Dr. Couch, I appreciate what you're saying about the loss of the study of Bible prophecy. I understand Rick Warren in some of his writings repudiates the study of, or love of prophecy, saying this is not for us now. How do you answer?
ANSWER: The whole Bible is ours to know and study. The OT is full of hundreds of prophecies about both the first and second comings of Christ. We should know the doctrinal facts as given to us by the Lord in inspiration!
Warren made a mistake and misquoted by paraphrase the words of Christ to his disciples in Acts 1:7-8. They had asked if at that time He was going to establish the millennial, Davidic earthly kingdom (v. 6). Jesus did not say “Shelve your teaching of prophetic truth, and especially about the coming kingdom,” but He said “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons …” (v. 8). In fact, Paul reminded the Thessalonian believers that he had previously taught them about the rapture and then about the coming antichrist. He wrote: “Did you not remember that while I was still with you [before], I was telling you these things?” (2 Thess. 2:5). Great chunks of the NT are about Bible prophecy, and even whole letters deal with the subject, like 2 Thessalonians, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. In almost all the other NT books chapters are given over to the study of the coming tribulation, the rapture, and the return of Christ: Matthew 24-25; Luke 21; Acts 3; 1 Thessalonians 4-5; Romans 9-11, etc.
Back in 1947 Lewis Sperry Chafer knew where the hatred and repudiation of prophecy was going. And yet he was blessed to see that in the decades before his Theology was published there was a great ground swell of interest in Bible prophecy, especially because of what was happening in the Middle East, and specifically in regard to the return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the soon founding of the nation of Israel (June, 1948). He wrote in his Systemtic Theology (I, xxxiii):
Now with the evil philosophy of what is called The Emerging Church, and the death of strong exegetical Bible study and teaching, we are moving back into the dark ages of the lack of scriptural study. One of the specific results will be the jettisoning of the nation of Israel among Evangelical Christians. A Jewish author writing about the Middle East and Israel in the Jerusalem Post said, “The American Christians just don’t get it!”
Be careful of the voices you are listening to. Be careful who you vote for. It is becoming increasingly clear that most of the new political candidates do not have a clue about what is going on in the Middle East!
Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
ANSWER: The whole Bible is ours to know and study. The OT is full of hundreds of prophecies about both the first and second comings of Christ. We should know the doctrinal facts as given to us by the Lord in inspiration!
Warren made a mistake and misquoted by paraphrase the words of Christ to his disciples in Acts 1:7-8. They had asked if at that time He was going to establish the millennial, Davidic earthly kingdom (v. 6). Jesus did not say “Shelve your teaching of prophetic truth, and especially about the coming kingdom,” but He said “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons …” (v. 8). In fact, Paul reminded the Thessalonian believers that he had previously taught them about the rapture and then about the coming antichrist. He wrote: “Did you not remember that while I was still with you [before], I was telling you these things?” (2 Thess. 2:5). Great chunks of the NT are about Bible prophecy, and even whole letters deal with the subject, like 2 Thessalonians, 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation. In almost all the other NT books chapters are given over to the study of the coming tribulation, the rapture, and the return of Christ: Matthew 24-25; Luke 21; Acts 3; 1 Thessalonians 4-5; Romans 9-11, etc.
Back in 1947 Lewis Sperry Chafer knew where the hatred and repudiation of prophecy was going. And yet he was blessed to see that in the decades before his Theology was published there was a great ground swell of interest in Bible prophecy, especially because of what was happening in the Middle East, and specifically in regard to the return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the soon founding of the nation of Israel (June, 1948). He wrote in his Systemtic Theology (I, xxxiii):
It is important to note, also, that though predictive prophecy was made clear to the early Church, that great body of truth along with other vital doctrines was lost to view during the Dark Ages and, though not emphasized by the Reformers, is becoming increasingly clear during these past two generations in particular as reverent and scholarly men study the prophetic Scriptures.
The theme of predictive prophecy is vast indeed. It is reasonable to suppose that there is as much to record concerning the future as there is to record concerning the past, and that the theologian who ignores the prophecies which are yet unfulfilled is, therefore, eliminating a large portion of the material which enters into the whole revealed program of God.
Now with the evil philosophy of what is called The Emerging Church, and the death of strong exegetical Bible study and teaching, we are moving back into the dark ages of the lack of scriptural study. One of the specific results will be the jettisoning of the nation of Israel among Evangelical Christians. A Jewish author writing about the Middle East and Israel in the Jerusalem Post said, “The American Christians just don’t get it!”
Be careful of the voices you are listening to. Be careful who you vote for. It is becoming increasingly clear that most of the new political candidates do not have a clue about what is going on in the Middle East!
Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
