Cover Image: William Navarro via Unsplash
John McKee delivers the July 2025 Outreach Israel News update. He discusses some of the changes which he went through from 1995-1997, in shifting toward a post-tribulational eschatology. How does the idea of enduring through the end-times, change your worldview? He reflects on some of his experiences since.
a Messianic Insider episode, 01 June, 2023
For many people, there is perhaps no topic more controversial at times than the infamous pre- versus post-trib rapture debate![1] In fact, our family, and myself individually, went through a change of positions, right as the Lord was drawing us into the Messianic community in August and September 1995.
Like many of you, I was raised in an environment which was pre-millennial. We believed that the Messiah will return before the thousand-year Millennium. Before the Millennium will come the Seventieth Week of Israel or the Tribulation period. Like so many, we were of the position that the Believers will be raptured up to Heaven, before this terrible time would take place. God’s attention would focus back on Israel, and getting the Jews saved would be the job of the 144,000. The antichrist would be revealed, and many terrible judgments would be enacted.
I am sure many of you can identify with this. This is something I was just raised with. It was something I was trained in, going to a Baptist elementary school. It was something my late father believed. And, it was something which did not get challenged until I came to salvation in 1995.
When I began my discipleship as a newly saved and born again Believer, I started reading the Gospels for myself. I did not just read a snippet here or a snippet there. I actually started having a quiet time reading through things. One morning as I was journaling, I came across Matthew ch. 24, examining the entire chapter myself. I quickly found myself coming to some conclusions which were very different from the conclusions in which I had been originally reared. They were also very different than some of the conclusions of my peers at the time. The major verses I had to reckon with were:
“Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matthew 24:29-31, 2011 NIV).
Many, just like myself, transitioned away from a pre-tribulation rapture belief, to a conviction that the Messiah will gather the holy ones or saints at the end of the Tribulation. This was not an easy conclusion to come to, especially as it involves the psychology of having to process how the people of God are going to go through the end-times. They are not going to be “beamed out” of here. We are going to have to face the antimessiah/antichrist, and possibly either take the mark of the beast or be martyred. Most especially, we are going to have to live our lives in a way which is expecting persecution, difficulty, and possibly being killed for the good news.
It should not be a surprise why a doctrine of pre-tribulation rapture, of some kind of imminent escape to Heaven, is so popular. It promotes the idea that a Believer will not have to experience the difficulties of the Last Days. You will not have to ever, possibly, make that choice between receiving the mark of the beast or death. Perhaps more so, it possibly means that you really do not have to pay close attention to the kinds of things which are leading up to the final series of years before the Second Coming of Yeshua to the Earth. You certainly may not have to think that much about adjusting your life, adjusting your faith, or adjusting your spiritual experiences in that direction.
Contemplating the future end-times, is not just some interesting theological or philosophical debate on paper over who is right regarding pre- versus post-trib, what “after the Tribulation means” in Matthew 24, or concepts like the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Actually, when you get into further Biblical Studies, you are actually going to find that there are many theologians, conservative evangelicals, who do not believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. Many consider the pre-tribulation rapture to be something based in an ideology of escapism, and not in God’s actual dealings with, and protection of, His people as encountered in the Word.
There are hundreds of thousands, tens of millions of Believers on Earth today—outside of the comfort of the West—who every day have to ask the questions: Do I stay true to my belief in Jesus, or do I suffer for it? Do I stay with my faith in Christ, and possibly experience martyrdom and death?
Only because of some of the modern comforts of our Western world, could those in the realm of religion and theology even promote and entertain the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture escape for Believers, before the terrible judgments of the Tribulation. Many, when sorting through the ideology of the pre-tribulation rapture, and reading through the Scriptures, see how God protected and preserved Ancient Israel when judgments were poured out upon Egypt. Even more so, one sees how the actual Disciples and Apostles who walked with Yeshua, or at least walked with people who knew the Lord Himself in person, never got some kind of escape to Heaven, when facing martyrdom or facing death or facing some terrible trial. God had to see them through it.
