Questions on the Doctrine of the Last Things:

By Brian H. Wagner (last edited 11-15-14) Please feel free to contact me for further discussion – brian.wagner@vbc.edu

Questions Covered – (Hyperlinked to Answers Given)

1. How does one refute the Amillennial view of how the 70 weeks of Daniel are fulfilled?

2. Will the city of Babylon be rebuilt?

3. Will there be animal sacrifices in the millennial kingdom?

4. How do Dispensationalists outline the predictions in Matthew 24:1-28?

5. Does Mt. 24:22 indicate that the Tribulation will be shorter than 7 years?

6. Does Matthew 24:31 refer to the rapture of the Church

7. What is wrong with the Preterist view of “this generation” in Matthew 24:34?

8. How does one refute the Amillennial recapitulation view of judgments in Revelation?

9. What are the problems with the Amillennial view Revelation 20?

10. Why is the Amillennial equating of the Sheep and Goats Judgment and the Great White Throne Judgment incorrect?

11. What is the Bible’s description of the everlasting city, the New Jerusalem?

12. Why is it not probable that 2 Thess. 1:5-12 refers to the Rapture at the Second Advent?

13. Why is it not probable that the cosmic-sign passages from Joel 2:31, Matthew 24:29, and Revelation 6:12 support the Pre-Wrath Rapture position?

14. What are some other weaknesses of the Pre-wrath Rapture position?

15. How does the Mid-Trib Rapture compare with the Pre-Wrath Rapture?

16. What are the Premillennial views regarding the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion?

17. What are other strong arguments against Fruchtenbaum’s Pretribulational battle view of the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion?

18. Why is the doctrine of soul sleep not correct?

19. Is it likely that the Antichrist will be a Jew?

20. What is the eschatology that is taught in Islam?

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1. How does one refute the Amillennial view of how the 70 weeks of Daniel are fulfilled?

The prophet Daniel was given a vision of 70 weeks or 70 “sevens” of increments of time

concerning Israel’s future. Daniel 9:24-27 reads:

24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 25 “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

The amillennial view of Daniel’s 70th seven is that it was all fulfilled in the life of Christ,

or at least by AD 70. This view takes the “prince who is to come” (vs. 26) as being Christ, and it

is He who breaks His covenant (Mosiac) with Israel through His death, after 3 ½ years of His

earthly ministry. There are some Amillennialists that hold that the “prince who is to come” is

Roman, and they see the breaking of the covenant fulfilled by Titus’ desolation of the temple in

AD 70.

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The “prince who is to come” (9:27) is Roman, but not of the first century, but of the

revived Roman Empire in the last days of the future, led by the coming Antichrist, revealed to

Daniel in other visions which he had. (Daniel 7:8, 11; 8:23-26, 11:36-45). That there is a gap

between the 69th and 70th seven in 9:27 is not unusual to OT prophecies of Christ’s coming. A

number of prophecies spoke of Christ’s first advent and then of His second advent in the same

sentence. Christ Himself made such a division when he interpreted Isaiah 61:1-2 (cp. Luke 4:18-

19).

This vision of Daniel reveals the divine plan which was for Israel “for your people and

your holy city” (9:24) and has not yet been finished, for Jesus Himself said it will continue until

“the time of the Gentiles” is fulfilled (Luke 21:24). Jerusalem must be “trodden under foot” by

the Gentiles till then. God will not be finished with Israel and its transgressions and sins against

the LORD until then. There will be no final reconciliation and beginning of everlasting

righteousness for them as a nation till then. Vision and prophecy will not be completed in their

behalf until then (e.g., the two prophets of Revelation 11). And the most Holy Place of the

temple in Jerusalem will not be anointed with the glory of the Lord once again until then.

Amillennialists want to see every aspect of this purpose for Daniel’s seventy sevens (9:24) as

fulfilled by 70AD. This would be a direct rejection of Jesus’ promise that God is not finished

with Jerusalem and the Jews until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled.

The NT reveals further the revelation of the mystery of the church, which was hidden

during Daniel’s day, but now is a part of that gap in time which exists between the 69th and 70th

seven in Daniel 9. The details of the divided seventieth seven (9:27) correlate to the details of

the other three and one half year time periods delineated either as 42 months, 1260 days, or as

times, time and half a time mentioned in Revelation as associated with the Antichrist (Rev.

11:2, 12:14, 13:5). All of this must be future to the time of Christ’s first advent, and in relation

to His second advent, thus countering directly the amillennial view that it was fulfilled in the

first century.

An exegetical point can also be made against the recapitulation view of the

amillennialist concerning the information in 9:26 and 9:27. The use of the Hebrew waw

consecutive at the start of Daniel 9:27 indicates that there is a consecutive order of events with

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the events of 9:26. The order of events in the two verses would therefore flow chronologically:

1.) the Messiah being cut off, 2.) the city and sanctuary being destroyed, 3.) the covenant being

confirmed, 4.) the sacrifice ended by the abomination of desolation, and 5.) the

consummation. This order shows that events #3- #5 must transpire after the crucifixion in AD

30 and the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

2. Will the city of Babylon be rebuilt? Arnold Fruchtenbaum and Kenneth Wuest are among the few premillennialists who

believe that the city of Babylon will be rebuilt. Homer Heater, president of Capital Bible

Seminary is a premillennialist who does not feel Babylon in modern Iraq will be rebuilt, at least

not rebuilt to become the Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17 and 18. John Walvoord, past

president of Dallas Theological Seminary used to hold that same position (“Revival of Rome,”

BSac 126 -1969, 317-328), but changed to holding that the Babylon will indeed be rebuilt. He

says in the Bible Knowledge Commentary on Rev. 16:17-20, “it is preferable to view ‘Babylon’ as

the rebuilt city of Babylon located on the Euphrates River, which will be the capital of the final

world government.”

Fruchtenbaum, in Footsteps, said that the total destruction depicted in “the prophecies

regarding the city of Babylon have never been fulfilled in the past, as any encyclopedia article

on Babylon will make quite clear.” (277) And Kenneth Wuest, in his Prophetic Light in the

Present Darkness, places a long enough interlude between the rapture and the start of the

Tribulation period during which this international center for the end times, Babylon, to be

rebuilt.

The best answer to whether Babylon will be built from the tourist village it now is in 2014

into a metropolis of international commerce as depicted in Revelation 18, will only be revealed

when it is destroyed by fire as predicted, and the world mourns its destruction, as foretold.

Others have held that Babylon is just a symbolic reference for Rome. They point to a

number of factors that cause them to make this choice, the obvious ones are these.

1. Rome was the center of world trade from the time of Christ up until the time of the

Reformation.

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2. Roman Catholicism, who took up the persecution of true Christianity where Imperial

Rome left off, is also headquartered in Rome.

3. The City of Rome, which has been known as the “city on seven hills”, is in agreement

with the “seven mountains” associated with the city called Babylon in Rev. 17:9.

4. The Antichrist is called the “prince who is to come” in Daniel 9:26 and in that context

is associated with the Roman Empire of the first century, therefore it would be

natural to see the revival of the Roman Empire with Rome as the Antichrist’s capital

city.

5. Peter may have been referring to Rome cryptically using the title “Babylon” in his

greeting in his epistle, 1Peter 5:13.

6. Another example of a name of an ancient destroyed city also being used for a city

still in existence in the end times is seen in Rev. 11:8 where Jerusalem is called

“Sodom”.

All these factors taken together seem too formidable to argue against. However, taking

these points separately can show that each has its own inherent weakness which makes the

finding of Rome as the future Babylon still questionable, and not an issue to aid in determining

the reliability of one’s interpretation skills, but rather as an aid in determining how dogmatic a

teacher of God’s Word likes to be in disputable matters.

Rome stopped being a center of world trade a long time ago. Roman Catholicism is

morphing into a more interfaith religion, which may keep her as the “harlot” religion which the

Antichrist uses in the beginning of the Tribulation period, to consolidate his reign, but she is

then destroyed by the ten kings of the Antichrist (Rev. 17:16), presumably when the Antichrist

sets himself up to be worshipped in Jerusalem. The religious “Babylon” and the commercial

“Babylon” do not need to be in the same city.

Rome may have been called the city on the seven hills in ancient times, but in the

Revelation context, the reader is asked to use wisdom in understanding the symbolism. The

seven heads in the vision, John interprets as seven mountains and seven kings. The Greek word

for mountains is not used for hills in the NT, and the double interpretation by John and his call

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for wisdom opens one’s understanding to look for more symbolism in his interpretation. The

term mountains from the perspective of its OT use could also represent kingdoms (cf. Is. 2:2,

Jer. 51:25, Dan. 2:35), which seems a reasonable interpretation since “kings” are also included

in this interpretation.

