Another Holocaust?by
Bill Barnwell It’s a great irony that many in the Christian community who claim to be the biggest supporters of the Jewish people actually believe that it’s prophetically inevitable that in the future the Jews are going to face the worst holocaust ever. They build this idea based upon several presuppositions and misunderstanding of a couple Biblical passages. While the "Left Behind" crowd frequently accuses writers such as myself of "anti-Semitism" for not espousing dispensational theology, they should keep in mind that it is not we who are preaching about a future deadly holocaust specifically aimed at the modern Jewish people. Does the Bible in fact teach that it’s prophetically inevitable for modern Jews to face the worst holocaust in history? Thankfully, it does not. Most dispensationalists do not believe that Christians will be around during the "Great Tribulation." They will have been raptured up by then. This idea is based supposedly off I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and a couple other passages. The second presupposition is that once Christians are out of the way the Antichrist will make a covenant with the nation of Israel, then break it after three and a half years, then exalt himself in a rebuilt Jewish Temple. This comes mainly from Daniel 9:27 which is then cut and pasted alongside 2 Thessalonians 2:4 and Matthew 24:15. Daniel 9:27 is needed to create the doctrine of the peace treaty between the Antichrist and Israel. However, a careful reading of this passage will reveal how erroneous this interpretation is and all of the negative practical implications that come out of it. Once we have the Christians out of the way, a rebuilt temple, and an Antichrist that makes his phony covenant with the Jews, the stage for a future "Great Tribulation" waged against the inhabitants of the earth. According to the dispensational view, though God will pour out His judgments against the unrighteous during this time, the Antichrist and his forces will fiercely persecute the nation of Israel. It is during this time that 2/3 the Jewish people will supposedly die (they base this off of Zechariah 13:8) in what will be the worst and most horrific holocaust in human history. If there is any doubt that this will be a future event, many point to Matthew 24:21 which reads, "For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again." Who will suffer the most? The Jews of course, because the Christians will be gone. There’s a problem with this cut and paste approach to prophetic texts. First of all, both historically and many today see much of Matthew 24 and also Zechariah 13:8 as being fulfilled in the first century siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. During this time, the Jewish historian Josephus reports that roughly 1,000,000 Jews were killed. Physically, the destruction of Jerusalem was indeed a bloodbath. Theologically, the significance regarding the fall of the temple makes 70AD one of the saddest points in history for the Jewish people. From a Biblical standpoint, if the Jews already suffered through their "great tribulation" why demand another one? But dispensationalists rightly point out that as awful as 70AD was, history has seen even more ugly wars. What about the Nazi holocaust, where many more Jews died under Adolph Hitler? And Matthew 24:21 says that the "great distress" will be unequaled from the beginning of time until now! Says one article from the Rapture Ready website:
Unfortunately, the author is not taking into account the rather clear context of Matthew 24 and its very clear time indicators (Matt. 24:1–3; 34). In fact, Matthew 24 fits the context of the Roman siege of Jerusalem quite accurately, including the destruction of the Temple in 70AD. Also, we don’t need a "rebuilt temple" to fulfill the "abomination of desolations" passage (Matthew 24:15) when we already had a Temple that was desecrated by Titus and his armies. We also already had righteous Jews who had to flee to the mountains of Pella for safety during that terrible time (Matthew 24:16). Luke’s gospel also makes the matter quite clear: "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near." What happened in 70AD? Jerusalem was surrounded by armies, the Temple desecrated, and the righteous fled to the mountains. Popular dispensational writers actually make the assertion that Luke’s gospel was talking about events in 70AD while Matthew and Mark are talking about events during a future (from our vantage point) tribulation after the rapture! However, all three writers are basically talking about the same events, but tailoring the language to their specific audiences. One writer is not talking about events 2,000 years removed from the other while using virtually the same language and talking about the same calamities. Matthew’s gospel most frequently quotes the Hebrew Scriptures to show fulfillment for his Jewish-Christian audience. In Matthew’s gospel, the "abomination of desolation" language is borrowed from Daniel 9. In the minds of the Jewish audience, this passage