With the possible exception of John, who did give us the material in Revelation (although according to early Christian tradition he was boiled in oil), all of the Disciples were martyred. They all died. They did not get an escape to Heaven. They were not carried away on some cloud. They all had to suffer terribly for the good news. And, if God did not see fit to remove them from their trial, how arrogant is the idea that we would be beamed out before the Seventieth Week of Daniel?
So, when you make a shift from a pre-tribulation rapture position to a post-tribulational position—you are, in no uncertain terms, advocating that: I may have to go through difficulty. I may have to live my life differently. I may face death for the good news.
There is a great deal of pressure out there in many churches—and yes, even some people in our own Messianic community who believe in an imminent, pre-tribulation rapture escape—to not really want to deal with this matter. Many in the Messianic Jewish movement, I think, in some ways, have become complacent about talking about this. My own local congregation does not really talk about the pre- versus post-trib issue, probably because it literally sits in the backyard of Dallas Theological Seminary, a major hub of dispensationalism. And, we do have a number of Messianic Jewish students, who go to DTS, visiting and frequently attending.
I do have one interesting anecdote for you, though. Last year visiting my local congregation (22 April, 2022) was Mitch Glaser, the director of Chosen People Ministries, which is a major evangelistic Jewish outreach group based in New York City. Many of you have heard of them. But they are definitely dispensational and pre-trib! Mitch Glaser was giving an update about some of the ministry activities CPM had been involved with, and their success rate. This is all good. Then he said how one day Yeshua is going to return, and He is going to rapture us up to Heaven before the Tribulation period. Then, Mitch Glaser saw the congregational audience, and specifically how everyone was just kind of deadpan. Nobody said “Boo!”, but in other settings, particularly Church settings, he would have gotten a big round of applause. He ended up saying, “Some of you might have to take my hand as we go up to Heaven,” actually realizing that he was dealing with a post-tribulational oriented audience.
Generally speaking, though, today’s Messiannic faith community does not get into the pre/post-trib debate as much as we probably should—especially with all the questions over the past several years (2020-2023). We are not going to go through all of the events of the past several years, here, but for some reason many Messianic people do not want to get into any of this. Why? Because it will upset people. And yet, the rapture controversy is the first, of the increasingly more complicated controversies and issues which we need to be discussing![2]
The popular idea of a pre-tribulation rapture is most certainly debated in theology. Its ideology is frequently approached as being escapist. Why do you get “beamed out,” when the Disciples and the Apostles had to experience persecution, death, martyrdom—some of the people who actually walked with Yeshua Himself? But if a pre-tribulation rapture is to be discarded as invalid, what does that mean for life on Earth today?
How does this change or affect my worldview? How does this affect what decisions I make? How does this affect how I look at current events, and discern things? How do I sift through data, noise, and so many other different factors? This is what I really want to focus on today, because we are getting closer to the return of the Messiah. There are things happening which involve significant shifts in our society, which many of us have never seen before—and we have perhaps even never anticipated or thought about before.
Look at some of the difficulties which the Disciples and Apostles faced. They lived as monotheistic Jews, in the First Century Roman Empire with its immorality and sexual debauchery. Frequently, people will say that today’s Messianic movement is going back to a First Century religious experience, in the Twenty-First Century. It is not difficult to conclude how we are indeed returning to that sort of experience! While it is good that we see Jewish and non-Jewish Believers fellowshipping as one in Messiah, on such a level as not seen since the First Century C.E.—they were part of a God-less and corrupt Roman Empire. How much of that experience are we returning to in the Twenty-First Century? Look at the great deal of open sin, licentiousness, and flagrant dismissal of God in society today. What was once done in secret—what was once taking place in the closet—is now open for even small children to see (cf. Luke 12:2-3)! What is happening?
One of the things I think that a post-tribulational orientation to the Last Days does—and what Believers could very well experience—is that it focuses your attention on what’s happening in the world. If I am, perhaps, going to go through the Tribulation period and not be given some “beam out” to Heaven, how do I look at events in the world? How is one to align with Yeshua’s teaching and His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, as well as other events aligning with the expectations of the Prophets? How do I especially consider the matter of Israel, the return of the Jewish people to the Holy Land, and the reconstitution of the State of Israel? How do I approach the emergence of the modern Messianic Jewish movement, a generation of Jewish people coming to faith in Yeshua as Israel’s Messiah, maintaining their Jewish heritage? How is all this leading toward different end-time phenomenon?