The Antichrist is going to be associated with the old Roman Empire in some way, as

Daniel points out, but, his capital need not be in Europe. Since he is going to set himself up as

god in Jerusalem according to the prediction 2Thessalonians 2, there may be a new center of

focus there in the Middle East during his reign. Many Roman emperors ruled from

Constantinople, instead of Rome. And Peter may have been speaking literally about the

Babylon of his day in his epistle, since a large contingent of Jews, to whom he was the

designated apostle (Gal. 2:7), resided there.

Babylon, may not be rebuilt in Iraq, it may be a symbolic name for some other city which

will become the future capital of the antichrist and a world-renowned city of commerce during

the Tribulation period.

3. Will there be animal sacrifices in the millennial kingdom? It appears clearly from the predictions made in Ezekiel chapters 40-48, that animal

sacrifices will resume in the millennial kingdom. There will be undoubtedly some alteration

from the original design of those sacrifices as prescribed in the Mosaic Law, for the Mosaic Law

was a “shadow” (Colossians 2:17) of the things fulfilled by Christ in His Crucifixion.

John C. Whitcomb in “Christ Atonement and Animal Sacrifices in Israel” (Grace Journal,

Fall ’85) said - “It is not only possible, but prophetically certain, that millennial animal sacrifices

will be used in a God-honoring way (e.g., Ps 51:15–19; Heb 11:4) by a regenerated, chosen

nation before the inauguration of the eternal state when animals will presumably no longer

exist.” He sees that the same pedagogical and disciplinary purposes that the sacrificial system

had under the Mosaic Law will be useful in the millennial reign of Christ for the theocratic

kingdom set up for Israel and the world.

Arnold Fruchtenbaum says about the sacrifices made in the Millennium, “While there

are similarities with the commandments of the Law of Moses, there also some marked

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differences. For this reason, the millennial system of priesthood and sacrifice must not be

viewed as a reinstitution of the Law of Moses, which ended permanently and forever with the

death of the Messiah.” (452) Fruchtenbaum goes on to point out that there are a number of

differences in the establishment of this millennial sacrificial system so that it can easily be seen

as a brand new form of worship. (456-457). He reminds his readers that the current form of

worship, given to memorialize Christ’s death, “is to be terminated with the Second Coming

(1Corinthians 11:26).” (459)

All five offerings mentioned in Leviticus are also mentioned in Ezekiel. There will be

burnt offerings (Ezekiel 40:42), sin offerings (Ezekiel 43:19), trespass offerings (Ezekiel 40:39),

grain/drink offerings (Ezekiel 45:17) and peace offerings (Ezekiel 46:12). But as the Levite,

Barnabas, points out in the book of Hebrews, even the sacrifices in the OT were never designed

to “take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4). It would be reasonable to assume that just as the OT

sacrificial system looked forward to the completion and perfection of Christ’s sacrifice on the

cross, the millennial sacrifices will look back, and in a much more dramatic way, depict for an

unbelieving world what had been accomplished for them thousands of years earlier.

It is also important to see the millennium as a fulfillment of Israel’s prescribed purpose

in the world (i.e., to be a light to the Gentiles, a holy nation, and a royal priesthood). The

presence of their Messiah and his Bride will aid in that fulfillment and in a sense be a final

fulfillment of the Law and the prophets (Matt. 5:17). This is where Fruchtenbaum may have

spoken too hastily in saying that the Law of Moses “ended permanently and forever with the

death of the Messiah” (see above). Its covenant rule over the faith of God’s people has ended,

but its covenantal promises found in the law and prophets are certainly not ended, and Israel

will finally be enabled to fulfill all its covenant obligations under the theocratic reign of the Lord

Jesus Christ in the Millennium.

Burnt offerings have always been a symbol of total dedication to God, since the entire

offering was consumed upon the altar and no part was eaten by the priest or worshipper.

There will continue to be a need for such public promise of dedication to Christ to be made in

the Millennium. What better example of sacrificial dedication than to offer the whole life of a

spotless lamb or bullock which you raised to represent the offering of your total life to the glory

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of God. It is easy to conjecture that in the Millennial kingdom there will be a return to an

agriculture based society, with sovereignly ordained less mechanization. Banned waste in

mechanization as well as in entertainment and sports may become a cause, perhaps, of disquiet

in the hearts of unbelievers who will lust for a return to a mechanized and pleasure society. But

the truth of God’s purpose and glory will be better seen in the simple living and sacrificing as

outlined for the future society in Ezekiel.

Sin and Trespass offerings were reminders to OT Israel that sin is inward and outward.

Sin is both motivation and guilt as well as action and physical consequence. Both were paid for

on the Cross by Christ. The presence of Christ in His glorified body and unseen by many for

lengthy periods of time in the Millennium, may make believing in the historical reality of the

Crucifixion that much harder for the unbeliever. The graphic nature and teaching value of his

sin and trespass offerings would make belief in the historical event to which they point that

much easier to accept.

The Grain/Drink and Peace offerings and the feasts associated with them in the

Millennium will be a great reminder of God’s desire for intimate fellowship with each person He

has made. The unbeliever in his earthly body may feel that Jesus Christ and the resurrected

saints with their glorified bodies are too separate from wanting any true fellowship. The

commands and opportunities relating to these offerings and feasts will demonstrate that no

such separation is desired on the Lord’s part. They hold the promise, too, of a future where all

will participate in having the same fellowship with Christ in a resurrected body if they will only

believe.

4. How do Dispensationalists outline the predictions in Matthew 24:1-28? Matthew 24:1-28 has been divided into various outlines by various dispensationalists,

depending on when they feel the various predictions of Christ would be fulfilled in the end

times.

Walvoord in an article for the Bibsac Journal in July, 1971 said, “The interpretation will

be followed here that Matthew 24:4–14 deals with general signs, that Matthew 24:15–26 are

specific signs, and that Matthew 24:27–31 deals with the future second coming of Christ as

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described in greater detail in Revelation 19:11–21.” (128:209) He sees the Abomination of

Desolation at the start of the Great Tribulation (i.e., the second half of the seven years reign of

the Antichrist), as the first specific sign predicted in the Olivet Discourse. (218:512)

Pentecost, in his popular work, Things to Come, says of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew

24:4-28,

The Lord’s outline of the events of the tribulation period can thus be

determined. In the first half of the week Israel will experience the chastisements of the

events of verses 4-8 (the seals of Rev. 6), although they will dwell in relative safety

under the false covenant (Dan. 9:27). In the middle of the week great persecution will

break out (v. 9; Rev 12:12-17) because of the Desolator (v. 15; 2 Thess. 2; Rev. 13:1-10),

who will cause Israel to flee from the land (vs.16-20). Unbelieving Israel will be deceived

by the false prophet (vs. 11; Rev 13:11-18) and go into apostasy (v. 12; 2Thess. 2:11).

Believing Israel will be a witnessing people, carrying the good news that these events

herald the approach of the Messiah (v. 14). This period will be terminated by the

second advent of the Messiah (v. 27). Such seems to be the Lord’s summary of the

chronology of the tribulation period. (279-280)

Pentecost does not see the church age depicted in any portion of this prophecy. (278)

Fruchtenbaum sees the events of 24:7-8 as the beginning of the end times, and he ties

the wars between nations and kingdoms mentioned in these verses as pointing directly to

World Wars I and II. (92-93). He sees the next verses in the Olivet Discourse as pointing to the

first half of the Tribulation (i.e., 24:9-14). Matthew 24:14-28 then record the events in the

second half of the Tribulation period, beginning with the Abomination of Desolation in the

temple by the Antichrist and ending with a note about the location of Christ’s coming back to

the elect of Israel protected at Petra. (632-634)

Matthew’s account of the Olivet Discourse must be supplemented by the account given

by Luke in chapter 21. Most dispensationalists see, verses 20-24, as an answer to the disciple’s

question concerning Jesus’ prediction of the first century temple’s destruction. However, a

close comparison with the chronology of information given in Luke with that which is given in

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Matthew, would lead to placing Luke 21:20-24 into the Tribulation period also. Luke 21:20 - 24

says:

20“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is

near. 21Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the

midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22For these are

the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23But woe to

those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there

will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24And they will fall by the

edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be

trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Of course there was a prefiguring of this future desolation event in the destruction of the

temple in 70AD and also in the squelching of the Bar Koba rebellion in 135AD. However, it is

interesting to note that Luke does not mention the destruction of the temple in this passage,

but says that when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies, its “desolation” is soon to happen. This

is the same word used for the Abomination of Desolation in Matthew’s account (cf. 24:15).

