The question of when the rapture takes place has long challenged me. Like many who set out to understand the “end times” chronology I started from a pre-tribulation perspective. Looking back this was probably because at the time I first became interested in eschatology it was the most widely disseminated theory, it had many proponents who I respected (and still do), and because unfortunately I didn’t do my own due diligence as I should have.Because this subject still challenges me, I try to read as many diverse views on the subject as I can and then compare them to my current understand of Biblical passages in question. This quest led me recently to Dr. Michael L. Brown and Craig S. Keener’s new book Not Afraid of the Antichrist: Why we don’t Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture.While this book does dig into the details of the timing of the rapture it paints the arguments mostly from a big picture point of view. The book is divided into three parts.Part I: Why Many Doubt “Left Behind” TheologyPart II: What does the Bible Say?Part III: Implications for Us TodayPart I lays out some of the challenging aspects of the pre-tribulation rapture that are found in 2 Peter 3:10, I Corinthians 15:23-26, and 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 (among others). By asking a series of logical questions based upon these passages the authors get you thinking about the subject of the rapture from a new perspective. Chapter 2 then gives the author’s personal journey from a pre-tribulation rapture timing to their current perspective. After their personal testimony the authors explore the chronology of the “end times” from the perspective of church history.Part II digs into the time of the rapture in a bit more detail by questioning the Old Testament “support” for the rapture. Here the authors look at some of the commonly used Old Testament types or shadows which are often used to support the pre-tribulation rapture. After laying this foundation the authors then really focus on why they believe there is only one “2nd coming”. Part II wraps up with Evaluating Pre-Tribulation arguments and exploring what they believe are post-tribulational passages that show why Yeshua (Jesus) returns for the church after the tribulation.To me the part of the book that was most compelling was Part III and the authors’ exploration of the implications that he timing of the rapture has for the church today. Over the years I’ve had a hard time reconciling some of my former pre-tribulation beliefs with the suffering of the followers of Christ over the last 2000 years. In this part of the book the authors really provide some great analysis of “What is Tribulation”, why is this different than God’s Wrath. Related to this, the authors explain how and why thy believe believers will be protected from Yahweh’s divine judgments that will be poured out upon this earth at the end of the age.Most valuable of all to me in reading this book was the authors’ challenging their readers with victorious view of living in Christ during this present age, regardless of its challenges and sacrifices. This part of the book was truly encouraging and inspiring.Another aspect of the subject that clicked with me while reading this book is the reality of how the 1st century church understood that they were in the end times yet they understood the 2nd coming of Yeshua was at some yet appointed time. This “already” and “not yet” aspect of the end times has challenged me over the years. The authors’ explanation of this subject got me thinking that the early church’s understanding of the “end times” may have been influenced by big picture cyclical view of history much like Jewish Rabbinic thought saw the 1st century BC/AD as the start Yemot Mashiach or Days of the Messiah which was a much longer period of time than a seven years. In any case it was some great food for further reflection. * * *In the category of missed opportunities I wish the authors had done a more thorough job explaining why they saw Daniel 9 and the prophecy of 70 “Weeks” (Sevens) as fulfilled in Yeshua (Jesus) in the first century. Clearly Dr. Brown as a Jewish believe in Yeshua, as well as one who believes in the rapture and 2nd coming, has a unique perspective on this wonderful prophecy and one can hardly call him a preterist.Why I believe this was a missed opportunity is because Daniel 9 and 70 Sevens is the bedrock upon which all who hold a dispensationalist point of view find their chronological framework for the 7 year tribulation, the rapture, and their view of the Jewish people in the plan of God. Without the dispensational gap between the 69th and 70th “week” of Daniel 9 the entire pre-trib framework is upended. A seven year tribulation is not once mentioned in the entire Bible but comes directly from a dispensationalist conclusions about Daniel 9.Dr. Brown and Dr. Keener both made a great effort to allow context to define their