I remember a number of years ago at the 2019 MJAA Regional Conference in Orlando, how a Messianic Jewish pioneer, Steve Weiler, got up and made the definitive declaration that “We are the movement which is going to see the 144,000 of the Book of Revelation come on the scene.” In principle I do not disagree with this. Yet, at the same time, if we all really believed this, then we would perhaps focus the education of Messianic youth on: What could it mean for some of you young people here today, if you were actually sealed as a member of the 144,000 of the Book of Revelation?
What are the required ethical qualities of those individuals? What do you think they are going to do in the Last Days? Is the Lord leading some Messianic young people into a life of committed ministry service unto Him? Or, do some possibly just think that because they have Jewish ancestry and believe in Yeshua, that they will just be automatic shoe-ins for the 144,000? The focus of attention of someone who is post-trib, is on these kinds of matters.
Likewise, what is happening with the world of technology, our privacy? What is happening with economics? What is happening with the ability for people to go online and have access to information, which ten, and certainly twenty years ago, they did not have as easy access to?
So, if you have a post-tribulational orientation to the Last Days, you will be focusing on world matters, matters of Israel, and matters of the Messianic community in a very heightened way.
For many, they experience an alteration of some sort, in their personal, and perhaps even family’s worldview. This can especially take place, if you are a non-Jewish Believer whom God has genuinely led into the Messianic community. While such a calling definitely involves serving as a co-laborer with Jewish Believers in the salvation of Israel—it may also be seen to involve participating as mutual supporters of one another in the Last Days, and in some of the difficulties anticipated in the Last Days.
How much do we have to learn, from not only the Exodus and wilderness sojourn of Ancient Israel—but things like the exiles of the Northern and Southern Kingdom? Perhaps more so, the Maccabean Crisis of the Second Century B.C.E.? You should know about the figure of Antiochus Epiphanes, as there are many parallels to be made between him and the future antimessiah/antichrist. And for sure, what lessons are there to be learned from one of the biggest “dress rehearsals,” as it were, of the Last Days? The Second World War and the Holocaust. How does the belief that a person is going to go through this, change your ideology?
I am Messianic, and I am involved in the restoration of Israel, in some (significant) way. Why am I doing certain things from the Scriptures, which previous generations of Christians did not do? I am going beyond just the various moral instructions of the Old Testament. What does it mean to be involved in Shabbat and the festivals, and what they teach me about the prophetic plan of God? Am I going to actually be participating in the prophetic plan of God in a tangible way?
A number of these matters should stir all of us to some kind of action, if for any other reason:
Look, if we are facing the end-times, and I am going to go through them—dates notwithstanding—the most important thing is that my neighbors, people I know, people I love and I care about, that they come to have a dramatic, life-changing experience with the Living Yeshua, the Living Jesus. I need to expel some effort to see that they do not have to experience an eternity separated from Him!
How do you as an individual, or as a family, align your goals to the purposes of the Kingdom? What changes do we have to make, especially recognizing that we are a part of the Messianic community, a very important end-time movement? How can we let the Lord use us? How can we be available to be employed by the Lord, for greater levels of Kingdom service? What sacrifices do we have to make? How are things going to be different?
This is where I can definitely tell you, that many of the non-Jewish Believers who I have interacted with over the years, have had to weigh some very serious questions. These are people whom God has genuinely called into the Messianic community. It is not just because they believe in the importance of their faith heritage in the Scriptures of Israel, or that they think that something like Passover is important for God’s people. It also has to do with how they are of the significant conviction that God has wanted them to come alongside Jewish Believers, participating in matters of Jewish outreach, evangelism, and with us collectively working toward the return of the King. And with that, there is going to be difficulty along the way.
When it is stressed in the Messianic Jewish movement that non-Jewish Believers who have been called into it, are like proverbial Ruths, you get many people, of course, who like to say “Your people will be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16b, TLV). Oh, this is so wonderful. But Ruth’s word to Naomi continued, saying, “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Adonai deal with me, and worse, if anything but death comes between me and you!” (Ruth 1:17, TLV). How severe is a Ruth calling, for non-Jewish Believers in the Messianic community?
