Will the Rapture Happen Tomorrow?

[Baptist Renegade]

Dis-cuss!

 

[biscuit1953]

Believers in Thessalonica were alarmed because they thought they had missed the coming of Christ..."and our gathering together to Him" (2 Thess 2:1-2) and were living in the time of Jacob’s Trouble (Jer 30:7). Paul talked about the Day of the Lord in his first letter (1 Thess 5: 2-5) and there were false teachers through a spirit (a false revelation) or by word (a false report) or by a letter bearing Paul’s name saying it had already come and they were going through it.

In 2 Thess 1:4 Paul talks about the tribulations which all saints in all ages endure (not just the last generation – cf. Acts 14:22) so that we may be able to comfort those who need it (2 Cor 1:4). However, Paul distinguished between the tribulations that come from men and the future tribulation that comes from God.

2Thess 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
2Thess 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
2Thess 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2Thess 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

Jesus isn’t coming back to punish His bride but those that don’t know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 8). I believe it was Theodore Epp that said, “The raging river of God’s judgment against the dam of God’s mercy will one day break forth upon a Christ rejecting world” (cf. Psalm 98:8-9).

The Temple has not yet been rebuilt though there are already plans to do that and the red heifer has already been reproduced so the sacrifices may start once that happens. Some details are fuzzy as to the details about the battle of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 which some believe may start before the final seven year peace treaty is confirmed and some believe is it will take place after the treaty. The treaty President Trump is brokering is not necessarily the one mentioned in Daniel 9:27 but the world stage is set for all these end time events to take place. The coming of the Lord is not a time of distress for the believer, but of comfort (1 Thess 4:16-18). I believe the Rapture could take place after the seven year peace treaty is confirmed but will take place before the Mark of the Beast and before the time of great tribulation “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” takes place (Matt 24:21).

 

[Ransom]

If I were a Dispensationalist, I'd say "maybe." Almost all of us believe in the imminence of Christ's return: that there's nothing to hinder it from happening.

However, I'm not a Dispensationalist, so I said no ... because there's no such thing as the Rapture as commonly understood by pop-eschatology advocates.

Since Israel is not the church, in order for God's redemptive program for the Jews to resume, the church age must first end fand the church taken out of the world. Hence the Rapture.

Some Dispensationalists also hinge the Rapture on 1 Thessalonians 2:7: "he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way." Theologians such as John Walvoord or Charles Ryrie and others believe the restrainer is the Holy Spirit, and believe that the man of lawlessness (v. 8) is restrained only so long as the Holy Spirit is in the world. Since the Spirit indwells Christians, the church must be removed from the world for the Holy Spirit's influence also to be removed. Again, hence the Rapture.

Hence the Rapture is an inferred doctrine--necessary to maintain Dispensationalism's assumed distinction between Israel and the church, like the gap between Daniel's 69th and 70th weeks in the other thread.

But suppose that the Dispensational presuppositions are wrone? What if church is the continuation of Israel? That it is what God intended for Israel to become all along? Why, then, the Rapture?

 

[ALAYMAN]

There were a lot of believing Jews that were taken by surprise when the Messiah finally came the first time. Just sayin'.

 

[illinoisguy]

the red heifer has already been reproduced so the sacrifices may start once that happens.

What does the appearance of a red heifer have to do with the coming of the Lord? Where in the Bible does it teach that when a red heifer is identified, this is a sign of the Rapture and/or Second Coming? Show your work.

"We also know that for the first 1,800 years of Church history, virtually everyone knew that Daniel 9 was all about Jesus and what He has already fulfilled, rather than thinking it was about a future antichrist in a rebuilt temple. Unfortunately, modern day evangelicals have been sending millions of dollars to fund the Temple Institute of Jerusalem in order to rebuild another inferior earthly temple, and one of their major projects has been to find a 'spotless' red heifer.

"Before another temple could be used, it would first need to be purified, and the only way to do that is with the ashes of a perfect, 'spotless' red heifer. It had to be 'without blemish.' Look back at that passage in Hebrews 9 and notice the comparison of the red heifer to Jesus who presented Himself to God as the spotless offering. Rather than patiently waiting to see if God would ever provide another literal 'spotless' red heifer (which never would’ve appeared in Israel), they’ve needlessly raised money to harvest frozen embryos to grow 'spotless' red heifers in Israel, and they’ve already built the altar to sacrifice them, yet none of them became 'spotless' red heifers. . . .

