A Night With The Family
(said to be taken from "Up, Up and Away" by R. B. Yerby, 1976)
A Humorous Look at a Serious Subject
The account of my efforts to straighten out my family
regarding events at the end of time is very interesting. It all happened one
evening when we were sitting around the living room, my wife, my four children
and I. For some time I had been concerned about their unwillingness to devote
the majority of their time to a study of end-time doctrines.
"What do you think is going to happen at the end of time?" I
casually asked one of my daughters.
"I think the Lord is coming back to earth to judge the quick
and the dead, Daddy," she replied, barely looking up from her sewing.
"Yes, yes," I replied impatiently, "but what about the
details?"
"Well, the angels said He'd come again in the same manner in
which He left, and since he went from earth to heaven at that time, I believe
He's coming from heaven to earth this time."
"Oh, now I see where you're confused," I said, with a sigh
of relief. "That's at his second coming. I'm referring to his one-and-a-half
coming."
"His what?" asked my wife.
"You know," I said, with a touch of irritation. "When He
comes at the Secret Rapture. This book I'm reading says only the Christians
know about that coming of the Lord. It's all in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 17."
"That 16th verse says He'll come with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God," my wife said with a yawn.
"How could an event that noisy be kept a secret?"
"It's because it all happens so fast," I protested. "This
book quotes 1 Corinthians 15:52 which says it happens in a moment, in a
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. After that there's a seven-year
period called the Great Tribulation when the people who are left on the earth
have to go through all those horrible things in Revelation 6 through 19."
"I thought you said all those horrible things happen after
the last trumpet, Daddy," my second daughter said.
"That's right, that's right," I said excitedly,
"But seven more trumpets sound during those chapters in
Revelation that you say take place after the last trumpet," she replied with a
puzzled look.
"Okay," I said, "let's forget about the trumpets and whether
it's a secret or not. That's probably too deep for you. Let me show you how the
Rapture works. There are going to be two in a bed, or grinding together, or in
the field, and the one will be taken and the other will be left. The one that's
taken goes to be with the Lord and the other is left to go through the seven
years."
"I read about that in Luke 17:34–36," my wife said, "but a
few verses before that it said it would be the same as when Noah entered the
ark and when Lot left Sodom."
"That's it," I said. "Noah and Lot were taken out and the
others remained."
"Yes, dear," she replied, "but if it's going to be like it
was then, Luke says those that remained were all destroyed, not consigned to
seven years of hardship."
"You have the same problem with 1 Thessalonians 4, Daddy,"
my third daughter said. "You said the taking away of the church is described in
verses 16 and 17 but, as I recall, just a few verses later it says sudden
destruction comes upon those who are left. And sudden destruction sounds a lot
different to me than seven years of suffering."
"I never could see where it says in which direction the
believers go with the Lord after meeting Him in the air," my wife said. "To me
it's always been the same as if an important person were coming to visit our
city and the mayor and other officials met him at the airport to escort him
downtown. It looks to me as if the Christians are meeting the Lord to escort
Him back to earth."
A few moments of silence passed while I regrouped. Then I
returned to the attack.
"What about the four resurrections that are coming?" I said
with a confident smile.
The five members of my family exchanged anxious glances.
"Now get this," I said, leaning forward in my chair. "This
is a very important doctrine. You've got to be right on the resurrections or
you're nowhere. Now here's the way it's going to be, right out of the books
I've read. First, when Christ comes for the church there's the resurrection of
all the believers of history—right?"
They nodded in tentative agreement.
"Then, seven years later there's the resurrection of those
new believers, who were somehow converted after the church and the Holy Spirit
were gone, and who were killed during the Great Tribulation. You've got to get
them out of the ground to enjoy the Millennium that follows—right?"
This time there were no nods of agreement, and I realized
with some disappointment that it was getting too deep again for their shallow
spiritual understanding. But I plunged on; they had to learn sound doctrine.
"Next is the third resurrection, this time of those mortals,
believers, who die on earth during the Millennium. You've got to get them out
of the ground to enjoy eternity—right?" Again, only hopeless confusion on their
faces.
"And finally," I said in triumph, "the fourth resurrection
is necessary to resurrect all the wicked of all time for condemnation."
I sat back to relish their enlightenment. I knew I had stuck
to just what the books said, and that it would bear fruit.
