"We believe in the imminent personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only hope of this war-torn world." M. R. DeHaan (1891-1965)
M. R. DeHaan was a widely respected bible teacher and pastor. He also founded the Radio Bible Class in 1938 and conducted a weekly program for 27 years.
DeHaan was a staunch defender of dispensationalism - unflinchingly maintaining the teaching of the "pre-tribulation rapture", the tribulation-judgment of the Christ-rejecting Jews and world to follow, and the physical return of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ at the end of that tribulation to begin the "millenial kingdom" - as absolutely the only possible correct interpretation of scripture. With this we wholeheartedly agree.
To deny these facts is dangerous ground, leading only to hopeless confusion and deception. Ye do well to have a thorough understanding of these things, that ye be not led down that path: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" [rightly dividing = dispensations]; 2Tim. 2:15
Some "right dividing" from M.R. DeHaan:
***
"I will come again"
Nothing is more certain than the personal, bodily return of the Lord Jesus to this earth. Scripture has much more to say concerning His second coming than His First. Yet millions accept the first but reject, or at least ignore, the second.
Thousands of prophecies were fulfilled in the past, and not one failed. There are hundreds of prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ, all of which were fulfilled when He came the first time. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born it was foretold where He would be born, of what tribe, in what province and in what city. His birth, His life, His miracles, His betrayal, His crucifixion, His death, His resurrection after three days and His ascension into heaven were all foretold. The coming of the Holy Spirit and God’s program for the Church were all foretold and fulfilled in minutest detail. These same prophets, writing at the same time and under the inspiration of the same infallible Spirit, also foretold the course of this age and the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet many accept the prophecies of His first coming as being literal because they are literally fulfilled, whereas they spirtualize the unfulfilled prophecies of His second coming, and argue them away. How inconsistent! The prophecies of His First and Second advents were written at the same time by the same men, indicted by the same Holy Spirit, and if those which have already come to pass were literally fulfilled, then simple logic must cause us to expect the same literal fulfillment of those which are yet to be fulfilled.
The first coming of the Lord Jesus was but the first step in a series of events which will culminate in the crowning of [the Lord] Jesus with a crown of authority —- not a crown of thorns. Then He will sit on the throne, not hang on the Cross.
HIS COMING IS IMMINENT
We believe in the imminent personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only hope of this war-torn world. The word imminent has been much misunderstood. When we speak of His imminent return many people think we mean the immediate return of the Lord. Hence they accuse those who preach it of being false prophets because Christ has not come back. By imminent we mean that Jesus may come at any time. His second coming is an undated event as far as God’s revelation is concerned. We do not know when He is coming, but we do know that He is coming and may come at any time. The term "immediate coming" implies that He will come immediately or at some date which is determined. No well-taught Bible student attempts any such foolish speculation. There have been those in the past who have attempted it but all have failed and brought reproach upon the blessed truth of the Lord’s return. Therefore, remember that while we look for Him constantly and He may come at any time, we teach this: "That day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven."
HIS COMING IS NEARER
We do know, however, and dare to preach that He is coming. From all the signs given in the Bible by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, His coming is very near today.
The curse of Christendom today is the failure to distinguish between the Church and the kingdom. The two are absolutely separate entities. The Church is the body of Christ in this dispensation while Christ is absent from earth. The kingdom is His reign on earth. This reign was offered to Israel at His first coming and rejected. Then the kingdom was postponed, and God revealed the mystery of the Church which is the body of Christ. Today the King is in heaven, not on the earth. The kingdom is set aside until He has finished the body and completed the Church. Then He will take the Church out of this earth and then return with her to the earth to set up the kingdom upon the earth. There can be no kingdom without the King, and as long as the King is in heaven, His kingdom will never come on earth. The kingdoms of the world today are not the kingdoms of Christ, but Scripture says that Satan is the God of this age. So we continue to pray, "Our Father which art in heaven...Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." That has not yet been done.
Is there anyone who can look at Europe today, and at Asia, and say that God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven? Can you look upon so-called Christian America with its hell holes and dens of vice, with its corruption in politics, government and religion, with its immorality and sin and say, "This is the kingdom, and God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven"? Surely none can be so foolish as that.
