Futuristic Interpretations Cancel Out the
Earliest Christians' Genuine Expectations
by Mark Mountjoy
Scripture text: "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."–the Apostle John describing a Golem, a magical device used to deceive the Jewish people during the War of the Destruction.
Introductory Remarks
THE WORD "EISEGESIS" IS THE OPPOSITE of "exegesis" (a proper explanation of the Word of God). Instead of arriving at a proper conclusion, in eisegesis the interpreter reads into the Scriptures (not what they intend) but what they want them to say. Eisegesis is a noun; its plural is eis·e·ge·ses [ahy-si-jee-seez] /ˌaɪ sɪˈdʒi siz/.
In this matter, we would like to examine seven steps that must be skipped in order to achieve an interpretation of the New Testament that literally overshoots, bypasses and cancels nearly every genuine and true expectation taught by Jesus and the Apostles and believed and eagerly hoped for by all the earliest Christians in Judæa, the Diaspora, and the Roman Empire, all the way up to the third decade of the second century.
The Fourth Kingdom of Bible Prophecy Skipped
When King Jonathan Alexander Jannaeus, the second king of Hasmonean Judæa, executed eight-hundred Pharisees on crosses and cut the throats of their wives and children while he reclined and dined with his concubines at a meal, he gained for himself and the entire Hasmonean family the infamy and hatred with which the Jewish people would never cease to remember. The legacy of the Hasmoneans would be condemned, and their lone contribution, Hanukkah, would be celebrated as an example of Jewish perseverance under persecution and duress.
The Pharisees, having the injuries of the Hasmoneans to remember, and the Sadducees, to which party all the Hasmoneans belonged, hardly ever saw eye to eye. There was no possible way the Pharisees, the party who survived the A.D.66-70 Jewish debacle, were prepared to allow the books of the Maccabees into the Jewish canon.
On the other hand, since the books of the Maccabees were already part of the Septuagint, the earliest Christians inherited and accepted them as the Word of God, which remained the case for the next fifteen centuries. However, Protestants, Pentecostals and Messianic believers have these important annals cut out of their Bible.
Deleting the Maccabee Chronicles Imposes Fundamental Problems on Prophecy Understanding
One cannot skip from a second century B.C. Third Kingdom of Bible prophecy to a twenty-first century fourth kingdom without doing serious harm, injury, and damage to a subject that context necessarily defines. It is literally impossible to get anywhere near the truth when this practice is followed or if, for the sake of conformity, it is taken for granted that the continuous history of the Jews need not take into account the Hasmonean era as an essential part of any serious Bible prophecy equation.
Where Did This Roman Fourth
Kingdom Idea Originate?
The Jewish people were the first to make the mistake of believing the Roman Empire was the fourth kingdom. But how could they? They lived at the very time when the Hasmonean Empire was founded and became both dangerous and great.
The first reason could have been a biased perception of the prophecies. It may have been because the four kingdoms of prophecies were thought to be Gentile only (completely exempting the Jews). Or it may have been because Daniel 11:30 speaks of the Kittim (or Kitians in the Septuagint) invading the Land of Israel, and the term "Kittim" (a Hebrew word) means "western lands," which could be applied equally to the Romans and the Greeks.
Nevertheless, when Rome finally subdued Judæa, she did survive, but not in her pure Hasmonean form. Instead, Roman wisdom dictated that the leadership of this kingdom would be put squarely into the hands of the Idumeans first, and the Jerusalem Aristocracy (mainly Sadducees) second. Within very little time the family and dynasty of Antipater, the Idumean and his two sons Phasael and Herod rose and eclipsed and were rewarded handsomely for their loyalty to the Romans.
The Wicked and Adulterous Generation Skipped
Interpreters (inadvertently, unintentionally or intentionally) play fast and loose with a subject Jesus had a lot to say about: "This generation." This was the wicked and adulterous generation; a generation that sought after signs; a generation which would be condemned by the men of Nineveh and the queen of the south because they did not realize that a greater than Solomon was among them (Matthew 12:42).
