LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 353

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THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 353

Christians summarized the end times as follows: “[Jesus now] sits
at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence he will
come to judge the living and the dead.... I believe in...the resur-
rection of the body, and the life everlasting” (The Apostles’ Creed).

LaHaye and Jenkins also err when they teach that Nicolae
Carpathia, the Antichrist, is primarily a political figure of the “New
Babylon” who gives out the mark of the beast. Rayford Steele, Buck
Williams, Chloe and the other characters in the novels spend most
of their time tracking or evading this Antichrist on their sophisti-
cated computers and bugging devices, with the goal of subverting
the political domination of Carpathia.

However, the prophecies of Scripture concerning the Antichrist
(e.g., 2 Thess 2:3-12; 1 Jn 2:18; Rev 13:11—18) make it clear that
he is not primarily a political ruler. Rather, he is one whose false
doctrine spreads the lie that people are not saved completely
through the merits of Jesus Christ, that is, by grace alone, by Christ
alone, through faith alone. In failing to embrace this teaching of
Scripture, the Left Behind series wrongly perceives that the culmi-
nating battle of history has significant political and military over-
tones. However, in rejecting all political aspirations Jesus tells
Peter, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once
put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt.
26:53). And again before Pilate he says, “My kingdom is not of
this world” (Jn 18:36).

Of course, a key chapter in this entire discussion is Revelation
20. And yet these verses must not be the “tail that wags the dog,”
overturning the rest of Scripture, which does not teach an earthly,
thousand year reign of Christ. The book of Revelation is apocalyp-
tic, that is, it is deliberately written so as to make it accessible only
to insiders. In the case of Revelation those insiders who hold the
key to its interpretation are the Christians of seven churches of Asia
Minor, as well as believers of all times and places. This key that un-
locks the mysteries of Revelation is the Old Testament as under-
stood in its fullest Christological sense: “For the testimony of Jesus
is the spirit. of prophecy” (Rev 19:10). That is to say, all prophecy
finds its focus not on national Israel but on Jesus, the Christ.

Not only is the Old Testament a major key in understanding this
chapter, but so is the fact, as previously mentioned, that the book
of Revelation is a part of apocalyptic literature. In apocalyptic lit-
erature numbers are symbolic and represent concepts. For example,
LaHaye and Jenkins believe that 144,000 Jewish believers will
evangelize the world during the tribulation. However, in Rev 7:1-8
John sees the twelve tribes of Israel along with the twelve apostles
that make up the church. In this case 12 X 12 (twelve tribes of Is-
rael and twelve apostles of Jesus) and 10 X 10 X 10 (thus inferring
wholeness or perfection) indicates all who “have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14). The
context is an additional key to interpretation. Revelation 7:9 states:
“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that
no one could count....” Thus, the number 144,000 denotes not a lit-
eral group of tribulation Jews, but rather the entire church of all
races, languages, times and places.

The expression “thousand years” in Revelation 20 also repre-
sents completeness. It indicates the complete time period for the
church to carry out her worldwide mission as mandated by the Sav-
ior, not a literal 1000—year reign of Christ on earth. In fact, in all
the other biblical texts where 1000 years is mentioned, the term is
used uniformly in a figurative manner (Ps 50:10; 90:4; 2 Pet 3:8).
In the same way, the 1000 years mentioned in Rev 20:2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7 are not literal, but symbolic. They designate the New Testament
era from the time of Christ up to Armageddon, just before the end.
Jesus does not need to return to set up an earthly kingdom since He
has already established His spiritual kingdom among all believers
(Mt 12:28; Jn 18:36; Rom 14:17; Rev 1:5-6). This view is com-
monly referred to as amillennialism.

Conclusions

The clear witness of the New Testament is that the person of
Jesus Christ is the interpretive key to the Old Testament (Lk 24:25-27,
44; Jn 5:39, 46; 2 Cor I:19-20), and indeed to all of Scripture.
Specifically, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for the sin
of the world is the chief teaching of Holy Scripture and the true
source of Christian joy and confidence. As St. Paul says, “I resolved
to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him
crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). This message is the only hope of salvation
for a lost and condemned humanity.

That is to say, all biblical revelation converges in Christ and is
given direction from Him. He is the Cornerstone, the Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End. All things were created by Him
and for Him. He is the very substance, marrow, soul and scope of
the whole Bible. The Left Behind series fails to do justice to the
Christ-centeredness of Scripture by encouraging people to fix their
eyes on current events in the Middle East, the nuclear build up in
other nations and the ongoing crisis in Israel, rather than upon Christ
alone (Heb 12:1-3).

Although the Left Behind series does raise legitimate questions
about the crucial importance of faith in Christ, some Christians have
been shaken in their faith because of the constant onslaught of pes-
simism in this literature. LaHaye and Jenkins tend to place more
emphasis on fear, evil and judgment than they do on the “righ-
teousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17) indicative
of the Gospel.

An example of this pessimistic attitude fostered by adherents of
Left Behind is that of John Hagee (author of From Daniel to Dooms-
day: The Countdown Has Begun and end-times novels such as
Blood Avenger). Hagee told a BBC interviewer that the end-times
began on September 11, 2001. He said, “We are seeing, in my judg-
ment, the birth pangs that will be called in the future the beginning
of the end. I believe in my mind that the Third World War has be-
gun. I believe it began on 9/11” (BBC radio “Analysis: American’s
New Christian Zionists,” May 7, 2002).

To be sure, an important aspect of the New Testament witness
regarding the Second Coming of Christ is Law (e.g., Mt 25:41). It
contains strong warnings concerning God’s wrath and His judgment
of sinners. But His Law serves the primary message of the Gospel
to the end that Christians “encourage one another—and all the more
as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:25). This encouragement
is based upon the promise that Christ’s “perfect love drives out fear”
(1 Jn 4:18).

Current events are not the primary indication that the church is
now living in the last days. In fact, since the first advent of Jesus
(Heb 1:1-2) and Pentecost (Acts 2:17) the church has understood
herself as awaiting the imminent return of her Lord that “will come
like a thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:2). The Second Advent of Jesus
will be the end of this age, not the beginning of its greatest glory.
In fact, teaching that believers will be raptured out of suffering en-
courages a false hope of exemption from intensified persecution to-
ward the end (cf. Acts 14:22; 2 Cor 12:1-10). The consistent
teaching of the New Testament is that Christians are not only to ex-
pect suffering (e.g., Mk 13:9; Lk 21:12; Jn 16:33); they actually
may rejoice in it, as St. Paul says, “because we know that suffering
produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character,
hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out
his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us”
(Rom 5:3-5).

The teaching that God promises through the “rapture” to rescue
true believers from the suffering of the “great tribulation” of the end
times also raises troublesome questions about God’s care and com-
passion for the millions of believers throughout history (and in our
present time) who have endured (and are enduring) unspeakable
persecution and tribulation as a result of their faithful witness to
Christ and His Gospel. Scripture nowhere promises believers an

2007 Convention Workbook