It's Not the End of the Word

By Shawn McCraney

So many believers today have cut their teeth on Jesus Second coming being just around the corner that taking this away from them is tantamount to taking the tires off a high performance car. They honestly don’t know how to walk their Christian walk once the information has taken root. Additionally, many Christians who embrace Preterism experience a disconnect on how to read the Bible – so much so that many of them actually give up reading it all together! Again, when a person has been trained to read the Bible as if it was written to them in this day and age it can be challenging to retrain oneself to see it as having been fulfilled but having great spiritual applications to all people since it became available. Finally, people wonder, amidst what they are perceiving as spiritual chaos, what the purpose of life is if Jesus is not coming to rapture believers up and to destroy the world. Let me conclude with a brief summary followed by some insights and suggestions.
1. The Bible is a written record of God dealing with the Nation of Israel start to finish. That’s what it is physically and materially. Nowhere, anywhere, does God ever in the text suggest that it applies to us literally and materially today – nowhere. Hear me clearly – this does not mean it does not bless us spiritually – it certainly does – in more ways that we can even articulate, but we must not allow ourselves to read the Bible as if it was written to us – it was written to them and was immediately addressing the circumstances and situations they faced – including the promised Messiah, his birth, life, death, resurrection and His return upon them with judgment. The record is done. The events over. The author and finisher of our faith, overcoming sin and death and rendering Satan powerless (not ineffective but having no power to put us in chains) now reins over a spiritual Kingdom at the right hand of the Father bringing sons and daughters to God by His grace through faith in Him.
2. All that was recorded, reported, and commanded in the Bible, since Jesus wrapped the physical applications up with Judgement falling upon Jerusalem continues to serve believers today. But instead of taking the book and trying to do what they were actually doing nearly 2000 years ago and in some very different circumstances, we read, and study and consult the Bible for spiritual insights, to increase our faith and to learn from its contents about the nature and person of God through Christ. Everything that was materially played out then is spiritually played out in our lives today. This concept is not so far-fetched. All we have to do is look at the Old Testament relative to the New and we see the same situation.
3. When men and women try and recreate the early apostolic church based on what is described in the New Testament they miss the whole point: Jesus told Matthew that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. He was correct. And the Apostolic Church He sent His chosen apostles to was not touched. Then in 70 AD He came and took it - a church full of His brethren (brought in by the Apostles and the Holy Spirit).
4. But Jesus also called Paul, whose purpose was to take the Good News out to the rest of the world. Those of us who believe do not make up His Church, we do not reside in a brick and mortar institution – we are His Body. Hell cannot touch the Body of Christ, but it has certainly prevailed against every single brick and mortar institution men have created in an attempt to replicate the Apostolic Church.
5. As a Body of Believers we look to, study, learn and consult the Bible realizing that everything has occurred but God is sanctifying us by the washing of His Word in conjunction with His laws which He has written in our hearts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shawn McCraney
• Release date: Nov 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311087003

Shawn McCraney

Shawn McCraney, the host of Heart of the Matter Live every Tusday at www.HOTM.tv. Shawn provides great entertainment value and valuable knowledge of Mormonism and what it means to be a Born-Again Christian.

Book preview

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2015 by Shawn Aaron McCraney

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from Alathea Press before using or reproducing any portion of this book commercially. It’s Not the End of the World, in whole or in part, however, may be reproduced or used when teaching, preaching, discussing, or sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in any non-commercial setting.

Published by Alathea Press, New York, NY.

1st Printing December 2015

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McCraney, Shawn Aaron, 1961-

Includes Bibliographical references.

Knife to a Gun Fight/Shawn Aaron

McCraney

LCCN:

ISBN

1. Christianity 2. Church 3. Christian Doctrine 4. Christian Practice

5. Bible 6. Eschatology 7. Second Coming

McCraney. Shawn Aaron. IV Title.

Printed in the United States of America

This book is for those who

sincerely believe in the finished

work of Jesus and in God’s

supreme longsuffering

rather than those who hope

for a fiery, wrathful judgment

to fall upon their

enemies.

