The End of the Church Age...and After

    We learned in Chapter 3 that immediately following the first Gospel season that produced Christ as the first of the firstfruits harvest, there would be three and a half years of spiritual famine. Remember that season was the season of the early righteous rain that would bring in the harvest of the first of the firstfruits, Jesus Christ Himself. That first Gospel season was called by God “early righteous rain” (Joel 2:23). It was the whole Old Testament period, and more particularly, the period that began with Abraham. It ended with the announcing of Jesus as the Lamb of God in the year A.D. 29. That announcement together with the ceremonial washing of Jesus in the Jordan River signaled that the sacrifice was ready and the high priest (also the Lord Jesus) was prepared to offer the sacrifice. But it also signaled that the first of the times that identify with the term “times and seasons” had begun.

    One would immediately suppose that now that Christ had been announced, a time of great spiritual awakening would occur. After all, here now was God Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely, the people would flock to Him as the Savior.

A Time of Great Spiritual Famine of Hearing the Word

    Amazingly, the exact opposite occurred. Everywhere in the Gospels that record the activities of Jesus before He returned to heaven, we read of spiritual famine. This sad information begins with John 1:11, where we read:

He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

    It continues in Luke 41-30. Early on, after He preached in the synagogue of Nazareth where He great up, the towns people’s reaction is recorded in Luke 4:28-29:

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the bow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

    It is emphasized in the statement of Jesus in Luke 9:22:

Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

    Capernaum was a village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus spent much time preaching and healing there. But in this revealing passage, He is indicating that the inhabitants of Capernaum were far more rebellious against God then those of Sodom. Remember only Lot and his two daughters escaped God’s judgment on Sodom. How sinful and blind the people of Capernaum must have been if they were more blind than the people of Sodom.

    We would expect that if anyone was spiritual, it would be amongst the spiritual teachers and priests. Therefore, we are shocked to read of Jesus’ assessment of their spiritual condition in the whole chapter of Matthew 23. Almost every verse of the 39 verses of this chapter is an indictment against them. For example, Jesus said in verse 33:

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

    Serpents are a reference to Satan. This verse echoes the awful judgment of Jesus upon the Jews as He was teaching in the temple. We read in John 8:44:

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

    If the Jews in the temple, which would include the religious teachers, are spiritually of their father the devil, it means that Satan in some sense is ruling in the temple and synagogues. And since virtually no one is being saved at this time, it means that the Holy Spirit is not present.

    Therefore, the spiritual condition in the temple and synagogues at the time Jesus was ministering is virtually identical to that which we will learn later in this study is the situation in the churches during the Great Tribulation that comes just before the end of the world. No wonder Jesus said in Matthew 23:37-38:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered they children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

    Moreover, we read in John 6 that a great multitude followed Him (verse 2). This is when Jesus fed the 5,000 men plus women and children (verse 10), so we can know there was a very large crowd following Him. But when He began to speak about the spiritual implications of a relationship with Him, we read in verse 66 and 67:

From that time may of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

    Although these two verses do not specifically say that only the twelve apostles remained, they give the strong impression that not many more than the twelve remained. Basically, all the rest had left.

A Famine of Hearing the Word of God

    The reason for this blindness in Israel at the time Jesus ministered is given in Matthew 13:13-15:

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they her not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; an seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

    The problem was that there was a famine of hearing the Word of God. True, with their physical ears they heard the finest preaching possible. After all, Jesus is God Himself. No one could preach as accurately and wisely as Jesus. Surely, we would expect a great number of believers as a result of people hearing such a perfect preacher. Don’t we read in Isaiah 55:11:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

    The preaching was perfect. The physical hearing was quite adequate. What was wrong? What was the problem? The problem was that there was a famine of hearing the Word of God. God was not giving the hearers spiritual ears to hear the Word of God. They could only receive spiritual ears so that they could hear the Word and become saved if God the Holy Spirit was applying the spoken Word to the hearts of those who were to become saved. When Jesus was preaching, the Holy Spirit was not doing this. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:17:

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

for the sins of that individual. Since Jesus only paid for the sins of the elect, that individual would necessarily have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world. (For more information, contact Family Radio for the book, “God’s Magnificent Salvation Plan”.) The second requirement is that a person whom God plans to save must be under the physical hearing of the Word of God. Romans 10:17 discloses:

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

    The third requirement is the action of God the Holy Spirit applying that Word to the heart of the one God is saving. The only reason anyone becomes saved is because God applies the Word of God to the heart and life of those He has elected to salvation. In John 14:17, Jesus effectively is instructing us that while Jesus was preaching the perfect Word of God, the Holy Spirit was not in them, that is, He was not in their midst to apply the spoken Word to anyone’s heart so they would become saved.

    Later, in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit was poured out into the midst of those assembled in Jerusalem on Pentecost day and about 3,000 were saved. The Holy Spirit had come into the midst of these people for the express purpose of applying the spoken Word to the hearts of those present so that many of them would become saved. Thus, we know that there will always be a famine of hearing the Word of God if the Holy Spirit is not present to apply the Word of God to the lives of those who are to become saved. For God’s own purposes during the three and a half years that Christ ministered, the Holy Spirit saved hardly anyone.

    True, there was the woman taken in adultery (John 8:1-11) who became saved. There was the man let down through the roof (Luke 5:20) who became saved. And of course, there was the thief on the cross. Possibly, there were a few others, but all of these were exceptions, probably occurring to assist us in understanding salvation. However, the rule was a spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God.

    Jesus explained this in somewhat different words in Matthew 13:13-15, which we looked at a bit earlier. God blinded Israel of that day because of the wickedness of their hearts.