UNKNOWN TO PROPHETS
This truth concerning the Church as a body of believers entirely separate from the nation of Israel, a heavenly people instead of an earthly people, was unknown to God’s people before Pentecost. We have seen that the apostles knew nothing of it before the Cross or even after the Cross until God gave it by revelation to them. You may search diligently but you will find no Church in the Old Testament. Those who contend that the Church started in Eden with Adam do not understand the Church as the body of Christ. Those who would begin the Church with Abraham and make the covenant God made with Abraham the new covenant in His blood have not yet grasped the mystery of the Body. They are still afflicted with Israel’s blindness [Rom. 11:25]. The Church of Jesus Christ was born on the day of Pentecost. Until Pentecost God had left the nations and the Gentiles alone. He was dealing under the law with only one nation: the nation of Israel. After they had rejected the claims of the King [John 19:15], God set them aside and began a new work in which there were no national distinctions [Gal. 3:28].
This body, which God is forming today, is composed of men and women from all nations, whether Jew or Gentile, whether white or black, whether bond or free, rich or poor. The middle wall of partition which separated Jew and Gentile is broken down and now "whosoever will may come." God is now dealing with the individual in calling out His body [Rev. 3:20].
Soon the day will come when the last believer will be added to the body of Christ before His return and then Jesus will come from heaven to take us out of this wicked world, and for us it will be the day when "death is swallowed up in victory" [1Cor. 15:54]. This is the hope of the Christian: not to make the world a better place to live in, but to prepare to leave this world before God comes to punish it for its rejection of Christ*. The Christian looks ahead and all is bright. If he dies tomorrow he will be with the Lord. If he lives till Jesus comes, he will be caught away before the storm of judgment breaks. How wonderful! No wonder, then, that Paul could close this passage with the shout, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" [1Cor. 15:55]
The Lord is coming again. That was the promise He left us:
"I will come again" (John 14:1-3)
This was our Lord’s parting message before He left His disciples, and all we need to do is believe it.
The first message our blessed Lord sent back when He had gone to heaven was the same blessed assurance of His return, immediately after the clouds of heaven swallowed up the Lord when He ascended from Mt. Olivet. He sent back two men in white apparel which also said:
'Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven' (Acts 1:11)
M. R. De Haan; 1944
--------------------------------------------
*Not Wrath But Rapture For The Regenerate
The Rapture by Hamilton Smith 1862-1943
M. R. DeHaan was a widely respected bible teacher and pastor. He also founded the Radio Bible Class in 1938 and conducted a weekly program for 27 years.
DeHaan was a staunch defender of dispensationalism - unflinchingly maintaining the teaching of the "pre-tribulation rapture", the tribulation-judgment of the Christ-rejecting Jews and world to follow, and the physical return of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ at the end of that tribulation to begin the "millenial kingdom" - as absolutely the only possible correct interpretation of scripture. With this we wholeheartedly agree.
To deny these facts is dangerous ground, leading only to hopeless confusion and deception. Ye do well to have a thorough understanding of these things, that ye be not led down that path: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" [rightly dividing = dispensations]; 2Tim. 2:15
Some "right dividing" from M.R. DeHaan:
***
"I will come again"
Nothing is more certain than the personal, bodily return of the Lord Jesus to this earth. Scripture has much more to say concerning His second coming than His First. Yet millions accept the first but reject, or at least ignore, the second.
Thousands of prophecies were fulfilled in the past, and not one failed. There are hundreds of prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ, all of which were fulfilled when He came the first time. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born it was foretold where He would be born, of what tribe, in what province and in what city. His birth, His life, His miracles, His betrayal, His crucifixion, His death, His resurrection after three days and His ascension into heaven were all foretold. The coming of the Holy Spirit and God’s program for the Church were all foretold and fulfilled in minutest detail. These same prophets, writing at the same time and under the inspiration of the same infallible Spirit, also foretold the course of this age and the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet many accept the prophecies of His first coming as being literal because they are literally fulfilled, whereas they spirtualize the unfulfilled prophecies of His second coming, and argue them away. How inconsistent! The prophecies of His First and Second advents were written at the same time by the same men, indicted by the same Holy Spirit, and if those which have already come to pass were literally fulfilled, then simple logic must cause us to expect the same literal fulfillment of those which are yet to be fulfilled.
The first coming of the Lord Jesus was but the first step in a series of events which will culminate in the crowning of [the Lord] Jesus with a crown of authority —- not a crown of thorns. Then He will sit on the throne, not hang on the Cross.