Luke also mentions that Jews will be “led away captive into all nations.” Though some Jews in

the first century where taken throughout the empire to be killed in the arenas of the Romans,

this context seems to indicate a wholesale distribution into slavery of Jewish believers among

the nations. Compare also the trampling of Jerusalem with Rev. 11:2.

Jesus also said of this event, “these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are

written may be fulfilled.” This certainly sounds like this event must be a part of the time of

Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), spoken about in the OT (i.e., the Tribulation period, and not in

the first century, forty years after Pentecost and a part of the church age).

5. Does Mt. 24:22 indicate that the Tribulation will be shorter than 7 years? In Matthew 24:21-22, the Lord predicted and promised, “For then there will be great

tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever

shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s

sake those days will be shortened.” Some have taken this “shortening” to mean that the

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prescribed tribulation period, predicted in Daniel chapter nine as being seven years, will be

lessened a number of days, months, or perhaps years at God’s discretion and for the

preservation of God’s elect.

Others connect the shortening of days as indicating a cosmic change in the earth’s

rotation so that the days and nights will both be shorter than 12 hours each. Those who hold

this interpretive theory connect this passage in Matthew with the fourth trumpet judgment in

Revelation 8:12, where the a third of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars are described

as “struck” by God so that they do not shine for a third of each day or night for some un-

prescribed period of time. According to this view, this would result in the normal seven earth

years transpiring more quickly.

However, the parallel passage of these words by the Lord Jesus found in the gospel of

Mark are instructive. Mark 13:20 reads - “And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no

flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.”

Whereas Matthew records Jesus use of , first in the Aorist passive indicative and then

in the future passive indicative, Mark records Jesus use of in the Aorist active

indicative in both instances. Of course Jesus would have originally spoken these words in

Aramaic. Both gospel writers therefore are giving aspects of the full sense of Jesus’ original

meaning. Matthew’s promise that the days will be shortened is certain of fulfillment, because

Mark reveals that the determination of how short those days would be was made already by

the God in the past, as confirmed by his use of the Aorist indicative of .

Daniel chapter nine, verses 26-27, give the delineation of how short this tribulation

period will be. From the time of the desolation in the temple until the end will be one half of

the final seven year period mentioned in this context of seventy sevens of years. Comparison

with other passages, both in Daniel and in Revelation, reveals that this second three and one

half year period has already been fixed by God for a number of various events.

1. Jerusalem and the outer court of the temple will be trampled unto foot by the

Gentiles for this forty-two month period, Revelation 11:2. This may be a reference

to the first half of the Tribulation seven years, though it is obvious that the city and

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even the inner court will be desecrated by the Gentiles under the Antichrist’s rule

also during the second half.

2. Two witnesses will be prophesying for 1,260 days until they are killed by the

Antichrist in Jerusalem, Revelation 11:3. Normally their prophecy is taken as

happening during the first half of the seven years. However it may happen during

the second half of the Tribulation seven years, which, presumably, would make the

death and resurrection of these witnesses to coincide with the Lord’s return.

3. Jews who reject the Antichrist, as well as Christians, will flee from the Antichrist’s

reign of terror and will be protected in the “wilderness” for 1,260 days (Rev. 12:6),

or time, times, and half a time (Rev. 12:14) or 42 months (Rev. 13:5). This compares

directly with similar predictions made by Daniel (7:25, 12:7, 12:11-12)

The fact that Daniel’s prophecies about this time period are reconfirmed by the Apostle

John, who saw and wrote his Revelation some 60 years after Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse,

confirms that this last three and one half years of the seven year Tribulation is a fixed period of

time, and has been “shortened” to that length by the decree of God. It cannot be lengthened

any further by anything that man may do or wish to do. This corresponds with all the time

prophecies in Scripture. They are always fulfilled according to their exact delineation.

The Prewrath position of Rosenthal does not interpret this “shortening” of the Great

Tribulation to any actual shortening of the Tribulation period. He limits it to the activity of the

Antichrist, which according to Rev. 13:5 and Dan. 7:25, was predicted to last the whole 3 ½ year

period in the second half of the Tribulation. That period, to those of the Prewrath view, will still

last 3 ½ years, but the activity of persecution by the Antichrist will not, because they predict the

Rapture of the Church will cut it short. However, to limit the phrase “unless the Lord had

shortened those days no flesh would be saved” to mean that the days of aggression of the

Antichrist against the saints would be cut short is very problematic. The saints are promised

some protection for the last 3 ½ years, but the Antichrist still pursues them (Rev. 12:14-17). It is

wise not only for to desire to have a consistent hermeneutic for prophecies involving time

designations, but also to desire to uphold the integrity of Scripture’s inerrancy and proven lack

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of any contradiction. Matthew cannot record a prediction of something being cut short that is

promised to last for the entire time in the record of predictions in Revelation.

6. Does Matthew 24:31 refer to the rapture of the Church? Mid-Tribulational Rapturists, Post-Tribulational Rapturists, and Pre-Wrath

Rapturists all try to prove their timing of the Rapture from Matthew 24:29-31.

29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and

the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the

heavens will be shaken. 30Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 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. 31And He will send His angels with a

great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds,

from one end of heaven to the other.

But this passage is too contrastive when compared with the rapture passage of 1Thessalonians

4. The main issue of this passage, on which these other positions lean, is the mention of the

“trumpet” in connection with the gathering of the elect. It is noted that the Pre-Wrath position

does not connect the trumpet of this verse with the seventh trumpet of Revelation 10 and 11,

like the Mid and Post-Tribulational Rapturists do, but they all connect this trumpet with the

“last trumpet” mentioned in the other major Rapture passage (1Cor. 15:52), as well as with the

“trumpet of God” in 1Thessalonians 4:16.

Though the trumpet in Matthew is a strong comparison to make with the trumpet

mentioned in 1Thessalonians, this is not necessarily a firm connection. As will be discussed

below, a certain word may have different uses in different contexts and may not be indicating

the same item or event. However, there are other contrasts between the two passages,

1Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24, which when considered together help make one see these

comings of Christ as two different events. In Matthew the angels are sent to gather the elect

from the far reaches of earth and heaven. This will probably include a resurrection of OT saints

(Dan. 12:13). But it will also include a gathering of the remaining Jews who have not followed

the Antichrist from every corner of the earth to which they fled during his persecution. In

1Thessalonians 4 it appears that the Lord gathers only those who have died in the LORD, (i.e.,

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the church), and brings “with him” their spirits to be reunited with their bodies. OT saints are

never mentioned as being “in the Lord”, which is only a NT phrase based upon the baptizing

work of the Holy Spirit who formed the church in Christ at Pentecost.

Matthew refers to an earthly gathering for the sake of entering in the Millennial Kingdom

on earth. 1Thessalonians 4 has no earthly emphasis, but emphasizes being with the LORD from

that point on, wherever He may be. Comparing this with Jesus’ promise to His disciples in John

14:1-2, where the emphasis is also on being received to be with the LORD, the result of this

gathering in 1Thessalonians 4 is to be taken to a place prepared by Jesus where He is presently

located, in heaven.

The context of Matthew seems only to concern the elect nation “Israel” with a focus on its

future in Jerusalem under the rule of the Antichrist. The context of 1Thessalonians is the

church, and those who die “in the LORD.” Not all the elect of Israel are saved or will be saved in

that day. Only those who remain faithful to looking for their Messiah and who do not follow the

Antichrist will be saved in the end, for only they will “endure to the end.” (Matthew 24:13)

The last trumpet in 1Corinthians 15:52 need not be the last trumpet mentioned in

Revelation chapters 10 and 11. If a brief word study of the word “last” is made of the context

of 1Corinthians 15, one will notice that this term is used a number of times in that chapter not

as “last” chronologically but as “last” categorically.

1. 15:8 Christ was “last of all” seen by Paul. This of course is in relation to his calling as

the last apostle. That has some chronological significance, no doubt, but the phrase indicates

“last” to be seen. The LORD is certainly going to be seen again, so this in not truly His “last”

appearance chronologically.

2. 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Again there is some chronological

significance to the word “last” in this context. But are we to conclude that in the New Heavens

and New Earth there will be no more opportunity for God to display the riches of His grace,

using some new creative order which will involve potentially new enemies of that grace? “Last

enemy” here could mean only last in relation to this age.

3. 15:45 The last Adam is compared to the first Adam. Again, even though there is some

chronological significance, there is no way Jesus can be seen as the last Adam, i.e. man, ever to

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be brought into existence. He is the last representative of all mankind to come on the scene,

but the emphasis here is on that representative position, not on the time of His appearance

among men.