"I think there are only two resurrections, Daddy," one of my
daughters said cautiously. "First, the spiritual resurrection or new birth that
makes us alive in Christ after being dead in sin, like it says in Romans 6:13
and the first five verses of Ephesians 2, and second, the general resurrection
at the end of time when all the saved and unsaved who ever lived will be raised
together at the same time."
"That's true, dear," my wife added. "John 5:24–29 speaks of
one resurrection which even 1,900 years ago was a present one, when some of
those who are spiritually dead hear the voice of the Son of God and receive
eternal life, and then of another resurrection, sometime in the future, when
all shall hear His voice and come forth, some to life and some to
condemnation."
"Yes, Daddy," another irritating voice said. "in John 11:24
Martha told Jesus she knew her brother would rise in the resurrection at the
last day, but you said he'd rise at the Rapture, which you say takes place 1,007
years before the last day."
"I knew you people wouldn't be able to understand these
things!" I said with great agitation. "How can you refute the clear statements
of all the books and commentaries I've read? Listen, when I became a Christian
I believed what people told me, and the books they gave me, and I wasn't
argumentative like you are."
There was silence about the space of half a minute. Then my
little boy apprehensively raised his hand and I graciously encouraged him to
speak.
"Did you say there were mortals living on earth during the
Millennium, sir?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yes, my boy," I said tenderly. "Let me tell you what the
books say. At the start of the 1,000 years the unbelievers who survive the
Great Tribulation are cast off the earth and the surviving believers inherit
the Millennial Kingdom, and they live and prosper on a peaceful earth."
"And are they mortal people just like us, sir?"
"Yes, my boy," I said warmly, "just like us."
"But, Mom," he said, "didn't you tell me flesh and blood
can't inherit the kingdom of God?"
"Yes, dear," she replied. "I Corinthians 15:50."
I gnashed my teeth, ignoring repeated warnings from my
dentist, and resolved to start again from the beginning.
"Look," I said, after my breathing returned to normal,
"let's get down to basics. You've got to understand that God has two people and
you've got to keep them apart. That's why the Church goes up in the Rapture, so
that those Scriptures that apply only to the Jews, like almost all of Revelation
after Chapter 5, can work themselves out. God started out working with the Jews
and His Son came to sit on old King David's throne in Jerusalem but when the
Jews surprised God by rejecting Jesus, God had to change His plans and allow
Jesus to be crucified. Then God set up the Church to fill in the gap between
the first and second coming of Christ. At the second coming, Christ will
finally sit on David's throne."
"I don't understand about God having two different people,"
one of my stubborn daughters said. "There is no difference between the Jew and
the Greek, it says in Romans 10:12."
Another said, "There is no respect of persons with God,
Romans 2:11."
The third added, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, Galatians
3:28."
When no similar insolence was forthcoming from my son I
turned my gaze on him. He had been thinking hard, and finally he turned to his
mother and asked, "Mom, what was that about the wall being broken down?"
"That's Ephesians 2:14–16, dear," she said, smiling sweetly
at him. "It tells how the Lord at Calvary broke down the former wall of
partition between the Jew and the Gentile and made of the two one new man, one
body."
"Well, isn't Dad wrong, then?" my only son asked.
"Well, he has studied a lot of books and charts, dear," she
said. "The girls and I are only going by the Bible."
"Look," I said impatiently, "if you don't understand that,
do you at least see that the Jews are God's special people, a peculiar treasure
to Him?"
"I know that in Exodus 19:5,6 the Lord told the Israelites
that if they obeyed and kept His covenant they would be a peculiar treasure to
Him, and a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation," my wife said.
"Yes, yes," I cut in, "that's it!"
"But I haven't finished, dear," she said. "I think they must
have disobeyed and then God found a new people to replace them because Peter
uses those same verses to describe everyone who has been converted to Christ."
"I never saw that," I snarled.
"It's in 1 Peter 2:9, dear," she said.
I gnashed my teeth some more, audibly this time. When the
noise died down, one of my daughters said she thought the church had succeeded
to the promises originally made to the Jews.
"Listen, kid," I snapped, "those promises were made to
Abraham and his descendants through his son Isaac and through Isaac's son
Israel."
"That's clear from Genesis 12:7 and 22:18, Daddy, but viewed
in the light of the New Testament it seems that we—all who are Christ's through
the new birth—are in fact the descendants of Abraham."
Thinking that I was rising from my chair to strike the
child, my wife threw herself between us. When she saw that I only intended to
pace the floor, she sat down again and asked her daughter to continue.
