Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 13 Gary discusses a popular interpretation by modern prophecy writers and pastors about Israel being the “fig tree” spoken of by Jesus in the NT. If Israel is the fig tree in Matthew 24:32, then Israel is the fig tree in 21:18–20 where Jesus says, “‘No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.’ And at once the fig tree withered.” The fi [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 12 Gary does a short Bible study with his granddaughter, who had a few questions about Mark 13 and Jesus’ coming. In terms of audience relevance related to a study of the Olivet Discourse, students of Scripture need to begin with Matthew 21:1 where we read that Jesus and some of His disciples had come “to the Mount of Olives.” By the time we get t [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 11 Gary gives a quick lesson on how to do biblical hermeneutics, which simply means how to interpret the text. Many people grow up thinking the Bible says one thing when it actually says something else. For example, when asked who cut off Samson’s hair, a high percentage of people will say “Delilah!” By reading Judges 16:19, we quickly learn that she “c [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 10 Many modern preachers and authors are schizophrenic. They don’t seem to understand that their messages are contradictory and often cause their hearers to become paralyzed with indecision. Thousands of tracts, magazine articles, sermons and radio messages tell the people, “Jesus is coming soon!” “These are the last days of this dispensation” and [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 9 Gary puts the popular claim of dividing Matthew 24 into past and future events under the exegetical microscope to see if it stands up under scrutiny. Matthew 24:33 tells us what audience Jesus had in view: “so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.” It’s obvious, and without any need for debate, that the [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 8 Gary discusses the idea put forth by nearly all modern pop prophecy writers that Israel becoming a nation again in 1948 is a “major prophetic sign” of the “end times.” A very popular argument for modern-day Israel being the fulfillment of Bible prophecy uses the fig tree illustration found in Matthew 24:32: “Now learn the [...]

There’s confusion today regarding the last days and the role Israel is said to play. I hope the following will clear up some of the mischaracterizations of Israel and the last days. Are we to believe that after 2000 years a single last-days generation of Jews living in Israel will be slaughtered during soon to occur Great Tribulation based on a reading of Zechariah 13:7-9? “It will come about in a [...]

Jonathan Sedlak, author of Reading Matthew, Trusting Jesus: Christian Tradition and First-Century Fulfillment within Matthew 24-25 (listen to Gary’s fascinating two-part interview with Sedlak here and here), told me in a recent phone call that it was John MacArthur’s book The Second Coming: Signs of Christ’s Return and the End of the Age (2006) that led him to investigate preterism because i [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 7 Gary discusses Max Lucado’s new book, What Happens Next: A Traveler’s Guide Through the End of This Age. While referring to Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 weeks of years (9:24-27), Lucado writes, “This gloomy prophecy was fulfilled on August 6, AD 70. Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem, killed a million Jews, and tore the temple apart stone by [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 6 Gary responds to a clip on Facebook that claims to “prove” the Rapture with two Bible verses. If Revelation 3:10 is the passage that teaches that Christians won’t go through a future seven-year tribulation period, then it needs to be studied carefully. Can it be shown that John being told to “Come up here…” (4:1) is a type of rapture that [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 5 Gary responds to recent comments made by Glenn Beck on Tucker Carlson’s national tour. The literal meaning of Scripture “embraces the normal, everyday, common understanding of the terms of the Bible. Words are given the meaning they normally have in common communication.” The interpreter should be mindful of the “historical setting.” Sentences o [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 4 Gary puts Matthew 24, or what is commonly called Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, under the microscope. The question before us is simple: Does the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24; Mark 13; and Luke 21) describe signs that were fulfilled in (1) events leading up to and including the destruction of the temple in AD 70, (2) a future generation, (3) a past gener [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 3 On this third episode of Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope, Gary continues his study of 2 Thessalonians 2 and the “man of lawlessness.” II. The temple A. The temple was still standing when Paul wrote his letters to the Thessalonians. “[T]he hearer would naturally think of the Jerusalem temple, which would stand for two decades more.” B. [...]

Help us turn $10K into $20K! I was on a radio show some years ago talking about, naturally, Bible prophecy. I woman called in and claimed that the land promises made to Israel had not been fulfilled. There wasn’t any more time on air to discuss the claim, but I took her call at the close of the show. I took her to Joshua 21 and read the following: Thus, the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 2 Gary responds to comments on Facebook about the man of lawlessness (or sin) from 2 Thessalonians 2. Is “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” a reference to the Second Coming, that is, an event that is still in our future, or is it a coming in judgment upon first-century Jerusalem that would be the event to bring the “last days” to a close (2 Thess. [...]

In this concluding part, Gary continues giving his side of the story, as well as the biblical exegesis that informs his own views on eschatology. One of the most wonderful benefits of fulfilled prophecy, over against the speculations of self-appointed prophetic speculators, is that fulfilled prophecy can be used to support the Bible’s own claim that it is indeed the very Word of God. For example, [...]

Gary is interviewed by Darren Doane about what actually happened during the 2023 “Three Questions” controversy. Traditionally, Christians have gotten their understanding of what passes for Biblical eschatology from the historic creeds, confessions of faith and catechisms of the Church, and from the various systematic theologies that have been written in the course of Church history per [...]

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 1 Gary begins his new Friday series called “Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope.” A Christian should never fear having his “system” scrutinized by the plain teaching of the Bible. The rallying cry of the Reformation was ecclesia reformata quia semper reformanda est, “the church reformed because it must always be reforming.” This should be ev [...]

In the concluding half of his interview with John Reddoch on The Wake Up Call, Gary discusses many different aspects of Bible prophecy and what it means to take the Bible at face-value. The Bible is the standard. If the Bible says the Beast (antichrist) appeared in the first century, then it happened, no matter what certain early Church Fathers assert. From the first century to the present, godly [...]

In this first part of a recent interview with John Reddoch on The Wake Up Call, Gary points out the many problems with the popular prophetic system. While the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was certainly a calamity for the Jews, futurists argue, it was not the great tribulation that will take place on a worldwide scale. The tribulation described by Jesus in Matthew 24 was local, confined to Judea th [...]