A Ten-Minute Guide to Bible Prophecy
by Gary DeMar
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My first introduction to Bible prophecy was through Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth, the publishing events of the 1970s. Lindsay presented an end-time scenario that was both fascinating and disturbing, especially to someone who knew almost nothing about the Bible. While Lindsey's prophetic novel introduced me to the Bible, I was immediately confused when actually read God's Word and found that a number of passages he chose as the center of the system did not seem to fit the Bible's view of the end times.
If words mean anything, and Lindsey and his fellow prophecy writers are wrong. For example, how can Jack Van Impe maintain "the rapture is near" [1] for us, and ignore the plane teaching of the Bible when it emphatically states that the time for Christ's coming in judgment was "near" for the church and the first century (e.g., James 5:7-9; Rev. 1:1, 3)? How can Jack Van Diest, editor of 10 Reasons Why Jesus is Coming Soon, and his introduction with this statement: "So with the words of Jesus himself, 'Yes, I'm coming soon' we echo what John the Apostle 'Amen. Come Lord Jesus' (Revelation 20 2:20)"? [2] Van Diest quotes a passage that was written nearly 2000 years ago that said that Jesus' coming was to happen "soon." Revelation says the events which are to follow "must shortly take place" (1:1), "for the time is near" (1:3; see 22:10, 12). Dave Hunt's book asks, When Will Jesus Come? He believes that Jesus' return will happen "soon" because in the subtitle he promises to offer Compelling Evidence for the Soon Return of Christ. [3] why doesn't "soon" mean sent when Jesus promised to return before that first-century generation passed away nearly 2000 years ago (Matt. 24:34)? When the Bible uses words like "near," "shortly," "quickly," and "at hand," they refer to times in events at approximate to that contemporary audience:
The word rendered 'is at hand'... [in 1 Pet. 4:7] may refer either to proximity of place or time, and always denotes that the place or the time referred to was not far off. And the former sense, as referring to nearness of place, see Matthew 21:1; Mark 11:1; Luke 7:12; 15:25; 18:30 5, 40; 19:20 9, 37, 41; 24:46; Acts 9:3; 10:9; 21:33; and the latter sense, as referring to time as being near, see Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; 10:7; 21:34; 26:45; Mark 1:16; Luke 21:20, 28; Acts 7:17; the Romans 13:12; Hebrews 10:25; one Peter 4:7. The idea as apply to time, or to an approaching event, is undoubtedly that it is close by; it is not far off; it will soon occur. [4]
A Prophetic Pilgrimage
At first reading, the New Testament seems to teach that the Temple would be destroyed open: (Matt. 22:38; 24:2), Jerusalem would come under see each (Matt. 22:7), and the Old Covenant order would come to an end before the last disciple died (Matt. 10:23; 16:27-28; cf. John 21:8-23 and purring. Jesus prophesied that a series of devastating events we take place before that first-century move to bottom passed away (Matt. 24:34 and purring. The how could this be? Lindsey another prophetic writers presented which seem to be compelling evidence that "famines, pestilences, and earthquakes" (24:7), the rise of "false prophets" (24:11), and the gospel being preached "to all the nations" (24:14) were end-time events that were taking place in our day. I was confused.
I looked for in answering the Bible. Steadily I began to see that the Bible really is its own best interpreter. Jesus said that there would be famines before the generation to whom He was speaking would pass away. A famine hit the Roman Empire "in the days of Claudius Caesar" (Acts 11:28), who ruled from A. D. 41 to 54. Luke describes the famine as being "throughout the whole world," to that is, encompassing the border of the Roman Empire since the Greek word oikoumene ("inhabited earth" or "known world") and not kosmos ("world") is used.
Was the "gospel of the kingdom preached in all the world for a witness to all the nations" prior to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70? I learned that the Greek word translated "world" in Matthew 24:14 is the same Greek word used in Luke 2:1 to describe a "world-wide" census that took place during the time of Jesus's birth and is best translated "inhabited earth" or "known world" (cf. Acts 11:28). Paul states unequivocally that the gospel "was preached to every creature under heaven" (Col. 1:23) in his day. Those who are mesmerized by and-time speculation wants us that this did not happen. Their argument is with the Bible, not me. Paul's language is clear.
Of course, those who claim that Jesus did not teach His soon coming in judgment upon Jerusalem following the steps of liberals who have claimed the Jesus and the writers of the New Testament were mistaken about the timing of prophetic events. Here's one example:
The content of this revelation, given by God to Jesus Christ, had to do with "what must soon take place." If we take this to mean the persecution will increase and Christians need to be prepared for, and he was certain proved right by later events. On the other hand, John apparently expected to total fulfillment of God's plan to take place in the near future, and in that case he was mistaken. [5]
Jesus in the New Testament writers run a mistaken. After prolonged in careful study, found each and ever prophetic events outlined by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse took place prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
I soon became aware first-century secular sources that supported the Bible's prophetic record without ever referencing the Bible. Keep in mind that all the New Testament books were written prior to A.D. 70, therefore, we do not have an inspired historical narrative of the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. Even so, the sign-witness accounts are helpful in supports of the vocal wrecker.
