Okay. We have some questions here. And we have one question. Will the church be raptured before the tribulation? And I do have some close friends who teach at Dallas Theological Seminary. They're in the New Testament department. They do think that the church will be raptured before the tribulation. One scholar, his name is Daniel Wallace. He's a very fine scholar. In fact, he has a manuscript institute out in Plano, and he goes around the world photographing new manuscripts that have just been discovered. So he's very interesting. But anyway, he holds that He holds that view. Now Revelation 3, usually the basis for this view, and I'm gonna go straight to the best passage that those who hold a pre-tribulation rapture, chapter 3 and verse 10. It says, because to the church of, wait, Philadelphia, because you have kept the word of my endurance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is about to come upon the whole inhabited world to test the ones dwelling upon the earth." So the typical understanding of that is, if you're faithful to me, I will keep you from this physical hour of tribulation. What does that mean? I'll keep you out. I will rapture you out. So you won't have to go through that tribulation. And the first thing that should strike one is that throughout these letters, there's no promise of physical deliverance before the final deliverance of the resurrection. This would be very unusual here to say that they would be, delivered out of this coming tribulation. But is it possible? Of course it is. But one problem with it is that, let's see here. John 17 has the same kind of language. So I want you to hear it. John 17, I think it's around verse 15. And Jesus says, and you'll remember it well. Let's see. He's praying to God and Jesus says, John 17, 15, I do not ask you to take them out of the world. It's the exact same phrase in Greek, te reo ek, take them out. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. So there is this idea of keeping, of protecting, but it's spiritual protection. So Jesus prays, don't take them out of the world, I'm praying you don't do that, but keep them from the evil ones. So in the midst of them staying in the world, protect them from the wiles and the deceptions of the devil. And what's interesting about that also is that a lot of the same themes in the Upper Room Discourse are also found in the letter to Philadelphia, for example, it ends, remember, the one who overcomes, he'll give a reward. And so likewise, in the verse preceding chapter 17, these things I've spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, can't escape it, but take courage, I have overcome the world. And so there's this notion of overcoming. The last letter talks of Jesus overcoming as the basis for the believers overcoming. And you have the mention of tribulation as well. There are a number of themes here that make me think these passages are organically connected. So that the phrase, because you kept the word of my endurance, I will keep you from the hour testing, which is about to come upon the whole inhabited earth, to test the ones dwelling upon the earth, I think it's not removing them spatially from the world, but keeping them from the harmful deceptive influences of this coming tribulation as they pass through it. Now, that's one interpretation. My wife gets mad at me in the book of Revelation because I'll Sometimes there are three or four views in one passage. And as she's going through four or five views, she'll finally say to herself, well, which one do you hold, Greg? Can't you just say which one you hold first, and I don't have to read the rest? And so here's the second view. I'm only going to give you two views. The second view is this. It's very possible. It says, because you've kept the word of my endurance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is about to come upon the whole inhabited earth. If you do a word study on hour in the book of Revelation, guess what? Almost always refers to the hour of final judgment. And so this may be referring, of course I'm gonna deliver you from the final judgment. I'll keep you from this hour of testing. That's probably the simplest view, and it's supported by the use of hour throughout the book. So, yeah. This is talking about a rapture. It's the resurrection of the saints that keeps them from the final judgment. Though technically they'll pass through it, but in Christ, and they will not be harmed. So that's my answer to that question. Will the church be raptured before the tribulation? I don't think so. However, I do have one other comment. And the question is, for those who do think the church will be raptured, they say, well, The word church is used throughout the letters, chapters one to three, the introduction and the letters of chapters two and three. You don't find the word church anywhere in chapters four all the way to 22.5. And then at the end when the church is directly addressed, you find the church again. Doesn't that mean something? And well, it's really a good