understanding of the rapture and its timing, yet in their explanation of Daniel 9 they overlooked the one contextual aspect of Daniel 9, which is fatal to dispensational view of Daniel 9. That context is the “covenant and mercy” of Daniel 9:4.The more I study Yahweh’s wonderful words the more in awe I am of the congruency of its messianic redemptive message. Here in Daniel 9 that congruency is on display in a wonderful way.In Daniel 9 the first words out of Daniel’s mouth are a petition for Yahweh to remember his “Covenant and Mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments.” Daniel goes on to plead for his people, Yahweh’s desolate sanctuary, and ruined city of Jerusalem. As Dr. Brown and most readers well versed in the Old Testament would know, This “Covenant and Mercy” is a direct quote from Deut. 7 and Moses’ admonition to Israel. Deuteronomy 7:7-12 - - YHWH did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because YHWH loved you, and because he would keep the oath [shebuw’ah] which he had sworn [shaba] unto your fathers, hath YHWH brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that YHWH thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations…..….Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that YHWH thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware [shaba] unto thy fathers: (excerpted)Moses goes on to inform Israel that these fathers and this oath (shebuw’ah) He swore (shaba) with them originated with Abraham (Due. 9:5). If we go back in Biblical time we find that oath Yahweh swore with Abraham was in Genesis 22 after Abraham showed his willingness to offer Isaac in that heart wrenching OT shadow of Messianic symbolism. It is here that Yahweh (by himself, by his own sovereign will) sware (shaba) the first oath (shebuw’ah) with any man in the Bible. That oath (shebuw’ah) in part promised Abraham that through his “seed” all nations of the earth would be blessed.It’s later in Genesis 26 that Yahweh confirms His oath with Abraham’s son Isaac:Genesis 26:3-4 – – –Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath [shebuw’ah] which I sware [shaba] unto Abraham thy father; 4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;Chronicles 16:13-17 and Psalm 105:6-10 both confirm this oath Yahweh swore with Abraham.In the New Testament, Peter in Acts 3:25-26 speaks of this covenant, as does Zacharias, the father of John, and Mary, the mother of Yeshua in Luke 1. Even Paul speaks of this covenant to the Galatians and they are all unanimous that this covenant (and mercy) Yahweh sware with Abraham was the promise of Israel’s redeemer Yeshua.In other words, Daniel’s plea for Yahweh to remember his “covenant and mercy” (whether he understood it in its fullest context) was a plea for the promised “seed” through whom “all nations of the earth would be blessed”. It was plea for Yahweh to remember the oath (shabuw’ah) He the living God of the Bible sware (shaba’) with Abraham.So how did Yahweh answer Daniel’s prayer? He sent Daniel a prophecy of 70 Sevens. Now here is where the awesome congruency of Yahweh’s word really shines. The Hebrew word for the number seven and swear are phonetically identical. From this Hebrew root come the Hebrew words shebuw’ah (oath), shabuwa’ (Sevens) and, last but not least shib’iym (Seventy). So in other words when Daniel pleaded with Yahweh to remember the shebuw’ah (oath) He shaba (sware) with Abraham, Yahweh sent Daniel the prophecy of shebuwa’ shib’iym (70 Sevens) which told Daniel exactly when that promised redeemer would come. How congruently awesome is that!This context of the “covenant and mercy” of Daniel 9:4, then must be the lens through which we see the “covenant” mentioned in Daniel 9:27. Only Yeshua could have “confirmed the covenant” originally made with Abraham. Indeed it was by Yeshua’s death and resurrection that the “seed” of Abraham became the blessing to all nations of the earth. Luke 1:67-73 67 - - And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; ….To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, Galatians 3:14-16 - - -That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. 16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises [covenant] made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.It is my hope that in some future writing, Dr. Brown will give this subject the attention it deserves and use his eloquence and knowledge to highlight the amazingly congruent redemptive message of Yahweh’s Covenant and Mercy through Yeshua.* * *In closing, context matters. I believe that if you explore the subject of the rapture and its timing with Dr. Brown and Dr. Keener in this book, you’ll find that a very good case can be made that the rapture and 2nd coming are not two separate events separated by years but a single event of hours (possible days) that transpires right at the end of this age and just before Christ literal reigns upon this earth.Maranatha!