Hello, my name is Danny and I was an active Latter-day Saint for 60 years.
In my last video, I stated that I was going to pause in my series on Christ’s Return to include a series on the Bridegroom Messiah. However, this week, I came across a short video from a gentleman who also believes in the fulfillment of end times prophecy in 70 AD. He had some ideas that I felt were important enough for me to present in this video of mine. I will also add my own insights, but I give him credit for these ideas and encourage you to check out his channel at youcancallmeaugustus7559.
We believe that Christians have an ongoing dilemma in our witness to the world. A crisis that is hiding right in plain sight. We spend our lives defending the Bible against the Atheists and other skeptics. Yet we are missing the very means by which we need to silence them – that being the context of the timing in the New Testament itself. I want to talk about how to engage with the skeptic – especially the true critical thinker - who reads the Gospels at its literal face-value and then concludes that Jesus was a false prophet.
Why would the skeptic come to that assumption! It’s because when they read the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus forecasts in Matthew 24:34 “Very I say unto you, This, generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” also found in Mark 13:30 and Luke 21:32. And then reads about the judgment falling upon those Jewish people in Matthew 16:27-28 “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some (of you) standing here (in Israel), which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man (Yeshua) coming in his kingdom.”
The non-believer sees a straight-forward literal claim of the Bible. They look at the text and say, “well, that didn’t happen!” And tragically, most Christian churches agree with the skeptic. They also are stating that Jesus is a false prophet, because they don’t see His prophecies as being fulfilled at that time in history. Do you see what I’m saying? So, to compensate – our churches must perform some theological gymnastics. They look at phrases like “this generation”, “soon”, “at hand”, “near”, “at the door,” and push them off into an indefinite future. And in doing so - the churches have inadvertently aligned themselves with the atheist, and the skeptic.
The cynic says, “Jesus failed to return in the first century.” And, the Christian response is, “Well, Jesus didn’t mean the first century - He meant two thousand years later.” You see, both sides are starting from the same faulty premise – that the prophecy of His coming remains unfulfilled. This futurist viewpoint becomes a hinderance to the gospel message. By rejecting audience relevance, and by refusing to let scripture interpret scripture - we are leaving the skeptic with no reason to believe in Jesus or the Bible. And we put doubt in the Christian’s mind as to whether He will ever return - especially in their lifetime. If we insist on reading the New Testament through the lens of modern western literalism - instead of the Hebrew mindset of the original first century audience – then we are blinding OURSELVES to the truth.
We must understand that the Bible itself was written in the language of the Old Testament-Hebrew Scriptures. It’s not the language of the Western World.
When the ancient prophets spoke of God’s judgment, they used specific de-creation language. Ancient Jewish writers utilized embellishment, or extreme exaggeration - to grab their readers' attention and to emphasize deep spiritual truths, and to magnify God's power. Authors of the Hebrew Bible used dramatic word pictures, and their listeners expected figurative speech. Shocking hyperbolic statements were used to wake people up from their spiritual laziness.
For instance, when God judged Babylon around 539 BC, He declared in Isaiah 13:10 “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.” I ask - did the stars and the sun literally go out? No! God was judging a nation with de-creation cosmic imagery language. When God judged Egypt in Ezekiel 32:7-8 “And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God.” Again, cosmic imagery figurative, language. When God judged Israel in Amos and Micah, the language was identical. This was the standard vocabulary of divine judgment of the God of Israel.
When Jesus, Himself stood on the Mount of Olives and use this exact language - He wasn’t talking about the end of our physical planet or the universe. He was speaking as the Old Testament prophets did. He was announcing that the “aion” or “age” of the old covenant, the age of mosaic law and the temple – along with its ordinances and priesthood - was coming to a violent definitive end in AD 66 to 70. That is what their judgment was meant to be. It was Yeshua’s divine powerful presence in judgment against that apostate nation - that foolish and perverse Jewish nation that rejected and crucified our Lord.
Here is another expression of that kind of language: When Apostle Paul said in Colossians 1:23 “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Had the gospel literally been preached and heard by every creature under heaven as Paul declares? You see, context is everything! Here, Paul was talking specifically about the known world of the Roman Empire - not the entire physical global world. Paul was telling them - that the mission was accomplished within that “generation” in which Jesus had prophesied. Here’s another basic example in Luke 2:1 “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” Was the whole physical world taxed by the Roman Caesar? No! The known world as it was to the Jews at that time was - the Roman Empire. It was relevant to them, then. I hope you see what is going on here. Context in scripture is essential.
Today, pastors and evangelicals with a futurist viewpoint are robbing our fellow Christians of Jesus and the truth. And they are cheating the atheists and skeptics of a true encounter of the faithful true Messiah. Now, we don’t need to apologize for Yeshua. We shouldn’t need to explain away His timing. We just need to believe Him - for His words to them, then. Jesus came exactly when He said He would. He judged the old covenant (the old heaven and earth religious economy). Then, He established a new covenant and established His kingdom (a new heaven and new earth spiritual economy) - an eternal covenant kingdom.
When we finally teach the world that Yeshua’s word was true - that He did exactly what He promised He would, in the time He promised – then we will stop giving the skeptic a reason to mock Christianity and the Bible. And we will give Christians a different way of looking at victorious fulfilled eschatology. And we will finally offer the world - a King who is historically, scripturally, and clearly perfect. There will be no more reason to doubt the promise and fulfillment of the written word of God.
Stay tuned for next week, when I begin to present a divine love story of the bridegroom Messiah.
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God Bless.