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Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 52
Gary discusses the popular signs spoken of in the NT that people today use to claim that the last days are upon us.
The New Testament describes the nearness of the Lord’s coming and the “end of all things,” that is, the end of the distinctly Jewish era with the shadows of the Old Covenant. These events were “near” for those Christians who read the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:3). There is no other explanation except that time was running out for the shadows of the Old Covenant. Forcing this verse and others like it to describe a period nearly two thousand years in the future makes the interpreter conclude that biblical time texts are meaningless. Jesus made it clear to the religious leaders of His day that the kingdom of God would be taken away from them to be “given to a nation producing the fruit of it” (Matt. 21:43). When would this happen? “And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them” (21:45). Their generation would experience the kingdom transfer. For them it was the “end.”
Robert Van Kampen, a prophecy author who believed the events outlined by Jesus in Matthew 24 are yet to be fulfilled, wrote, “Christ tells His disciples that only after the gospel is preached to all nations, ‘then the end shall come.’” Since the Bible clearly states that the gospel “was proclaimed in all creation under heaven” (Col. 1:23), then the end spoken of by Jesus is a past event for us. Earlier in his letter to the Colossians, Paul describes how the gospel was “constantly bearing fruit and increasing in all the world [kosmos]” (1:6). The faith of the Romans was “being proclaimed throughout the whole world [kosmos]” (Rom. 1:8), “to all the nations” (16:26). These statements by Paul reveal a fulfillment of what Jesus told His disciples would be a prelude to the destruction of Jerusalem. “The Gospel had been preached through the whole Roman world, and every nation had received its testimony, before the destruction of Jerusalem: see Col. i. 6, 23; 2 Tim. iv. 17. This was necessary not only as regarded the Gentiles, but to give God’s people the Jews, who were scattered among the nations, the opportunity of receiving or rejecting the preaching of Christ.”[1]
Last Days Madness
In this authoritative book, Gary DeMar clears the haze of "end-times" fever, shedding light on the most difficult and studied prophetic passages in the Bible, including Daniel 7:13-14; 9:24-27; Matt. 16:27-28; 24-25; Thess. 2; 2 Peter 3:3-13, and clearly explaining a host of other controversial topics.
Buy NowGary discusses the popular signs spoken of in the NT that people today use to claim that the last days are upon us. All these events need to be read in light of the first century context, which Jesus says is “this generation.” All of these natural phenomena were given as signs to them, not to us.
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[1] Henry Alford, The New Testament for English Readers, 164. Emphasis in original.