; and Aaron made a
proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be
a feast to the
Lord.’
So the next day they rose early and offered
burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings;
and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and
rose up to play. Then the
Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Go down at once, for your people, whom
you brought up from the land of Egypt, have
corrupted themselves. They have quickly
turned aside from the way which I commanded
them. They have made for themselves a molten
calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed
to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who
brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”
(Exodus 32:1-8).
This event in the life of the people of Israel
is one that we must take strong heed to. Moses
is up on the mountain receiving the Ten
Commandments from God, and because he delayed
his coming down the people got restless. As a
result, they demanded that Aaron, Moses’
brother, make them a visible god that they could
worship. Aaron, giving in to the people’s
demands, had them collect gold and made a molten
calf, which they proclaimed to be Israel’s god.
What happens next is quite severe:
“Now when Moses saw that the people were out of
control—for Aaron had let them get out of
control to be a derision among their
enemies—then Moses stood in the gate of the
camp, and said, ‘Whoever is for the
Lord,
come to me!’ And all the sons of Levi
gathered together to him. He said to them, ‘Thus
says the
Lord, the God of Israel, “Every man of
you put his sword upon his thigh, and go
back and forth from gate to gate in the camp,
and kill every man his brother, and every man
his friend, and every man his neighbor.”’ So the
sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about
three thousand men of the people fell that day”
(Exodus 32:25-28).
When Moses finally did return to see the people
corrupted into idolatry, his reaction was very
strong. He commanded those Levites who were true
to their faith in the Lord to come to him and
then eliminate those who were committing the
sin, and three thousand were killed by the
sword.
The Israelites in the wilderness seemingly could
not wait forty days for Moses to return from the
mountain with the ordinances that were to
establish their nation. Today, we too await One
to “come down,” the Messiah Yeshua. He has been
in Heaven at the right hand of the Father for
almost 2,000 years and the Scriptures tell us
that He will return.
When in the wilderness, the Ancient Israelites
could not wait for perhaps another day to allow
Moses the time to descend from the mountain, and
instead they demanded that a visible idol be
created for their worship. When Moses found them
engaged in the horrendous sin, chaos ensued and
many were slaughtered. Moses had the idol
destroyed and ground into a powder which was
mixed with water for the people to drink.
Those of us who are waiting for the return of
the Messiah need not follow the same example as
our forebearers in the wilderness. We do not
need to get restless so as to start building our
own golden calves and then find out that when
Yeshua does return that He is angry beyond
belief and casts us from His presence. Sadly,
this is exactly what has happened with the
pre-tribulation rapture teaching. Many who
blindly accept it are worshipping golden calves.
They are reveling around idols and one day
Yeshua will return and smash them, showing up
unexpectedly “ruining their plans.” Contrary to
what some might say, the pre-tribulation rapture
does not largely encourage holy and set-apart
living. It spawns careless living and minimalist
faith—because one might as well “have fun” now
because Believers will not have to go through
the Tribulation period.
Hopefully, we should know better. Let us take
this instructive warning from the Torah
seriously and not be reveling around golden
calves as we compare our Messiah’s return to
Moses’ return down from the mountain. Let us be
patient and fighting the good fight of faith as
we have been called. Let us remember that our
calling is to restore a divided Israel and thus
hasten Yeshua’s appearing. Let us remember that
we have a job to do, which is not to be
escapists and run at the first sign of trouble.
Through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we
are called to stay and fight. And, we must take
on the false teaching of pre-tribulationism and
see that it is purged from our midst.
So what are we to do about the problem of the Messianic pre-tribulationists
we are presently encountering? We pray that they
see the error of their ways. We pray that they
will see that they are not helping the
restoration of all Israel, but actually working
against it. But, in the event that they do not
turn from this grievously false and escapist
teaching, we pray that as these people talk
about the reunion of all Israel, and then couple
it with their pre-tribulationism, that they
expose themselves—because they will. They will
expose themselves at the very least as being
immature, and perhaps even as plants of the
enemy, performing the will of the enemy and not
that of the Lord.
All I can say to
Messianic pre-tribulationists is that when I was
still in the Church I was post-trib and that was
critical in my becoming Messianic and Torah
observant. If I were pre-trib, I would not be
writing this today and I would still be in the
Church. I would see no point at being Messianic.
In the joking words of my loving sister Jane,
“Being Messianic and pre-trib are totally
incompatible. They will cause you to
spontaneously combust.”
J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary) is the
editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is
a Messianic apologist. He is author of several
books, including: The New Testament Validates
Torah, Torah In the Balance, Volume I, and
When Will the Messiah Return?. He has also
written many articles on the Two Houses of
Israel and Biblical theology, and is presently
focusing on Messianic commentaries on various
books of the Bible. |
