Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 26
No matter what happens in the Middle East—good, bad, or indifferent—it is claimed to be a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
The Bible shows that the events described in Matthew 24 were fulfilled in the first century and fell upon the generation of Jews who “did not recognize the time of [their] visitation” (Luke 19:44) and crucified “the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). How do we know this? Because Jesus told us: “Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation” (Matt. 23:36 and 24:34). Jesus does not have a future generation in mind.
By futurizing prophecy beyond its first-century-context, Jews are always under a cloud of inevitable end-time judgment. Non-Christian writers are beginning to understand the implication’s of this:
Convinced that a nuclear Armageddon is an inevitable event within the divine scheme of things, many evangelical dispensationalists have committed themselves to a course for Israel that, by their own admission, will lead directly to a holocaust indescribably more savage and widespread than any vision of carnage that could have generated in Adolf Hitler’s criminal mind. [1]
It is alarming to some Jewish leaders as well. Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, asks, “To what extent will a theological view that calls for Armageddon in the Middle East lead [evangelicals] to support policies that may move in that direction, rather than toward stability and peaceful coexistence?” [2] The most probable scenario is that prophetic futurists will sit back and do nothing as they see Israel go up in smoke since the Bible predicts an inevitable holocaust. It is time to recognize that these so-called end-time biblical prophecies have been fulfilled. Those Jews living in Judea at the time after Jesus’ ascension and who fled before the assault on the temple were saved (Matt. 24:15-22). Forty years of preaching gave them ample time to escape the predicted slaughter.
Left Behind: Separating Fact from Fiction
In Left Behind: Separating Fact From Fiction, Gary DeMar takes a critical look at the theology behind this popular fiction series and challenges readers to consider a different interpretation. With confidence based on years of biblical study, DeMar carefully examines eleven major components of the pre-tribulation rapture theology and offers clear, convincing alternatives to the interpretations of Bible prophecy presented in Left Behind.
Buy NowNo matter what happens in the Middle East—good, bad, or indifferent—it is claimed to be a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Gary discusses current claims about the prophetic importance and significance about what’s happening in Gaza. Once again, these claims are shown to be lacking biblical proof and are nothing more than sensational attention grabs.
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[1] Grace Halsell, Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists on the Road to Nuclear War (Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill & Co., 1986), 195.
[2] Quoted in Jeffery L. Sheler, “Odd Bedfellows,” U.S. News & World Report (August 12, 2002), 35.