The End of the Church Age...and After

Thus far in our study, we have examined:

The season of the early righteous rain of the Old Testament that brought as its first of the firstfruits harvest the Lord Jesus Christ.

The time of three and a half years that immediately followed the early righteous rain. The time was a time of spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God and a time of judgment on Christ and Satan.

The season of the early Pentecostal rain that continued for more than 1950 years and brought in the Pentecostal firstfruits harvest of all those who become saved throughout the church age.

    We are now ready to examine in some detail the time of spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God that began with the beginning of the Great Tribulation. We will discover that it was symbolized by a time of three and a half years. It, too, was a time of judgment, the judgment falling on the churches of the church age.

    When God made the transition from the Old Testament early righteous rain season to the three and a half year time of Christ’s ministry, during which there was a time of spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God, in the historical setting, it impacted a very small percentage of the world’s population. Most of the peoples of the world knew nothing at all about what was happening in the nation of Israel. Likewise, when God transitioned from this three and a half year time of spiritual famine and judgment to the season of the early Pentecostal rain, that is, to the season of the church age, a very small percentage of the world’s population was impacted by it. Only those cities in which a Jewish synagogue was located, and they were few in number compared to the number of all the cities of the world, were impacted in nay way by this transition.

A Worldwide Trauma

    But in our day, when God has transitioned from the season of the early Pentecostal rain, the church age, to the time of Great Tribulation, the impact is worldwide. Churches are located in cities and villages all over the world.

Hundreds of millions of people are members of churches. Therefore, a sudden transition to a time of spiritual famine of hearing the Word, a time of judgment upon those churches, is an enormous event in the history of God’s Gospel program.

    Therefore, this transition to the time of Great Tribulation is written about exceedingly extensively in the Bible. Because this huge event took place very near the end of time, the numerous Bible references to it were not understood even by the finest God-fearing theologians. God explains this in Daniel 12, where God was explaining some of the end-time events, and He declared in Daniel 12:9:

And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

    But now we are very near the time of the end, and God is revealing from the Bible a great many things to believers that previously had been hidden from God’s people. We now find that all the way from Genesis to Revelation there is information concerning the transition from the church age to the Great Tribulation. We find that amongst the extensive Biblical references to this traumatic event are the following passages.

Genesis 45 in which God tells of the famine in Joseph’s day that caused his father to go into the land of Egypt.
The strange account of Judges 19 which describes the killing of the concubine by the men of Benjamin.
A great many chapters in the Book of Isaiah.
A great many chapters in the Book of Jeremiah.
Almost all of the Books of Lamentations.
Many of the first 39 chapters of Ezekiel.
Daniel 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 11, and Daniel 12.
Portions of the Book of Hosea.
Almost all of the Book of Joel.
Much of the Book of Amos.
Portions of the Book of Micah.
Much of the Book of Nahum.
Much of the Book of Habakkuk.
Parts of the Book of Zechariah.
Matthew 24.
Mark 13.
Parts of Luke 17.

Luke 21.
The last seven chapters of the Book of Acts.
II Thessalonians 2.
Revelation 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20.

    This is not a complete list but it is sufficient to show that the transition to the Great Tribulation is very extensively documented in the Bible. In this study, we will examine a number of these passages to show the harmony that exists between them.

    As we study a number of these passages, we will discover that they all fit into a plan wherein at a precise time in history, the end of the church age did occur. It was immediately followed by a time of Great Tribulation which symbolically continues for three and a half years. In actuality, it is probably the literal time of 2300 days spoken of in Daniel 8.

    At the end of the symbolic three and a half years, the final season of the latter rain did commence. This latter rain season that will bring in the final harvest of believers will be a very short season during which the judgment of God will remain on the churches. The churches will continue to experience a spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God, and they will continue to be under the judgment of God. This very short season of the latter rain will be followed by the final time, that of the judgment at the end of the world.

    We shall now begin to examine some of the evidence in the Bible that describes this transition form the season of the early Pentecostal rain, the church age, to the time of the Great Tribulation.

    The Bible shows that a time would come when God would no longer use the churches and congregations to bring the Gospel to the world. They instead would come under the wrath of God.

The Old Testament Anticipates the Great Tribulation

    To see this plan, we will first carefully examine Old Testament Israel. They, without any question, typify the New Testament church which the Bible speaks of as the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16). As we discover how God related to national Israel, we will learn how God interrelates with the churches of the New Testament.

    Old Testament Israel began with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It reached its highest glory during the reigns of David and Solomon.

    It was a nation brought out of Egypt, into the land of Canaan under the leadership of the first Moses and then Joshua. God bestowed His love upon this

For thou are an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

    And so, Israel continued for hundreds of years under the patient guidance of God. Again and again when they went astray God sent judges or prophets or priests or kings to bring them back to a more obedient faithfulness to God.

The Problem of High Places

    One problem did persist and became a continuous problem. That was the problem of high places. High places were places outside of Jerusalem where false god’s were worshipped. It was already a serious problem when Moses received the law at Mount Sinai. The golden calf worship was similar to later high place worship. However, until the temple was constructed by Solomon, the correct worship of Jehovah God was also observed at high places. But once the temple was built, any worship at high places was always the worship of false gods.

