Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matthew 24:29-31, ESV)
These verses do not point to when but they do point to how Jesus will come. Jesus says that a great time of tribulation will immediately precede His second coming. He points to catastrophic events on earth while at the same time depicting His Sovereign rule over it all. James Montgomery Boice says: “What about the sun being darkened, the moon failing to give light, and the stars falling from heaven? Although (some) rightly point out that this is common Old Testament imagery for any cataclysmic historical event—drawn from texts such as
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His coming will be no secret: the angels of heaven will let out a trumpet blast, and every eye will behold the Son of Man in the sky (verses 29-31). How different this will be from His first coming! The first time He came to a remote, obscure town just outside Jerusalem, where He went largely unnoticed, save for a few shepherds and some farm animals. He came the first time lying in a manger; however, He will come the second time riding on the clouds. This is what Daniel prophesied centuries before: (Daniel 7:13-14) "“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all
Kenneth Gentry begins with a quote, “The closer we get to the year 2000, the farther we get from the events of Revelation.” This sentence summarizes the Preterist view nicely. The Preterist places weight on the historical aspect of Revelation by relating it to its original author and audience. The author was mainly concerned with the seven churches of Asia Minor who were facing difficulties during that time. John’s target audience was neither churches nor the 21st century. As most evangelical scholars would affirm, Revelation contains prophecies which were fulfilled in John’s near future. Their manifestation might not have been as graphic or literal as one might imagine, because John uses “poetic hyperbole,” yet these events were actually fulfilled in history. He argues that the use of highly figurative speech and symbolism is “not a denial of historicity but a matter of literary genre.” These were events that were to take place soon because the time was near. Then Gentry uses study of Greek language to support this. He argues that lexicons and modern translators agree that these terms indicate temporal proximity indicating that they expected to see the events in their lifetime. As much as a word study can be helpful, it can also be limiting. One certainly cannot base interpretation of the whole book on a loosely used term. Similarly, while the Apostle Paul spoke to the Thessalonians with urgency in plain language, we know that the Second Advent is yet to happen.
Both in the Old and New Testament, the Antichrist is described as this wicked individual who appears at the end of the age. Rising up politically to become the most powerful man on the planet, he will be regarded a Hero — the world’s Savior. Out of a power block of ten nations (or territories) rooted in the old Roman empire, he will establish some type of world government. Under his authority, Babylon (Iraq) will be rebuilt into the commercial center of the world. Through his mystical right hand man, a commercial mark will be instituted, enabling the Antichrist to control all buying and selling on earth. Peace between Israel and her surrounding Arab nations will be established when he institutes a seven-year treaty allowing the Jews to rebuild their holy temple; a temple he will later defile when he stands in its midst and proclaims himself — god. Satan himself will possess him. An anthropomorphic image, called the Beast will be created — through great signs and wonders — that all will be commanded to worship. Towards the end of his reign, he will bring the armies of the world together in Israel for the great battle known as Armageddon. The globe will experience what is called the Great Tribulation leading up to this time involving terrible cosmic and supernatural judgment. This seven-year tribulation starts when
The following passages in the Jewish scriptures are the ones that Jews consider to be messianic in nature or relating to the end of days. These are the ones that we rely upon in developing our messianic concept:
And the End Time: First the events of the final judgment should not be called the “End Times” it is the End Time. The End happens once, if I say End Times I sound like a Hindu who believes in an endless cycle of recreation and judgment.
things as he divides his kingdom in relation to the amount of love his daughters
...did not just “happen” to show up when He did. It was at an exact time — a fulfillment in the fullness of time. In fact, Daniel himself prophesied of exactly when it was that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son” (NIV). Neither did Donald Trump suddenly show up. God, in His grace, waited until the time had fully come. We have — again — reached the fullness of time. The wrath of God has been kindled against man, and soon His fury will be unleashed. If you still have not given your life to Christ, don’t wait. The Bible says, “Today is the day of salvation.” If you want to know how to be saved — to become a Christian — turn to the chapter towards the end of this book right now, entitled, “An Anchor of Hope for Mankind”. Don’t wait. Time is filling up. The glass ain’t half-full. It’s full.
is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”
James S. Jeffers wrote The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era. Jeffers intent in writing this book was to give the readers in insight into what early Christianity looked like. The book aligns what readers may have learned in their high school history class with what was written in the Bible. In summary, this book gave information about Greek and Roman life and history into early Christianity.
Unlike other views that believe the second coming will be in two phases, amillennialists feel it will occur in one stage; within the time between the first and second coming (459). They fuse the two resurrections spoken in Revelation 20:1-6 into one stage. In this one stage, a general resurrection will occur in which all believers and unbelievers will be gathered. They understand that Satan will be bound during the in-between time and at the second advent he will be released for a short time to cause havoc (458). Christ will return after the heavenly millennium reign and all believers and transformed believers will be taken up to the clouds to be with Him.
Within it sit many concepts, such as heaven and hell, divine judgment, the second coming, the defeat of evil and the new creation, among other things. As such, it encapsulates any discussion about the ‘end times’. This is certainly an apt title for much of the Book of Revelation then, with so much discussion of divine judgment on the first earth, the second coming of Christ and the coming of the New Creation. Within the pages of this text, however, a more complex eschatology is portrayed. While in the grander literary scheme of the text, we see the ultimate destruction of death and hades and their throwing into the lake of fire, the text also portrays a more nuanced view of eschatology.
The Kingdom of God defined by the Israelites as a physical place here on earth. The Kingdom of God is also called the “Kingdom of Heaven.” It means God’s rule in the lives of His chosen people and His Creation. In the Old Testament, the people in God’s kingdom were the Israelites. In the New Testament and now, the people in God’s kingdom are those who believe in and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus comes again, then God’s kingdom will become visible to all people. The term “Kingdom” according to (Kingdom of God,2011) means the rank, quality, state, or attributes of a king; royal authority; sovereign power; rule; dominion; monarchy. It can also be used in the context of a divine kingdom, the term Kingdom appears 13 times in Matthews, 7 times in Luke and 2 times in John.
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
Introduction Western pop-culture Christianity has re-defined apocalyptic to refer only to “the end of the world as we know it.” Although, within biblical terminology, an “apocalypse” is not an event, but a “revelation” that is recorded in written form. It is a piece of crisis literature that reveals truths about the past, present, and/or future in highly symbolic terms. The revelation often comes in dreams or visions and usually needs to be interpreted with the help of an angel. This literary genre is usually intended to provide hope and encouragement for people amid severe trials and tribulations.
The second phase is the return of Christ to the earth following the tribulation period in a literal sense for a thousand-year reign. During the thousand-year reign of Christ there will be a separate and “distinct program for Israel and the
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.