observation. And I'll be honest, I'm not sure why that is. I'm still working on that one. But what I can say is that throughout that visionary section of chapter 4 to 22.5, the Gentile nations are described as true Israel. Church in use, the Gentile nations are described as true Israel. If you want me to show you that, I'd be happy to. But so basically, conceptually, the church is mentioned. in chapters 4 to 22. And you want to be careful of making what's called the word-concept distinction. Just because a word doesn't occur doesn't mean the concept isn't there. For example, I argue that Eden is a sanctuary, but nowhere is the word sanctuary used in chapters 1 to 3 of Genesis. However, in Ezekiel 28, you've got to wait a while, it does refer to Eden as a sanctuary. So there we do have it. But if you're just reading Genesis, you know, but the concept is there. It's just like people say, there's no covenant. You may disagree on this, but I would say that there's a covenant of works in the garden. And, um, but so-and-so there's no word covenant isn't mentioned. How can you say there's a covenant of works? Well, marriage is mentioned and Malachi chapter two calls it a covenant, but Genesis doesn't. So you don't have to have the word to have the concept. And so I think the same is true with Temple. And I don't even know what I'm talking about now. Why did I bring in Temple and Eden? Anybody know what we're talking about? Thank you. Thank you. I'm getting tired. My wife were here. She'd pull me out with a little cane. She'd get out of here now. So yeah, we have the concept of the church, but we don't have the word. But I still think it's worth a dissertation maybe for someone to work on as to why that is. Okay, next one. I saw that you mentioned Theodotion in your slide on Daniel 2. Could you tell us about Theodotion? And if someone was going to read Daniel in the Greek Old Testament, would you recommend Theodotion? In Daniel, there are two Greek Old Testaments. And one is called the Old Greek, and another is called Theodotion. Just happens to be the case. In many books, there's only one Greek text. But in Daniel, there are two. Occurs in a few other books occasionally. So Theodotion is really a pretty straightforward translation of the canonical Daniel in Aramaic and Hebrew. Whereas the Old Greek, sometimes traditionally referred to as LXX, because it refers to 70 who supposedly composed, there were 70 translators by legend of the Greek Old Testament. Anyway, the Old Greek is very expansive in Daniel. It adds almost a half a chapter of the friends of Daniel after they come out of the furnace And it's just praise. It just goes on and on and on and on about their praise. And when Nebuchadnezzar comes out of being, he's delivered from being an animal and a beast, there's a long, almost a chapter expansion of his praise. It's kind of a super-duper living Bible, because it's very paraphrastic and adds up. Yeah, if you have a coordinates, it'll show you both of the Greek and Theodotion and of the old Greek. There is a Greek Old Testament floating around, and it's now in the public domain. It's by a guy named Sir Lancelot Brenton, and it used to be published by Zonderman, but it has the Greek text, of Theodotion and the English translation. So I mean, if you really want both, you can also get the actual hard copy of Ralph's Septuaginta. That's what it's called, Septuaginta. It means Septuagint. Ralph's is spelled R-A-H. L-F-S, Ralphs. And it will have in Daniel both the Greek, Old Greek, and Theodotion. One's on the top of the page, one's on the bottom. So I don't know who asked that question, but those are some tools that you can get if you want some further questions on that, feel free to ask me. What is corporate solidarity? Corporate solidarity is where we sometimes call it the one and the many. where, for example, you remember Achan. He took some of the silver and some of the booty of the enemy and hid it in his tent, and Israel's judge for it. And so he was stoned, but so were his family. So was his family. And so he represented them. His actions represented them, just as Adam's actions represent us. He disobeyed, we're seen as disobeying. He was punished, we get that punishment. And that's what happened with Achan. In fact, I think Achan is meant to be seen as a little miniature Adam. Because it says, what's the language when he looks at the treasure? He looked and he saw and he desired. Does that remind you of anything? Yeah. So I think there's this attempt to show him as a little miniature Adam and his family, unfortunately, following the suit. And so kings, if a king did something bad, Israel would be cursed. Because remember David, when he numbered the army, and God says you're going to be judged, and the judgment was causing Israel to have a plague, as I recall. When kings did something well, Israel would be blessed. When heads of families did something well, the family would be blessed, or accordingly they would be cursed. Prophets would represent nations. And so the classic corporate