4. 15:52 The last trumpet that sounds during the Rapture also has a relative significance,

not chronologically, as if no future trumpets will ever be blown after that moment (e.g., for

worship in the Millennium, Psalm 150:3), but it is the announcement that the Bridegroom is

coming for His bride, and thus the last moment for any to be added to the body of Christ.

7. What is wrong with the Preterist view of “this generation” in Matthew 24:34? The Preterist view of “this generation” in Matthew 24:34 is to take it as it is used in almost

every other context it is found in the gospels (i.e., to mean the current generation to which

Jesus is speaking). A perusal of those other contexts just in Matthew will reveal how

consistency of interpretation for this phrase does lie in the Preterist’s favor.

Matthew 11:16 But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the

marketplaces and calling to their companions….

Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation

and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater

than Jonah is here.

Matthew 12:42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this

generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the

wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 12:45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than

himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the

first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Matthew 23:36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

These contexts, previous to Matthew 24:34, can easily be seen to apply specifically to the

people of Israel of the current time period in which the Lord was ministering, and by whom He

was currently being rejected. So why would not this last context also fit into the same mold?

Premillennialists have given various responses to that question. Some point to the generic

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meaning of the word “generation” to include also the idea of “race” or “ethnic group”. In this

way all the above contexts would refer not just to the people of Jesus’ day but of the Jewish

people in general, who have throughout history stood in a position of rejection of God’s

message and grace towards them. But God will continue to work with them as a people of His

promise even up to the end of the age. They will not disappear, like many ethnic groups have in

the past, but will continue even until the Lord’s return.

Other Premillennialists argue with the Preterist’s use of “this generation” as

contemporary to the events of the first century, based on other information found in the

context of Matthew 24:34 itself. But Thomas Ice, in the “Midnight Call” newsletter, August

2002, in his article entitled, “Matthew 24 and ‘This Generation’” stated that in Matthew 24:34

“the governing referent to ‘this generation’ is ‘all these things.’ Since Jesus is truly giving an

extended prophetic discourse of future events, one must determine the nature of ‘all these

things’ prophesied in verses 4-31 to know what generation Christ is referencing.” (18) It is

obvious to Ice that the context includes the second coming of Christ and a gathering of the elect

unto him. If the Preterist does not include those events into the phrase “all these things”, then

why include any of the events there mentioned. If the Preterist does try to include those two

events into a first century fulfillment, normal interpretation of prophecy is turned on its head.

Fruchtenbaum interpreted these words of Jesus in Matthew 24:34 as “the generation

which sees this event – the Abomination of Desolation – will still be around when the Second

Coming of the Messiah occurs 3 ½ years later.” (Footsteps, 639) He presented the older,

popular view among dispensationalists that stated that the parable of the fig tree in this

context was the reestablishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 or the recapturing of its capital,

Jerusalem, in 1967. Those holding those views would begin to count the years of their

“generation” from those events. Some would see a generation as being 40 years, which of

course has proven an inaccurate interpretation in attempting to determine the Lord’s return.

One wonders if they will donate to charity the proceeds from their books that popularized this

false interpretation as a sign of their repentance!

A brief comparison of the “generation” in 23:36 and the one mentioned in 24:34 reveals

that one has a household left “desolate”, and the other is a part of a gracious regathering from

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the far reaches of heaven. The generation of Jesus’ day was rejected, the kingdom taken from

them, to be given to another “nation” who will fulfill the fruits of it (21:43). The generation in

the end-of-the-age context (see 24:3) of the Olivet Discourse will be ushered into the Kingdom

of Christ; those that endure to the end of it, that is.

It is true that the preceding verse, 24:33, with its use of the second person pronoun in the

phrase “when you see all these things, know that it is near”, does indicate the possibility of

Christ’s prophecies being fulfilled within one generation of His prediction. But that pronoun’s

use is only an aid to the establishment of the doctrine of the imminency of His return.

Imminency of Christ’s return suggests the conditional nature of its timing, based upon the

“longsuffering” nature of God (2Peter 3:9), the holy evangelistic living of God’s people in each

generation (2Peter 3:11-12), and the progress towards the full number of the Gentiles unto

salvation (Romans 11:25).

8. How does one refute the Amillennial recapitulation view of judgments in Revelation? The amillennial position concerning the 7 seal judgments, the 7 trumpet judgments, and

the 7 bowl judgments, is to see them, not in any consecutive order, but as each new series as a

recapitulation and further explanation of the series previously mentioned. Therefore the first

seal is to be compared with the first trumpet and the first bowl, the second seal with the

second of each series, the third with the third, etc. One does see some correlation in the

language of some of the judgments, and there is some coincidence between the type of

judgments, especially between the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments. However,

there are some obvious differences that make such correlation unnecessary, and even

unhelpful to the one who wants to take the Scriptures as literally, and grammatically natural in

interpretation as possible.

The largest difference is seen when comparing the trumpet judgments and the bowl

judgments. Though it is their similarity which is usually pointed to (i.e., the second trumpet and

second bowl affect the seas, the third trumpet and the third bowl affect the rivers, the fourth

trumpet and the fourth bowl affect the heavens), there is too obvious of a difference to see

them as appealing to the same events in pairs. The trumpet judgments in each case listed

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above are said to specifically only affect one third as much as the bowl judgments do. And

some of the other judgments also seem to have little comparison within the trumpet and bowl

series. The Seal judgments are unique in their series (at least the first five) from the other two

series in that they are very general in their descriptions (i.e., political power, war, famine,

death, martyrdom).

However, there does seem to be some correlation between the concluding judgments in

each series that is too hard to ignore. The sixth seal with its sun being darkened and moon

turned to blood, and a great earthquake, sounds very similar to the prophecies of the Second

Coming found in Joel, Matthew, and the seventh bowl judgment. The sixth trumpet judgment

with it mighty army coming across the Euphrates River agrees closely with the kings of the east

gathered to cross the Euphrates River during the sixth bowl judgment. These gatherings of

armies naturally are seen to coincide with the gathering of the nations to take their final stand

against with the Antichrist against the coming of Jesus Christ, (Daniel 11:44f, Revelation 19:19)

9. What are the problems with the Amillennial view Revelation 20? The Amillennial position concerning the 1000 years passage in Revelation 20:1-6 and the

events associated with this passage is fraught with problems. To them the passage has to be a

recapitulation of previous chapters which they interpreted as referring to the present church

age. However, when one reads chapter 19 in conjunction with chapter 20, there is an obvious

flow in the text concerning the events the John was seeing. He used repeatedly the connective

kai eidon (and I saw) throughout this passage to link these events into a consecutive order.

Many modern translations even show this progression by translating the word kai with words

that denote that progress (e.g., NKJV - 19:11, “Now I saw”; 19:17, “Then I saw”; 19:19, “And I

saw”; 20:1, “Then I saw”; 20:4, “And I saw”; 20:7, “Now when”; and 20:11, “Then I saw”).

The biggest problem with the amillennial position is that it uses a faulty hermeneutic

when approaching the use of numbers in Biblical prophecy. When one does a survey of

prophecies given in Scripture that include a time reference, and which have their fulfillment

also recorded in the Scripture, one realizes that they are universally fulfilled literally (i.e.,

exactly as the time element had suggested). The first such example is the prophecy which God

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gave to Abraham concerning his seed being in Egypt for 400 years, in bondage. (Genesis 15)

This was fulfilled literally.

When the southern kingdom of Judah is judged by God for its unfaithfulness, the

prophet Jeremiah announces the coming captivity it will have to endure. God sets the time limit

to 70 years. Once again, the fulfillment, as recorded by Ezra, is depicted as a literal fulfillment.

When the Lord Jesus compared His coming passion, He compared His length of burial with the

experience of Jonah in the belly of the great fish (Matthew 12). Not only do the words of the

Lord confirm the historicity of Jonah miraculous “resurrection” from the fishy grave he was in,

but once again the time element to Jesus prediction was fulfilled literally.

There are other time elements mentioned in the book of Revelation (e.g., 42 months -

Revelation 11:2, 1260 days - Revelation 12:14, 5 months - Revelation 9:9, and 10 days -

Revelation 3:14). One will have to decide if the time element in these prophesies will follow the

biblical norm of literal fulfillment also. If so, then it is only reasonable to see the six references

to 1000 years given in Revelation 20 concerning the coming reign of Christ on earth as also

literal.

