THE KINGDOM NOW

Reading the Bible Forward, Not Backward

IF THE PROPHECY SYSTEM HAS ALREADY CHANGED, WHY STOP NOW?

For generations, millions of Christians have been shown a familiar picture of the future.

The church will be suddenly removed in the Rapture.

A seven-year Tribulation will follow.

Antichrist will rise.

Israel will again become the center of God's prophetic program.

Christ will return to Jerusalem.

A temple will stand again.

And Jesus will reign on earth for 1,000 years.

You have probably seen the charts.

You may have heard the sermons.

Perhaps, like many of us, you simply assumed that somewhere in the Bible there must be a passage that lays all of this out.

But where is it?

That is not a trick question.

And it is not an attack on Christians who believe these things.

It is the question that started this study.

SOMETHING HAS ALREADY CHANGED

Not all premillennialists today believe everything in that familiar package.

That matters.

Premillennial Christians themselves have debated the timing of the Rapture, the relationship between Israel and the church, the nature of Christ's present kingdom, the interpretation of Old Testament prophecy, and other parts of the older system.

Some ideas once treated as essential have been modified. Others have been abandoned.

Why?

In many cases, because serious Bible students went back and looked at the texts again.

Good.

That is exactly what Bible students should do.

But it raises another question:

IF WE HAVE ALREADY REEXAMINED PART OF THE SYSTEM, WHY STOP THERE?

What happens if we put the entire prophecy chart aside for a little while and simply start reading?

Not backward from Revelation 20.

Not backward from a prophecy chart.

Not backward from something we were taught.

But forward through the Bible.

What did God promise?

What did the prophets actually say?

What did Jesus say those promises meant?

How did Peter understand them?

How did Paul understand them?

How did the writer of Hebrews understand them?

And only then:

How should we understand Revelation?

That is what we are going to do.

We are not asking you to trade one prophecy chart for another.

We are asking you to do something much simpler:

Put the chart down.

Open the Bible.

And let's start reading forward.

That has some teeth. But I don't think it insults anybody.

And it gives us a terrific first YouTube hook later:

“YOU'VE SEEN THE PROPHECY CHART. BUT WHERE IS THE VERSE?”

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