"We know that the greater, End-time Temple has already been built. It’s a global, spiritual Temple made of 'living stones' (1 Peter 2:5), and it grows when each new believer is added to our present-day Kingdom. According to the Bible, we’ve been living in the End-times since the first century which was referred to as 'the last time/s' (Jude 1:18; 1 Peter 1:20) or 'the last hour' (1 John 2:18) or 'the end of the ages' (1 Corinthians 10:11)."

Was Jesus the ultimate and final “Red Heifer?”

6th Semester / Week 1 “The blood of goats and bulls and THE ASHES OF A HEIFER [spotless red heifer] sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are OUTWARDLY CLE…

sharethegospelforfree.com

See also from GotQuestions.org:

"Must a red heifer be found before the rapture occurs? No, Jesus could return to receive His own at any moment. The rapture is not contingent on the presence of any particular cow. Must a red heifer be found before the temple is rebuilt? Not necessarily, although temple advocates certainly want one for ceremonial purposes. Are animal sacrifices of any type required today? No, Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the law, and His sacrifice provides true forgiveness and life eternal.

"Scripture explicitly contrasts the red heifer ceremony with the greater sacrifice of Christ: 'The ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!' (Hebrews 9:13–14)."

 

[biscuit1953]

What does the appearance of a red heifer have to do with the coming of the Lord? Where in the Bible does it teach that when a red heifer is identified, this is a sign of the Rapture and/or Second Coming? Show your work.

The red heifer is needed for ritual purification so the OT sacrifices can be resumed which is impossible until the Temple is rebuilt. Jesus said that when we will see the abomination of desolation in the last days it will be just before His return (Matt 24:15). Paul also agrees with that when he said that before the coming of Lord, the man of sin will sit in the Temple proclaiming himself to be God. Jesus also warned everyone to flee Jerusalem when they saw these events taking place because shortly after that the “great tribulation” would start “such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be” (Matt 24:21). With the Jews being regathered back to their homeland in 1948 to be established as a sovereign nation we saw the start of many signs the Bible talks about as being connected to the Second Coming of Christ.

Israelis practise red heifer ritual in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque

Some religious groups believe the ashes of the cows can be used to build a third Jewish temple in Jerusalem

www.middleeasteye.net

The Jews are still judicially blinded by God as Paul tells us in Romans 11 and are still looking for a Messiah but sadly they will be deceived along with the rest of the world when the Antichrist shows up bringing a false peace just before the judgment of God comes upon the world (2 Thess 1:7-9). Everyone will eventually be forced to take a mark in order to buy or sell and of course the technology necessary for that has only come about in this generation. Do I know when Jesus will return? No, but I certainly can see the signs of His coming.

 

[illinoisguy]

Biscuit, you didn't answer my question. Where does the Bible say that if a red heifer is identified and/or sacrificed in Jerusalem, that is a sign that the Rapture/Second Coming is near?

The articles I have read about the red heifer over the years all say the same thing, that belief that the red heifer is a sign of the end is based on "rabbinical tradition," or as the article you posted says, "Jewish tradition." Nobody ever cites anything in the Bible that would indicate a red heifer as a sign of Christ's return.

Why should rabbinical traditions be considered authoritative by those of us who are not Jews? Orthodox Jews do not agree among themselves about these traditions - for example, there is currently a big debate as to whether or not the ashes of a modern red heifer would be valid for temple-cleansing purposes, unless they are mixed with the ashes of the original Numbers 19 red heifer. Archaelogical expeditions are currently being carried out to search for those original ashes, which raises the question as to, if some such ashes are found, then how would they be validated as the genuine ashes after 3500 years. Why should we care about these rabbinical traditions, when the rabbis themselves disagree among each other as to what we are supposed to believe?

Why should we be watching for, and conjuring up, signs of Christ's coming, when He stated that His Coming would be unexpected?

"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." - Matthew 24:44

"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." - Mark 13:32

"It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in how own power." - Acts 1:7

"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." - 1 Thessalonians 5:2

Assuming that a certified red heifer does materialize, that would not mean anything - a temple with animal sacrifices might still not be built for centuries, or maybe never. If and when such a temple is built, Christ might still not return for centuries - He would not be under any obligation to return right away, just because such a temple was built, as an act of rejection of His perfect once-for-all sacrifice for sins on the Cross. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews identifies the turning to such a temple as an act of apostasy - not exactly something for us as Christians to get all excited about.

 

[biscuit1953]

It isn’t just the red heifer but all the things that I have pointed out. Rabbinical traditions are not authoritative. The nation of Israel is still in a state of unbelief.