10. Why is the Amillennial equating of the Sheep and Goats Judgment and the Great White Throne Judgment incorrect? There are too many differences between the passage of the judgment given in Matthew

25, of the sheep and the goats, and the passage of the Great White Throne judgment in

Revelation 20. The only similarities are the judge and the final destination of the wicked. But in

Matthew the judgment is based on how the “brethren” of Christ were treated as evidence of

their faith in the mercy and sovereignty of God (much like Rahab of Jericho). The judgment of

Revelation 20 is based upon how each person’s life matches the gospel of redemption revealed

in the books of Scripture, and whether his or her name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. It

is obvious in the Matthew 20 judgment that there are both those accepted by God, the sheep,

and those rejected by God, the goats. However, in Revelation 20 judgment, only those who are

lost are mentioned. Of course, at the end of the Millennium there would be some question

about how any righteous will be judged, but they are not specifically mentioned at all in this

passage.

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The treatment of “the least of these my brethren” has been interpreted, using the

typical Amillennial interpretation, as referring to any other human being and not specifically

those who are God’s covenant people. This false interpretation has become in the modern age

a part of a false gospel made popular by the Roman Catholic nun, called Mother Theresa. This

is a gospel for a salvation by works with a hint of universalism. There is no mention as to how

many people in prison, or sick, or hungry one must serve in some fashion before one can feel

that Christ will accept them into His kingdom. Most people naturally feel they have done

enough, and therefore, since they are being told by the false interpretation of this passage that

they are doing it “unto” Jesus, they gain a false security of their everlasting salvation.

It is more reasonable that one stick with a literal hermeneutic when dealing with this

prophecy. Of course there are some parabolic features in the description of this judgment (e.g.,

sheep and goats), but for the most part the description of the interaction between the Lord and

those being judged and the outcome of this judgment sound pretty literal. The fact that sheep

and goats are mentioned lends some credence to the old dispensational interpretation that

they are a figurative representations for nations and not individuals. Christ’s brethren will be

protected in the “wilderness” during the Tribulation period. It may be that God will preserve

them among many different nations during that time of their persecution by the Antichrist

(Revelation 12).

11. What is the Bible’s description of the everlasting city, the New Jerusalem? The New Jerusalem is described in Revelation chapter 21 in great detail. The list of

detail includes -

Verse 10 – It descends out of heaven from God.

Verse 23 – The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God

illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

Verse 11 – It has the glory of God, a light like a most precious stone

Verse 16 – The city is laid out as a square; its length, breadth and height are all around 1,500

miles each.

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Verse 12 – It has twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names of the twelve tribes

of Israel written on the gates

Verse 13 – It has three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south,

and three gates on the west.

Verse 21 – The twelve gates were twelve pearls: And the street of the city was pure gold, like

transparent glass.

Verse 25 – Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).

Verse 17 – The wall is 126 feet thick (some think this is its height).

Verse 18 – The wall is jasper; and the city is pure gold, like clear glass.

Verse 14 – The wall has twelve foundations, named for the twelve apostles.

Verse 19 – The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious

stones.

Verse 22 – There is no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

Verse 24 – The nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth

bring their glory and honor into it.

Verse 27 – Only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life may enter it.

Some have seen it as a cube or pyramid, or even a mountain. Since it is seen coming out

of heaven, it must be in some way self-contained. The idea of a satellite city in a cube or sphere

that hangs suspended above the new earth is reasonable, though one that large would make

one wonder about its gravitational influence. If it touches down upon the earth, the twelve

foundations of the walls would make more sense. But being 1,500 miles high does cause some

difficulty for an earth bound city, and would require some atmospheric changes to the new

earth in comparison with the old, to sustain any sort of life as we now know it at those

elevations outdoors. If the city is a cube, orb or pyramid, it can be divided into levels and

apportioned to its inhabitants in sections internally. Such a city could accommodate billions of

inhabitants on its various levels internally and that with each inhabitant possessing a number of

square miles of personal space with 12 foot high ceilings.

Of course, resurrected bodies are not bothered by atmospheric conditions. But the

description of this city only says those written in the Lamb’s book of life are the inhabitants. It

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citizenship does not have to be limited to those individuals born before this new age. That

others will be born or created in physical bodies for this new age requires the assumption that

in the ages to come the LORD will continue demonstrating His mercy and grace (Ephesians 2:7)

utilizing a new creative order that might be similar to the one just experienced.

This description of the new heavens and new earth given by the Apostle John in

Revelation 21 and 22 does indicate some similarity with the previously created universe and

earth civilization. In 21:24 and 26 there is the mention of future nations and kings. In 21:27

and 22:15 there seems to be some indication that even though only the righteous are allowed

into the city there will still be in existence, outside of the city opportunity for the manifestation

of evil. The reckoning of time in this period will also be similar, for in 22:2, a period of twelve

months is indicated. This seems to imply that the new earth and heavens are just a renovation

of the old ones.

Though Fruchtenbaum sees a necessity for Israel to be an important recognized part the

new heavens and new earth, he does not think there will be any more sun or moon. (Footsteps,

531) However, he makes too much from the words – “The city had no need of the sun or of the

moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” (Revelation 22:23)

For this verse only says that the city will not “need” the sun or moon, not that they will not

exist.

But more importantly, Fruchtenbaum has ignored that the sun and moon are the sign of

God’s faithfulness in fulfilling the new covenant with Israel, which includes this new age in the

future. Jeremiah prophesied clearly, in 33:35-36:

Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the

moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar

(The LORD of hosts is His name): “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says

the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me

forever.”

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12. Why is it not probable that 2 Thess. 1:5-12 refers to the Rapture at the Second Advent?

The covenant premillennial and amillennial argument for a Post-Tribulationalist Rapture

in 2Thessalonians 1:5-12 is based on a misunderstanding of the biblical prophecy and its

frequent use of sectioned fulfillment. Douglas Moo in his, “The Case for the Posttribulation

Rapture Position” in The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational? (Zondervan, 1984), says –

In 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7 Paul appears to provide strong support for the view that

believers will not be raptured until the Parousia of Christ at the end of the Tribulation.

For there can be no doubt that in verses 7-8 Paul depicts this coming in glory, which he

characterizes as “the revelation of the Lord Jesus from Heaven in blazing fire with His

powerful angels.” Yet it is at (en) this time that the believers who are suffering

tribulation are given “rest.” In other words, it is only at the Post-Tribulational Advent

that believers experience deliverance from the sufferings of this age.

The context of the first chapter in 2Thessalonians is emphasizing the coming day when

the Christians will no longer face persecution but will enter into a “rest” while those who

persecuted them will be judged in flaming fire. The emphasis of the passage is not to

determine how those events will specifically play out. Chapter two of this epistle gives more of

a specific description of the chronology of events as well as specific information about the

involvement of the wicked one (i.e., the Antichrist), in those events. In this introductory section

to this epistle, the apostle is just emphasizing the results of Christ’s coming back (i.e., the

vindication and rest of His servants from all harm).

It could also be argued, that just as the prophets of old did not understand fully the time

elements of the prophecies which were revealed to and through them, (1Peter 1:10-12),

perhaps the apostles did not understand fully all aspects of the timing of Christ’s Second

Coming. Just like the prophets, when they spoke of one coming of the Messiah, they were

really speaking of two comings in one context (i.e., the First and Second Advents), the apostles

may have been speaking of one coming for Christ’s Second Advent, but not fully understanding

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its two parts (i.e., the Rapture and the Revelation). The rest promised in this context must also

be linked with the kingdom (1:5).

13. Why is it not probable that the cosmic-sign passages from Joel 2:31, Matthew 24:29, and Revelation 6:12 support the Pre-Wrath Rapture position? The cosmic sign passages in Joel 2:31, 3:15, Matthew 24:29 and Revelation 6:12 are all

used by the Pre-wrath Rapturist position to point to the time of the rapture as being after the

6th Seal Judgment and before the 7th Seal Judgment, and about ¾ of the way through the

Tribulation period. There has to be some presuppositions made first for them to hold this

position dogmatically. They must assume that there is only one gathering of God’s people

predicted in these prophetic passages. They must assume that there is only one event of

cosmic display, where the sun is darkened and the moon is turned to blood during the

Tribulation period. They must assume that there is no overlap or recapitulation of any of the

judgments in the book of Revelation. And they must assume that the term Day of the LORD is a

technical term, meaning only one thing in every context?

