36 Questions for Futurists -- The Apostolic Defender Board

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Date Posted: 17:53:16 10/07/02 Mon
Author: Doug
Subject: 36 Questions for Futurists

In a way we preterists owe thanks to the futurists who have challenged us. They have tested our beliefs and caused us to search the scriptures diligently to see if our viewpoint holds up in the light of God�s word. We would like to do the same for dispensationalists. Therefore, I have come up with thirty-six questions for futurists. Let us see if the authors of this site are true defenders of God's word or if they are just defenders of the traditions of men.

1. If Jesus� return was to be around two millennia after His first coming, why did He say that His Parousia would occur before His generation passed away (Matt 24:34, Mark 13:30, Luke 21:31-31)? Keep in mind that there are seventeen other places in the New Testament that use similar word construction. In those contexts �this generation� always meant the generation alive at that time. It never meant race or a future generation.

2. If Jesus� Parousia would be delayed for many, many lifetimes, why did He tell the High Priest that he (Caiaphas) would personally see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven (Matt 26:64)?

3. If the events in the book of Revelation are yet to occur, why does John say again and again that these events would occur soon or quickly?

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place... (Rev.1:1)

...for the time is near. (Rev.1:3)

I am coming quickly...(Rev.3:11)

...things which must shortly take place. (Rev.22:6)

...I am coming quickly. (Rev.22:7)

...Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. (Rev.22:10)

Behold, I am coming quickly...(Rev.22:12)

Yes, I am coming quickly. (Rev.22:20)

Just to say that time means nothing to God, so soon or quickly could mean thousands of years is not an adequate answer. You must establish precedent. Please show several places in the scriptures where God said that He was going to do something quickly or soon and then waited hundreds or thousands of years to do it.

4. ... He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him...(Rev.1:7). If this passage is to be taken literally and it is yet to happen, wouldn�t those who pierced Him still have to be alive to see Him coming in literal clouds? How can this be so?

5. �Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth. I am coming quickly�(Rev.3:10-11).� Jesus spoke these words personally to the church at Philadelphia. If He was to return after this church no longer existed, why would he say such a thing?

6. If the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation are talking about the same things, why does God tell Daniel to seal up the book of his prophesies until the time of the end (Daniel 12:4), but He tells John not to seal up the words of his prophesy for the time is near (Rev 22:10)? If the events of both books were still thousands of years off, wouldn�t God have told both men to seal up their books?

7. For our seventh question, please take the following �Apocalyptic Pop Quiz�
What are the following scriptures talking about?

All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;
All their host shall fall down
As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as fruit falling from a fig tree. Isaiah 34:4 (NKJV)

a. The end of the world
b. A really cool star trek episode
c. Judgment and destruction that was to come upon Edom in the 6th century BC

When I put out your light,
I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
And the moon shall not give her light.
All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you,
And bring darkness upon your land,�
Says the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 32:7 through Ezekiel 32:8 (NKJV)

a. The end of the world
b. A really bad day in Hollywood
c. Warning to Pharaoh of his impending judgment in 6th century BC

Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
Isaiah 40:4 (NKJV)

a. The end of the world
b. A slogan for a really big excavation company
c. A prophesy concerning John the Baptist�s coming ministry

Do you get the point? If apocalyptic language is used throughout the Bible and is never used literally, why do you think it must be literal in places like Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation?

8. The idea of the Lord coming on the clouds is an apocalyptic image that we see again and again in the Old Testament. It always denoted judgment. And the Lord was never seen literally coming down from the sky in any instance (See Isa 19:1 and its fulfillment in Isa. 20:1-6. See how David used this imagery in Psalm 18:3-15 See also Jer. 4:13, Eze. 30:3, and Psalm 68:4 for a few examples.). If no one ever saw the lord literally coming down from the clouds to bring judgment, why do we think He was talking about something literal in Matt. 24:20 and Revelation 1:7?