It is unexpected because no man knows the day or the hour. In 1 Thess 4:15 Paul said “we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep.” Paul did not know God’s timing but he lived and spoke as if it could happen in his lifetime. The people of California will say that an earthquake is “imminent” because they know it can come at any time, and there is nothing (that they know about) which must happen before it strikes. The key that makes an event imminent is that, as far as we know its ready to happen but its timing is unknown.

That is exactly how Jesus described his his return in the end times. – “no man knows the hour;” watch and pray for you know not when the time is; Watch therefore, for you know not when the master of the house comes; Lest coming suddenly he finds you sleeping; I say to you all Watch (Mark 13:32-37). Are you watching?

Acts 1:7 shows that the apostles expected a literal, earthly kingdom which mirrored what Christ taught and what the OT predicted. Otherwise, he would have corrected them about such a crucial aspect of his teaching. The exact time of his return however, remains unrevealed (Matt 24:36; cf. Deut 29:29). At the same time Jesus did not say there was to be no restoration of the kingdom to Israel. He simply said that speculation was not proper for his disciples at that time. In 2 Thess 3:6-12 some Christians were so busy waiting for the Lord to return that they stopped working, relying on handouts from other members of the church. There may be Christians like that today and that is wrong.

1Th 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
1Th 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
1Th 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

The world has no expectations of Christ’s return in judgment but Christians aren’t in darkness and realize that the signs Jesus gave in Matthew 24 are being manifested in the present generation.

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

I would ask you this question. Why do you insist there will not be a thousand year reign of Christ on earth as clearly laid out in Rev 20:1-4? Just a few verses down it talks about the Great White Throne judgment and the Lake of Fire. Why do you believe that is literal but the first seven verses where the thousand years are mentioned seven times is metaphorical? I’m sure I can’t answer all the questions because I don’t have all the answers but I give you the right to come to a different conclusion than I do. Many well known Reformed theologians have broken away from Calvin’s teaching that God is through with Israel.

 

[Ransom]

The red heifer is needed for ritual purification so the OT sacrifices can be resumed which is impossible until the Temple is rebuilt.

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (Col. 2:16-17)​

Since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.... But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Heb. 10:1, 12-14)​

Let them breed all the red heifers they want. The Jews are gonna Jew. The Temple is gone, never to be needed again, and the ground it stood on is not made purer by sprinkling dead cow on it.

For true believers, Christ himself is the Temple and its priests, rendering the old order obsolete; neither is there a need to resume sacrifices, because Christ has made the final sacrifice, the only one that can actually take away sins.

We are not going back to the shadows when we have the reality. That is futile and empty religion.

 

[biscuit1953]

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (Col. 2:16-17)​

Since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.... But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Heb. 10:1, 12-14)​

Let them breed all the red heifers they want. The Jews are gonna Jew. The Temple is gone, never to be needed again, and the ground it stood on is not made purer by sprinkling dead cow on it.

For true believers, Christ himself is the Temple and its priests, rendering the old order obsolete; neither is there a need to resume sacrifices, because Christ has made the final sacrifice, the only one that can actually take away sins.

We are not going back to the shadows when we have the reality. That is futile and empty religion.

This must be going over everyones' heads. I agree with you 100% on that. What the Jews are doing is worthless conerning the sacrifices they plan on doing once the Temple is built but it does show that Bible prophecy is true; there will be a Temple before the Lord returns and the man of sin will commit the abomination of desolation as Jesus and Paul described. The Jews as a whole are lost without a Savior and a Messiah as far as they are concerned but their eyes will be opened eventually. Until the things prophesied happen we should pray for the Jews and may it be said what Ben Shapio said of John MacArthur, "He was my friend because he cared for my immortal soul."

 

[illinoisguy]

It does show that Bible prophecy is true; there will be a Temple before the Lord returns.

Where does the Bible teach that "there will be a Temple before the Lord returns?" Since there is no Temple now, does that mean that the Lord's return is not imminent? If the Lord's return is not imminent and He cannot return now because there is no Temple, then why all this hoopla and hullabaloo about watching the Signs of the Times?

If the talk about a red heifer is a sign of the Rapture, how come the Rapture has not happened? We have been hearing all this talk about the breeding of a red heifer for many decades now.

"Signs of the Times" prophecy and predictions of the end of the world are nothing new. It has been going on for many centuries.