This is why you do not see many non-Jewish people actually make it. Many will come into the Messianic community for a while, and they will go through a season of connecting to their faith heritage in the Scriptures of Israel. They will go through a few years of attending services on Shabbat, reading through the Torah cycle, remembering the festivals of Israel—but then they find a way to exit. While circumstances vary, many non-Jewish Believers who enter into the Messianic sphere of influence, do not make it that long past three years. While only God knows their ultimate reasons, it becomes clear enough that they may not have been called by Him to be a part of the Messianic movement over the long term. They might not actually have the endurance to participate in various end-time matters.
I can tell you for myself, that because of the uniqueness of the Messianic movement, as a distinct end-time move of God—that the end-times are ultimately the reason which has kept me from exiting. It is true that there are wonderful things about reconnecting to one’s faith heritage in the Tanach (Old Testament), the weekly Shabbat, the appointed times/moedim, a kosher-style of diet, going through traditional Jewish liturgy, and directly fellowshipping with Messianic Jewish Believers. These are wonderful, beautiful things. Yet involved with this, there are sacrifices to be made. There are things which have to be given up. And, some of these sacrifices can be really big; they are things which you do not have to give up in a more established, evangelical Protestant setting.
If one is part of standard, North American evangelicalism, if you do not like something in a particular community—you can easily go find another. But there is only one Messianic movement. And, that single Messianic movement has associated with itself, the intention of being here until the return of the Messiah. In spite of what various other religious movements may say, they do not have heralding the return of the Messiah as their conscious, everyday mission. While many rightfully believe that one day the Messiah will return, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and that His Kingdom will come—the Messianic community has “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26) as where it is decisively going.
For me, being involved in this kind of significant, salvation-historical trajectory, is what has kept me from finding something else to be involved with. While today’s Messianic movement rightfully places the attention of God’s people on the centrality of Israel, and the salvation of the Jewish people in His plan—it does not often succeed in various other matters of Biblical Studies or theology, and can have too much of a fundamentalist orientation at times. There are non-Jewish Believers, from evangelical backgrounds, who see the importance of the Messianic movement—but they disagree on too much, in the non-Israel related areas, to make themselves a permanent, or even semi-regular part, of the Messianic experience.
Yet, the return of the King is the goal which we are working toward! It is a goal which a person cannot easily turn his or her back on. Prophecy, the end-times, the Last Days, are all deeply embedded in the Messianic experience, and significantly affect our actions.
One of the major things which does take place, when people move toward a post-tribulational orientation of the end-times or Last Days—and we as a family have encountered this more times than we can count—is what one does about prophecy opportunism. Ideologically, one does have to sort through how: I may face persecution. I may face death, martyrdom. I may have to go through some difficulties. I may have to give things up for the cause of Messiah. Believers throughout history have definitely had to give things up for the good news or gospel, but one of the things which is seen in different religious movements which emphasize some kind of end-time trajectory—and the Messianic community is no exception—is that you will encounter a great deal of prophecy opportunism.
What is this? People start to run numbers. People start to calculate the return of the Messiah. How many of you have a Bible which has some kind of a chart of the Tribulation period? Is that chart one-hundred percent accurate? How many people have you seen, just in the past two to three decades, who made predictions regarding Date X? Or regarding Figure Y, associating them with the return of the Messiah? How many claims have you possibly heard about the Abomination of Desolation? How many possible antimessiah/antichrist candidates are now dead—and perhaps even dead for quite a while?
I cannot tell you how many people I have encountered, who have put together calculations regarding Date X for the Second Coming. Then, Date X comes and goes. It will be frequently claimed that “I made some miscalculations.” So the predictions are then recalculated, the new dates come and go, and later their recalculations of recalculations come and go. What this does, is that it brings a huge amount of discreditation to the legitimate, prophetic message of Scripture, which is: to call people to repentance, bring them into saving faith with the God of Israel via His Son Yeshua, and to get them to confess and repent of their sins.