Some say a comet will fall from the sky

Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves

Followed by fault lines that cannot sit still

Followed by millions of dumbfounded dips - -.

Aenema - Tool

Table of Contentions

ONE - A Revelation about Revelation

TWO - Matthew Matters

THREE - More of Matthew Matters

FOUR - Miracles, Lightning, Carcasses and Eagles

FIVE - Signs the Son of Man in the Cloud

SIX - Last Days before a New Heaven and a New Earth

SEVEN - Wrapping up the Matthew Matters

EIGHT - The End of the World

NINE - A World of Hype

TEN - Judgment is at Hand

ELEVEN - Nero the Millennium and the 144,000

TWELVE - James Hebrews John Peter and Satan being Bound

THIRTEEN - Paul

CONCLUDING ASSESSMENT

For More Information

Introduction

I WAS A MORMON for the first forty years of my life. Mormonism was founded in 1830 on the idea that Jesus was coming back soon and the LDS people were especially called to come together and prepare the world for His eminent arrival. While the fervor for His Millennial Reign has all but disappeared in twenty first century Mormonism, vestiges of its millennial origins continue to appear in some form or another keeping the idea alive.

I left Mormonism in 2001 and dove head first into what people might call Evangelical Christianity. My first corporate experience with this form of Christianity came in and through my attending a Calvary Chapel School of Ministry. Calvary Chapels, unbeknownst to me at the time I enrolled, are steeped in futurist or dispensational eschatology. In layman’s terms this means that Calvary Chapels spend a lot of time in their services focused on and warning people about (you guessed it) Jesus eminent return.

In all honesty, when I read the Bible (which I have ardently done since 2001 and casually have done since 1982) all I saw was a futurist eschatology. I had no idea the effect the pre-conditioning I received from both Mormonism and Calvary Chapel would have on my inability to read or see what the Bible clearly says.

In 2013 someone sent me a book from a gentle believer by the name of Glenn Hill. The book is called, Christianity’s Greatest Dilemma. The main thrust of the book was to ask and answer the question, When does the Bible say that Jesus would return?

Because of the ministry I am involved in (media) I was constantly receiving books from well-meaning believers insisting that if I took the time to read them I would benefit thereby. I rarely did. Didn’t have the time or inclination. But for some reason I was intrigued by Brother Hill’s book and started in on it – only to have my entire world rocked.

Much of what I discuss here in this book is taken from Brother Hill’s work on the same subject. I borrowed heavily from his themes and then fleshed them out as a means to make them a little more understandable. I am deeply indebted to two people – the first, a Canadian whose name I don’t recall, who forwarded brother Hills book to me and then to Brother Glenn Hill himself. I’ve had the chance to speak with him over the phone on a few occasions and have ordered his book for our small congregation here in Utah. As a result we’ve lost a number of members who cannot (or will not) allow themselves to see what I believe is now more than clear – that Jesus Second Coming was in 70AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and that the dispensational and/or a-millennial views have been weighed and found wanting.

But I do not want you to trust me or the insights of Glenn Hill. All I am asking is that you will consider what the Bible actually has to say. This is the focus of this book – When does the Bible say Jesus would return?

May God bless you with His spirit in abundance as you consider the contents of this little work. If and when you come to the same conclusions as I have you will begin to see this most wonderful faith open up in ways you never thought possible.

ONE - A Revelation about Revelation

TIS EVIDENT THAT WHEN Christ speaks of His coming; His being revealed; His coming in His kingdom or His kingdom coming, He has respect to His appearing in those great works of His power, Justice, and Grace, which should be in the DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM and other extraordinary Provinces which should attend it.

Jonathan Edwards 1776

And all this prophecy of what would result from their insolence against Christ has been clearly proved to have taken place.

Eusebius 314 AD

I have learned over the years in dealing with people who are deluded that there is a period in every discussion or presentation when nothing being delivered is being heard.