solidarity is our union with Christ. When we come to trust in Christ, we are in union with Him. Now that union is understood in various ways. I think, first of all, there is this mystical union. You can't explain it all. Just as you can't explain how a husband and wife are one. Yes, of course you can explain that physically, but Genesis 2, when it says that, the two became one, it's more than physical. It's a mystical union, even in marriage. So how much more with us in Christ? So there's this mystical union. Can't fully explain it, but we can say it involves identification. We're identified with Christ, and what he has, we have. For example, when he rose from the dead, he became an escalated son of God. And so we become sons of God in him. When he rose from the dead, he became an escalated Adamic image. And so when we trust in him, in union with him, we take on that image. Not perfectly, but we grow progressively in that image. And so on and so on. So there's identification. And then there's also participation involved in union. Participation is this. Paul will say in Romans 6, we died with Christ and we rose with Christ. We were actually seen as participating in some of the past redemptive historical acts of Christ. How so? That's hard, but we were. And reform theology is called the Historia Salutis. That is our role in past history of salvation. The Ordo Salutis is the order of salvation, which traditionally was regeneration, justification, sanctification, and I think it really just means our present salvific experience with Christ. Because when we trust in Christ, we become everything He became at the same time. And even justification. He was justified by His resurrection. He was declared righteous so that the verdict of the world was overturned. And so when we are in union with Him, we are declared righteous. The world's verdict on us is overturned, and of course, what was not true with Christ is true of us, our sin. is we're declared to be righteous from our sin. And so you've got union, you've got participation, and identification, and corporate solidarity, which is what this question was originally about. What is corporate solidarity? We are in some way in union. with Christ. It's a mystical union. We can try to parse it out in the way I have, but ultimately there's a mystical element in it. Anybody want to ask further questions on that? That's what my new book is about. It's Union with the Resurrected Christ, where I talk about about 19 different things that he became that we become. What does it mean for the kingdom of God to fill the whole earth? There are some people who have read my book. Will, was that your question? Yes. You stinker. OK. I had a feeling. Some people have read. Will, have you ever read my book, The Temple and the Church's Mission? Oh, gosh. I did just get your new book. My roommate bought it. Got to read it, because some people think I'm post-millennial after reading it. So you've got to. Is it the one or? What? Temple. Yeah, the temple one. And so there I argue that our task is to expand and fill the whole earth. And the thing is it won't be, we won't complete it as a church at some time. Christ will come back and he'll complete that procedure. I don't think we're going to fill the whole earth. That's my ultimate answer to the Daniel question. So it's probably not a satisfying answer to you, but that's my... That's my answer, especially since when you see Daniel interpreted in the New Testament, in the book of Revelation, it's not the whole earth. It's a remnant that Christ is dying for. So I think what it may mean is this. Christ will redeem everyone according to his will in the earth, that he wills to be saved. But the others who don't submit will be pacified. And in that sense, the kingdom of God fills the whole earth. So he'll have to put enemy forces down at the end, and then there'll be those who will trust in him. But when you begin to look at the Daniel references, like we looked at two of them in Revelation 5, it's a remnant. It's from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And Daniel 7 further interprets Daniel 2. They're both about four kingdoms, if you remember. So, in my view, if we have a question about the Old Testament, and it's unclear, I'm gonna let scripture clear that up, especially the progressive revelatory stage of the New Testament, that, in some ways, trumps the Old. because it's the unfolding interpretation of the Old Testament. It's intended to be a progressive revelatory interpretation of the Old Testament. So I'm going to go with that in cases where there may be some lack of clarity. That's a hermeneutical stance at that point. And I find that some post-millennialists, and it may not be you, but I find that some try to interpret these texts without going to the way they're used in the New Testament sometimes. I'm going to make a brief comment. Please. I love it. I like him. And as I told you, I've visited with him and he's a very nice fellow to talk to. So we would agree on that. It would just come to