Rather than see people make one massive mistake, realizing that their predictions and calculations did not occur—even though they promoted it, were proven false, and made themselves look like fools—I have encountered, that more times than I can count, people make false predictions and just double down on their presumed “rightness.” God showed me this…God showed me that… More than anything else, what you quickly discover is that those who make definitive declarations about the future, leave out pieces of information. And most frequently, they do not even know that they have left out pieces of information!
There is a lesson to be learned here. In the First Century world of Second Temple Judaism, the Jewish Rabbis and authorities had certain expectations of what the Messiah was to come and do. Many of these expectations were right, as they were based in the Tanach Scriptures, but many of them were also inaccurate. The Messiah was to mainly be a political figure who would come, overthrow the Romans, and restore the Davidic monarchy. Yeshua of Nazareth did come on the scene, but rather than overthrowing the Romans, what happened was that He was executed by the Romans. Yet, because of His resurrection from the dead, the First Century Messianic Jews had to recognize that perhaps there were some things about the coming of the Messiah they had to reorient, review, or recalibrate. They had to understand some things in a different way.
Similarly, with the Second Coming and the return of the Messiah, I think that there are many things pre-tribulation rapture dispensationalists have actually gotten right. But we also have to be humble enough to recognize there are pieces of information we do not have regarding the future. What perspectives, on certain passages of prophetic Scripture, do we not properly understand—because of still-unfolding world events and matters, which may only be known when we are in the heat of the last of the Last Days?
We do have to have a prophecy realism. We absolutely need to be paying attention to what is happening in the world—especially as during the past three to four years (2020-2023) there have been many things happening. But our job as God’s people is to herald the Kingdom. We are to be concerned about the priorities of the People of Light, not the People of Darkness—the Kingdom of God, not the Kingdom of Satan.
So, as we are representatives of God’s Kingdom, how are we contributing to the return of the Messiah? The ultimate goal of what we are involved with is to see Him reign from Jerusalem—not see the Kingdom of the Beast emerge. I think if we can orient ourselves toward an understanding of how we will be going to go through the end-times, and are not going to have some “beam out,” then we will constructively approach what we are supposed to be doing, as redeemed, born again men and women. We will direct our energies toward making a difference, and most especially feeling a deep burden for the lost of Planet Earth, that they might be saved.
I know in my own case, I have a spiritual assignment to walk in lockstep with my Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters. The ministry God has given my family is that we are supposed to be working for the salvation of Israel and the restoration of the Kingdom. But as important as the Messianic mission is, there are some uncertainties in our Messianic future. While it is imperative for today’s Messianic people to have a burden for the Jewish people, those who are perishing without knowing Yeshua as their Messiah—what God is doing with Israel also affects the whole world, and subsequently the lost souls of humanity at large.
As we sadly consider how significantly lost many people truly are today, we have to know a few things about what issues are impacting them, negatively. Why are so many people to be found in a condition of rebellion and dismissal toward their Creator? How do we best meet them where they are? How do we understand why some have made poor decisions for their lives? How many have chosen various actions, because they want to be loved—and because they could not find the love of God in a community of claiming “Believers”? How many found the presumed “love and acceptance” they were searching for, in some other place?
God actually does have the answers. A dynamic salvation experience in the Messiah Yeshua is the decisive resolution to the hole which many are carrying in their hearts. But how do we recognize how many people have been fleeing from God, leaving Him, because of the unwelcoming actions of some of those who claim to be His own? How many have turned aside from the Lord, because they were unjustly and unfairly condemned—and unwelcomed from the ekklēsia—rather than shown a degree of patience and forbearance, as they were lovingly corrected in His ways from the Scripture?
How do we recognize some of the causes of apostasy? Ultimately, there are many aspects to the end-times which we cannot prevent from taking place: the rise of the Beast, the New World Order, terrible natural disasters. But, we can prevent people from leaving faith in the Messiah! We can prevent the causes of apostasy. And with this in mind, I think one of the big reforms we are going to have to see, involves making some adjustments to the Messianic mission. Our main audience as the Messianic community, is the lost of the Jewish people, and then of course the lost of the world. How do we make sure that we are not only fulfilling the Messianic mission, but at the same time are sensitive to the questions being asked by the lost, and that we are able to best engage?