It’s usually at the beginning of a discussion or when too much time and information has been presented and a break is needed. It’s understandable. We all have so much swimming around in our heads that when we are confronted with information that challenges our traditions and preconceived notions we automatically put up walls and defenses. It’s just our nature.

I’ve also discovered that most people do not really hear what a challenger is saying but are instead trying to think of exceptions and responses to the things that sneak through and upset them. With all of this in mind I am going to approach our topic of When does the Bible say Jesus should return in a rather unusual way. Are you ready?

I am going to start by offering you another way to consider viewing the book of Revelation. So ask yourselves, who was the Book of Revelation written to? Why was it written and then delivered to them? And when the intended recipients received it, did they read it and say to each other:

"We’ll these writings don’t have anything to do with us – they are for the future!" Or did they gather around and dissect every word, and take them seriously? Let’s put all this together and examine the book of Revelation from a genuine historical perspective.

First of all, let’s touch on the date that it was written. Today many believers teach and are taught that the book was written by John in 95 AD. For arguments sake let’s just agree to this for now and take a few minutes and examine what the revelation actually says.

It opens up chapter one, verse one, and says:

Revelation 1:1-2 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

That word translated shortly comes from the Greek word tachos, and it means in a brief period of time. It does NOT allow for a hundred or a thousand or two thousand years but a short span. Tachos is only used fifteen times in the New Testament and always means in a quick period of time. So in the introduction of the Book of Revelation the Lord delivers the Revelation that God gave Him which was to show His servants (who were alive at that time) things which must shortly come to pass. Now, I don’t know about you, but this passage causes me to think two things:

Either when the scripture says shortly it doesn’t mean shortly, and the readers of this revelation were fooled, and therefore the book has need of constant revision since it was written to fit the changing times OR it meant exactly what it said and those who read it (at that time and to whom it was written) believed and trusted in what it said, that it was true and reliable and trustworthy from God’s mouth, to Jesus ear, to John’s pen.

Let’s move on.

Third verse first chapter – ready?

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. Revelation 1:3

The Greek word for the time is at hand is engoos and it means nearby. Three verses into the Revelation and we’ve already had two warnings to the reader that the time (for the things written in Revelation) to occur. So, again, who was reading this Revelation? Who was is written to and who was Jesus warning that the time was at hand? In the first line of verse 4 we read

John to the seven churches which are in Asia.

Those churches had people in them. And those people were trusting in the words John was delivering to them on Jesus errand, right? Or no? At this point in this presentation a great majority of believers today are ready to offer up resistances.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, they will say, but there is so much in Revelation that hasn’t happened yet so we know that . . .

Know that what? That Jesus was wrong? That the time (for the things in the book to be accomplished) was not at hand? So far that is all we can conclude – that Jesus was wrong, and John was wrong, and all the believers in the Seven churches were misled. Let’s move on. Jump to verse seven:

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Revelation 1:7

From this passage we know that what verses two and three are talking about happening soon is Jesus coming. Would you agree so far or am I wrong?

Verse seven also says that he will come in the clouds (just as when He left and the angel said that He would return in the same manner) and that every eye shall see Him.

Now this line, taken by itself, is used by futurists (those who believe Jesus return still looms out ahead of us) who say, Obviously not every eye on earth has ever seen Him return so this hasn’t happened yet. Not so fast. We have to take all of scripture into account before we make a decision on what a single verse says and with that being the case we have to consider what Hebrews 9:28 means when the writer says:

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them ‘that look for him shall he appear the second time’ without sin unto salvation.

By including this passage in our understanding of verse 7 I think we have to say that when Jesus says every eye shall see Him He means every eye that is looking for Him will see Him, right? Notice also that Revelation 1:7 says:

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him:"

Now we know that some of those who participated in His would also see Him coming in the clouds – and from this we know the time-frame being spoken about, right? As a means to justify the line and they also which pierced Him (shall see Him), futurists will often say, well that’s all of us – we all pierced Him. Not so. The Bible never says we all pierced Him. It only speaks of those who pierced Him and that line always relates to the actual people involved in His crucifixion – some of whom were still alive when Revelation was written. Finally verse seven says:

and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.

