book reviews
By Donald G. Davis, Ph.D. Prof, of Church History, Talbot Theological Seminary
All recommended books may be obtained by mail from the Biola Book Room, Mail Order Dept., 560 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 17, Calif.
special review: Kept from the Hour by Dr. Gerald B. Stanton - Reviewed by Dr. S. H. Sutherland 320 pages; cloth; Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich.; $3.95
of the Word of God. The major part of the book, however, deals specifi cally with the rapture, its signifi cance, time and extent. Views other than those held by the author are fairly and respectfully presented and quite adequately answered in the presentation of his own position. Some have taught that the rapture of the Church is merely the product of someone’s imagination, conjured up in an effort to lull a degenerate generation of Christians into a false complacency instead of calling on them to suffer gloriously for Christ’s sake in the tribulation. In defending the imminency of the Lord’s return for His saints, Dr. Stanton explains how the Word of God shows the pur pose of the tribulation as being God’s judgment upon a Christ-rejecting world and not as a “refining fire” which bums out the dross in the visible church. In the last chapter of the book, the distinctions between the rapture and the revelation are clearly brought out. It is shown that these are two sepa rate events in the prophetic scheme of the Scriptures. Their distinctive fea tures are thoroughly explained so that there should be no confusion in the mind of the student of the Word of God as to the time, nature and distin guishing features of each. Dr. Stanton has rendered invalu able service in marshaling this great mass of material in such a clear, concise and convincing maimer. The book will doubtless prove to be a great help and blessing to thousands of Christian leaders and Bible stu dents who heretofore have been some what confused in their thinking con cerning certain prophetic events. It is to be regretted that some self-styled fundamental leaders have taken it upon themselves to spread conflicting
drawn that the blessed hope of the Church is to meet the Lord in the air and that it does not look forward to passing through the tribulation or any portion of it. This 320-page book is extensive in scope. Supporting its thesis concern ing the time of the rapture are such subjects as the purpose of the tribula tion, the wrath of God, the Restrain«", the Man of Sin, the golden rule of Bible interpretation, the imminency of the Lord’s return, the resurrection of the saints, the seventh trumpet of Revelation and the “ last trump” of 1 Corinthians 15, the rapture and the revelation, the practical value of our hope, the various days of Scripture, the partial-rapture theory, the post t r i b u l a t i o n a nd mid-tribulation theories, and many other closely related subjects. The casual reader will find the book interesting and thought provoking; th e t h o r o u g h student of the Bible will find in it a gold mine of information with ample scriptural authority to back up the truths presented throughout its pages. Unfortunately, many books that have been written presenting eschato logical positions contrary to those held by Dr. Stanton have been char acterized by ridicule and contempt on the part of their authors toward those who differ with them. Dr. Stanton’s book is notably free from any such unfortunate attitudes. Numerous passages of Scripture .dealing with the end of the age are discussed with frankness and great clarity, so that the reader will be able to arrive at conclusions which are formed by solid scriptural study and interpretation. The Scripture index of the book lists over 1,000 references which makes it that much more valuable for the diligent student
Every once in a w h i l e a book appears which is destined to occupy a p l a c e o f u n u s u a l significance. Doubtless such a book is Kept From The Hour, which first appeared in August, 1956, written by Dr. Gerald B. Stanton, Professor of Systematic Theology in Talbot Theological Sem inary, an affiliate school of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc. The one central purpose of Kept From The Hour is to sustain from Scripture the pre-tribulational return of Christ. It is a complete and con vincing answer to the familiar ques tion: “W ill the true Church pass through the coming tribulation?” The book is most interesting to read but it is no,t light reading. One may well read it repeatedly and study its contents thoroughly to his own great spiritual profit. A great deal of confusion has arisen in the minds of many Christians today concerning the position of the Church in relation to the great tribu lation, frequently referred to in the prophetic Scriptures. There are those who believe that the Church will go through the entire tribulation and that following this seven-year period the Church will be caught up in the rapture. Dr. Stanton demonstrates that the Church will be “ kept from the hour” of tribulation, and prior to this time of great world-wide suffer ing, the Church will be taken up to be with the Lord. The pre-tribulation position is most ably presented and thoroughly docu mented by a great mass of scriptural evidence. The author presents with unusual thoroughness the partial- rapture theory, the mid-tribulation rapture theory and the post-tribula tion rapture theory, all of which are shown to be without adequate scrip tural foundation. The conclusion is
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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