Bible Study Dispensational Distraction - an opinion

[Jim Parker]

Jesus told us that we will not know the hour of his coming and that rather than being focused on the “signs of his coming” we were to focus on making sure we will be found faithful when he does come.

But that’s what I have seen that the dispensational theology distracts believers from being found faithfully doing His will. Instead, all the teaching and charts and arguments about Pre-trib, mid-trib, post trib and who the antichrist and the beast will be, these all distract from our focus on our responsibility to be found faithfully doing His will when He comes.

Here’s what Jesus told his disciples they were to be doing:

(1) Be ready

Mat 24:44 … you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

(2) Be found faithfully doing the things the LORD commanded that you do.

Mat 24:45-46 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

At Mat 25:1-12 we find the parable of the 10 virgins. 5 were wise and kept enough oil to keep their lights burning until the Bridegroom arrived. 5 did not bring enough oil to keep their lamps lit.

At Mat 5:16, Jesus said Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

The 5 foolish virgins didn’t keep their lights burning.

Jesus said to them: Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. (v. 12)

And to us he said: Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (V.13)

The parable of the virgins is followed by the parable of the talents (Vs. 14-30) in which a man (representing Christ) gave his servants sums of money to use while he was away and then required an accounting from them of what they had done with money in his absence. Two of them gained more for their master and one hid his talent and returned it without any gain. We are represented by the servants who have been given all that is necessary to bring increase to the kingdom of God.

The two servants who brought increase to the master were rewarded but the one who did nothing with the money was wicked and lazy (v.26) and was cast “into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Studying all the signs of His coming and being able to interpret all the apocalyptic visions will gain no one anything at Jesus return. It is a distraction from the

Being found faithfully doing His bidding is what the LORD expects of us. There will be no reward for having successfully identified the anti-Christ. And, if you wasted you time chasing after the latest teaching about how the end times and what the bowls, vials and trumpets are and who the beast is and all the rest but have neglected being a light that men see and glorify God for your good works then you will be sorely disappointed when He comes.

Luke 18:8b when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?

Will he find me faithfully doing what he called all of us to do?

Our eternal situation depends on it.

He’s not going to look at what we knew about the end times.

He’s not going to care about perfect our theology might be.

We will hear one of two verdicts pronounced by the judge of all mankind.

(1) Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. (Mat 25:34-36)

(2) Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me. (Mat 25:41-43)

It won’t matter how perfectly arranged your theology is or how many verses you have memorized or how well you could teach about what’s going to happen when to whom and by whom in the last days. It won't matter if you really, really, really believed. It’s a “pass – fail” kind of exam with no extra credit for your gnosis.

Oh, by the way, you're taking your final exam right now.

There is one basis for Jesus judgment: “Did you do the things I said?”


iakov the fool

 

[jasonc]

Jesus told us that we will not know the hour of his coming and that rather than being focused on the “signs of his coming” we were to focus on making sure we will be found faithful when he does come.

But that’s what I have seen that the dispensational theology distracts believers from being found faithfully doing His will. Instead, all the teaching and charts and arguments about Pre-trib, mid-trib, post trib and who the antichrist and the beast will be, these all distract from our focus on our responsibility to be found faithfully doing His will when He comes.

Here’s what Jesus told his disciples they were to be doing:

(1) Be ready

Mat 24:44 … you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

(2) Be found faithfully doing the things the LORD commanded that you do.

Mat 24:45-46 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

At Mat 25:1-12 we find the parable of the 10 virgins. 5 were wise and kept enough oil to keep their lights burning until the Bridegroom arrived. 5 did not bring enough oil to keep their lamps lit.

At Mat 5:16, Jesus said Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

The 5 foolish virgins didn’t keep their lights burning.

Jesus said to them: Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. (v. 12)

And to us he said: Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (V.13)

The parable of the virgins is followed by the parable of the talents (Vs. 14-30) in which a man (representing Christ) gave his servants sums of money to use while he was away and then required an accounting from them of what they had done with money in his absence. Two of them gained more for their master and one hid his talent and returned it without any gain. We are represented by the servants who have been given all that is necessary to bring increase to the kingdom of God.

The two servants who brought increase to the master were rewarded but the one who did nothing with the money was wicked and lazy (v.26) and was cast “into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Studying all the signs of His coming and being able to interpret all the apocalyptic visions will gain no one anything at Jesus return. It is a distraction from the

Being found faithfully doing His bidding is what the LORD expects of us. There will be no reward for having successfully identified the anti-Christ. And, if you wasted you time chasing after the latest teaching about how the end times and what the bowls, vials and trumpets are and who the beast is and all the rest but have neglected being a light that men see and glorify God for your good works then you will be sorely disappointed when He comes.

Luke 18:8b when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?

Will he find me faithfully doing what he called all of us to do?

Our eternal situation depends on it.

He’s not going to look at what we knew about the end times.

He’s not going to care about perfect our theology might be.

We will hear one of two verdicts pronounced by the judge of all mankind.

(1) Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. (Mat 25:34-36)

(2) Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me. (Mat 25:41-43)

It won’t matter how perfectly arranged your theology is or how many verses you have memorized or how well you could teach about what’s going to happen when to whom and by whom in the last days. It won't matter if you really, really, really believed. It’s a “pass – fail” kind of exam with no extra credit for your gnosis.

Oh, by the way, you're taking your final exam right now.

There is one basis for Jesus judgment: “Did you do the things I said?”


iakov the fool

I fully agree but I haven't heard anything that says that futurists don't teach otherwise to this and ignore this when they talk about eschatology. my church is a pre trib, and I am not. I'm closest to partial preterist ,amil.

 

[Nathan]

I agree, too much emphasis on trying to figure out how long you have, until you have to be found in Him.

1 John 2
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he made to us-eternal life.

The life we are to be living is that of abiding in Christ.

John 15
1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

If we abide in Him we will not have any doubt to which group we will be placed in.

1 John 2:28 (ESV)
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.