9. When Jesus spoke of His kingdom, He always spoke spiritually. He said it would come without observation (Luke 17:21-22). He said that it is not of this world (John 18:36), and He that we must be born again to see the kingdom (John 3:3). Why then are futurists expecting God�s kingdom to come someday in a manner contrary to the way Jesus described it? That is a coming that is of this world or visible with eyes?

10. In Mark 9:11 and Luke 9:27 Jesus said that there were people standing in the His midst that would live to see the kingdom of God come in power. Was He lying?

11. In Mark 1:15 Jesus said �The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.� How could He say this if His kingdom was not to be revealed for thousands of years?

12. The idea of a secret rapture of the church is less than 200 years old. Until recently verses like I Thes. 4:16-17 and I Cor. 15:51-55 were always thought to be resurrection verses not rapture verses. If a secret rapture of the church is such an important doctrine, why the deafening silence on the matter for 1800 years of church history?

13. Can you show me anywhere in the Old Testament where the Messiah was portrayed as coming two times�especially two times separated by thousands of years? It was the Hebrew mindset that Messiah would come and bring the kingdom in a relatively short period of time. Can you show us any precedent for the Messiah coming and only accomplishing part of His mission then returning to finish the job thousands of years later?

14. Jesus said, �...until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. (Mt.5:18)� If heaven and earth mean the physical heaven and earth, does this mean that we are still under the Law? If we are still under the law, we are still dead in our sins. How can this be?

15. When Stephen was standing before the Sanhedrin just before he was martyred, they said this about him: �This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us (Acts 6:13-14).� This sounds like a very strong preterist statement. How do you explain it?

16. The book of Hebrews says �When He said, �A new covenant,� He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear (Heb 8:13).�

Contrasting the ministry of the Law and the ministry of the Spirit Paul in II Cor. 3:10-11 Paul says:

For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels, For if what IS PASSING AWAY was glorious, what remains is much more glorious (NKJV).

If the Old Covenant and the Law passed away practically at the cross, why would Paul and the writer of Hebrews speak of the Old Covenant and the Law as about to pass away? This supports strongly that the �end� Paul and others spoke of was not the end of time, but the end of the Old Covenant eon. Can you explain this otherwise?

17. In John 14:19 and 17:11, Jesus said plainly that in a little while this world would see him no more. Why would He say such thing if He was going to return someday and sit in the flesh upon a literal throne in a literal Jerusalem? Jesus then implies in His statements that follow that He would be seen in His Body, the church. This seems very contradictory to futurist thought. Can you explain it?

18. 16 �Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer (II Cor 5:16).� Paul said that we know Jesus no more according to the flesh. If this is so, why do futurists expect a second fleshly return of Christ. If we know Him no longer according to the flesh, how do we know Him now? Could it be that how we know Him now is superior?

19. Jesus said to Nathaniel:

�...you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. (John1:51).� Either Nathaniel is still alive today, or Jesus was lying. How do you explain Jesus� promise any other way?

20. Jesus to Peter:

If I want him (John) to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me! (Johnn.21:22,23)

Why would Jesus make such a ridiculous statement if His Parousia was thousands of years off? Could it be that John did live to see the Parousia of the Lord?

21.If the Lord�s coming was not to occur for thousands of years, why did Paul make the following statements to the church at Rome?

�...it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. (Rom.13:11,12)�

�The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet (Rom 16:20).

22. If the Lord�s return was not imminent in Paul�s day, why did he make the following statements to the church at Corinth?
...you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Cor.1:7,8)

...the time has been shortened. (1Cor.7:29)

...the form of this world is passing away. (1Cor.7:31)

Now these things ... were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages has come. (1Cor.10:11)

...we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed... (1Cor.15:51) (If you were a Corinthian reading this letter who would you think the �we� was in this statement, you or someone 2000 years later?)

...I hope you will understand until the end...(2Cor.1:3)

23.Why did Paul make these statements to the church at Philippi?

...so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ... (Phil.1:10)

...we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ... (Phil.3:20) (Why were they so eager if His coming was two millennia away?)

