THE POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLE PROPHECY

CHURCH AGE Part I

THE CHURCH AGE BEGAN On the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and will end with the Rapture of the Church before the beginning of the Tribulation. The Church age is characterized by historically verifiable Prophetic events with the exception of Its beginning on the Day of Pentecost and its ending with the Rapture. Bible Prophecy does does reveal the general course of this age. Even most of the specific Prophecy that is fulfilled during the Church age relates to God’s Prophetic plan for Israel and not directly to the church. For Example, the prophesied destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD. 70 relates to Israel( Matthew 23:38; Luke 19:43 – 44; 21:20 – 24). Prophetic preparations relating to Israel are already underway with the reestablishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 even though we still are living in the Church age.

THE CHURCH AGE DESCRIBED Matthew 13

The parables of Matthew 13 provide insight into this present age in its relation to the future kingdom. They cover the period of time between Christ’s two advents– His first and second Comings. This Includes our present era ( The Church age ), the Tribulation, the Second Coming, and the final judgement, thought its bypass the rapture. Pentecost summarizes the description as follows:

We may summarize the teaching as to the course of the age by saying: (1) there will be a sowing of the word through out the age, which ( 2) will be imitated by a false counter sowing; ( 3) The Kingdom will assume huge outer proportion proportions, but (4) be marked by inner doctrinal corruption; yet, the Lord will gain for Himself (5) a peculiar treasures from among Israel, and (6) From the church; (7) the age will end in judgment with the unrighteous excluded from the Kingdom to be inaugurated and the righteous taken in to enjoy the blessing of Messiah’s reign ( Pentecost, P.149 ).

This means that the Church age is a time of constant preaching of the gospel. The Church begins as a small band of individuals but becomes a global institution. As Christendom expands to fill the whole world, it will become increasingly apostate. This will result in global judgment after the rapture of the Church.

Revelation 2- 3

The letters to the seven churches also provide an overview of the course of this age ( Revelation 2–3 ). This passage apply to the Church and not to the future kingdom, as indicated by the often repeated phase, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit say to the churches.” ( Revelation 2:7, 11,17,29; 3:6, 13,22 NASB ). These seven historical churches of the first century provide a pattern of the Churches that will exist throughout Church history. Revelation 1:19 indicates a threefold division of the book of Revelation. “Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.” Revelation 1 corresponds to “the things which you have seen,” Which depict the resurrected Christ. Revelation 2–3 corresponds to “the things which are,” the current Church age. Revelation 4 – 22 corresponds to “the things which will take place after these things”: the Tribulation, seconding coming, millennium, and eternal state. What lessons do these seven epistles to the churches in Revelation teach us about the church age? Many Scholars see the characteristics of all seven churches as existing continually through out the church age. See the article ” Seven Churches of Revelation” For an explanation of this approach. Other Bible students, such as G.H. Pember, believe that the seven churches “Present a prophetic picture of the seven historical periods in which the visible churches will develop”( Pember, pp.494 – 95 ). This has been called “the historical – Prophetical method of interpretation” ( Fruchtenbaum, p.38 ), and this method outlines the church age as follows ( p. 36 ):

1. Ephesus: The Apostolic Church ( A.D. 30 – 100 )
2. Smyrna: The Roman Persecution ( 100 – 313 )
3. Pergamum: the age of Constantine ( 313 – 600 )
4. Thyatira: The middle Ages ( 600- 1517 )
5. Sardis: The Reformation ( 1517 – 1648 )
6. Philadelphia: The Missionary Movement ( 1648 – 1900 )
7. Laodicea: The Apostasy ( 1900 – Present )

Of course, in this view only at the the end of the Church Age would we be able to look back and correlate Church history with the patterns revealed by our Lord’s examination of those first century churches.

The Epistles

A number of New Testament epistles speak of the condition with in Christendom near the end of the age. Virtually all of these comments come from the epistles written shortly before the death of each author, as if to emphasize the dangers latent during the Church’s last days. The following is a list of the seven major passages that deal with the last days of the Church: 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 4:3-4; James 5;1-8; 2 Peter 2; 3:3-6; and the Tiny letter of Jude. Each of these passages emphasizes repeatedly that the out standing characteristic of the final time of the church will be apostasy.

The English meaning of Apostasy is “departure from one’s faith.” The Greek New Testament uses two words for apostasy. One is apostasia. This noun is a compound of two greek words apo( “from”) and istemi ( “to stand”) and means “standing away from,” or “departure from.” The other is the verb pipto, which simply means “to fall” or “fall away from.” when used abstractly of “falling away from the faith,” It fits into the category of apostasy. Apostasy occurs in two main areas:doctrine and behavior. or the way we think and the way we act. According to the New Testament, the professing church at the end of the age will be filled with denial about the truth and about godly living.

@ Denial of God — 2 Timothy 3:4-5

@ Denial of Christ — 1 John 2:18; 4:3

@ Denial of Christ’s Return—- 2 Peter 3:3-4

@ Denial of the Faith—– 1 Timothy 4:1-2; Jude 3

@ Danial of Sound Doctrine—– 2 Timothy 4:3-4

@ Denial of Christian Liberty —- 1 Timothy 4:3-4

@ Danial of Morals —- 2 Timothy 3:1-8; 13; Jude 18

@ Denial of Authority—– 2 Timothy 3:4 ( Pentecost)

Scriptures indicates that apostasy will characterize Christendom at the time of the rapture. The current church age apostasy is preparation for even greater deception and apostasy led by the Antichrist during the Tribulation. Yet at the same time, as long as the church is on the earth, God the Holy Spirit will be at work bringing new people to Christ and enabling faithful believers to Grow to Maturity.