Welcome to Two Guys and A Bible Broadcast. We continue the discussion on the transition period. Some believe that the transition period is not taught in the Bible.
However, the Bible is clear that there was a transition period. The transition from the Old Covenant World was not an instantaneous overnight event but was a transition occurring from the ministry of John, the Baptizer and the Christ until AD 70.
(Don will speak on John, the Baptizer, and the passing of Torah and the significance of John’s ministry at the conference in Virginia Beach next month).
The Law and the Prophets Were Until John
Many never consider that John played a roll in the transition period. Luke said, the Law and the Prophets were until John.
Does it mean that the law passed with John? If so the law did not end with the “coming” of John. If it did not, then we have a transition period. John did not end the law of Moses.
John said something that the Old Testaments prophets did not say. He said that the kingdom of God had drawn near, Matt. 3:1-2; Luke 3:1. He introduced the immanency of the approaching kingdom and with it the time of consummation resulting in national destruction and salvation.
The harvest would come in the last days as the days of the coming Prince in which the New Covenant would be established. The Old Testament prophets never said that they were in the last days. They never used the terms “these days” as Peter suggested, (1 Peter. 1:20).
No Old Testament prophet ever announced that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. They always said, the time would come in the last days, or after those days, or in those days and at “that” time, etc. (Joel 2:28-3:1)
Preparation was made to bring about the fulness of time. One again we see constant transition. John predicted the coming of the wrath and harvest. But, it did not happen overnight. The transition between the time of prophecy, the time of ministry and warning and the time of fulfillment.
The Harvest Is An Example of Transition
John spoke of the harvest, an agricultural analogy to indicate the transition from one point in time to another later time. The harvest is said to be at the end of the age.
The harvest is a result of a growth process that begins with the sowing of the seed. See Matthew 13 on the parable of the tares, and also in Mark 4:26-29. Paul also uses the sowing, growing and harvesting analogy in 1 Corinthians 3, when he says, “I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (harvest) 1 Cor. 3:5.
However, when we speak of the harvest, that is the result of a sowing period or season. Jesus said, the Son of man sowed seed in his field, which was the world. But the harvest is the end of the age.
However, Jesus is the firstfruits of the harvest, per 1 Corinthians 15:20. But, the resurrection did not consummate when Jesus rose from the dead. The general or end of the age harvest did not occur when Christ rose from the dead. Yet, to affirm no transition period is to assert that very idea.
The Wrath About to Come
The announcement of the “wrath to come” by John, the Baptizer, and that mentioned by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 which speaks about the wrath to about to come, speak of the same time and wrath. Likewise, Malachi, predicted the coming of the Lord and the great day of wrath. Yet in Revelation 6, we have the great day of wrath coming, which confirms and applies the message of John, the Baptizer.
John’s message of the “wrath about to come” is Malachi’s great and awesome day of the Lord, which equally is the great day of wrath in Revelation 6. We believe this establishes the transition period as a solid teaching of the scriptures. Tune in next week for Two Guys and a Bible on Fulfilled Radio, a voice you can trust.