HIS COMING IS IMMINENT
We believe in the imminent personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only hope of this war-torn world. The word imminent has been much misunderstood. When we speak of His imminent return many people think we mean the immediate return of the Lord. Hence they accuse those who preach it of being false prophets because Christ has not come back. By imminent we mean that Jesus may come at any time. His second coming is an undated event as far as God’s revelation is concerned. We do not know when He is coming, but we do know that He is coming and may come at any time. The term "immediate coming" implies that He will come immediately or at some date which is determined. No well-taught Bible student attempts any such foolish speculation. There have been those in the past who have attempted it but all have failed and brought reproach upon the blessed truth of the Lord’s return. Therefore, remember that while we look for Him constantly and He may come at any time, we teach this: "That day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven."
HIS COMING IS NEARER
We do know, however, and dare to preach that He is coming. From all the signs given in the Bible by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, His coming is very near today.
The curse of Christendom today is the failure to distinguish between the Church and the kingdom. The two are absolutely separate entities. The Church is the body of Christ in this dispensation while Christ is absent from earth. The kingdom is His reign on earth. This reign was offered to Israel at His first coming and rejected. Then the kingdom was postponed, and God revealed the mystery of the Church which is the body of Christ. Today the King is in heaven, not on the earth. The kingdom is set aside until He has finished the body and completed the Church. Then He will take the Church out of this earth and then return with her to the earth to set up the kingdom upon the earth. There can be no kingdom without the King, and as long as the King is in heaven, His kingdom will never come on earth. The kingdoms of the world today are not the kingdoms of Christ, but Scripture says that Satan is the God of this age. So we continue to pray, "Our Father which art in heaven...Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." That has not yet been done.
Is there anyone who can look at Europe today, and at Asia, and say that God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven? Can you look upon so-called Christian America with its hell holes and dens of vice, with its corruption in politics, government and religion, with its immorality and sin and say, "This is the kingdom, and God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven"? Surely none can be so foolish as that.
UNKNOWN TO PROPHETS
This truth concerning the Church as a body of believers entirely separate from the nation of Israel, a heavenly people instead of an earthly people, was unknown to God’s people before Pentecost. We have seen that the apostles knew nothing of it before the Cross or even after the Cross until God gave it by revelation to them. You may search diligently but you will find no Church in the Old Testament. Those who contend that the Church started in Eden with Adam do not understand the Church as the body of Christ. Those who would begin the Church with Abraham and make the covenant God made with Abraham the new covenant in His blood have not yet grasped the mystery of the Body. They are still afflicted with Israel’s blindness [Rom. 11:25]. The Church of Jesus Christ was born on the day of Pentecost. Until Pentecost God had left the nations and the Gentiles alone. He was dealing under the law with only one nation: the nation of Israel. After they had rejected the claims of the King [John 19:15], God set them aside and began a new work in which there were no national distinctions [Gal. 3:28].
This body, which God is forming today, is composed of men and women from all nations, whether Jew or Gentile, whether white or black, whether bond or free, rich or poor. The middle wall of partition which separated Jew and Gentile is broken down and now "whosoever will may come." God is now dealing with the individual in calling out His body [Rev. 3:20].
Soon the day will come when the last believer will be added to the body of Christ before His return and then Jesus will come from heaven to take us out of this wicked world, and for us it will be the day when "death is swallowed up in victory" [1Cor. 15:54]. This is the hope of the Christian: not to make the world a better place to live in, but to prepare to leave this world before God comes to punish it for its rejection of Christ*. The Christian looks ahead and all is bright. If he dies tomorrow he will be with the Lord. If he lives till Jesus comes, he will be caught away before the storm of judgment breaks. How wonderful! No wonder, then, that Paul could close this passage with the shout, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" [1Cor. 15:55]
The Lord is coming again. That was the promise He left us:
"I will come again" (John 14:1-3)
This was our Lord’s parting message before He left His disciples, and all we need to do is believe it.
The first message our blessed Lord sent back when He had gone to heaven was the same blessed assurance of His return, immediately after the clouds of heaven swallowed up the Lord when He ascended from Mt. Olivet. He sent back two men in white apparel which also said:
'Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven' (Acts 1:11)
M. R. De Haan; 1944
--------------------------------------------
*Not Wrath But Rapture For The Regenerate
The Rapture by Hamilton Smith 1862-1943
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