Have you as a believer ever heard a message on the LAST DAYS and END TIMES which you know in your heart is the TRUTH? ...the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Since becoming a believer in 1976 I have listened to possibly hundreds of messages and teachings and read numerous books and watched quite a few movies about what the last days or end times will be. However ALL of these have seemed in my heart to miss the truth of the scriptures and leave more questions than they ever answered.

After being challenged one day more a few years ago in regard to the accuracy of Jesus prophecies about the end times, I started on a quest to unwind the false assumptions and confusing morass of half truths on which my understanding of this topic was based. I then examined all the scriptures I knew about the end times.

And then I read some history...The Wars of the Jews by Flavius Josephus.....and spent a couple of months looking into the alternate views of eschatology (from well respected proponents rather than from their opponents only)

And then slowly but steadily came the LIGHT and REST which only TRUTH brings to the heart of a believer.

IF you are looking for a view which ties together with all the scriptures from Genesis to Revelations on this topic...and IF you want to see if there is another viable 'End Times Theology' then I would encourage you to examine the following sections 51 - 67.

IF however, you feel your view of the end times is clear and cohesive with the scriptures and recorded history then feel free to ignore these sections as I believe that while they are liberating, they are not an essential part of our theology. There are so many different positions held in churches ...from amillenialism, pre-millenialism, and pre-tribulation or post-tribulation pre-millenialism, and pre-tribulation or post-tribulation post millenialism, along with dispensational and covenant theology. Most christians do not even know about these variations. I personally know that I was saved and filled with the Holy Spirit for many years before I heard about and tried to understand these teachings. After many years I found myself drawn to and defending the 'pre-tribulation premillenial' position but always with a significant degree of 'confusion' remaining. This confusion was a result of KNOWING that I was not taking the scriptures on eschatology as seriously as I have always taken those on salvation.

If you have an enquiring mind and can weigh up the clearest alternative which I believe the scriptures actually teach in open simplicity (2 Cor 11:3) ...please proceed with a Berean heart.

So where should we actually start?

The starting point for most believers who are wanting to study 'Eschatology" is usually the Olivet discourse of Matthew chapter 24. This is a misleading start however because as we examine Jesus teachings on this subject the assumption is then made that they were 'NEW' revelations when He gave this teaching in AD33. Jesus as a Jew however was simply expounding what Moses and the prophets had all taught previously regarding the end times judgement which was to come on Israel. This can be simply proven by examining the passages which Jesus and the apostles quoted from which almost all came out of the Old Testament (the Tanakh). Peter confirms this for us..

The end time prophecies referred to by Jesus and the Apostles all link back to a series of events which were all to happen at the end of the age of the LAW, which included a falling away by Israel, a time of persecution, the vengence for the martyrs innocent blood, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, the Lord coming on clouds or the Day of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, and the judgement where the good were rewarded with eternal life and the wicked with destruction by fire.

When we look at the entire subject all the way through the Sciptures from Genesis to Revelations a very different picture is revealed which is a bit like working your way through a 1000 piece puzzle. Lay aside your pre-assumed completed image which will cause you to spend time forcing pieces (or scriptural passages) together which you know in your heart do not fit. Allow the scriptures to reveal the truth.

The vast majority of believers do not read the Old Testament (other than perhaps the book of Daniel) in regard to eschatology. It is important at least to read and understand the context of the scriptural passages that Jesus and the apostles referred to about what was to occur as part of the end times promised to ISRAEL rather than assuming that the New Testament alone gives us the full picture. This can be seen in Luke 4:18-19 where Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61 ...but stops half way through verse 2. The Jews knew that a 'gospel' was to come BUT also that this would be followed by a JUDGEMENT...'and the day of vengeance of our God'. The Jews in AD 33 listening to Jesus KNEW that the context of many of the verses Jesus quoted were that of the JUDGEMENT which was about to come on THEM and THEIR Generation. (Luke 20:19).... and not a judgement on future generations or nations who had not betrayed an exclusive covenant with God. (A simple look at who Jesus was saying would face the promised judgement in Chapters 13 and 23 of Matthew will confirm this.)