The Pre-Wrath Rapturist has reasonable answers based on his dogmatism in these

assumptions given above. One must remember that the most important issue at stake is not

how or when the Lord gathers His people. It is more important to have the assurance that He

will indeed gather them, physically and permanently unto Himself, based upon His promise to

all who have trusted in His completed redemptive work on the Cross. There is a big

hermeneutic problem that the Pre-Wrath Rapturist has in trying to link these celestial sign

passages with the Rapture. That problem arises when both the Matthew 24:29 and Revelation

6:12 passages are not seen to relate to the Rapture, even though they may relate to the Second

Coming. Matthew 24:29 certainly is speaking of the Second Coming, but the gathering

mentioned there is of God’s OT saints, resurrected after He returns and “synagogued” together

with those Jews who are still alive. Those living Jews come forth from hiding in the

“wilderness” (Rev. 12) or are transported to the land of Israel by those friendly nations who

helped preserve them from the massacring rampage of the Antichrist (Matt. 25). And the

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gathering is on earth, not in the clouds to wait for the Second Coming for another year and

three quarters.

Revelation 6:12 does not speak of any gathering, though the Pre-wrath Rapturist points

to chapter 7 and the coming “out of great tribulation” mentioned there concerning the

multitude seen before the throne. That passage is discussed below. But basically that coming

is not seen as just one event (i.e., a rapture), but as a progressive coming of individuals into

glory through martyrdom.

14. What are some other weaknesses of the Pre-wrath Rapture position? The greatest weaknesses of the Pre-Wrath Rapture position seem to be in their

identification of the Rapture in Matthew 24:31 and Revelation 7:14. The Matthew context is

certainly a gathering of God’s people, which probably also includes a Resurrection of OT saints,

but there is no need for a translation of any who are alive at the Second Coming of Christ into

new bodies without dying, a significant part of the Rapture event (1Cor. 15:51-52, 1Thes. 4:17).

In Matthew, the gathering is of God’s elect people Israel, both those alive in their physical

bodies and those resurrected in their glorified bodies, to begin the millennial reign with Christ,

their Messiah.

In the Revelation 7 context, the vision of John is of a great multitude, of every tribe and

tongue before the Throne of God. They are identified as those “who are coming” (not “came”,

as KJV says) out of great tribulation. This vision is evidence that multitudes will be receiving

salvation during the Tribulation period, as well as martyrdom (cf. Rev 13:7). They appear to be

the same ones referred to in God’s response to the request by the souls under the altar of

“How long?” as recorded in Revelation 6:9-11. They are “fellow servants also, and their

brethren, who would be killed as they were.”

It is amazing how scholars within the dispensational camp can argue for a literal

hermeneutic and often point to the tense of Greek verbs to help support their argument or

refute their opponent’s arguments. Yet when such an obvious use of the Greek present tense,

like here in Revelation 7:14, throws some suspicion on their interpretation of the kind of

entrance into heaven, the Pre-wrath Rapturist ignores it and does not concede the weakness of

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his position made by that grammatical evidence. One surely wonders why the Rapture, which

is so clearly taught as a future event in 1Corinthians 15 and 1Thessalonians 4, is not clearly

found among the plethora of events recorded in the book of Revelation. But neither should it

forced to be found in prophecies or events not germane to each context of that book.

Of course, some Pretribulational Rapturists see the rapture in Revelation 3:10, or in

Revelation 4:1, or Mid and Post-tribulational Rapturists see the rapture in Revelation 11:18 or

14:15. However, all should be willing to admit, along with the Pre-wrath Rapturists, that their

trying to find the rapture in the book of Revelation is only a process of assumptions and

inferences. Perhaps, the Lord desires His children to emphasize the surety of His coming and

our gathering unto Him more than the time of His coming. It is similar to those who wish to be

dogmatic about upon which day the Lord was crucified (i.e. Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday),

and then their argumentative emphasis starts to overshadow the emphasis that should be

made concerning the reality of His crucifixion.

15. How does the Mid-Trib Rapture compare with the Pre-Wrath Rapture? Both Buswell’s Mid-Trib Rapture position and Rosenthal’s Pre-Wrath Rapture position

are similar in that they both see Matthew 24:31 as predicting the Rapture. They both view the

seven years of Tribulation in three parts, the first three and half years are the “beginning of

sorrows”. Then follows the revelation of the Antichrist, with a time of persecution by the

Antichrist before the rapture of the church. Finally, after this time of “man’s” wrath, the wrath

of God begins. For Buswell the wrath of the Antichrist is only 3 ½ days, where for Rosenthal it

lasts over a year. Both also have the Lord hovering in the clouds before His final descent to

destroy the forces gathered against Him by the Antichrist.

These two positions do have their major differences. Rosenthal sees the rapture taking

place before the Seventh Seal, which will include all the Trumpet Judgments and Bowl

Judgments as part of God’s wrath. Buswell sees the rapture taking place in line with the

Seventh Trumpet sounding, and thus only sees the Bowl Judgments as a part of God’s Wrath.

Both do not notice that the wrath of man (i.e., the Antichrist) is only possible by the permission

of God. Therefore that wrath too could easily be identified as part of the wrath of God. When

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one studies the idea of God’s wrath, it is only the context which determines what events or

time period are to be included in that wrath. Many times the context is both eschatological and

soteriological. In those cases it is best to link the idea of wrath with the ultimate separation

from God’s blessing by the experience of His wrath in hell (cf. 1Thess. 5:9).

Revelation chapter fifteen does speak of the filling up, or finishing, of God’s wrath

through the pouring out of the bowl judgments, but this indication cannot be that God’s wrath

will no longer be displayed after the last bowl judgment is poured out, for the wrath of the

Lamb at His coming, the defeat of Gog and Magog at the end of the Millennium, and the casting

into hell of those judged at the Great White Throne, would all be evidences of God’s wrath.

And they are all still future to the time of the bowl judgments. So the promise of being saved

“from the wrath to come” (1Thess. 5:9) given to the church does not have to be necessarily

limited to the wrath which mankind will experience here on earth during the Tribulation period

or any one part of it. God’s people, once they are redeemed, are immediately “saved” from the

wrath to come… which culminates in the expression of God’s wrath in hell.

16. What are the Premillennial views regarding the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion? There are four main premillennial views regarding the time of the invasion of Israel by

Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39. They are 1) before the seven years of Tribulation begins,

2) during the first half of the Tribulation period, 3) during the second half of the Tribulation

period, or 4) during the Millennium. Arnold Fruchtenbaum thought that these events of Ezekiel

38 and 39 will occur before the seven years of Tribulation begins. Dwight Pentecost preferred

seeing this war occurring during the first half of the Tribulation. Charles Feinberg, in his

commentary on Ezekiel, takes the view that Gog and Magog will attack at the end of the

Tribulation period, a part of the war of Armageddon. A final view, of Arno Gaebelein, places

this judgment on Gog at the end of the Millennium.

Each view has relative strengths to its position. Those who hold to a Pre-Tribulation

battle view believe that the predicted seven years for the burning of Gog’s weapons (cf. Ezek.

39:9) must take place before the Millennium which would be unworthy of such activity. They

therefore think such burning will need to end sometime in the Tribulation period itself. Those

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holding to an early Tribulation battle view feel that the first 3 ½ years of relative peace, created

by the Antichrist will coincide with Israel’s “dwelling in safety” (Ezek. 38:11) when Gog comes to

attack. Those standing on a post Tribulation battle view, especially seeing it at the end of the

Millennium, point to the clear reference to a battle denoted as Gog and Magog in Revelation

20:7-9, after the 1000 years are over.

The best view, that Gog and Magog battle represents a battle which initiates the final

campaign in the War of Armageddon at the end of the Tribulation period, has much to

commend it. First, and most importantly, this battle results in universal and enduring

recognition by Israel and the nations of the one true God. Ezekiel 39:22 says: “So the house of

Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.” And in 39:28-29 we

read concerning Israel -

Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into

captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have

left none of them anymore there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I

have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

Concerning the recognition by the nations, when God is victorious over Gog, He says, “Thus will

I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they

shall know that I am the LORD” (38:23) and “Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD.”

(39:7)

Secondly, there are parallel OT prophetic passages that mention an end-times, northern

army (cf. Ezek. 38:15), coming to attack Israel. In those contexts that attack appears to be in

connection with the Tribulation period, and not before or after. Both Joel 2:20 and Daniel

11:44 mention such an army. Their contexts reveal a tribulation time period, with Joel’s

declaring it in the Day of the Lord and Daniel’s mentioning of the Antichrist’s reign of terror in

the Middle East.

Thirdly, there are a number of characteristics of God’s judgment mentioned in Ezekiel

38 and 39 which have distinctive overtones to the descriptions of judgment mentioned in the

book of Revelation as referring to end of the Tribulation period. They include a great

earthquake (38:19, with Rev. 16:18), great hailstones (38:22 with Rev. 16:22), heavenly fire

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(38:22 with 16:8) and birds feasting on the corpses of the defeated army (39:4 with Rev. 19:17).

