K. J. Soze. The Message for the Last Days. K. J. Soze, 2019.

While The Message for the Last Days is subtitled Biblical and Historical Understanding of End Times, do not read this if you want to read a book like The Late Great Planet Earth or Earth’s Last Empire, the latter a book we recently reviewed here. This is not a book on end times prophecy. It does touch a little on different interpretations and reminds us that perhaps too many people have made such a subject more complicated than it is meant to be.

For one thing, this book demonstrates that in most places in the Bible when the end of the age is described that three events are “clustered.” Everywhere they appear together the passages suggest that there is little or no time between them. The three events? The second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and judgment.

For what it is worth, this has been the teaching and belief of most Christians through most of history. It was only in the nineteenth century that different alternate theories began to emerge through such movements as the Adventists, Dispensationalists, and the Irvingites.

The author runs through a number of biblical proof texts to at least challenge, if not dismiss outright, such ideas. But most of the book is not on this subject.

Many years ago Corrie ten Boom wrote a book called Marching Orders for the End Battle. That book, like this one, was not an interpretation of biblical prophecy or end times. In neither book is there any speculation about the antichrist, the Temple, Israel, or anything that such works usually contain. Corrie ten Boom gives instructions on how to live the Christian life in difficult times—a voice of experience, to say the least.

Similarly, at least two thirds of The Message for the Last Days is not about biblical prophecy at all. It mainly attempts to challenge the reader to consider whether or not he would be prepared should the Lord return.

The main theme of most of the book can be summed up by the title of a book by a nineteenth century leader of Lutherans in America: The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel. This book focuses on that.

There is one slight overlap with Earth’s Last Empire, namely that Soze also emphasizes that the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional. While Hagee writes that the land of Israel will unconditionally belong to the Jews, Soze really emphasizes what the prophets and the New Testament focus on—faith.

Abraham received God’s promise in the covenant by faith. His faith in God’s promise justified him, made him righteous in God’s eyes (see Genesis 15:6). That truth is everlasting and unconditional as well as any promise about the land. And in terms of mankind’s ultimate destiny, it is much more significant.

Soze notes that this has always been the case. The Bible emphasizes that God does not change (e.g., see Malachi 3:6 or Hebrews 13:8). So Noah acted in faith. Adam and Eve’s sin was that they did not trust God’s word to them. The Message for the Last Days tries to get this across in many different ways. At times it may seem repetitive, but the reader can understand that the author wanted to be thorough.

The author’s approach to the issue of what constitutes saving faith reminded this reviewer of Martin Luther’s most enduring theological work, The Bondage of the Will. Soze states explicitly that free will does not exist. Salvation is rooted in faith, not in works or actions. As both testaments note, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17) Man contributes nothing to his salvation, though the book does remind us that Abraham’s justifying faith in God was such that he would obediently sacrifice Isaac because he believed God could resurrect him (see Genesis 22:15-18, cf. Hebrews 11:17-19).

Philosophers and theologians of all stripes have discussed the idea of free will. Is The Message for the Last Days, then, deterministic or fatalistic? It is hard to say. Perhaps the author will clarify things, if it is even possible, in a promised volume two. Meanwhile Samuel Johnson’s observation still stands for most of us: “All theory is against freedom of the will; all experience for it.” Or as Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote: “We must believe in free will. We have no choice.”

One curious idea which the author repeats is that the soul does not outlive the body. Although a little vague on the issue—perhaps volume two will clarify this as well—it sounds as if the author believes in a “soul sleep” or a cessation of life and revivifying at the Judgment. The book considers the idea of the soul living on an unbiblical Hellenization. (Whew! In the last month I have read three books blaming Hellenization for a number of things…)

It seems there are a number of Scriptures in both testaments that could at least raise questions about that idea, but before launching out on a possible rabbit trail, let us wait for volume two.