"End of the world predictions draw ridicule today, but in the New England of Fisk and Parsons [early 19th Century] plenty of people took them seriously. 'Learned treatises on the prophetic writings were favorite topics of discussion in social parties,' one minister recalled of his boyhood in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

"Parlors hummed with eager voices matching 'signs of the times' spotted in the newspapers to biblical references plucked from the book of Revelation. Preachers made the most of this popular fascination. Many at the annual meeting of one missionary society in 1808 nodded in sober assent when the keynote speaker predicted that 'within 60 years mahometanism and popery will be exterminated,' because evangelicals saw hopeful signs everywhere. Why, Napoleon had occupied Rome itself, and as for Islam, both Russian challenges to the Ottoman Empire and religious schisms among Muslims foretold a grim future." - Christine Leigh Heyrman, "American Apostles - When Evangelicals Entered the World of Islam," p. 28.

 

[biscuit1953]

Quote

Where does the Bible teach that "there will be a Temple before the Lord returns?" Since there is no Temple now, does that mean that the Lord's return is not imminent? If the Lord's return is not imminent and He cannot return now because there is no Temple, then why all this hoopla and hullabaloo about watching the Signs of the Times?

If the talk about a red heifer is a sign of the Rapture, how come the Rapture has not happened? We have been hearing all this talk about the breeding of a red heifer for many decades now.

"Signs of the Times" prophecy and predictions of the end of the world are nothing new. It has been going on for many centuries.

"End of the world predictions draw ridicule today, but in the New England of Fisk and Parsons [early 19th Century] plenty of people took them seriously. 'Learned treatises on the prophetic writings were favorite topics of discussion in social parties,' one minister recalled of his boyhood in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

"Parlors hummed with eager voices matching 'signs of the times' spotted in the newspapers to biblical references plucked from the book of Revelation. Preachers made the most of this popular fascination. Many at the annual meeting of one missionary society in 1808 nodded in sober assent when the keynote speaker predicted that 'within 60 years mahometanism and popery will be exterminated,' because evangelicals saw hopeful signs everywhere. Why, Napoleon had occupied Rome itself, and as for Islam, both Russian challenges to the Ottoman Empire and religious schisms among Muslims foretold a grim future." - Christine Leigh Heyrman, "American Apostles - When Evangelicals Entered the World of Islam," p. 28.

Jesus Himself said there would be a temple just before His second coming in Matthew 24 whether it was built before or after the Rapture. The apostle Paul in his eschatological epistle of 2 Thessalonians said there would be a temple desecrated before the day of the Lord came about. There will always be those that set certain dates and are proven wrong and there will always be the John Hagees and Pat Robertsons of the world but that shouldn’t define legitimate Christian leaders such as John MacArthur and many other good men who hold to the Pre-millennial return of Christ any more than picking out some hyper-Calvinists who holds extreme views. As I mentioned before, I can’t answer all the questions because I don’t have all the answers.

I will give just one example. I didn’t know this person but a friend of mine at church a few years ago told me of one of his acquaintances who refused to have children because he thought they might not be born as one of the elect and they would go to hell. Extreme? Absolutely, but that doesn’t define Calvinism any more than some of the groups you use to denounce Dispensationalism.

 

[Ransom]

. I agree with you 100% on that.

Not if you believe the revival of useless religious zeal amongst the Jewish people, and its empty practices, are the fulfillment of prophecy and that's a good thing. You agree with me 0% on that.

 

[abcaines]

If there is no physical temple, where is the abomination of desolation to occur?

 

[Ransom]

Jesus Himself said there would be a temple just before His second coming in Matthew 24 whether it was built before or after the Rapture. The apostle Paul in his eschatological epistle of 2 Thessalonians said there would be a temple desecrated before the day of the Lord came about.

The only temple Jesus talked about in Matthew 24 as being destroyed was the one he had just been teaching in, and that is the one he prophecied would be destroyed.

Paul was answering the rumours circulating that Christ had already returned (2 Thess. 2:1-2), to which he retorts that Christ would not return before the temple had been desecrated by the man of lawlessness (3-4). Again, the second temple was still intact, so even then its destruction was still in the future, and Paul says nothing about it having to be be rebuilt so it can be destroyed again.

 

[illinoisguy]

The red heifer is needed for ritual purification so the OT sacrifices can be resumed.

Don't have a cow, man.

 

[Ransom]

If there is no physical temple, where is the abomination of desolation to occur?

A few decades after the second temple was destroyed, a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus (the Capitolene triad of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva) was built on the site. Titus was declared imperator by his troops upon the destruction of the Jewish temple, a title that declared his military success as an imperial and personal attribute, and a precursor to his eventual deification.

This echoes Antiochus IV Epiphanes' original "desecration of abomination," when he sacrificed a swine on the altar and devoted it to a syncretistic cult that worshipped Zeus.

