Answers to Your Questions

Dr. Couch, how can the Covenant and Reformed guys be so off base in regard to their “non-literal” view of the rapture of the church, the tribulation, and the return of Christ?

    I think the answers are somewhat simple. (1) They don’t take the Bible in a normal, literal sense, when it comes to future prophecy. However, they (strangely) take His first coming literally but deny His second coming as actual and literal. (2) They really do not study the Old Testament. When is the last time you heard of a Covenant guy giving a verse-by-verse exegesis from an OT book? (3) They are to some degree anti-Semitic. When have you heard of a Covenant or Reformed guy calling for heart-felt support for the Jewish people in general, and for the nation of Israel in particular?

    Christ did not chide the Jewish people and the leadership for their literal views of the Kingdom of God, which is actually the Millennial reign of the Messiah on the throne of David! He chided them for their legalism and for their hypocrisy, not their literal and orthodox theology.

    Reading the ancient Jewish Rabbis one can see the normal interpretation and literalness the Jews had for the OT Word of God! While often they had some mystical views (those writing in the period of the Middle Ages), they still understood the OT was predicting a worldwide tribulation, a literal coming of the Messiah, and His messianic reign in Jerusalem over the entire world. For example in the Zohar (2:7; 2:172b) we read:

         
          Sufferings will overtake Israel [in the end times], and all the nations and their
          kings will consult together against Israel, and many evil decrees will arise and
          will bring trouble upon trouble. At that time King Messiah will be stirred up to
          come forth. And on that day on which He comes there the whole world will
          tremble, and all the children of the world will hide in caves and crevices [the
          book of Revelation!]. The Messiah will arise and reveal Himself in the Land.

          The Messiah will be revealed, and many nations will gather against Him, and
          He will stir up wars in the whole world. And at that time the Holy One, blessed be
          He, will manifest His power against all the nations of the world, and King
          Messiah will become known in all the world, and all the kings of the world
          will rise up to wage war against Him. And many of the wicked among the
          Jews will join them and come with them to wage war against King Messiah.
          And then the whole world will be darkened, and many of the people of
          Israel will die in that darkness.

    It is a satanic ploy to attempt to get rid of Israel, in Scripture, or in actuality in history.

   Thanks for asking.