There is a very important new Bible prophecy book I would urge you to read. It is titled, What Happens Next: A Traveler’s Guide Through the End of This Age. Its author is one of Christendom’s most beloved writers—Max Lucado.
Those of you who are familiar with Max’s writings know full well that he is a very gifted storyteller. This book is non-fiction about what the Bible says about the End Times, and it displays his marvelous writing talents from beginning to end.
I personally found this book to be astounding! The reason is that Max reveals that he has a Pre-Millennial viewpoint of End Time prophecy. Why is that so astounding? Because both Max and I grew up in the same Christian denomination—the Non-Instrumental Churches of Christ, and that group of churches is militantly Amillennial. In other words, they teach that we are living in the Millennium now—that it began at the Cross and will continue to the Second Coming. Thus, these churches do not believe in any future literal reign of Jesus on this earth.
By “militant,” I mean that when I was growing up in these churches in the 1940s and 50s, they would disfellowship you if you held any other view of End Time prophecy except the Amillennial one. Many of the people in the Churches of Christ I attended in Waco, Texas, believed that Pre-Millennialists were headed straight to Hell!
Lucado’s Background
Max graduated from the leading school of his denomination—Abilene Christian College in Abilene, Texas (now a university). After a brief stint as an associate minister of a church in Miami, he and his wife decided to move to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to become missionaries. They returned to the States in 1987, and the following year, Max became the pulpit minister of the Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas.
Max ultimately became turned off by the legalism of the Churches of Christ, and after a while, he boldly decided to renounce his denomination’s teaching that baptism is required for salvation.
That was followed by an equally shocking decision to start using instruments of music in his church’s worship services. In 2003, it was decided that the church would drop its affiliation with the Churches of Christ, and the church’s name was changed to simply Oak Hills Church. In 2007, Max stepped down from his position due to health concerns. He is still a member of the church, but he focuses his time today on freelance evangelism and writing.
Max is the author of over 100 books, with over 150 million copies in print. Three times, he has won the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year Award. He has been named “America’s Pastor” by Christianity Today magazine, and in 2005, he was named by Reader’s Digest as “The Best Preacher in America.”
A Stunning Departure
To put it mildly, this new book of Max’s represents a ground-breaking, all-new viewpoint of his. Needless to say, the writing throughout is enthralling, including his imaginative use of illustrations to make his points.
He begins the book by confessing that he never had a Premillennial pastor or professor and that the seminary he attended taught that the Millennial Kingdom is the current Church Age. He then explains that the reason for his shift to a Premillennial viewpoint can be summed up in the acrostic, P.O.W.E.R:
- Promises yet unfulfilled
- Overthrow of Satan
- Word-for-word interpretation
- Early church fathers
- Resurrections in Revelation
The Meaning of the Acrostic
Regarding “Promises yet unfulfilled,” Max states that “God has decreed a future reign of Christ on earth in which we [believers] will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). He also points out many other promises that are yet to be fulfilled, such as the land promise to Israel and the renewal of nature.
The “Overthrow of Satan” refers to the fact that he still roams the earth as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). He will not be dethroned until Jesus returns and begins to reign.
The “Word-for-word interpretation” is based upon the fact that all the First Coming prophecies concerning the Messiah meant what they said, and therefore, the Second Coming prophecies should be interpreted for their plain sense meaning and should not be spiritualized.
His reference to the “Early church fathers” points to the fact that “for the first three hundred years of church history, almost all its leaders were Premillennial.” He provides a detailed list of these leaders and then concludes by saying, “The evidence of history is compelling.”
His fifth point, “Resurrections in Revelation,” relates to the fact that the Bible teaches “two resurrections: one for the redeemed and one for the rebels. One at the beginning of the Millennium, one at the end. If there is no Millennium, how can there be two resurrections?”
The Sequence of End-Time Events
The book contains a simplified chart of end-time events, and they are presented in the exact order as they are portrayed happening in the Scriptures: the Rapture, the Tribulation, Heavenly Rewards, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, the Second Coming, the Millennium and Heaven.
In speaking of the Eternal State, Max emphasizes that God is going to redeem all of His creation and not destroy it, as some teach. Here’s how he puts it:
God will redeem every atom, insect, animal, and galaxy to its original glory. To do any less would be the admission of defeat. To destroy the universe is to admit it cannot be reclaimed and renewed. To rescue and redeem it, however, is yet another display of our Maker’s ultimate authority. It will be time for a new start.
An Illustration
Max brings this remarkable book to a close with a reference to a movie in which actor Jack Nicholson “portrays a curmudgeonly New York City author who snaps at anything that moves.” Over and over, he bemoans about life, asking: “Is this as good as it gets?”
Max responds to the question by observing that many people assume it is. But Max says, “No!”
They mistakenly think their fondest moment, deepest joy, and most profound experience happens sometime between birth and hearse. Someone needs to tell them the good news, “As good as it gets? In no way and by no means. If you are in Christ, this life is as bad as it gets.”
I can say, “Hallelujah!” to that.
Conclusion
I praise God for this book. The Signs of the Times are shouting from the heavens that we are the terminal generation that is living on borrowed time. Jesus is at the very gates of Heaven, waiting for His Father’s command to step out on a cloud and return for His Church.
Yet, the average church in America today is blinded to the signs and has no interest in preaching Bible prophecy to prepare its people for the Rapture. In short, today’s Church is yawning and not yearning for the return of Jesus.
Hopefully, this book, with its author’s great host of admirers, will impact the hearts of many—including pastors—to wake up to Bible prophecy and what it has to say about the End Times.
Maranatha! (1 Corinthians 16:22)
Resource
The book also contains 31 pages of suggestions about how to conduct discussions of each chapter.
Max Lucado was featured on an episode of Christ in Prophecy with the focus on his book, What Happens Next.
