Delagrave Wrath

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003399" TEXT="#080000" background="040c8c00erkjxk.jpg"> <div> <B><U>Dan Delagrave</U></B></div> <div> <B>is a youth care worker at Wyalusing Academy, a residential treatment center for adolescent youths located in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.  He and his wife, Debbie, have five children: two daughters at World Evangelism Bible College in Baton Rouge, Louisianna: a son at Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota; and  two 11 year old twins at home. </B></div> <div> <B>Dan is the founder of </B><I><B>Fulfillment Ministries</B></I><B>. For more information and his newsletter, you can contact Dan at 807 S. Ohio St., Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin or call 608-326-6844.</B></div> <div> <B>E-mail: </B><B>fulfill@mwt.net</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#CC0033" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="7" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Brush Script MT" ><B>Restoration Ministries</B> </FONT>  |<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#00FFFF" FACE="Arial" >     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Restoration Ministries"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div>                                                   </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="1271c480.jpg" border=0 width="540" height="72" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>by Dan Delagrave</B></div> <div> <B>_____________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> "Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"</div> <div> (Luke 3:7)</div> <bR> <div> Many today teach that God will soon pour out his wrath upon planet earth. "The wrath to come" is about to come, so they say. However, John the Baptist warned the then-present generation that the wrath was literally "about to" (Greek – <I>mello</I>) come in the first century. Where, then, is the justification for saying that the wrath is <B>still</B> to come? How did the words of John the Baptist have relevance to the ones he preached to? What was the wrath to come all about? In this article, I will seek to provide Biblical answers to these questions.</div> <bR> <div> "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6)</div> <bR> <div> God said through the prophet Malachi that he would send Elijah the prophet to Israel before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The implication is that Elijah would come<B> just prior to</B> the day of the Lord, not thousands of years in advance. In other words, the coming of Elijah would mark the generation in history that would see the fulfillment of the great and terrible day of the Lord.</div> <bR> <div> Some 400 years after the time of Malachi, John the Baptist appears in the wilderness of Judaea, preaching that the kingdom of God is "at hand," meaning "very near." No less than three New Testament verses tell us that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy concerning Elijah the prophet:</div> <bR> <div> "And many of the children of Israel shall he (John) turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:16-17)</div> <bR> <div> "And if you will receive it, this is Elijah, which was for to come." (Matthew 11:14)</div> <bR> <div> "But I say unto you, that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed." (Matthew 17:12)</div> <bR> <div> John the Baptist's message directly reflected that he was indeed the fulfillment of Elijah the prophet sent to Israel just prior to the great and terrible day of the Lord:</div> <bR> <div> "Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from <B>the wrath to come</B>?" (Lk.3:7)</div> <bR> <div> The day of the Lord was known by Jews as "a day of wrath":</div> <bR> <bR> <div> "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger." (Isaiah 13:9)</div> <bR> <div> "The great day of the Lord is near . . . That day is <B>a day of wrath </B>. . . Neither silver nor gold shall be able to deliver them in <B>the day of the lord's wrath</B>." (Zephaniah 1:14, 15, 18)</div> <bR> <div> See also: Romans 2:5;  I Thessalonians 5:2-9; Revelation 6:17.</div> <bR> <div> John the Baptist, as the fulfillment of Elijah the prophet, warned his generation that the day of the Lord's wrath was <B>about to</B> come upon <B>them</B>! The Greek text makes this abundantly clear. Unfortunately, the English translators deliberately left out the Greek word "<I>mello</I>" from their translations, most likely due to their futuristic views. <I>Mello</I> means "about to", and it's inclusion would have forced a past-fulfilled interpretation of many key elements of Bible prophecy, including "the wrath to come". The following is a list of prophetic terms and verses where the Greek word "mello" was deliberately left out of the English translations:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">"The wrath (about) to come" – Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The coming of the Lord – Matthew 