    The division of the kingdom upon the death of Solomon in 931 B.C. stimulated the worship of false gods. The first king of the nation of Israel, which consisted of ten tribes of Israel, built worship centers in Dan and Bethel that featured the worship of calves. This sad condition never changed throughout the history of the ten tribes of Israel. In the nation of Judah, which consisted of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the situation was somewhat better in that many of the kings who reigned were God-fearing men. Even so with the exception of two kings, Hezekiah and Josiah, to some degree high places were always in evidence in the land.

    These high places were obviously an act of rebellion against the law of God. Yet for hundreds of years, God tolerated them and especially blessed Judah in spite of them. But they were not unnoticed by God. In Leviticus 26:27-31, God solemnly warned:

And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.

    Note in this warning God is specifically talking about the high places. This warning was given before Israel entered the land of Canaan.

The High Places Will Be Destroyed

    But how and when would God destroy the high places. Remember in Leviticus 26 God had declared that He had chosen them to be a special people. He had sent His love upon them. Surely God would be very gentle with Israel when and if He carried out His threat to remove the high places.

    But also remember, God had said “I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation” (verse 31). Would God really do this. Yes, He would. And He did do that.

    In the year 709 B.C., disaster struck the ten tribes of Israel. This nation of God loved was entirely destroyed by the Assyrians. Except for the city of Jerusalem, at the same time the ten tribes were destroyed, much of the nation of Judah was also destroyed. Only because Hezekiah the king of Judah removed all of the high places was Jerusalem spared. How could God bring this horrible disaster on the people to whom He had pledged His love.

    But there was more. One hundred years later, in the year 609 B.C., they nation of Judah was again struck with disaster. King Josiah, the most God-fearing king who ever ruled over Judah, was killed in battle when he was only 39 years of age.

    One hundred years earlier, King Hezekiah had destroyed the high places and so Jerusalem was spared at the time the ten tribes were destroyed. But following Hezekiah, his son and then his grandson reigned,

    And then Josiah became king. Truly, he was a wonderful king. God declared concerning King Josiah in II Kings 23:25:

And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

    But it was too late. When God warned in Leviticus 26 that He would destroy all of the high places, He gave sufficient information so that we can know precisely when this occurred. He had said in Leviticus 26:33-34:

And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. T hen shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.

    God identifies the time when the land would enjoy its sabbaths as a time of seventy years. He states in II Chronicles 36:21, “the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.”

    The Bible shows us that this seventy years began with the death of Josiah in 609 B.C. and ended with the conquering of Babylon by the Medes and the Persian in 539 B.C.

    The fulfillment of this prophecy required the death of King Josiah because the year 609 B.C. was to be the beginning of the seventy years that had been prophesied. Indeed, now God’s wrath began to be poured out upon Judah.

    Although four more kings would reign, they were all wicked. During their reign, first Egypt assailed them and then Babylon began to destroy them. Finally, in the year 587 B.C., twenty three years inclusive after King Josiah was killed in battle, the end came.

    And what an end, Jerusalem, the temple, the holy of holies were all destroyed. This terrible end came on the people whom God loved, who had been chosen as a special people. God carried out His warning that he would destroy the high places. He did so first in 709 B.C. and then completed the task in 587 B.C. Truly, God does not give empty or idle warnings.

    But how does this relate to the church and the New Testament era, the congregations and denominations by means of which God has sent the Gospel into all the world during the past more than 1900 years?

High Places: A Warning to the Church

    When we begin to consider the plight of the churches and congregations in our day, at least four facts became abundantly evident.

    1. The eternal church made up of all true believers will never be destroyed.
    2. The corporate or external church as represented by the various denominations and local congregations that have existed during the past more than 1950 years could be destroyed even as the seven churches of Revelation 2 and Revelation 3 were eventually destroyed.
    3. Ancient Israel that was loved by God and protected by God for hundreds of years was finally destroyed, the nation of Israel in 709 B.C., the nation of Judah in 587 B.C.
    4. An insistence cause of their destruction was their persistence in maintaining places of worship, called high places, where heathen gods were worshipped.

    With this background in view, we must ask the logical question: What does the destruction of ancient Israel in 709 B.C. and 587 B.C. have to do with us today? The answer must come to us loud and clear. What God did to ancient Israel has everything to do with this matter. In Hebrews 13:8, the Bible declares, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Jesus is Jehovah God of the Old Testament. As we view His treatment of ancient Israel, we can know how He deals with the New Testament Israel, the churches and congregations that existed all over the world.

    The logical conclusion then might be: Since the high places of Israel were a dominant cause of the destruction of ancient Israel, it appears that the churches of today are safe from God’s judgment because we do not have high places where heathen gods are worshipped.

Today’s Churches Have Their High Places

    But it is true, that our churches are free of high places? The Bible shows us that the churches of today are not at all free of the high places. The Bible defines the nature of the New Testament high places in II Corinthians 10:4-6. There we read:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

    In this very revealing passage, God has sent forth His plans for the New Testament church. And as we shall see they are parallel to His plan for ancient Israel. We can readily see this parallelism if we recognize the nature of the Old Testament high places. True worship faithfully identified with a careful following of the laws of God set forth in the Bible. But many in Israel had their own ideas concerning the nature of true worship.