    We do know that there were people living at this period of time who gave evidence to salvation. The apostles except for Judas were saved. Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene were saved. Perhaps the seventy who were sent out two by two were saved. Perhaps all of the 120 in the upper room at Pentecost were saved. Likewise, it is possible that most if not all of the 500 to whom Christ appeared in Galilee after His

resurrection (I Corinthian 15:6) were saved. But all of these are very small numbers when compared with the about 3,000 who were saved on Pentecost afternoon. Moreover, it could well be that most of these, if not all of the apostles, the seventy, the 120, the 500, were already saved before Jesus was announced as a Messiah. Remember, the period before the announcement of Jesus was the season of the early righteous rain. Certainly, if Christ said such ugly things about Capernaum, which was most blessed by the presence of Jesus, the rest of the land of Israel at the time was in total spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God.

The Spiritual Famine Prepared for the Crucifixion of Jesus

    The reason for this spiritual famine in the first place is because of the wickedness of Israel of that day. However, there is another major reason why this famine continued throughout the ministry of Jesus. That reason has to do with God’s plan of salvation. Jesus had to be rejected by His people because He had to be crucified. We read in Romans 11:12 and 15:

Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?

For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

    Israel fell in their rebellion against God in that they bound Jesus and had Him crucified. But this was absolutely necessary in order for salvation to be possible for all of God’s elect throughout the world. Thus, this time of spiritual famine was a time of judgment. That judgment focused on the Lord Jesus Christ who is the first of the firstfruits harvest of the first season – the early righteous rain. This harvest resulted in Jesus being announced as the Lamb of God. This announcement, that signified that the first season, that of the early righteous rain, had come to an end, was immediately followed by a three and a half year period of spiritual famine during which Jesus was under judgment. He was experiencing the dreadful event of being the sacrificial lamb. Thus, we can know that the first season, the season of the early righteous ran, is followed by a time of judgment. The sacrificial lamb was killed. Christ was re rejected by man and finally, He was rejected by God. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

Satan was Conquered

    There was another judgment that identifies with this same time of spiritual famine, and that was the judgment that came upon Satan. Throughout the season of early righteous rain, Satan was relatively free to bind the hearts of people. He was even allowed to be in heaven and make accusations concerning God’s relationship with the believers (Job 1).

    Certainly, during Jesus’ ministry Satan was particularly arrogant as he tempted Jesus for 40 days in the wilderness and as he entered into Judas so that he could bind Jesus in an effort to kill Him. As we already learned, Satan to a high degree ruled in the temple and the synagogues, as indicated by Jesus’ assertion that the Jews in the temple were of their father the devil.

    But something happened to Satan when Jesus went to the cross. It was anticipated at the time the seventy returned to Jesus saying, “Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name” (Luke 10:17). Jesus replied to them in verses 18 and 19:

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon: and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

    Michael is the Lord Jesus Christ. He defeated Satan by shedding His blood, that is, by giving His life in the atonement experience. By going to the cross, Jesus not only paid for the sins of the elect, He also brought judgment on Satan. Revelation 20:2-3 declares:

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

    Revelation 13:3 informs us that one of the seven heads of the beast (Satan) was wounded to death.

    All of this language indicates that at the time of the cross, Satan was sentence to eternal damnation, and since the time of the cross, he has been and will be under the wrath of God till the end of time. Fact is, at the end of time, Satan will be immediately cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10). No statement is made anywhere in the Bible that Satan will be judged on the last day. This is because effectively, he was judged at the cross. On the other hand, all of mankind who have not become saved will be judged on the last day (Revelation 20:11-15).

    Thus, we see that the three and a half year time following the seasons of early righteous rain was a time of spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God. And it was a time when God brought judgment both on Christ and on Satan.

    We might note that when the three and a half year famine of Elijah’s day ended, judgment was brought on the sacrifice, which represented Christ, as fire from heaven destroyed it. However, judgment also came upon the 450 prophets of Baal who were a representation of Satan. All of them were killed by Elijah who in that historical parable represented God as the Judge.

Three and a Half Years

    This sorry time of Jesus’ ministry, during which there was a spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God, can be shown to be a period of three and a half years. In Daniel 9:27, we read:

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make

it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

    Christ is the one to confirm the covenant. Officially, He was declared as the Messiah, that is, He has come to confirm the covenant, when John the Baptist baptized Him. In the middle of the week that followed, that is, three and a half years later, sacrifice and offering ceased. Sacrifice and offering ceased when Jesus was crucified. He was the sacrifice to which all previous sacrifices were pointing. Thus, this time that followed the early righteous rain season was precisely three and a half years. The time was identical in length to the three and a half years of famine of Elijah’s day. We might recall that it was very near the end of that famine that fire came down from heaven and destroyed the sacrificial bullock and the altar. That even was pointing to the judgment that was to fall on Christ when He was crucified. The parallelism between that even and the time of Jesus’ ministry ended with His crucifixion is very exact.

    We thus far have learned in our study of the times and seasons that God speaks of in Acts 1:7 and I Thessalonians 5:1, that immediately following the season of the early righteous rain, which produced the harvest of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, there was a time of judgments. This time was precisely three and a half years in duration and ended with Jesus experiencing the judgment of God as payment for all the sins of those whom He had elected to save. It indeed was a time of great spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God and it was a time of judgment.

    According to the time line indicated by Joel 2:23, God taught us that after the early righteous rain there would follow additional rain, which was divided into early rain and latter rain. It is this season of early rain that we must now examine as we turn to the next chapter of this study.