16:27; Revelation 12:5</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wars and rumors of wars – Matthew 24:6</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The judgment – Acts 17:31, 24:25; 2 Timothy 4:1; Hebrews 10:27</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">"Things (about) to come" – Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians 3:21-21; Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 9:11; 10:1; Revelation 1:19</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">"The age (about) to come" – Matthew 12:32; Ephesians 1:21; Hebrews 2:5</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The resurrection – Acts 24:14-15; 2 Timothy 4:1</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">"The glory (about to be) revealed in us" – Romans 8:18; 1 Peter 5:1</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Heavenly Jerusalem – Hebrews 13:14</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Salvation – Hebrews 1:13-14 </div> <bR> <div> Now, notice a particular instance where the translators did not delete the Greek word <I>mello</I>:</div> <bR> <div> "But keep on alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are <B>about to</B> (<I>mello</I>) take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:36 NASV; and also NIV)</div> <bR> <div> The inclusion of "<I>mello</I>" drastically alters the dynamics of a verse! In the Olivet discourse, the things that were "<B>about to</B> take place", included the catastrophic events that befell the Jews in 70 A.D. Notice what Jesus said of that time:</div> <bR> <div> "But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and <B>wrath upon this people</B>."</div> <bR> <div> Jesus alluded to the same "wrath to come" which John the Baptist warned of, and indicated that it would come upon the same "generation of vipers" that John addressed. He was foretelling of the three and a half year Jewish-Roman War of 66-70 A.D., the worst tribulation in Israel's history. Both John and Jesus made it clear that "the wrath to come" would be fulfilled within the historical context of the then-present generation – read Luke 3:7 and 21:32. </div> <bR> <div> Both put the spotlight on the backslidden Jews of their day, who were to "fill up the measure of their fathers" (Matthew 23:32). It was <B>that generation</B> that would see judgment for "the blood of all the prophets", including God's Son – read Luke 11:50 and Matthew 21:33-40. These facts provide the backdrop for understanding why the inspired writers made such consummatory statements of imminence in the first century. 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 says:</div> <bR> <div> "For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for<B> the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost</B>."</div> <bR> <div> The Jews of Paul's day were the chief enemies of Christ, the Church and the Gospel. Their judgment was on the near horizon, as 2 Peter 2:3 says: "Whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."</div> <bR> <div> "The wrath to come" referred to "the wrath of God". Consistent with the texts we've already looked at, Revelation 16:1,5-6 makes it clear as to who the primary subjects of God's wrath were:</div> <bR> <div> "Go your ways, and pour out the vials of <B>the wrath of god</B> upon the earth.  And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.  For<B> They have shed the blood of saints and prophets</B>, and thou hast given <B>them</B> blood to drink; for they are worthy."</div> <bR> <div> It was none other than the Jews who "shed the blood of the prophets" – read Matthew 23. Thus, upon <B>them</B> would God pour out his righteous wrath. It would be the Lord Jesus himself who would "tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" (Revelation 19:15) at his return. </div> <bR> <div> The overwhelming evidence for a pre-70 dating of the book of Revelation, along with the statements of imminence in the book itself, force the conclusion as to when this wrath was fulfilled. According to Lange's commentary, even the Roman general Titus viewed his mission as the wrath of God upon the Jews. </div> <bR> <div> The Apostle Paul clearly believed and taught that some of his contemporaries would live to the time of God's wrath, and that the saints would be delivered from it – read 1 Corinthians15:51; 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10; 4:15-17; 5:9, 23. </div> <bR> <div> Truly, "the wrath to come" has <B>already</B> come. This is not to say that God doesn't execute judgment in the earth today. But we must keep "the wrath to come" in it's proper historical context if we are to understand the New Testament and why the writers made such consummatory statements of imminence in the first century.</div> <bR> <div> (Click here to view Dan's "<A HREF="http://www.ourchurch.com/member/f/Fulfillment" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ourchurch.com/member/f/Fulfil"><U>Fulfillment Ministries Web Page</U></A>")</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>