the different interpretation of the biblical texts. I did ask him this question, you might be interested. Should we execute people who don't keep the Sabbath? That was a hard one. He basically didn't answer the question. But you know what? You know what? In his defense, in his defense, there's always, in every position that we hold, there are going to be problem passages that we can't answer. Okay? And the position that we end up holding is the position that we feel has the least amount of problems. And that's actually what we're talking about here. You find more problems with millennialism than I find with post-millennialism, and that's why we hold what we do. And so, you know, Corrie Ten Boom said, all of this, all these issues are a-pre-posterous. They're preposterous, but she tried to make a punning joke about millennialism with it. Why do you think churches are fearful and avoid preaching verse by verse through Revelation? You think it's to get out from under the yoke of the dispensational ecosystem of American evangelicalism? So I'll give you my basic answer. I think most people don't preach. The majority of Revelation is just too hard. That's why. They're afraid of it. They don't know what to do with it. Now, those who will preach it, I have found, are sometimes those who take it very literally. And so it's very easy for them. Oh, that's a 100-pound hail. Oh, here we have this, here we have that. But I have found people who take the approach I take. I find more and more preaching through it, and they're finding that the use of the Old Testament's the key. to understanding revelation, they've tried to do that, and I've been encouraged as some people have written me about it. Does amillennialism have a problem with Christ's imminent return? Will we know if Satan is released from his binding? That's a very difficult question. First Thessalonians, Paul says, In chapter 5, the Christ will come like a thief. We don't know when. Thief in the night. So Paul says it's imminent. But then all of a sudden, this is why some people don't think Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians. I think he did. But in 2 Thessalonians, in chapter 2, it says there have to be two signs before Christ comes back. One sign is the final apostasy, and the second sign is the appearance of the man of lawlessness. So, well, Paul, which is it? Is Christ coming like a thief, or do we have these two signs, we recognize them, and then he comes, and Paul, that seems contradictory. And so I've thought about, I mean, how do you, this has been a classic issue for theology, and here's the way I conceive of how to see how those two fit together. First John 2.18 says this, my little children, it's the last hour. And you've heard that Antichrist is coming. I tell you, many Antichrists have already come from this. We know it is the last hour. And so what that tells us is in Christ's time and throughout the church age, there are these Antichrist figures. And in fact, at one of the breaks today, someone was saying, haven't the Popes been Antichrist? Yeah, I think some of the Popes have been Antichrist figures. I think some people in Protestantism have been Antichrist figures, and so on. So these Antichrist figures can arise. And sometimes they really, it looks like, hey, this is the one. And so the saints put on their white clothes and go to a mountain and sell all their possessions, as actually happened in Korea in the 1990s. Christ didn't come back and some people committed suicide. I mean, it's a pretty serious thing. It's very awful. But you can trace this in past history, how people have sold their possessions because this is it. And yet, it wasn't it. The Antichrist figured he was just a figure. He didn't reach the peak of the full Antichrist who was to come. So it's like a chart. So you see these different peaks, maybe like a financial chart, you know? And some are higher than others. But a time is going to come when the Antichrist, the real Antichrist will be here. He looks like the others, and looks like the others, and then lickety split, he is it. And I think that we'll really know what those two signs are as they're happening and when they're culminated. They'll happen so quickly, I think, that it'll be like a thief. And then as it's concluding, we'll say, yep, this is it. So I think that's how they go together, that this will happen so quickly at the end that it'll be fulfilled before we know it. That's my view on that particular issue. What is the relationship of Psalm 2, 1 through 2 and Peter's interpretation of it in Acts 4.26? Let's see, Acts. We're obviously not going to be able to go through all of these. Acts 4.22 says that In verse 25, by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant, the Holy Spirit said, why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things? Kings of the earth took their stand, the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah. For truly in this city they were gathered together against your servant Jesus, whom you did anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles. and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur." So that prophecy, where the Gentiles were to rage, they take their stand against the Messiah, is seen as fulfilled in the crucifixion. That's what Luke is saying here. And, by the way, who's included among the raging Gentiles? Israel. So they're really just among the nations. They're really not true Israel, you see. They're fulfilling. It's just the nations who rage, but now it's the Gentiles and Israel. Israel's joining the Gentiles. It's just as in Isaiah, chapter 13 to 23. If you read those chapters, each one is a chapter on judgment on different nations. All of a sudden, in chapter two, it's judgment on Israel. Then it goes on to judgment of another nation. Why? Israel's become like the nations. As repeatedly, Isaiah and Ezekiel say, they become like Sodom and Gomorrah. And that's why when we get to Christ, he's reconstituting Israel in himself and creating a new Israel. Yes, sir? When I say he's recreating Israel? Yes, ethnic Israel. Yes. Yeah, thank you. So I think that's the answer to that. Is there any use of he who has ears to hear let them hear elsewhere in scripture that doesn't relate to a symbol or a parable? No. And that's why I think it's so significant when we find this. According to 2 Peter 3.7, will this present world be completely destroyed by fire? Well, let's read it. I'm afraid this is going to have to be the last one. I'm sorry for those of you who didn't get your questions answered, but I've done my valiant best. 2 Peter 3.7. We've got the remnant here now. But what's a post-millennialist doing here? Okay. Chapter three, verse seven. But the present heavens and earth by his word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But he goes on and he says in verse 10, the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar Elements be destroyed with an intense heat. Earth and its works burned up. Since all these things will be destroyed in this way, what sort of people are you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God? On which account the heavens will be destroyed, repeats it, by burning the elements will melt with intense heat. But according to his promise, we're looking for new heavens, new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Now there are some post-millennialists who take this figuratively. And they see this as an ethical renovation of the earth, not a material destruction and renovation of the earth. The repetition of the language, I mean, it's possible, it's figurative, I don't think it's likely. I think this is a classic text talking about the actual destruction of the heavens and the earth. So, yeah. My view of the way heaven and earth are going to be destroyed is, and what will come out on the other side, my view is based on the resurrection. Christ rose, but he wasn't the same person, was he? But you could identify him. He was a new person. He'd been reconstituted. He wasn't the same person. In other words, formerly he was corruptible in terms of his flesh. Now he's not. And so that's why I think that when we're resurrected, we will be able to recognize one another, even though at first Mary didn't recognize Jesus, finally she did. I'll have hair, he might not recognize me at first. So we'll be able to recognize one another, but we're reconstituted. And so I think what's going to happen is that there'll be a destruction of the new heavens and earth. There'll be chaos. And God will recreate the new heavens and earth from that chaos and recreate us and resurrect us from the midst of that chaos so that the new world will resemble the old world, just like our bodies in the new world will resemble our bodies in the old world. So the new world, in various ways, will resemble the old world, because it'll be like it. It's been reconstituted from it. So there is this distinction between the old world and the new world. But I don't think it's as mild as just there's an ethical cleansing of the earth, and then the same physical earth continues on. Yes. Yes, the flood is interesting because you do have this destruction, but the same earth continues, even though it's been reconfigured. Yeah. Yeah. I think we better call it quits. I'm sorry for those of you who did not get your questions answered. All right. Thank you, Dr. Bill. And we'll be dismissed. I mean, dismisses in prayer. And you guys are free to go about your way. The only father. Thank you so much for our wonderful, wonderful conference today and all we got to learn and study and to focus on your word and focus on you. And we thank you that just does reign supreme. I would thank you for preparing Dr. Bill all these years through his studies to be able to stand and equip us today. But you continue to use him to equip the church. And even next week, as he's going to be used to equip elders and pastors and helping them to understand the importance of the Old Testament in the New Testament and seeing these things clearly, Lord. Thank you for a wonderful time today.