The Lord is near. (Phil.4:5)

24. Why did Paul tell the Thessalonians these things if he was not talking about them?

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Thes.5:23).

...Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, OUR gathering together to Him...(2Thes.2:1,2)

25. Why would Paul tell Timothy these things?

I charge you ... that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ ... (1Tim.6:13,14)

...I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. (2Tim1:12)

...The Lord may grant to him (Onesiphorus) to find mercy from the Lord on that day..(2Tim.1:18)

If we endure, we shall also reign with Him... (2Tim.2:12)

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: (2Tim.4:1) (The Greek word used here is �Mello.� It means �about to.� This passage could easily say that Jesus was about to Judge the living and the dead. That is real soon!

..in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2Tim.4:8)

26. If the futurist view is correct, why would the writer of Hebrews say the following?

God...in these last days has spoken to us in His Son... (Heb.1:1,2)

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end; (Heb.3:14) (What end was he talking about?)

But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. (Heb.8:13)

...you see the day drawing near. (Heb.10:25) (How could they see the day drawing near if it was thousands of years off?)

For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. (Heb.10:37)

27. Why would James make the following statements?

Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. (James 5:7) (What possible application could this have for the folks in James� day if the coming of the Lord was 2000 years off?)

...the coming of the Lord is at hand. ...the Judge is standing right at the door. (James 5:7-9) (If the futurists are right, the Judge has been standing at the door longer than the Old Covenant kingdom of Israel was in existence!)

..the Judge is standing right at the door. (James 5:9) (What else could right at the door mean but that He was about to come in?)

28. Now Peter joins in. How do you explain this?

...according to His great mercy has caused us...who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1Pet.1:3,5)

...you...may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1Pet.1:6,7)

...grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1Pet.1:13)

He...has appeared in these last times for the sake of you... (1Pet.1:20)

Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1Pet.2:12)

...but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (1Pet.4:5) (Again this implies real soon!)

The end of all things is at hand...(1Pet.4:7) (Are you getting the picture?)

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God... (1Pet.4:17) (Come on now!)

Therefore I ... a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, (1Pet.5:1) (Again, the Greek implies �about to be revealed.� )

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1Pet.5:4)

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. (2Pet.3:13)

Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,... (2Pet.3:14)

29. We don�t want to leave John out. How do you explain these INSPIRED scriptures?

...the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. (1Jn.2:8)

And the world is passing away... (1Jn.2:17)

Children, it is the last hour...from this we know that it is the last hour. (1Jn.2:18) (At this time it was not just the last day. It was the last hour! Think about it!)

We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. (1Jn.3:2)

...we may have confidence in the day of judgment...(1Jn.4:17)

30. In the past 50 years or more there has been a �battle for the Bible� going on in academic circles. It may surprise us what liberals and skeptics use most to attack the authority of the Scriptures. It is without a doubt non-fulfillment of Biblical prophesy. For example, Bertrand Russell in his book �Why I am not a Christian� writes:

�I am concerned with Christ as He appears in the gospels� there one does find some things that do not seem very wise. For one thing, He certainly thought that His second coming would occur in clouds of glory before the death of all people who were living at the time. There are a great many texts to prove that. He believed that His coming would happen during the lifetime of many then living. That was the belief of his earlier followers, and it is the basis of a good deal of his moral teaching.�

RC. Sproul made this comment on the matter in his book �The Last Days According to Jesus,�

�The skeptism expressed by Russell on these matters is by no means limited to him, but are the axe ground by a host of higher-critical scholars of the Bible� the chief ground for the radical criticism of modern biblical scholarship, which has resulted in a wholesale attack on the trustworthiness of Scripture� is the thesis that the Gospels� records of Jesus� predictions contain glaring errors and gross inaccuracies�.�

Sproul talks in his book of his seminary days where liberal professors constantly used Biblical texts regarding the return of Christ to �prove� the bible was in error.