"Well, Mom, as you pointed out to us long ago, the third
chapter of Galatians makes it all very clear. Verse 7 says they which are of
faith are the children of Abraham. Verse 16 explains that the seed of Abraham
to whom the promises were made was Christ. Verse 27 says we who have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And therefore verse 29 says that if we
are Christ's then we are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise."
"I can quote scripture, too!" I shouted. "How about, 'Children, provoke not thy father to wrath!' That's in there some place, too, you
know!"
"That's Ephesians 6:4, dear," my wife said gently, "but
you've got it backwards. It says, 'Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.'"
"Well, how can I help it?" I exploded. "She takes one
isolated passage of scripture and uses it to tell me I'm an Israelite!"
"A spiritual Israelite, dear," my wife said, watching with
compassion my spastic ambulations across the living room floor. "But she didn't
really take an isolated passage. That one was about Abraham, but you also
mentioned Isaac and Israel. Well, Galatians 4:28–29 says that we who are born
after the Spirit are, as Isaac was, the children of promise. And Romans 9:6–8
makes the same point, saying they are not all Israel which are of Israel."
"Any more?" I asked sarcastically.
"Well, yes," she replied. "Romans 2:28–29 says that a person
is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is
outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit. Oh, and Philippians 3:3 says we, that is, all
the saints in Christ Jesus, are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh."
"Well, if you're going to favor all those New Testament
scriptures above the Old Testament you certainly won't reach the conclusions my
books reach," I said, again striving for sarcasm. Somehow my remark didn't seem
to make the point I intended so I hurried on.
"Can you at least see that Jesus came to set up a restored
Jewish Kingdom but that His rejection by the Jews made it necessary to postpone
His kingdom for a couple thousand years?"
One of my daughters immediately said that John 6:15 shows
that when Jesus saw that the people wanted to make Him a natural king He
departed from them and went off to be alone in the mountains. Another said that
if Jesus had sought such an earthly kingdom in Israel He would have been
technically guilty of the accusation brought against Him by the high priest and
rulers of the Jews, and His crucifixion would have been justified by law. The
third added that Jesus himself said, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).
My wife said my statement implied that Christ didn't
complete the task that was given Him at His first coming while in fact John
4:34 and 17:4 quoted Jesus as saying that He came to do His Father's will and
did it.
"And Luke 24:25–27 says that the risen Lord told His
disciples that the Old Testament prophets clearly foretold His suffering and
crucifixion."
"Maybe," I said, "but what about His kingdom? At some point
that's got to be set up and I don't see it yet."
"Oh, Daddy," one of my daughters said, "you know Luke
17:20–21 says the kingdom of God doesn't come with observation, or visual
evidence, but the kingdom of God is within you. It's the Lord's rule in the
hearts of His people."
"You can't see or enter it except by the new birth, it says
in the third chapter of John," another said. "Yes, Daddy, we've already been
translated or transferred into the kingdom of God's dear Son, according to
Colossians 1:13," the third added.
"And Romans 14:17 says the kingdom of God isn't physical
things like meat and drink but is actually righteousness, peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost," my wife said.
"A man's enemies are those of his own house!" I shouted, and
then a brilliant thought occurred to me. "Look," I said, thumbing eagerly to
Revelation 12:10, “here it shows exactly when the kingdom of God is going to be
set up. Isn't that something that's going to happen at the start of the
Millennium? See, it's in the next chapter after the seventh trumpet sounds."
My wife turned to my proof text and smiled as she read it to
herself. Then she read it aloud: "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the
kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren
is cast down."
A chorus of giggles and shrieks came from the children. My
wife shook her head at them tolerantly, and said, "What they're trying to say
is that all of those things took place at Calvary more than 1,900 years ago. In
John 12:31 Jesus predicted that at His crucifixion Satan would be cast out, and
in Colossians 2:15 Paul confirms that through the cross Christ triumphed over
all His enemies and made a show of them openly."
"Why wouldn't you think salvation and strength and the power
of Christ came long ago, Daddy?" one of my youthful tormentors asked me. "We
all know when salvation came, and we know where our strength comes from, and in
Matthew 28:18 Jesus said all power, or authority, in heaven and earth had
already been given to Him."
My young son twisted the knife. "If the other three have
come, then I guess the kingdom has come, too, Dad."
"The kingdom couldn't have come yet," I raged, "because when
it does come then finally we're going to reign with Christ."
Again the children laughed. "Daddy, we're already reigning
with Him," one of them said. "Romans 5:17 says that we who have received
abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one,
Jesus Christ."