originally referred to Antiochus Ephiphanes IV, a Seleucid ruler who persecuted the Jewish people in the 2nd century B.C. and profaned the Temple in Jerusalem. Here Matthew quotes Jesus reworking the prophecy for the events that would occur within a generation of His disciples’ lifetimes (Matthew 24:34). Many dispensational writers will acknowledge these facts but claim that a still future fulfillment is in store for these passages. The problem is that claim is pure speculation and there’s no proof for it. But what about the language in Matthew 24:21 that talks about the distress being "unequalled from the beginning of the world till now, and never to be equaled again"? Here we must take into account literary genre. The Olivet Discourse is written in apocalyptic style. Whenever one reads prophetic, poetic, and apocalyptic literature they will see that it is loaded with hyperbole and metaphor. Earlier in Scripture, the Bible records judgments against nations using similar language. When one compares Scripture to Scripture, we see that Matthew 24:21 is another use of hyperbolic judgment language. God says to the Jews in Ezekiel, "And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again." This was a reference to the impending Babylonian Captivity. If that event was supposed to be the worst thing that ever happened, how could there be something even worse after it? Even in a non-prophetic book like Exodus we read, "There shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again" (Exod. 11:6). If the distress of Matthew 24 is the worst thing ever to occur, then apparently this excludes people residing in Egypt, for whom it won’t be so bad since they already suffered their worst plagues. Furthermore, Exodus said regarding the plague of locusts, "And the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very numerous. There had never been so many locusts, nor would there be so many again." This then would seem to contradict Joel 1 regarding another plague of locusts, where Joel says, "Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers"? Even the historical books use elements of hyperbole. For example, in 2 Kings 18:5 we read "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him." But in 2 Kings 23:25 we read, "Neither before or after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did." Wait a minute; Josiah’s reign was after Hezekiah’s. So who was the best, Josiah or Hezekiah? Did the author forget about what he just wrote a few chapters earlier? No, he didn’t, he simply was using a hyperbolic literary device to show that these were good kings who followed God. Likewise, how could the Babylonian captivity be the worst thing to ever happen in history and never to be repeated, but then Matthew 24:21 uses the same type of language? The answer is that both events are examples of prophetic judgment language using hyperbole to describe the horrors of what were to come. Those who insist on a "literal interpretation" of Matthew 24:21 are simply failing to compare Scripture with Scripture and lack consistent interpretation skills. Rather, a more "literal" and "literary" interpretation takes into account all of the factors above. Why is any of this important? Because if the dispensationalists are right, the Jewish people are in for a bloodbath that will make Hitler’s Germany look like a walk in the park. But if the Biblically described tribulation of Israel already happened then there’s no need to worry about a future near annihilation of the Jewish people. Such a doctrine about a future holocaust of the Jews has massive theological, political, and practical implications and none are very positive. While I don’t believe dispensationalists are "anti-Semites" in their hearts – for they truly do value the Jewish people – they would do well to measure their love for the Jews against the theology they espouse. If the Bible really doesn’t teach about a prophetically inevitable holocaust for the Jews, then many of the assumptions regarding Bible prophecy need to be challenged.
At least from a Biblical standpoint, Israel’s time of great distress is past, not future. Therefore, we should not try and recreate it or bring another one about. May 4, 2007 Bill Barnwell [send him mail] is a pastor and writer from Michigan. He holds both a Master of Ministry degree and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies degree from Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana. Visit his blog. Bill is also a Mortgage Consultant and Loan Originator who can serve clients throughout the country. Copyright © 2007 LewRockwell.com |
The
supposed coming holocaust of the Jews, along with the "rebuilt
temple," and the "pretribulational rapture" are all
built upon misconceptions of Scripture. Each of these doctrines
are built upon faulty interpretations. The quicker people learn
how to better interpret the texts these beliefs are based upon,
the better. It’s quite hard to convince Jews that you support and
love them when you teach that the worst holocaust is coming and
that it’s specifically directed at them.