This was the generation which Jesus and the Apostles definitively marked as the one and only to receive the fulfillment of all things that had been written (Luke 21:22, 32). It saw the ministry of John the Baptist; it saw the ministry, life, death, burial and resurrection, and ascension of our Lord. It witnessed the day of Pentecost when, fifty days from Passover, Christianity was born.
The Famous Second Temple Skipped
Another big out-point in futurist eisegesis is the decision to skip the Second Temple as the necessary edifice to be present during the Second Coming of Christ in favor of a third one. But this decision has monumental and deleterious implications! If the Second Temple is swapped for a third temple, then Daniel 9:27, instead of boxing the coming of Israel's true Messiah into the pre-A.D.70 past, suddenly allows and even assures the Jews and others that the Messiah could still come the first time in the future!
The Second Temple's Abomination
of Desolation Skipped
The Scribes and the Pharisees were of the opinion that the Second Temple was greater than the Messiah himself. So when Jesus made any reference to destroying the Temple, they were ready to pounce on him and, in the end, determined that he should die based upon false claims that he had blasphemed a building.
In Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, Jesus predicted that the Second Temple would be completely destroyed at the time of his Second visible Coming. All three testimonies attest that seventy-two hours before Jesus was crucified, he definitely made specific claims about the Second Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, and his own Second visible Coming in the clouds within those specific and detailed circumstances.
The Coming of the Son of Man Skipped
Intertwined with the fourth kingdom and the Second Temple is the Coming of the Son of Man. The coming of the Son of Man is first and foremost a prophecy found in Daniel 7:7-27. In that "Night Vision" the Jewish Prophet, Daniel, was assured, in no uncertain terms, that the Son of Man would come as the fourth kingdom was reeling and rocking in the throes of war and the outpouring of the wrath of God and his divine judicial annulment and punitive extinction.
The Great City Who Became a Harlot Skipped
The villification of pagan Rome and the accusations that the Romans were public enemy number one visa vis the Jews and Christians is an old acorn which cannot stand the test of truth when compared to the words of our Lord in the Scriptures. Nor can charges against the Roman Empire, as if they were found guilty of ancient crimes of murder and the martyrdom of the prophets and apostles of God, stand. The crimes of Jerusalem committed during the First Hebrew Commonwealth, and more widespread during the Second Jewish Commonwealth, are the subject of deflection and detours to achieve a desired result: The implication of the Romans as the "persons of interest" and "usual suspects."
The Day and the Hour Skipped
Almost no more famous saying of our Lord Jesus, next to John 3:16 than his saying that he knew neither the day nor hour of his own return (Matthew 24 and Mark 13). A verse in Acts 1 also confirms that the exact time of the Lord's return was not known either during Jesus' ministry in Israel, nor in the ministries of the Apostles to Judaea and the Diaspora in the Book of Acts.
The End of the Second Jewish
Commonwealth Skipped
The A.D.132-136 Simon Bar Kokhba revolt brought the Second Jewish Commonwealth, which had begun so hopeful and so devoted to God, to a amazingly sorry and tragic end. Catastrophic oblivion overtook the Jewish State and wiped it out of existence in just forty-two short months.
Our Christian Responsibilities, Duties and Privileges
We have a responsibility to study to show ourselves approved unto God and be workmen that need not be ashamed. When we commit eisegesis and fail to exegete the Scriptures, we ensure that what we say will never materialize, but will end up, inevitably, taking everybody for a ride. And handling the Word of God wrongly leads to deceit, deception, disappointment, loss of zeal, apathy, loss of faith—even apostasy from Christianity, agnosticism and atheism.
Conclusion
Whatever we do, and whatever we say, and wherever we are, we do not want to be guilty of misleading people or "Lying for the Lord." That's what the cults do; that's what people do who have something to hide; that's what happens when people are out on a hunt and care only about numbers, but not about people. We have a charge and a mission: To repent and believe the Gospel, and to go and tell the world and every nation.