Later, the Roman temple was replaced in the 7th century by the Al-Aqsa mosque, built in part to declare the Muslim victory over Christians. Like they say, history doesn't repeat itself, but it frequently rhymes.

Does all this make Titus the man of sin? Can't rightly say. The shoe fits, but I'm too much of a futurist and not enough of a preterist to dogmatize on it.

Paul may well have been speaking typologically, and in any case, he only said that the man of lawlessness would be revealed before Christ's return, not that Christ's return would follow immediately on his heels.

 

[illinoisguy]

Church Fathers who taught that the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy of the "abomination of desolation" was fulfilled in 70 AD:

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM: "For this it seems to me that the abomination of desolation means the army by which the holy city of Jerusalem was made desolate."

AUGUSTINE: "Luke, to show that the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel will take place when Jerusalem is captured, recalls these words of the Lord in the same context: 'And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.'"

EUSEBIUS PAMPHYLIUS: "How at last the abomination of desolation, proclaimed by the prophets, stood in the very temple of God, so celebrated of old, the temple which was now awaiting its total and final destruction by fire - all these things any one that wishes may find accurately described in the history of Josephus."

More modern commentators:

JOHN GILL: "Now our Lord observes, that when they should see the Roman armies encompassing Jerusalem, with their ensigns flying, and these abominations on them, they might conclude its desolation was near at hand."

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON: "This portion of our Saviour's words appears to relate solely to the destruction of Jerusalem. As soon as Christ's disciples saw 'the abomination of desolation,' that is, the Roman ensigns, with their idolatries, 'stand in the holy place,' they knew that the time for their escape had arrived; and they did flee to the mountains."

BARNES' COMMENTARY: "The abomination of desolation means the Roman army, and is so explained in Luke 21:20."

B.H. CARROLL: "When ye shall see the abomination which makes desolation spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, set up where it ought not to be, and see Jerusalem compassed with armies, that is the sign of the destruction of Jerusalem. The greatest desolation ever wrought in the world on a people, was made under that standard and by the Roman power. There, it was the abomination that maketh desolate."

JAMIESON FAUSSET AND BROWN: "That the abomination of desolation here alluded to was intended to point to the Roman ensign, as the symbols of an idolatrous, and so unclean Pagan power, may be gathered by comparing what Luke says in the corresponding verse (21:20); and the commentators are agreed on it."

C. MARVIN PATE AND CALVIN HAINES, MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE: "For Josephus, the destruction of Jerusalem was beyond comparison. . . . Jesus' prophecy about the city had come true (Matthew 24:15)."

 

[biscuit1953]

Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand

Notice what happens “immediately after the abomination of desolation” [then] shall begin great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be (verse 29).

Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. These things did not take place in 70 A.D. You give a list of men who hold to your understanding. I could give you a very long list of men that agree with my understanding as well. Here is what John MacArthur says in his notes which is just as valid as the notes given by the men in your list.

Matt 24:15 abomination of desolation. This phrase originally referred to the desecration of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria in the second century B.C. Antiochus invaded Jerusalem in 168 B.C., made the altar into a shrine to Zeus, and even sacrificed pigs on it. However, Jesus clearly was looking toward a yet-future “abomination of desolation.” Some suggest that this prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when Titus invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. However, the apostle Paul saw a still-future fulfillment (2 Thess 2:3-4), as did John (Rev 13:14-15) – when the Antichrist sets up an image in the temple during the future tribulation. Christ’s words look beyond the events of A.D. 70 to a time of even greater global cataclysm that will immediately precede his coming (cf. Matt 24:29-31).

Matt 24:34 this generation. This cannot refer to the generation living at that time of Christ, for “all these things” – the abomination of desolation (v. 15), the persecutions and judgments (v. 17-22), the false prophets (v. 23-26), the signs in the heavens (v. 27-29), Christ’s final return (v. 30), and the gathering of the elect (v. 31) – did not “take place” in their lifetime. It seems best to interpret Christ’s words as a reference to the generation alive at the time when those final hard labor pains begin. This would fit with the lesson of the fig tree, which stresses the short span of time in which these things will occur.

I ask you this question once again, Why do you insist there will not be a thousand year reign of Christ on the earth as clearly laid out in Rev 20:1-4 when just a few verses down in the very same context, it talks about the Great White Throne judgment and the Lake of Fire? Why do you believe that one is literal but the other is metaphorical?

 

[abcaines]

When are/were the Jews supposed to run for the hills without looking back or going back for their cloak?