All the foolay (which could mean tribes as in the twelve tribes of Israel or kinfolk) of the ge in the Greek (not the kosmos (which is the better term for world) but the ge which could mean something as simple as the country. Taking this into account we would read the last line of verse seven as And all the twelve tribes of the country will wail because if Him. Because of His very presence or could it mean because of the judgment He has brought upon Jerusalem? We are seven verses into one disputable book and already I am sure that the average reader has had their eyes opened to things they have never before considered.

Then, just to reiterate context, verse 11 has Jesus saying to John:

"I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia (which compromises our modern Turkey); unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea."

Again, why would Jesus have John write what he sees and then tell him to send what he wrote specifically to those real house churches at that time? Why doesn’t Jesus add, And to all Christians forevermore out into the future. And again, what would the recipients of this letter in the house churches think upon hearing these words from Jesus to John? That they weren’t going to happen or that they were?

Let’s leave the 1st Chapter of Revelation and all we have just laid out and go to the last chapter of the book. Now, remember, everything in between has been taken and assigned a future date by most Christians today. If this is so why did He have John send it to actual churches in actual places at that actual time if none of it to had application? Was it for them to pour over the content and then say to each other – We’ll this isn’t going to happen for a couple thousands of years?

In chapter one Jesus emphatically repeats that He is coming quickly, He tells John who this Revelation was for, and He even goes on to say that those who pierced Him would see Him. In the last chapter of Revelation, the other bookend as it were, John continues to write the things he saw. At this point we would have to agree that the Revelation is choked full of imagery. The Christian’s living in the time post Christ’s resurrection were involved in spiritual warfare and so the language (though extremely apocalyptical in nature) is speaking to images, responses and advice that is discovered in realms of the spirit for the believers of that day by people who would understand the imagery and was never supposed to be a map of future generations. We cannot possibly think we can sufficiently comprehend the book outside of its most obvious messages founded upon that day, that time and among those people.

So, to chapter 22. At verse 6 John writes:

And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

The Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Because this is at the end of the Revelation I take this to mean that all the things between Chapters one and twenty two must shortly be done.

There’s that Tachos word again which means "speedily, near at hand." The next verse? Seven, which is a repeat of what was said in the first chapter:

"Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he (who are in the seven churches) that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Revelation 22:7

Again from the Greek, I come without delay. Go to verse 10 as John writes again:

"And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand."

The word for at hand means nigh, before you. Again, verse twelve! Again - to the seven Churches:

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Revelation 22:12

And then after warning the readers there in the Seven Churches about messing with the contents of the Revelation, we read from John (in the second to the last verse):

He (meaning Jesus) which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. And then the apostle John adds to all of these warnings, Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Four reminders in the opening chapter of the Revelation that promised He was coming quickly and four reminders in the last chapter that do the exact same thing. Why haven’t the majority of believers read these simple Bible verses and accepted them as true but have instead been waiting for Jesus to return to them . . . shortly? It’s because they have accepted a man-made interpretation of these scriptures which have taken books like Revelation, Daniel and Ezekiel and concocted an unbiblical view rather than choosing to look at what the Bible actually has to say. And as a result for nearly two thousand years people have been running about getting ready for His imminent second coming (a term we don’t even find in the Bible). And yet millions of devout believers anxiously await for it to occur. Is Jesus is going to come back and rapture believers or did that already happen? While not a hill to die on (after all, we are not saved by doctrine but by grace through faith) if the Bible clearly shows when Jesus was supposed to return wouldn’t this information go a long, long way in helping believers today focus on living as Christians in a way that has never been attempted in the past.

Many people refute the whole preterist idea by claiming the Book of Revelation was written after the Book of Revelation therefore proving its contents were NOT talking about the Destruction of Jerusalem but of another time (like ours) in the future. For starters, the dating of all the New Testament books is a debatable issue at best. And it is doubtful believers will ever agree on the subject. Because of this I would suggest the dating debates have very little to do with my views on the dating of the Book of Revelation. I would instead suggest that the content of the New Testament books (what