Question
Did the early Christians [Gentiles] keep the Sabbath, Saturday? How can it be proven in the Bible?
and
If upon your death you go to heaven or hell, where do the people come from and what would the purpose of the great white throne judgment be? Surely you’re not pulled out of heaven or hell and judged again.

Answer
First, let me say that the early Christians were both Jew and Greek (Gentile). Secondly, Scripture was not given by God as a proof of anything. This is a purely Western need. We have been educated to find proof for our way of thinking and then convince others with our proof. Scripture stands outside of that tradition. Scripture is God’s story of his creation and redemption of a people that will be his light to the fallen world. We spend too much time trying to “prove something about” rather than learning how to enjoy living in the presence of a present God.

It is difficult to say that within the first century that the early church universally recognized a specific day, either Saturday or Sunday on our calendar, as the appropriate time for early Christians to gather. It may well be that the early Christians met on different days in different communities. There is no evidence in the NT that Sunday or “the Lord’s day” replaced the Sabbath as a day for believers to worship together. The significance of “the Lord’s day” was that it was the day of Jesus’ resurrection. We have chosen Sunday, for the most part, for a day for believers to worship. However, any day, or better yet, everyday would be an appropriate day for us to be attentive to God.

Second, there is no clear indication that at the death of a person that he goes directly to heaven or hell. Scripture is silent on what occurs between death and the end of time. Again our Western need for specifics is our downfall. We pull passages of Scripture together and arrange them so we can have an answer to a question that Scripture didn’t see the need to answer. When we apply ourselves to this process of pulling varied Scriptures together to prove a point we might find ourselves saying that we can do a better job than the Spirit in putting Scripture together, in so far as it is already in a form that has come to us.

In regards to the first question, it is helpful to choose a day in which to worship. Which day is not important! In regards to the second question, we simply don’t have an answer.

Question
Do you feel the Tribulation has already happened or do you feel it is yet to come? I have been doing some deep research in the word and I feel that it is to come, but I am searching for the truth, and if you have proof I will believe any answer you give me. I am from a biblical church and my pastor feels that the Tribulation is yet to come. I also do because of the proof he has given me. But if you have proof to prove it the other way, then please write.

Answer
There are three varieties of belief about this topic of tribulation (Pretribulation, Midtribulation, and Posttribulation).

Pretribulation
Pretribulation has to do with the rapture of the church before a tribulation. Until the 19th century, believers thought in terms of the rapture and the Second Coming of Jesus as the same event. It occurred after the tribulation. In the 19th century a swing to Dispensational Theology appeared. Dispensational Theology had its roots in J.N. Darby, a Plymouth Brethren minister. He introduced into the church the idea of the coming of Jesus in two stages: one for his saints at the rapture and one with his saints at the Second Coming at the close of the tribulation. According to his interpretation of prophecy, there was a seven-year period of time that was the 70th week predicted by Daniel (9.24-27). With the church removed, God would resume his dealing with Israel.

Midtribulation
The midtribulation rapture of the church became popular in the mid-fifties. The modification, which this view brings to the pretribulation rapture, was the limitation of the wrath of God upon the world as described in Revelation 16-18 to the first three and a half years of the tribulation period.

Posttribulation
Posttribulation is the view that believes that the people of God who face persecution are the Church. They believe that there is no internal evidence in the Bible and Revelation to indicate that the seven churches equal seven time periods and that there is no indication that John’s rapture is the Church’s rapture.

I think that it is fair to say that “being dogmatic” about a tribulation is clearly not helpful. It also occurs to me that since Scripture does not make it a “banner topic,” so to speak, that it would be a much more enabling concept to figure out “how to live” now rather than trying to figure out “when the tribulation is going to happen.” Actually the former does not really do one much good in the scheme of things while the latter seems to be the emphasis of Scripture.

P.S. It is dangerous to believe anything that someone else tells you is correct. It may also not be valid to look at the Bible as a book that must “prove” something. The concept of “proof” may be wholly a concept of the Enlightenment Project.

Question
Do you feel the Tribulation has already happened or do you feel it is yet to come? I have been doing some deep research in the word and I feel that it is to come, but I am searching for the truth, and if you have proof I will believe any answer you give me. I am from a biblical church and my pastor feels that the Tribulation is yet to come. I also do because of the proof he has given me. But if you have proof to prove it the other way, then please write.

Answer
The idea of a tribulation is always a “hot” topic. Usually there is more “heat” than “light” on the subject. The following is a brief description that might be of help.

Reflecting apocalyptic language of the OT, especially Daniel, the book of Revelation (see Revelation, Book of, in present volume) is the most extended depiction of tribulation in the NT, even though the word thlipsis is used only a few times. Although the reference in Revelation 7:14 to the great tribulation (cf. Mt 24:21) has caused unnecessary theological debate in terms of establishing the precise time and character of this tribulation in some futuristic eschatological schemes, Revelation 6-19 clearly reflects a series of graphically depicted events of tribulation before the return of Christ (Rev 19:11-21; see Parousia in present volume). This period is described in terms of the imagery of seven seals (Rev 6:1-8:1), seven trumpets (Rev 8:2-11:19) and seven bowls (Rev 15:1-16:21), all containing various disastrous events culminating in judgment. There have been numerous interpretations of how the seals, trumpets and bowls relate to each other, some interpreters seeing them consecutively and others with various degrees of overlap, some more and some less literally, but in any event in the end Babylon is destroyed (Rev 17:1-18:24), making way for the return of Christ. (Martin, Ralph P.; Davids, Peter H., “Tribulation” Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments)

To Be Continued…