At large, whether it be the lost of the Jewish people or the lost of the world—they are all influenced by forces of apostasy. In my many years of ministry service, I have seen how many Messianic people have chosen to ignore or disregard this. Oh, that will never hit our congregation. We have got strong Believers. We can deal with that matter another day.
Indeed, far too frequently, today’s Messianic movement is grossly under-prepared for some of the questions greater society will lodge at it. These tend to be live wire questions, which could not be ignored by anyone in a standard evangelical Church, or even Synagogue. As someone who has been involved in Biblical Studies and apologetics, I have seen important matters raised, in a Messianic context—and then various leaders say that “We will deal with that another day.” And then when that other day actually does come up, things continue to be pushed off or postponed or swept under the rug. To be candid, this kind of pattern might be an indication that one is not in a strong position to prevent apostasy, at least to the extent that you think you are.
While many of the important matters today’s Messianic movement has been often seen to indefinitely postpone, involve modernity and post-modernity—it can also, shockingly, include having a better engagement with the study of eschatology or prophecy itself. One of the files I have recently opened up, and I am prayerfully having to work through, involves how I as teacher need be able to focus more on eschatology, both prophecy and sorting through Yeshua’s Messiahship, at a more detailed level. For sure, our ministry does have some resources on the end-times. Yet, I have definitely felt a pull that more research and writing need to be conducted. Much of this involves classifying important Bible passages, and seeing that they are addressed in a fair-minded way, engaged with what we have seen in the Messianic movement, as well as what we are witnessing in the world.
When it comes to the impending end-times, have we appropriately factored in all of the information we need to? Or, are we leaving things out regarding the Last Days?
There have been many people who have made predictions about the return of Yeshua, which later turned out to be false, precisely because there were things they left out of their evaluations. What are some of the things people have been actually “caught” leaving out of their end-time prognostications? How many people, holding on to the popular 6,000-year doctrine—aside from not considering human anthropology—think that there are direct father-son connections in the genealogy listings of Genesis chs. 5 & 11? Both the Tanach and Apostolic Scriptures bear various genealogy listings which are telescoped, meaning that some connections are not as direct, instead being a great-grandfather to great-grandson or wider. Likewise, the witnesses of the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT), Greek Septuagint (LXX), and Samaritan Pentateuch (SP), all provide different ages for those listed in Genesis chs. 5 & 11. You just cannot add up these people and then think you can calculate the year of the Messiah’s return, relying on a supposed 6,000-year chronology which is completely unreliable.
Likewise to be considered, would be how while many of us believe that the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was according to prophecy (Isaiah 66:8), there are many other expectations regarding Israel, which have possibly been overlooked regarding the return of the Messiah. A number of you are aware of the controversy over the Two-House teaching, the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, and what happened to the Lost Tribes. If you put all the Two-House rhetoric and unbridled speculation off to the side, you still have to deal with a number of significant prophecies (i.e., Isaiah 11:12-16; Jeremiah 31:6-10; Ezekiel 37:15-28; Zechariah 10:6-10). Are they fulfilled, or are they unfulfilled? If there are some prophecies regarding the reunion of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, presently unfulfilled—what might that say about the Last Days? How soon, or not so soon, are certain things going to take place?
Now I have said this before, so I will say it again: there are people groups on Planet Earth, separated from the Jewish community, in places like Southeast Asia and South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Africa, who have oral traditions going back to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They are recognized as being legitimate descendants of the exiles taken away by Assyria, by Jewish authorities in modern Israel, as well as various Messianic Jewish ministries. (Jonathan Bernis takes medical missions to places like Zimbabwe, to minister to the Lost Tribes.[3]) So, we should not fear addressing the two-stick prophecy of Ezekiel 37:15-28, provided it is done responsibly, and it is done with that simple question: fulfilled or unfulfilled? I am so sorry that this issue was handled in a very immature way by various older voices at the turn of the Millennium, because it could have been resolved very easily. Then we could have moved on, to increasingly more complicated things regarding the return of the Messiah.