    Out of their own imaginations and rationalizations they designed places of worship to gods that they felt should be honored by Jehovah God was honored. So, they designed and constructed their high places. They were probably called high places because these places, where false gods were worshipped, normally were built on the top of a hill.

    In the New testament era, it was not fashionable to construct places of worship to false gods. But the New Testament individual has the same kind of thoughts and imaginations as the Old Testament believer. He, too, has opinions as to the proper worship of God that frequently includes ideas from his own mind rather than from the Bible.

    During the Old Testament days, it took serious thought as to how to properly design and build a high place in order to make the overall worship scene more complete. In the New Testament, serous men have carefully thought about teachings they felt were pleasing to God. They reasoned together in solemn meetings such as church councils, consistories, and

synods. After prayerful consideration, they adopted doctrines that were not always true to the Bible. Some of the erroneous conclusions were even written into and became a part of very prestigious confessions. This was so even though they had arrived at conclusions that were not taught in the Bible. Conclusions such as there can be divorce for fornication, baptismal regeneration, our faith is an instrument that God uses to bring us to salvation, a future millennium, women can pastor a church, universal atonement, and our acceptance of Christ is a requirement for salvation, are typical of many doctrines solemnly adopted by churches. But these are high places in that they have come form the exalted minds of men, not from God.

    At the beginning of this study, we briefly examined some high places in the churches. We saw that there were quite a number of high places in our churches today. Churches have rewritten the rules concerning divorce and remarriage, the Sunday Sabbath, gospels of signs and wonders, the tongues phenomenon, the role of women in the church, music, and preaching about hell and damnation. These are all high places that have grown extensively in the churches in the past fifty years.

    We must never forget that the pillar and ground of truth cannot be the church (I Timothy 3:15). The pillar and ground can be only God. Therefore, any doctrine held by a church must come under the careful scrutiny of the Bible. Fact is, the teaching that is held by a great number of churches that the church is the pillar and ground of truth is in itself an enormous high place because it makes the church and that which it teaches an authority at least equal to God.

The New Testament High Places Will Be Destroyed

    For over 1950 years, God has overlooked these spiritual high places even as for many hundreds of years He overlooked the high places of Israel and Judah.

    But remember, God had warned ancient Israel that eventually He would destroy the high places. This destruction commenced when Judah began to go into bondage at the time their last good king, King Josiah, was killed in 609

B.C. The destruction was completed in 587 B.C. when Jerusalem and the temple were entirely destroyed, twenty three years inclusively after 609 B.C.

    Ominously, the passage in II Corinthians 10:4-6 which speaks of the New Testament high places also warns of a time when God will destroy the high place. Remember, God said, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God… having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” In this very revealing passage, God is declaring that punishment will come when the obedience of the churches has been fulfilled, that is, when their work of sending the Gospel into the world has been finished, God would begin to bring judgment upon them. This coincides with the warning of Revelation 11 that the time will come when the work of the church to bring the Gospel, as typified by the two witnesses, is finished. When it is finished, the two witnesses will be killed. Revelation 11:7 declares:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

    Earlier in Revelation 11, God had explained in verse 4 that the two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. Remember in Revelation 1:20 and Revelation 2:1 God had indicated that each church is represented by a candlestick. This is so because within each church or congregation, there are true believers. They individually are light bearers of the Gospel. Because they are an integral part of the congregation, the church itself as an entity becomes a light bearer. In this way throughout the church age, the churches that have remained reasonably faithful to the Bible have been represented by a candlestick.

    However, when these true believers are silenced within the congregation or are driven from the congregation, effectively, they have been killed. John 16:2 declares:

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

    This killing of the witness can occur only when the work of the church to bring the Gospel has been finished. It is only God who determines when that work is finished. As we continue our study, we will learn that the end of the time of the work of the church to bring the Gospel to the world

coincides with the beginning of the Great Tribulation. One thing is certain, when the two witnesses are killed because their work had been finished, it means that the church is dead - the candlestick no longer can give light. That is, God is no longer using the church to bring the Gospel.

    Therefore, we see clearly that God has predetermined a time during the New Testament era when punishment would come against high things and the exalted reasoning of men. This punishment would take place when the obedience of the churches were fulfilled. We have already seen that the obedience was fulfilled when the work of the two witnesses was finished.

    This identifies with the warning of I Peter 4:17, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” The event of this judgment on the churches is a terrible blow to them. In a way it is as traumatic and awful as the destruction of ancient Judah by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. Therefore, God speaks of this event as a time of Great Tribulation. In Matthew 24:21, the Bible declares there will be Great Tribulation such as this world has never known or ever shall know.

    How terrible when God’s blessings no longer rest on the churches and congregations which only a few years earlier were still God’s evangelists to the world.

    But now we ask the big question. Has this Great Tribulation of Matthew 24:21 already begun? We also wonder if a church removes its high places, can it avoid this judgment? Moreover, how does God bring judgment upon the churches?