If you question the modern-day claim that Jesus is physically returning “soon” (Rev. 1:1; 22:6) because “the time is near” (1:3; 22:10), then you are a ‘scoffer’ or a ‘mocker.’ This is standard prophetic agitprop. If the Bible says (and it does) that Jesus’ coming was “near … right at the doors” (James 5:7-9), and He hasn’t come after nearly 2000 years, then it’s necessary to evaluate popular prop [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 104 Gary does a deep dive on the absence of a seven-year period discussed in the New Testament, which is crucial for many end-time theories. Could God have placed a “gap” between the sixty-ninth and seventieth years of Israel’s captivity, adding, say, a hundred years and still maintain that He had kept His word? There is no way He could have done it and [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 103 Gary answers a question he often receives about having conversations with dispensationalists. One of the difficulties dispensationalists have in understanding the Messianic kingdom promised by the prophets is with regard to its fundamental nature. Several major misconceptions lead them astray in this regard. We highlight but three: they assert that t [...]

Brock Hollett’s book Debunking Preterism opens with a discussion of “time texts” like “near,” “at hand,” “shortly,” and “quickly” and seven particular passages where the words appear in the book of Revelation (1:1, 3; 3:11; 22:6, 7, 10, 12, 20). He writes that these “time statements appear in the introductory and closing sections of the Apocalypse.” He claims that “[t]his type of literary device i [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 102 Gary responds to a recent video by Pastor Jack Hibbs about the “expiration date of the United States.” When we approach the Scriptures, we must understand, first and foremost, that the Bible is a history book about redemptive history. So, we must ask, “Whose history of redemption is the Bible concerned with? Where was or is this history h [...]

While I was visiting my late friend Mike Britton, I spoke with a man who had been discipled by Mike. He’s been teaching a Bible study on prophecy. We spoke on the phone. He told me about a back-and-forth debate he was having with a friend. This friend would not look at alternative arguments. When he was confronted with some hard facts, he dismissed them. One of his arguments was that the early chu [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 101 Gary responds to various views about the seven churches of the book of Revelation. A popular argument for a pre-tribulation rapture is the claim that while the “church” is mentioned 19 times in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, in chapters 4–18 “there is absolute silence.”[1] Similar to the way author Mark Hitchcock places a gap in [...]

Gary gives an overview of the book of Revelation and helps readers to put the confusing book into perspective. From the very beginning, cranks and crackpots have attempted to use Revelation to advocate some new twist on the Chicken Little Doctrine: The Sky Is Falling! But, as I hope to show in this exposition, St. John’s Apocalypse teaches instead that Christians will overcome al opposition [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 100 Gary discusses the date of the writing of the book of Revelation. Quite a bit of diversity existed in early Christianity regarding the date that John wrote the book of Revelation, and the dominance of one opinion is not synonymous with unanimity of opinion. Several writers in recent years have noted that markedly different opinions about the date of [...]

Gary reveals that he is considering having a prophecy conference in the Nashville area next summer. 2 Corinthians 7 begins: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (v. 1). “These promises” were made to Israel, and yet Paul applies them to the church at Corinth (1:1). There is no mention of [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 99 Gary points out that no one interprets purely “literally,” although many prophecy speculators claim that they do. Jesus often uses the plural “you” in Matthew 24 and in the parallel passages in Mark 13 and Luke 21: “They will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing y [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 98 Gary responds to a recent video by Joel Richardson about Matthew 24:15 and the “abomination of desolation.” Futurists need a rebuilt temple in order to project the fulfillment of prophecies related to the abomination of desolation to another time. Is this what Jesus had in view in Matthew 24:15? A careful reading of Scripture will show tha [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 97 Gary discusses common misconceptions about Revelation 3:10 and its context, emphasizing the importance of understanding biblical prophecy within its historical setting. Many commentators from the early and medieval periods held that the hour of testing in Rev. 3:10 was, or could be interpreted as, a first-century persecution. These included Ecumenius [...]

Trying to link current events to prophetic texts to predict when the “rapture” might occur or when the Second Coming might happen is like linking scientific discoveries to the Bible. When the latest scientific discovery is later nullified by a new discovery, the biblical link is made null and void. Let me offer a typical example. With the rise in technology, speedier microchips, eBooks, gargantuan [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 96 Gary discusses a verse from the book of Daniel (12:4) that has been widely cited lately in relation to Bible prophecy and artificial intelligence technologies. Those who take [Daniel 12] verse 4 as referring to events at the end of history believe that Daniel’s prophecy is “sealed up” until that time. Only as the second coming of Christ draws near wil [...]

Gary welcomes Kim Burgess back for one final episode of the series on 1 Corinthians 15. Now, as we said previously, we are going to tell you up-front what we are going to be telling tell you in this series. As it were, regarding the ruling covenantal hermeneutic in Scripture, we are going to start with the bottom line first. What is coming now is really the most important lesson of all because of [...]

A great deal of time and energy goes into supporting a pre-tribulational “rapture.” In a recent interview, John Bevere, author of The King is Coming, claims that Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 130-202) taught that the “rapture of the church” took place before the final week of Daniel’s 70 weeks-of-years prophecy. Irenaeus is claimed as a key support witness for the rapturists because he identifies Papia [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 95 Gary responds to a video by John Bevere that makes several claims about the pretribulational rapture and what the early church believed about Bible prophecy. History is important, but it is not authoritative. In terms of sola Scriptura, it does not matter what men of the past believed; the Bible is the standard. The argument is often made that some Ch [...]

Since John is told the events revealed to him were to take place “soon” (1:1) “for the time is near” (1:3), Revelation is about events that were to happen soon for those living in John’s day, in particular, in events leading up to and including the end of the Old Covenant represented outwardly by the temple and Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem. The Old Covenant was replaced with a better covenant [...]

In this conclusion of a conference talk Gary gave recently, he discusses the apologetics of preterism. Before any worthwhile discussion can take place about the Bible, the first question I always ask is, “What does the text say?” The tempter approached Eve with a question about the text: “Indeed has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’” (Gen. 3:1). The serpent intentionally m [...]