These would be the things which we only see hinted at here or there, but probably do need to be discussed. They will make the controversy over the Lost Tribes, the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, seem like nothing. Just consider all of the discussions, now, taking place in prophecy circles over the Nephilim of Genesis 6, Days of Noah, UFOs, and extra-terrestrials. These are all hot issues in a lot of end-time discussions at present. And, younger people in the realm of religion, do actually wonder if humankind is the only “story” God has playing out in the universe. These are matters which many are not even remotely prepared to handle.
Each of us has to get focused back on the Messianic mission, and those significant matters of faith: building God’s Kingdom, and serving and hastening the Kingdom.
I recall how when I was in ninth grade (1995)—and of course ninth graders know everything—how right in study hall at the Christian School, I announced to everyone that I had gone post-trib. My words were not received very well. (Of course ninth graders do not know everything, because they do not have the life experience they think they have.) Some of the reactions I had, to my view that Believers were going to have to experience the future Tribulation period, included:
What do you mean? I’m going to graduate from high school, then graduate from college. I’m going to get a good job. I’m going to get married and start a family.
I’m going to live a great life, and then the Lord is just going to come and take me up to Heaven, to the pre-trib surprise party!
Some of the responses I had were, in no uncertain terms, the result of a Western, entitlement mentality. This is the idea, even perpetuated in a great number of Christian religious circles, that a man or woman is entitled to live this apparent good life. One is entitled to have all of these things, and have all of these experiences.
Well, as the people of God we are engaged in a spiritual war right now. And, if you are in the Messianic community and you are focused on matters of Israel, matters of what is happening in the world—the things leading up to the Messiah’s return—then you are much more conscious of how the presumed entitlements, which much of Western Christianity has told young men and young women they will all receive—you may not necessarily receive.
We are in the middle of a spiritual war. Aside from various false predictions some people have made, we are approaching, sooner or later, Endgame. Things are going to get very hot, and very tense. In order to be effective in the spiritual war, you cannot have an entitlement mentality. You cannot have the idea that you have been a good person, a good Christian or a good Believer, who reads his or her Bible, gets good grades in school, and is generally moral and ethical—and that you are going to receive everything your proverbial heart desires. You cannot assume that you are just going to get that job, that you are going to get that husband or wife and have those children. You cannot just expect material things. But what you can count on, is the Lord expecting you to make a difference for His Kingdom.
The Holy Scriptures very much have a subversive quality to them. Much of what we encounter in the Gospels and the Apostolic letters, is seen to dismiss the entitlement mentality found in a great deal of Western Christianity. The Lord gives a man or woman what is needed to accomplish the purposes of His Kingdom.
Certainly, I have had to look back on my own life. I have been a good person. I have been a very good Believer. I went to college. I went to seminary. I have written a wide number of books on theology. But, I would not say, personally, that I have had the life I expected I would have (2023). I do have the assurance, though, that I have done the best job I could have done, for the purposes of the Kingdom. And this will be especially realized, at least for me personally, as we take more and more leaps forward, toward the Second Coming of the Messiah.
Not always having the ideal life the religious system may expect of you, is not at all a conundrum if you are part of the end-time move of God. It is not at all a surprise if you are involved in something, which requires a huge amount of dedicated attention for Kingdom purposes. It is not at all a shock, if you are orienting your life, to possibly having to experience the difficulties of the future Tribulation period.
How does a post-trib eschatology change your worldview? The main thing it does, is that if you believe you are going to be present during the Seventieth Week of Daniel, you are forced to connect to God in ways, even now, which those who expect to be removed from it, will not connect to Him. Whether the final years of the end-times are soon, or decades away, we each rely upon Him every day, for protection and provision. Relying on the Lord for everything, is a lesson to be learned now, in order to best endure the future.
NOTES
[1] This has been adapted and edited from the textual transcription provided by YouTube.
[2] Some resources to be noted for review, include: Alan Hultberg, ed., Three Views on the Rapture, Second Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010); Michael L. Brown and Craig S. Keener, Not Afraid of the Antichrist: Why We Don’t Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture (Minneapolis: Chosen Books, 2019).
[3] “The ‘Lost Tribes of Israel,’” in Kent Dobson with Jonathan Bernis, Jewish Voice International Ministries NIV First Century Study Bible, 2011 NIV (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2022), pp 1855-1856.
