June 16, 2009: The Problem With Prophetic Utterances Today

I want to begin by defining the term "eschatological orthodoxy". "Eschatological" means having to do with the end times. "Orthodoxy" means right belief. So eschatological orthodoxy is the right belief about end times. If you are eschatologically orthodox, you believe what is true (or at least acceptable, church-sanctioned) about the end of days.

Now, a story:

In 1995 my friend John received a prophetic word from a charismatic pastor. "John," the pastor said, "I have a word from God for you concerning your future spouse." The pastor shared what he felt God had put on his heart about John's wife-to-be.

John was excited and figured he would be meeting that special someone in the next day or two. But he didn't. Thirteen years of singleness followed, during which, he said, he felt that that pastor "should have been stoned, or at least rebuked." Last year, however, John finally met, courted, engaged and married the woman of his dreams. Joy is evident on both his and his beloved's face. He still puzzles, though, over why it took so many years for the prophecy to be fulfilled.

I do not share John's puzzlement, because I do not believe that the prophecy in 1995 and the marriage in 2008 had anything to do with each other. My reason for this disbelief springs from my zealous, unwavering commitment to eschatological orthodoxy.

By eschatological orthodoxy I don't mean anything like the nature and duration of the gap (if any) between the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ. Nor do I think that any of the competing views of the millennium, pre-, post-, a- or pan-, are unorthodox. (If you are unfamiliar with pan-millennialism, it's the view that punts the question away and says everything will pan out all right.)

To be eschatologically orthodox you must embrace by faith two very simple core doctrines:
1) Jesus will return, and
2) You must be ready for it, because it can occur at any time.

Christians may differ about what signs may precede his arrival, and whether those signs have already been fulfilled - but there is no mistaking the biblical urgency to be ready now, right now, for the appearing of Christ. He may arrive before the sun sets tonight, or before I have finished typing this page. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 says "for you know very well the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." Jesus concluded a parable that contrasted those who are prepared and those who are unready by saying "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour" (Matthew 25:13). In 1 Corinthians 15:52 Paul says it will take place "in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye". Our constant state of readiness for this moment must stir us to holiness: we are to live "self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:12-13).

I do not know if Christ will return today or 100,000 years from now, but my orthodox faith insists that I be spiritually prepared should it occur just seconds from now. I know nothing that would prevent it from happening that soon.

And that is the problem with confident prophetic utterances today. When a man says, for example, "God has told me such-and-such about the woman you will some day marry," he is necessarily (though of course unintentionally) saying "God has revealed to me that Jesus will not return any time soon. " Think about it. Jesus taught that marriage is for this age only: "those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage" (Luke 20:35). Therefore, in order for my friend John to have believed that his pastor's prophecy had to be true, he would necessarily have had to believe that the possibility of a sudden return of Christ could not be true. Any time a prophet today proclaims a "thus says the Lord" about some future event that necessarily pertains to the conditions of this present age, he or she is – in effect - denying the doctrine of the imminent (that is, "possible-at-any-time") return of Christ.

Just a couple days ago I was asked about what I was discerning of the voice of the Lord in circumstances pertaining both to my personal life and that of Faith Bible Church. In answering I clung doggedly to my eschatological orthodoxy, saying that, while it sure looked to me like things were lining up beautifully under the hand of God for A, B and C to happen, it was impossible to know for sure. How could anyone know that? How dare anyone pronounce a "Thus says the Lord" over such possible future events? After all, Jesus could return before I finish this senten