Page 24 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Meaning of the Church
Gentile (1 Cor. 10:32; Heb. 12:22-24). The church as the body
of Christ is therefore a new entity, and the term ecclesia when
used in this sense refers only to saints of the present dispensa­
tion.
The Church Age as a Parenthesis
Not only do the Scriptures indicate that the church of the
present age is a distinct body of believers, but there is good
evidence that the age itself is a parenthesis in the divine pro­
gram of God as it was revealed in the Old Testament. There
has been considerable opposition from amillenarians, as well
as from some premillenarians, to the concept of the church age
as a parenthesis. Generally speaking, however, those who dis­
tinguish clearly between the church and Israel have recog­
nized the present age as an unexpected and unpredicted par­
enthesis as far as Old Testament prophecy is concerned.
While a concept of a parenthesis is not absolutely essential to
pretribulationism, if this teaching be accepted, it greatly
strengthens the pretribulational argument.
Of major importance is the relationship of this to the
interpretation of Daniel’s seventieth week (Dan. 9:27). Those
who believe that the present age is a parenthesis regard it as
the extended period of time between the close of the sixty­
ninth week of Daniel and the beginning of the seventieth week.
This would support the teaching of pretribulationists that the
future fulfillment of Daniel’s seventieth week has to do with
Israel and not the church and thereby strengthens the pre­
tribulation position. The study of Daniel’s seventieth week
will sustain the teaching that the church of the present age is a
distinct body from those who live in the seventieth week.
Daniel’s seventieth week relates to Israel, not the church
The interpretation of Daniel 9:24-27 is of major impor­
tance to premillennialism as well as pretribulationism. Con­
servative scholars generally have interpreted the term week
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