All of these appear to reflect the same time period for both prophetic passages.

Those who hold to an early tribulational view for this battle do not feel that Gog and

Magog can be part of the war of Armageddon, for they say that Armageddon will include the

armies of the whole world, where Ezekiel 38 and 39 only mention a select number of nations,

led by leadership from the north of Israel. However, nowhere in Revelation does it say “all” the

kings of the earth will be joined with Antichrist against Christ at Armageddon. The battle of Gog

may be the first battle that then inspires a uniting of Antichrist with other armies against the

coming Christ. Other armies will see and recognize the destruction of Gog as having come from

God in behalf of Israel, and they will want to join in a final act of rebellion.

Another objection relates to the relative peace that Israel will be having when Gog

comes to attack it. They say that such peace will not exist in the second half of the Tribulation

for the Antichrist will be attacking Jews and Christians at that time. The establishment of his

peace treaty with Israel does begin the Tribulation period. However, it will take time for the

present walls (e.g., on the West Bank) to come down after such a treaty is established (Ezek.

38:11). It also appears that two thirds of secular Israel will accept the Antichrist as their god (cf.

Zech. 13:8) when he sets himself up as such in the temple in the middle of the Tribulation, so

relative peace with apostate Israel will continue under his dictatorship. He will begin a

“religious” ethnic cleansing of areas under his direct control.

Finally, the context of Ezekiel itself, places the battle of Gog and Magog (chapters 38-39)

just prior to the establishment of Millennial worship under the reign of the Messiah (chapters

40-48). The layperson who reads his Scripture normally would see that natural flow of events in

Ezekiel and assume to understand them in consecutive order.

17. What are other strong arguments against Fruchtenbaum’s Pretribulational battle view of the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion? Fruchtenbaum believed that the battle of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39 will

happen before the Tribulation period and before the rapture of the church. He said – “It is

obvious from where the event is placed in this work that the author [speaking of himself] views

the Russian invasion as taking place sometime before the Tribulation” (Footsteps, 117). He

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provided three main reasons in support of his view. First, Fruchtenbaum said that “the

description of Israel found in this passage fits well with the nation as she is now, established

before the Tribulation. Israel is a land brought back from the sword (38:8)” (121). Second,

Fruchtenbaum mentioned, “Russia today, in spite of the fall of communism, is still a major

world power before the Tribulation” (122). And third, he stated, “this view best answers the

problem with the seven months and seven years” needed for cleanup after this battle (122).

It is upon this third point that Fruchtenbaum leans heavily, saying “These seven month

of burying and seven years of burning are crucial in determining when this invasion occurs. For

any view to be correct, it must satisfy the requirements of these seven months and seven

years” (117). The first two points he has made, when looked at closely, prove of no

consequence in support for the Pretribulational view of the battle of Gog and Magog. Israel’s

return to the land would be a prerequisite for all views for this battle. The prophecy in Ezekiel

does not indicate that Gog would be brought immediately to the borders of Israel after their

resettlement in the land. Besides, it is obvious that over half a century has already passed since

Israel was given international recognition of a homeland once again.

There is no essential requirement for Russia to be the northern power fulfilling the

designation of Gog and Magog. According to Genesis 10, these ancient tribes were located no

farther north of the land of Israel than the southern shores of the Black Sea or the regions of

the Caucasus Mountains. It is most likely, considering modern hostilities against the present

state of Israel, this northern confederation called Gog, which includes Persia, Ethiopia, Libya

and other areas under Moslem domination will be an Islamic league of nations and not headed

by modern Russia. Even if it were, the identity of Gog has little to do with the timing of this

battle, and makes one wonder how Fruchtenbaum saw that such an identification helps his

Pretribulational battle view. As mentioned in the last essay, the northern kingdom who attacks

Israel is mentioned in other OT prophetic contexts (Joel 2 and Daniel 10) which indicate a

period of time well into the Tribulational period of seven years.

Once again, Fruchtenbaum saw the seven years of burning Gog’s weapons and seven

months burying Gog’s dead as the primary proof against any other view but his. When

considering and answering the objections made by those holding a different time table for this

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battle, Fruchtenbaum always returned to the seven year issue. For example, after answering

the post Tribulational objections, he added, “Furthermore, this view fails to solve the problem

of the seven months and seven years, since both would have to continue into the Millennium to

be accomplished. Again, this is inconsistent with other revelation regarding the Kingdom,

which starts out with a thoroughly cleansed earth.” (119)

But Fruchtenbaum offers no biblical proof for these assertions. Why would burning and

burying in the Millennium be such a problem? Do not other millennial prophecies indicate that

during this earthly reign of Christ there will still be death, though obviously curtailed by His

gracious rule? And one can hardly view the first seven months of burying dead bodies in one

small section of the earth as a significant corruption of one thousand years of worldwide

abundant living. Even seven years of burning weapons can take on a view of being a fitting

memorial for the end of war and man’s aggression against God and man and become part of a

proper transition into an age of worldwide peace and tranquility.

Other arguments offered against Fruchtenbaum’s Pretribulational view of the Gog and

Magog invasion include those made by the holders of the position that this invasion is identical

to the one referred as Gog and Magog at the end of the Millennium. They say that the

restoration of Israel from among the nations to dwell in safety in unwalled villages speaks

better of the Millennial age. But these objections are easily met by Fruchtenbaum (123). A

favorite objection to Fruchtenbaum’s timing of Gog, made among Pretribulational Rapturists, is

that Fruchtenbaum is taking away from the imminency of the Rapture by postulating this other

Pretrib event. Fruchtenbaum rightly points out that imminency for the rapture does not mean it

must be the only Pretribulational event predicted. It just means that it can be expected at any

moment even if other predicted events may happen first. The regathering of Israel to their land

is one such fulfilled prophecy that has already occurred but does not undermine the idea of an

imminent Rapture.

18. Why is the doctrine of soul sleep not correct? Both the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah Witnesses believe in the dormancy of

the soul between an individual’s death and resurrection. They make much out of the

euphemistic expression of the biblical term “sleep” when used for death. Fruchtenbaum

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pointed out the weakness of this misunderstanding. Even in normal sleep of the physical body,

he said, the mind and spirit still function (e.g., dreams (Footsteps, 734). So in death, when the

physical body “sleeps”, there is no need to believe that the mind and spirit of an individual does

not still function. There are some important relevant passages that indicate such spiritual

functioning, in the presence of the LORD, before the resurrection of physical flesh. At the

mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were certainly conscious and communicated

rationally (Matthew 17:1-8). The rich man in Hades, in Jesus’ report about the afterlife (Luke

16:19-31) also communicated his thoughts and had intense experiences of torment. The

context of Revelation 6:9-11 reveals that souls in heaven are presently waiting, and pleading,

for God to finish His program for the earth. The point is that they are certainly conscious and

not “asleep” as they wait.

The Apostle Paul was also clear about the immediacy of one’s entrance into the

presence of the Lord after they leave their earthly body at death. He said “to be absent from

the body and to be present with the Lord” was a truth of which he was confident (2Cor. 5:6-8).

He also called dying, “gain” in Philippians 2:21. This would not make sense, if death was only an

entrance in to some sort of celestial comatose. The thief on the cross next to Jesus, who

requested to be “remembered” by the Lord when would come into His kingdom, was promised

to be with Christ in “paradise” on that very day. He was ushered into paradise, either

Abraham’s bosom, where consciousness of the departed was described above (Luke 16) or into

the third heaven, which the Apostle Paul calls “paradise” in 2Corinthians 12:2. It was probably

the former, for it appears that Jesus descended first into lower parts of the earth, after His

death (cf. Ephesians 4:10, 1Peter 3:21) and did not ascend into heaven with the righteous souls

of OT saints, including this thief, until after His resurrection (cf. Heb 10:20). He indicated clearly

to Mary Magdalene on resurrection day that He had not yet ascended to the third heaven

before that time (cf. John 20:17). Therefore the believing thief would have gone to Hades first,

and then to heaven, but to both places, however, as a conscious soul.

There are some Old Testament references that are usually appealed to concerning

individuals in Sheol not functioning consciously. They are found in poetic passages, such as in

the Psalms or other OT wisdom literature. Nothing should be made dogmatic in theology that

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is based primarily on poetic passages, a genre filled with subjective meaning. The over-arching

emphasis of OT worship literature necessarily points to the idea that people were created to

function to God’s glory as a unity of body, soul, and spirit. That emphasis does not dogmatically

preclude the possibility of spiritual consciousness after death, before one’s resurrection.