"That's true, dear," my wife said. "If you read Peter's
speech on the day of Pentecost, particularly Acts 2:30–33, it seems clear that
Peter felt that Christ's resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God
fulfilled the promise that a descendant of David would occupy his throne."
"Let me see that," I grumbled, picking up my Scofield
Edition. "God had sworn ... of the fruit of his loins ... would raise up
Christ to sit on his throne ... he, seeing this before, spoke of the
resurrection of Christ ... this Jesus hath God raised up ... by the right
hand of God exalted...."
As I scratched my head over those verses, my wife added:
"And, of course, Ephesians 2:6 says God has already raised us up to sit with
Christ in the heavenlies. So we're already reigning—or should be—over every
difficult problem or situation or circumstance."
"You'd better talk to him about 1 Corinthians 15, too, Mom,"
one of the kids said.
"What?!" I exclaimed, mopping my brow. "I've already covered
that. I told you that verse 52 says all the dead believers will be resurrected
to meet Christ in the air along with all the living believers."
"Yes, dear, we know," my wife said, "but the point is that
verse 54 says that the resurrection described in verse 52 fulfills the saying
of Isaiah 25:8 that death is swallowed up in victory."
"So what?" I thundered.
"Well, don't you see, dear? Verses 25 and 26 of chapter 15
say that Christ's present reign must continue until He has put all His enemies
under His feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed will be death. So, since
verse 54 says His last enemy will be destroyed when the saints are resurrected,
that means His reign ends then. At that time He delivers the kingdom up to the
Father (verse 24) and the Son Himself becomes subject unto God in order that
God may be all in all (verse 28). So if you're going to reign with Christ,
you've got to reign with Him now."
"But if His reign ends at the time He comes for the church
that would mean there would be no 1,000-year reign later on the earth," I said,
with exasperation.
"That's true, dear," she replied.
I excused myself from my oppressors and, determined to
rebuke and admonish them scripturally, took my Scofield Edition with its
concordance into the next room. I found that Proverbs 19:13 took care of both
my wife and my son ("A foolish son is the calamity of his father, and the
contentions of a wife are a continual dropping") but the only verse I could
find about daughters was Proverbs 31:29 ("Many daughters have done virtuously,
but thou excellest them all"). Obviously that wouldn't do, so, disappointed, I
postponed my thoughts of revenge and returned to the living room.
"Look," I said as calmly as I could, "I believe most of your
confusion occurred right at the beginning of our discussion. After explaining
the Secret Rapture I should have told you about the Antichrist because during
the seven years after the Rapture he's going to do some incredible things."
"No, he's not, dear," my wife said quietly.
"What do you mean?" I sputtered. "My books spell it all out.
He'll be a beast, and put marks on people, and they'll have to worship him, and
he'll execute people, and ... and ... and...."
"Now just relax, dear," my wife said soothingly. "Some of
the other ladies and I have looked into that situation and found out that the
Antichrist won't be around to do anything after Christ comes for his church."
"You can't prove that!" I yelled, but I feared she could.
"Well, dear," she said calmly, "one of the ladies had an
Interlinear Greek-English New Testament that shows each of the original Greek
words and the English equivalent. The Greek word for the coming of the Lord for
his church is parousia and that's the word used in 1 Thessalonians 4:15. Then
in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 this same word is used for the coming of the Lord, and
in that verse it says the Lord will destroy the Antichrist with the brightness
of his parousia. So when the Lord comes for the church, He simultaneously
destroys the Antichrist."
"That's ridiculous," I said, but I was perspiring freely
now. "Listen, if you don't believe anything I'm telling you, suppose you tell
me what you do believe."
"We believe that Jesus Christ is coming again, all the way
to earth," my wife said, "and that when He comes all the dead will be
resurrected, and they and the living will be judged worthy either of an eternity
in the presence of the Lord or an eternity of punishment. Satan will be
eternally punished. The kingdom will be turned over by Christ to God the
Father, and there will be a new, or probably renewed, heaven and earth. Every
person will be as close to the Lord throughout eternity as he or she is in this
life."
"You mean that's it?" I said. "That's the whole thing?"
"Basically, yes," she said.
"But if that's all there is to it," I said, "people wouldn't
need all those books and charts to figure it out. Why, it's so simple that even
a child could understand it."
"Precisely," said my wife.
"Exactly," chorused my daughters.
"I understand it," said my son.
Later, our neighbors said the smoke from the pile of books
and charts I burned in the back yard could be seen three blocks away.
