In my previous blog, I spoke about the high cost of obtaining harmony in some circumstances (SEE HERE). I attended a class in an Evangelical Free Church. The teacher spoke about how the church had decided to emphasize harmony regarding the return of Christ. The issues associated with His return were not seen as fundamental to the Christian faith, so the church would not discuss the details but would dwell on more important things. I suggested that while harmony in a church is important, we cannot sacrifice sound Biblical teaching in order to achieve it.
To underscore the seriousness of this, I will briefly relate what happened the following week. It confirmed my original thoughts.
I was hoping to ask the teacher, who was an elder in the church, how he handled teaching the large volume of Biblical material on eschatology. My experience from the previous week led me to think that he and the other teachers did not raise issues about which members might disagree. It would be better to set aside deeper discussions of a text and concentrate on things like the love of God and the love believers should have for each other.
I was surprised at the class. Another leader in the church discussed Christ’s return. He had a large number of slides explaining the various views of the subject. He then went into detail on his own view. This seemed to contradict what the church wanted to do in its Sunday school classes.
His view was one I had never heard of. He had done a great deal of homework, as demonstrated by his very detailed slides. I think the point was that even though it was a novel view, it was just as valid as the others. If what he was teaching was an acceptable option, so were all the other options. We could all get along, as long as we believed Jesus was going to return. The Scriptures allowed us to have different opinions, and there was no need to argue. Harmony on the topic was the most important thing.
He called his view “modified mid-Tribulation.” Basically, the Rapture of the Church is going to happen in the middle of the Tribulation. The Church will be taken to heaven, but Christ will not stay with it. He will return to the earth and minister there for the last three and a half years of the Tribulation.
The 144,000 sealed by God will be on the earth with the Lord. They will be like John the Baptist in the Gospels and will pave the way for the Lord’s work on earth. The teacher compared their ministry to those who organize evangelistic meetings in football stadiums. For the second half of the Tribulation, Christ will hold large meetings set up by these 144,000 men. He will speak around the world. Many people will come to faith when they hear the Lord preach.
I asked if those who come to faith during this time will be a part of the Church, since the Church will have been taken into heaven. The teacher said they would. There is no separation between Israel and the Church. The Lord has no special plans or future for the nation of Israel.
I must admit, I had never heard this view about the Second Coming. Just because something is novel does not necessarily mean it is wrong, but I had serious doubts. The thing that stood out to me is that the class, made up of about twenty older church members, seemed to have a laissez-faire attitude about what was being said. If the listeners had reservations about this view of eschatology, their reservations did not seem to be of much importance.
I wonder if such a reaction was the result of stressing harmony over Biblical details. The previous week, the class had stressed that the central part of eschatology was that Christ would return. The details were not important. The view expressed in that class was just as valid as any other.
I tried to picture what it would be like to explain the Olivet Discourse, Daniel’s 70 Weeks, 1 Thessalonians, or the Book of Revelation in this framework. To my mind, it would be impossible. But I don’t think that was the point. The goal was to have a large tent with many different views. We shouldn’t judge one view as more Biblical than the others. Harmony is the goal.
Perhaps I’m too set in my ways, but there is no way a person can be faithful to the Biblical teachings on the Lord’s return and see Him conducting three and a half years of Billy Graham-like crusades when the Man of Sin is wreaking havoc on the earth. That is not an equally valid option to the view that the Lord will take His Church to Himself at the beginning of the Tribulation, and that we will be with Him until He returns. Sometimes, the price of harmony is too high.
