Is the “tribulation” all or partly fulfilled by events that have occurred already—like the Romans destroying the Temple and killing all the Jews in 70–78 AD? If so, is there still one final “week” of tribulation yet to come? Is the Rapture pre- or post-tribulation? “One will be taken, the other left”—but is the first one the believer, or the unbeliever? We don’t know. We don’t even know if the beast, antichrist, and man of lawlessness are one thing, two things, or three things – or whether each is a person, or is instead more like the spirit of the world (as in “the spirit of antichrist is in the world”). And “the mark of the beast” could be a literal/physical mark, or it could be a metaphorical/spiritual mark (as in Exodus 13:9 and Deuteronomy 6:8). The purpose of Bible prophecies is not to reveal the exact future, but to strengthen and prepare us for it. So, our doctrine can’t be based on concrete interpretations (or misinterpretations) of prophecies; the Jews did that, and even missed Jesus because of it! Instead, we should be like the Bereans, who used scripture to test everything Paul said.
