PREFACE

    The thought that the church age would come to an end is a shocking idea to those of us who have been taught the so-called amillennium or the postmillennium idea of the return of Christ. In both of these schools of thought the concept that the churches and congregations would be here and would be functioning as God’s people all the way to the end of the world and the return of Christ has been thoroughly ingrained into our thinking.

    However, in the churches that have been taught the so-called premillennial idea of the return of Christ, it is amazing to note that they have been taught that there would come a time when the church age would come to an end prior to the end of the world. True, they did not use the language that there would come a time when the church age would come to an end. However, effectively this is what they were saying when they taught the concept that there would come a time when the believers would be raptured. In fact, while many details of the closing events of this world’s history have been grossly misunderstood by this pre-mil concept it is remarkable that they have correctly been given a faint glimpse of much of the Biblical outline of the events that must unfold before the world ends. A comparison of the basic premil teaching with the true Biblical teaching shows:

    Given the fact that the events concerning the end of the world have been sealed (Daniel 12:9) until the time of the end, it is indeed amazing that the pre-mil position is as accurate as it is. (We should note that amongst the wrong teachings of the pre-mil position is that the rapture would occur before the end of the world. There is much proof in the Bible that the rapture occurs at the end of the world. For more information see Appendix C: When Is The Rapture?)

    However, by God’s mercy the end of the world is very near so that we can now know with far greater accuracy the details of God’s program leading up to the end of the world.

    It should also be noted that heretofore, any theological position concerning details of the end of the world could be considered and accepted intellectually. Because each and every position, whether a-mil, post-mil, or pre-mil, taught that the end of the world would take place at some unknown time in the future, no action except intellectual assent on the part of believer was required.

    However, as the Biblical details of the end of the world as set forth in this study are considered, it should be emphatically noted that action on the part of the reader is required. Thus, this study should not be considered simply as an eschatological position that discusses the great event of the end of the world as coming some unknown time in the future. Rather, it is a very

carefully developed Biblical eschatological position that requires immediate decisive action on the part of the believers who understand the truth of this study and who have an intense desire to be obedient to all the commands of the Bible.

    As this study will show, we are now in that time of history when the church age has come to an end. Consequently, God has commanded each and every believer to leave his local church and continue to serve God as His ambassador outside of the church and congregation. This is the action required by God for any and all who truly tremble before the Word of God.

    Thus, this study will be very offensive to some readers. But it can also be a great blessing in the lives of those who will understand the Biblical truth that it sets forth.

    May God have mercy on each reader of this study so that the result in his life may be a fervent readiness to do the will of Almighty God.

    The phrase “The End of the Church Age” is in no way speaking of the end of the eternal church which is made up of only truly saved individuals. The eternal church which began when the first person in the world became saved will continue forever. As long as this world exists, God will be adding to it.

    The church age that has come to an end is the external representation of the kingdom of God which exists as local congregations. We will earn in this study that more than 1950 years beginning with Pentecost in A.D. 33, the external representation of the kingdom of God was the local churches. Throughout the church age the true believers who are eternal citizens of the eternal church were to be members of these local congregations. This eternal church is an invisible church because only God knows for certain who the true believers are.

    Examples of these local churches are the seven churches named in Chapter 2 and 3 of Revelation. These congregations consisted of both saved and unsaved individuals. For example, one of these, the church of Sardis, had only a few true believers within it (Revelation 3:4). Thus, while is was a local church externally representing the kingdom of God on this earth, in actuality it had only a few people who had become members of God’s eternal church.

    As we will learn in this study it is the era of these local congregations and churches that has come to an end. The true believers who are included in the membership of these local churches have either already been driven out or are commanded to come out.

    Thus, the local churches all over the world will finally have only unsaved people as members.

    However, the invisible eternal church will continue to grow and flourish outside of these local churches which for more than 1950 years have been the divine institution that God raised up to be the caretaker of Gospel. Since the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the eternal church no longer has any identification with the local churches.

    Therefore, a better title for this book could be, “The End of the Institution of the Local Church and After.”