Even our beloved C.S. Lewis said:

�Say what you like, we shall be told the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master told them so. He shared, and indeed created their delusion.�

The same line of attack against Christianity is used by Jewish skeptics to speak against Christianity. They say that Jesus did not bring the Messianic kingdom in the time frame that the Old Testament prophets predicted. They claim in order to get around Jesus� failure to bring the Kingdom of God to earth we have invented the doctrine of the second coming. In other words, Jesus would come back to take care of the things He did not fulfill the first time. However, the Jewish Bible gives no support for the Christian doctrine of a second coming. Consider the following quotes from Jewish writers.

The Jew refused to accept the excuse that the major prophecies concerning the Messiah will only be fulfilled in a "second coming." ( He expects the Messiah to complete his mission in his first attempt.) [The Real Messiah Reprinted from Jewish Youth, June 1973 page 15.]

Since Jesus did not fulfill the most important Messianic prophecies, they expected him to return to complete this task in a "second coming." At first, Christians expected that this (second coming) would come very shortly...in their lifetime. When their prayer was not an answered they began to hope that it would come a thousand years after Jesus� death. This was the millennium or thousand years kingdom. Finally after a thousand years passed and Jesus still had not returned, (they postponed his second coming to an indefinite time). We therefore see that the (early Christians were forced to radically alter the Jewish concept of the Messiah in order to explain Jesus failure). This compounded with the pagan influence in the (early church, gave birth to a Messianic concept totally alien to Judaism. [Pinchas Stolper, ed. pages 32, 33}

You will discover that when ever any really strong question [such as why Jesus hasn�t fulfilled all Messianic prophecies]..is asked [of the Christians], the (standard answer is that it refers to the second coming). It therefore becomes extremely important to ascertain the validity of this claim. The success of the Christian claim or its failure ( rest to a very large extent on the theory of the second coming).It is clearly an answer born of desperation. [Samuel Levin. You Take Jesus, I will Take God. Los Angeles 1980. Page 15

Muslims use a similar attack against Christianity. They throw scriptures like Matthew 24:29-34, Mark 13:23-30, Matthew 10:22-23, and Matt 16:27-28 in our faces saying that Jesus could not be divine.

Dispensationalist scholars have been ignoring these attacks hoping they will go away, because they have no answers. Would you like to try?

31. God promised to give the Jews the land we call Israel. "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, 'I will give it to your offspring'" (Deut. 34:4). Numerous passages in Genesis and Exodus speak to the same thing. However, this promise was conditional. Deuteronomy 28 tells us "If you are not careful to do all the words of this law � you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it, And the LORD will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other. �" If the people who now live in Israel are not keeping the Law of Moses (and they can�t be. The Mosaic Law ceased to be observed in AD. 70, and it has never been observed in full since.), how can we say that God has given them the land back? Moreover, the promise of the land was an OLD COVENANT PROMISE. If the Old Covenant has passed away, how can you say the promise is still in effect?

32. The Bible speaks of the earth never ending in many places. For example,

�from the beginning of the world�throughout all ages, world without end�(Eph. 3:9,21 KJV).

One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever�(Eccl. 1:4)

How then can God destroy the earth if He promises that it will never end?

33. In John 17:15 Jesus prays that His disciples would not be removed from the world. Isn�t the idea of a rapture contradictory to Jesus� own prayer?

34. � Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (I Thes 4:17).�
There are two Greek words for �air.� One is �ouranos.� It means the place where the birds fly and the clouds float by. The second word is �aer.� It means the air inside our lungs or in our general proximity. The word that Paul uses here is �aer.� If Paul was expecting believers to fly away some day with the Lord in the sky, why on earth would he not use the word �ouranos� here? Could it be that this passage is describing a spiritual event?

35. In this same passage Paul says that believers will always be with the Lord. What is our position as believers now? Hasn�t Jesus finished and consummated salvation placed us in God�s presence NOW? Do we have to wait for the end of some future age to know the presence of the Lord?

36. Dispensationalists have put the resurrection off to some future time. Those same folks preach at funerals that the departed are with the Lord in heaven. How can this be if the resurrection has not occurred? Is heaven empty of all humans right now?

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