19. Is it likely that the Antichrist will be a Jew? There are some who hold that the Antichrist may be a Jew. There are some who refute

this possibility with great concern. Fruchtenbaum, in his book Footsteps of the Messiah calls

the racial identity of the Antichrist “a doctrine of such magnitude. . . .” (209). It appears he

does not feel it could even be possible that the Antichrist could have any genetic material from

the lineage of Jacob. He does not discuss why he will not make that concession or why the

integrity of what Biblical doctrine is at stake if the Antichrist turns out to be Semitic.

Fruchtenbaum first knocks down what he sets up as two “straw man” arguments before

dealing with more weighty biblical support for the possibility that the Antichrist is Jewish. First,

he dealt with the fact that some say since many of the Jews accept the Antichrist as their

Messiah, he must be Jewish. He then says that the Scriptures make no such claim (i.e., the Jews

accepting the Antichrist as their Messiah). He does concede that they accept a covenant

agreement with him (206). But whether the Jews accept or reject the Antichrist would certainly

not reasonably help identify the Antichrist’s heritage. But Fruchtenbaum left out that there is a

strong probability that a majority of Jews will accept the Antichrist as their Messiah. It is stated

in the OT that only one third of the Jews enter into the future Kingdom period as converted

(Zech. 13:8-9). Could it be two thirds are destroyed, not by the Antichrist in his ethnic cleansing

of Jews and Christians, but by the Lord in His judgment for their ultimate rejection of Him by

their allegiance to the Antichrist?

Jesus, Himself, says that in that day the love of many of elect Israel will grow cold (Matt.

24:12). He also predicted that many will turn upon their own (i.e., “one another”), because

they will be caused to stumble in unbelief (24:10). This did not just happen in the first century,

when unbelieving Israel rejected their Jewish brethren who had accepted Jesus as the Christ.

But this rejection has happened throughout Jewish history and even today in Israel. This

rejection will happen again when the Jewish nation sides with the Antichrist against their

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Jewish brethren who heed the gospel of Christ from the lips of the two witnesses and the

144,000 Jewish believers in the Tribulation period. Using the first class condition to frame the

reality of His statement, Jesus said that it certainly is possible for those among the elect nation

of Israel to be deceived by the coming false christs (24:24).

The second argument that Fruchtenbaum attacks as a “straw man” is from those

proponents, he said, that point to Revelation 7 where the Tribe of Dan in missing in the list of

tribes from which the 144,000 Jewish witnesses are chosen for the Tribulation period. They

conclude by this, Fruchtenbaum said that the “Antichrist is from the Tribe of Dan.” He does not

give any direct quotation as a reference to who uses this argument, but he does reveal the

“folly of such reasoning should be clear to anyone holding to a literal interpretation of

Scripture. . . . it is an argument from conjecture” (207). Fruchtenbaum is correct that such

conjecture cannot aid in identifying whether the Antichrist will be Jewish or not.

However, when Fruchtenbaum finally dealt with the strongest Scriptural evidence that the

Antichrist may be Jewish, he did a fairly good job in refuting a narrow interpretation of one

verse that appears to lean that way in the KJV. In Daniel 11:37 it reads, “Neither shall he regard

the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify

himself above all.” Though throughout the OT the phrase “God of his (or some other personal

pronoun) fathers does relate to the God of Israel, (a point Fruchtenbaum does not mention), in

this context there is sufficient evidence that the plural elohim, translated as the singular “God”

in most of the rest of the OT, in this, as in some other contexts, it should be translated “gods”.

Fruchtenbaum thinks this is the better translation choice because of the presence of the

singular form of the Hebrew word for god is also in this immediate context, and that many

ancient translations from the LXX to the modern day have made the choice of “gods” for elohim

in this context. But there is other internal evidence in this context that gives indication that

“gods of his fathers” is the better choice. In verse 36 it is mentioned that this Antichrist will

speak “against the God of gods.” This has to be a reference to the God of Israel. Then,

according to the KJV, verse 37 begins “neither will he regard the God of his fathers.” The word

“neither” in this verse reasonably appears to be introducing another God as opposed to the one

mentioned in 36, or else 37 would be a redundant expression of what was just said in 36.

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Earlier in the chapter, in verse 11, the phrase “their gods” is used as a similar expression of

foreign deities, and in verse 24, the phrase “his fathers” is used with Antiochus Epiphanes, who

was the type of the coming Antichrist. So association of the terms “gods” and “his fathers”

would be natural in verse 37. It is interesting that Antiochus was a Gentile, and his fathers,

were pagan idolaters.

The main point, of course, is not what genetic material will be a part of the Antichrist’s

physical character. It might be revealed that he will indeed have some Jewish lineage in his

background. But a Jew is not just a Jew physically, as Paul points out succinctly (Rom. 2:28).

The Antichrist will be an unbeliever, a ruler of a confederation of ten nations in the end times, a

confederation that is a revival of the Roman empire which destroyed the temple in the first

century (cf. Daniel 9:26). But whether the Antichrist has Jewish roots or not, it may be more

likely that the false prophet, the one who gets the world to worship this Antichrist and his

image (Rev. 13), could possibly be Jewish. But Fruchtenbaum has sidestepped that question.

One wonders if there exists in him an underlying intention to promote a pseudo-sacredness of

being Jewish, genetically, which must exclude all possibility of that genetics ending up in the

future False Prophet or the Antichrist.

20. What is the eschatology that is taught in Islam? Like Christian eschatology, Islam predicts the return of Jesus Christ, a final major battle

between Jesus and the Antichrist, and a period of peace before the final judgment. However, in

Islam, Jesus is only a human prophet who went to heaven without dying on the cross, and the

Antichrist will be a leader of 70,000 Jews from Iran (Hasan). The period of peace following will

only last seven years before the final judgment of Allah begins (templemount.org). These

similarities and differences are not surprising, since it is evident that Islam is just another

counterfeit religion with enough similarities to be disarmingly attractive to nominal Christians

and enough differences to be deceptively attractive to Christ deniers. Like many shrewd

despots before and after him, Mohammed linked religious fervor with political conquest to lead

multitudes in a cause the seemed to have all the answers for life here and now, and hereafter.

The universal desire of each man to seek for certainty about the destiny of mankind and

for his own personal security within that destiny, especially after death, gives proof to the

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maxim that God has placed “eternity in their hearts” (Eccl. 3:11). The shame is that most

people settle for some fairy-tale prognostication that some socially powerful, and most likely

demonically enabled, leader suggests to them. Reading through the teachings of Mohammed

concerning the future, it seems easy to suppose that his “prophecies” were designed to hold on

to the loyalty of his militant followers in preparation for possible future enemies. Associating

current foes, or potential foes of the future, with a supposedly divine epitaph of Dajjal (i.e.,

Antichrist), assures a unified focus against them and away from his own personal lack of

credibility.

Some of those enemies so labeled included, a contemporary, Ibn Sayyad, and adjacent

empires, especially the Persian and possibly the Roman. But his strongest association with the

Dajjal was made with the Jews (templemount.org). With professed certainty about the end of

the world, Mohammed is quoted as predicting – “The Last Hour would not come unless the

Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide

themselves. . . .” (templemount.org) This one statement puts Christian eschatology in sharp

contrast with Islamic eschatology. For the Christian, both Christians and Jews will be hunted by

the Antichrist of the last times (cf. Daniel 7:21, Revelation 12:17). The Islamic view as

mentioned above is that the Jews along with the Antichrist will be hunted by the Muslims, led

by their end-times’ savior the Imman Mahdi with the support of their returned prophet, Jesus

Christ (templemount.org). Exchange the Imman Madhi and the Islamic prophet “Jesus Christ”

with the Antichrist and false prophet of Christianity’s Scriptures (Rev. 13) and the contradiction

between these eschatological viewpoints disappears.

Ultimately, the Islamic “heaven” and “hell” are the final destinations for the Moslem

believer determined by Allah’s judgment of his faithfulness or lack thereof. But for even the

most dedicated Moslem, there is no certainty of what Allah will decide. According to Warren F.

Larson, Director of Islamic Studies at Columbia International University,

Even the Prophet Muhammad faced death with great fear and uncertainty. Al-Ghazali,

the greatest of all Muslim theologians who died in A.D. 1111, describes the horror that

came upon the Arabian Prophet as the hour drew near: “But despite this, his affliction

was great when the agony of death came, and his groaning plain. His disquiet became

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compounded, and his voice was raised in moaning. His colour changed, sweat appeared

on his brow. . . .”

Only in Christianity is assurance of heaven possible for the one who trusts only in the

sufficient work of redemption provided by the only true Lord and Savior, the Son of God, Jesus

of Nazareth.