Unraveling the End A Biblical Synthesis of Competing Views

1. Unraveling the EndA Biblical Synthesis of Competing Views

2. Time of the End Timeline

3. The Appointed Time of the End “For the revelation awaits an appointedtime; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” (Habakkuk 2:3) 7 Century B.C.

4. Daniel’s Two Time Prophecies Daniel’s 70 Weeks / Time of the End • Fulfilled – literally, exactly, chronologically, and sequentially. • Within their two respective time periods. • Precisely as foretold. • No gaps, no gimmicks, no delay. • The historical setting and defining characteristic of Daniel’s “time of the end” achieved fulfillment. • When the “the power of the holy people” was “finally broken” (Dan. 12:7).

5. Daniel’s Time of the EndTimeline Thus • The end the Bible proclaims is past. • Not the end of human history, the end of time, or the destruction of the physical creation. • The biblical “last days.” • Behind us, not ahead of us. • Past, not in the future.

6. Divine PerfectionProposition #3 • One and only End the Bible consistently proclaims. • Covenantal, not cosmic. • Timely, and not delayed. • Framing context for the time and nature of eschatological fulfillment. • Everything else was to happen “at just the right time”—at this time.

7. The End TimesLast Days←Fullness of Time→ Daniel’s 70th Week A.D. 27-34 FRONT BOOKEND Daniel’s Time of the End A.D. 66-70 BACK BOOKEND

8. NT Testimony How all this fulfillment fits, matches up, and/or dovetails with Jesus, the early Church, and the NT writers. Perfectly! “Earnestly contend for the faith that was onceforalldelivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)

9. NT Testimony • Expected Him to come on the clouds and fulfill all things within their lifetime. • “Their Master had told them so.” • Where? When? • Jesus’ time statements.

10. Time Statements Matthew 10:23 “When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another, I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of man comes.”

11. Time Statements Matthew 16:27-28 “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

12. Time Statements Matthew 26:64 “…In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

13. Time Statements Matthew 24:3, 27, 30, 34 “’Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age... so will be the coming of the Son of Man... At that time the sign of the Son of Man [Jesus] willappear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory... I tell you the truth, thisgeneration will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”

14. Time Statements John 21:22 “Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain aliveuntil I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

15. NT Testimony • Guided into all truth and told the things that were yet to come by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). • The rub—if their Holy-Spirit-guided expectations proved false. • How can we trust them? • To have conveyed other aspects of the faith along to us accurately?

16. NT Testimony • No Holy-Spirit-guided, New Testament writer ever corrected these 1st-century expectations. • They did just the opposite. • As Jesus’ literal, forty-year, “this generation” time period wound down (from A.D. 30 to A.D. 70). • The sense of nearness language in the New Testament dramatically picked up.

17. NT Intensification of Nearness Language • A countdown by using “T” minus the number of years remaining. • In Jesus’ forty-year, this-generation time period. • Along with the approximate dates when these works were written. • Ask yourself how would you have understood their words if you had been living back then?

18. Intensification Countdown (A.D. 30-70) T - 40 years (circa A.D. 30) Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened” (Matt. 24:34).

19. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T - 21 years (circa A.D. 49) Paul wrote: “The fullness of time was come” (Gal. 4:4).

20. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T - 13 years (circa A.D. 57) Paul wrote: “Time is short . . . . The world in its present form is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:29, 31).

21. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T - 12 years (circa A.D. 58) Paul wrote: “Understand the present time. . . . because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here” (Rom. 13:11-12).

22. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T - 12 years (circa A.D. 58) Paul wrote: “The God of peace will soon [shortly] crush Satan under your feet (Rom. 16:20).

23. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T - 10 years (circa A.D. 60) James wrote: “be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near (at hand). . . . The judge is standing at the door!” (Jas. 5:8-9).

24. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T - 5 years (circa A.D. 65) The writer of Hebrews wrote: “but in these last days he [God] has spoken to us by his Son. . . .” (Heb. 1:2).

25. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T - 5 years (circa A.D. 65) The writer of Hebrews wrote: “In just a very very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. . . .’” (Heb. 10:37).

26. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T – 3-5 years (circa A.D. 65-67) Peter wrote: “The end of all things is at hand.” (1 Pet. 4:7 KJV).

27. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T – 3-5 years (circa A.D. 65-67) Peter wrote: “For it is time for judgment to begin with the family [the house] of God. . .” (1 Pet. 4:17 [KJV]).

28. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) T – 2-3 years (circa A.D. 67-68) John wrote: “Little children, this is the last hour . . . it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). “the very last hour, remains future.”Carl F.H. Henry, “The Very Last Day, The Very Last Hour,” Decision, September 2000, 27.

29. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) Some Reflections “No other interpretation is possible if the words are taken in the ‘plain, primary, ordinary, usual, or normal sense, that is they are interpreted literally.” Gary DeMar, in Foreword to Francis X. Gumerlock’s, The Day and the Hour: Christianity’s Perennial Fascination with Predicting the End of the World,xxiv.

30. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) Some Reflections • No NT writer ever corrected their expectations. • Perfect harmony and consistency with . . . • The plain, natural, and literal understanding of Jesus’ words. • The literal, exact, chronological, and sequential fulfillment of Daniel’s “time of the end” prophecy.

31. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) Some Reflections • How far can we stretch nearness (imminency) before nearness loses its value? • How else could they have said it? • Or made it any more clear? • What was so monumental and so impending, right there and then?

32. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) Some Reflections • How much of the content was relevant to the original audience? • Premillers say, “none” or “little of it was.” • Amillers and postmillers say, “some of it was.” • Preterists say, “all of it was”—and perfectly fulfilled. • Who’s right?

33. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) Some Reflections • Jerusalem and the Temple were totally destroyed exactly as and whenboth Daniel and Jesus had perfectly prophesied. • Was this also Jesus’ Second Coming / Return ???

34. Intensification Countdown(A.D. 30-70) Some Reflections • Preterists say yes—and there is no other. • Amillers and Postmillers say no—but it wasa coming—justnotthe Second Coming / Return. • Premillers deny it was even a coming. • Who’s right ???

35. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? Did this happen, too, at the “time of the end” in A.D. 70? Or, is this still future? What does the Bible say and not say?

36. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? • Preterist view – it is past and occurred in A.D. 70. • Premillennial view – it is future and very soon will occur. • Amillennial view – it is future and no one can know when it will occur. • Postmillennial view – it is future but will not occur any time soon.

37. 2 Guidelines • Sola Scriptura • In Love

38. Group Poll Question: In your opinion, over the entire course of human history —past, present, and future— howmany comings of Jesus are there? Answers: A) None? B) One? C) Two? D) Three? E) Four? F) More?

39. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? “The Bible speaks extensively about the SecondComing of Christ, mentioning it more than 300times in the New Testament. By comparison, repentance . . . is mentioned about 70 times, and baptism . . . is mentioned about 20 times. It is obvious, then, that the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures, places great importance on the return of Jesus Christ.” Billy Graham, “The End of the World,” Decision, January 2004.

40. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? • What does the Bible say about a “Second Coming” of Jesus? Nothing! • What about a “return?” Nothing!

41. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? “The words ‘return’ and ‘secondcoming’ are not properly speaking Biblical words in that the two words do not represent any equivalent Greek words.” George Eldon Ladd, The Blessed Hope, 69.

42. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? “So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:28)

43. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? • Why the Bible never calls Jesus’ birth and earthly life his ”first coming”? • Because it wasn’t! • To Stephen(Acts 7:55-56). • To Saul (Acts 9:1-8). • To John (Rev. 1). • How do you count or discount those comings?

44. Definition of a Coming of Jesus “A personal and bodily intervention and/or manifestation of Jesus into the life of an individual, a group, or a nation on this earth. There are many different types of comings for different purposes, and they occur at different times and places. Some are visible appearances; some are invisible interventions. Some are physical (seen, heard, felt); some are spiritual (an internal illumination or revelation); and some are combinations.”

45. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? • The word “return” is also never used. • Non-scriptural terminology. • One clarification – parable (Luke 19:12f). • Nobleman certainly represents Jesus.

46. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? • Authentic Christianity does not stand for a departed or absent Christ—absent the entire length of the Christian age! • A present and active Christ who never left. • He said so! • “And surely I will be with you always, to [until] the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20b)

47. NIV (incorrect) Matt.24:46 returns John 14:3 come back John 14:28 coming back John 16:28 going back John 21:22-23 I return Acts 1:11 come back Lit. GreekKJV (correct) coming cometh again I come come again I come come again go to go to until I come till I come will come shall so come Comparative

48. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? • “What will be the sign of your coming” (Matt. 24:3). • The Greek word translated as “coming” here is parousia. • Literally means “presence” as opposed to “absence.” • Our physical/material mindset. • Blinds us to the realities of the spiritrealm.

49. The Second Coming / Return of Jesus Christ? • “I will come to you” and “you will see me.” (John 14:18, 19; also John 16:16) • He did and they did. • “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever... ” (John 12:34). • “The disciples went out and preached everywhere . . . the Lord worked with them . .” (Mark 16:20). • Eversince.