When the most difficult passages to reconcile with an A.D. 70 fulfillment is Jesus' statement that before that first-century generation passed away the tribes of Israel "will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (24:30). Jesus offered the same prophecy to those who witnessed His trial before Caiaphas the high priest: "You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26:64). The language seems to suggest that those alive and well in the first century would see this event.
A Brother's Confirmation
Is there any evidence that those who want to Jesus applied to the film it of these passages to their generation? James, the brother of Jesus, identified the coming of Jesus "on the clouds of heaven" with events that were to take place and, possibly within his lifetime. The fourth-century church historian Eusebius writes in his Ecclesiastical History that when asked about the coming of the Son of Man, James responded quoting towards a Jesus recorded for us in Matthew 24:30 and 26:64, that "He is now sitting in the heavens, on the right hand of great Power, and is about to come on the clouds of heaven." After hearing this, the officials of the temple cast him down from the "wing of the temple" and beat out his brains with a club. [6] the martyrdom of James occurred around A.D. 62. Soon after the death of James, Vespasian invaded and took Judea. Seven years later the temple was destroyed in the way Jesus said it would be (Matt. 24:2). James' use of this "end-time" passage supports the New Testament's claim and the early church's belief that Jesus' "coming on the clouds of heaven" was near for them. "Coming on the clouds" is a descriptive metaphor that refers to exaltation and kingly ascension which applies to Jesus (Dan. 7:13-14).
The Historical Record
The majority of today's prophecy writers see today's "wars and rumors of wars" is clear evidence that we are living in the last days. A study of the period before Jerusalem's destruction and A.D. 70 tells a different story. The Roman historian Tacitus (A.D. 56-117) writes in his history of the period that there were "disturbances in Germany," "commotions in Africa," "commotions in Thrace," insurrections in Gaul," "intrigues among the Parthians," a "war in Britain," and a "war in Armenia." Wars were far from one end of the empire to the other in the time of supposed peace.
The Jewish historian Josephus (c. A.D. 30-100), and eyewitness to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, writes that Roman civil wars were so common in the empire that there was no need to write about them in any great detail: "I have omitted to give an exact account of them, because they are well known by all, and they are described by a great number of Greek and Roman authors."
In Luke 21:11 we are told that "there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven." The historical record shows that a comet appeared around A.D. 60. Comets were thought to be omens of doom. Nero took the comet's threat seriously and had members of his own family killed in case they saw the stellar phenomenon as a heavenly sign from the gods to dethrone him. Halley's comet appeared in A.D. 66 and was "later said to be a warning of the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in A.D. 70." [7] in addition to Halley's comet, Josephus recounts that "there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year."
Is there any historical evidence that "power, signs, and lying wonders" (2 Thess. 2:9) took place just prior to Jerusalem's destruction? And what about the appearance of "false Christs and false prophets" (Matt. 24:24)? Josephus supports the biblical prophetic wrecker when he reports:
And now these imposters and deceivers persuaded the multitude to follow them into the wilderness and pretended that they would exhibit manifest wonders and signs, that they should be performed by the providence of God.... Moreover, there came out of Egypt about this time to Jerusalem, one that said he was a prophet, and advise the multitude of the common people to go along with him to the Mount of Olives... he said that he which show them from hence, how, at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would fall down; and he promised that he would procure them in entrance into the city through those walls, when they were fallen down.
And another place Josephus tells of a false prophet "would made a public proclamation in the city... that God commanded them to get up upon the temple, and that they are they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance." Eschatological expectation intensified as Jerusalem's war with Rome came to a head. Many believed that the The Messiah would return to deliver them. False prophets took advantage of this spurious expectation in deceived many. To these believers, the expected deliverer had not calm, so they looked for any hint of hope in a political deliverer.
The temple, what its animal sacrifices, officiated over by sinful priests, was gone. The Messiah had calm in the Person of Jesus Christ 70 years before. He is "the temple" (John 2:21); "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (1:29); A. "High Priest forever according to the order of Melchezidek" (Heb. 6:20). Jerusalem, the city of the Old Covenant redemption, was replaced by the "heavenly Jerusalem," the "city of the living God" (12:22). What does this mean for us? "But now He has obtained a more excellent Ministry, inasmuch as He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises" (8:6).
NOTES
[1] Jack Van Impe, The Great Escape: Preparing for the Rapture, the Next Event on God's Prophetic Clock (Nashville, TN: Word, 1998), 146. Go Back
[2] John Van Diest, ed., 10 Reasons Why Jesus Is Coming Soon: Ten Christian Leaders Share Their Insights (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1998), 8.Go Back
[3] Dave Hunt, When Will Jesus Come?: Compelling Evidence for the Soon Return of Christ (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, [1993], 2003).Go Back
[4] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: 1 Peter (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, [1884-1885]), 193.Go Back
[5] Catherine Gunsalus Gonzalez and Justo L. Gonazalez, Revelation (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), 12.Go Back
[6] William Cave, Antiquitates Apostolicae or, the History of the Lives, Acts and Martyrdoms of the Holy Apostles of Our Saviour (London: R. Norton, 1672), 193.Go Back
[7] Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Guide to Haley's Comet: The Awesome Story of the Comets (New York: Walker and Company, 1985), 6.Go Back