The Old Testament scriptures told of Messsiah coming first as a man (Is 9:6)... but also of Him coming on clouds of glory in judgment (Dan 7-9). When Jesus came He filled in the gaps linking scriptures and events (Olivet discourse - Mat 24, etc in approx AD 33) and whilst still as a man 'not knowing the hour or the day'. He told them of the overall time frame in which the coming judgement on Israel and that the Day of the Lord would take place ... ie within the lifetime of THAT generation which He was addressing (Mat 24:34). Jesus however later as the glorified Son of God comes in Revelation to the apostle John in approx AD 65-67 to warn the seven churches of the certainty and imminence of His return....i.e. as being VERY NEAR, soon, quickly in regard to timing...and the signs they would know because they were already experiencing them right there in the lives. 

Independent and verified historical Roman records by Flavius Josephus who was a former Jewish general (Wars of the Jews - Books 4-7)  tells us that the events which Jesus promised in the Book of Revelations in approx AD 65-67 would be happening 'soon, near, at hand or coming quickly' ... were all fulfilled in AD 70 in a manner that the Jews of that day clearly understood as the judgment of God being poured out on their nation.

The framework of our understanding should address all the component topics individually of the 'end time'...and also will show how they are interwoven as part of the redemptive plan of God spoken of throughout the Old Testament and revealed as in the New Covenant.

I would suggest that the beginning is the only appropriate place to start....

51. Were men and women created as eternal beings? Do we have to do something to get eternal life or do we all have it already?

52. Where do we go when we die? Is this not different for the new testament believer who is joined to Christ?

53. Is there a Hell which is a place of eternal torment for ALL who do not believe?

54. Is there going to be an END of the WORLD according to the scriptures?

55. What are the ages which the scriptures speak of as ages past, this present age and the age to come?

56. What about all the scriptural references to the END of the age being IMMINENT or near, at hand, soon and in 'this generation' etc? 

57. Who do the scriptures say would be judged at the end of the age?

58. What does the 'day of the Lord' or the tribulation refer to?

59. What does the destruction of the temple in AD 70 demonstrate about God's judgement?

60. What was the timing for the second coming of Jesus on the clouds and the reason for it?

61. What was the timing of the resurrection of the dead?

62. When was the judgement of the sheep and the goats or wheat and tares to take place?

63. When were "ALL THINGS which are spoken of in the Law and the Prophets concerning Jesus" to be fulfilled?

64. How should we then LIVE our lives?

As you start to ask questions and examine the scriptures in a new light...one which Jesus clearly taught, you will find yourself being challenged by 'orthodoxy' and your own churches views. To give yourself the freedom to progress, say to yourself "I will not change my belief UNTIL I understand how this all fits together...and until the Holy Spirit confirms by the scriptures to me that it is truth". Beware because your seach will cause some to challenge you as a heretic.

So, how on earth can examining the scriptures in order to obtain a clear understanding of what they actually teach be regarded as 'heresy'?  ... (while absolute nonsense and date setting speculation which proliferates today about a rapture and a still future 'great tribulation' and a milleneum and a future new physical temple in Jerusalem remains suspiciously unchallenged?)

YES, some preterists (i.e. those who believe that all things Jesus and the scriptures promised were fulfilled WHEN they were promised to happen) hold to a universal salvation belief. But so mistakenly do some evangelicals and some catholics. How does that make all evangelicals and catholics heretics? YES, I believe that some of the scripture's promises which are believed by many to be physical, HAVE BEEN spiritually fulfilled just as JESUS PROMISED and clearly taught! BUT I do not (like the vast majority of 'futurists') blindly pretend that those events which HISTORY independantly records as having been fulfilled in AD 70 just as Jesus promised, HAVE NOT OCCURRED. 

YES, I believe that Jesus DID what HE promised HE would...and that He did it WHEN He promised ... Is this not what a Believer should do?

My 'resurrection' ...was done for me by Jesus when I was regenerated. Will I be raised at my physical death? ... Jesus tells me emphatically that I as a believer will NEVER DIE (Jn 11:26). I know that this means I will never be separated from Christ (Rom 8:35-39) ...and at the same time I know I will die physically by departing this mortal body and receiving a new spiritual body (1 Cor 15:35-46). The glory of the full revelation of Christ at this time and my seamless transition to my new spiritual and immortal body will certainly be to me like I HAVE NOT DIED.

Condemnation and Judgment... these are totally in the past for me from the moment when Jesus death on the cross was applied to me BY GOD at my rebirth (Jn 5:24 "Most Assuredly I say to you he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent Me HAS everlasting life, and SHALL NOT come into judgment but HAS passed from death into LIFE." (see also Rom 8:1, Rom 8:33-34)

Rewarding of believers with ETERNAL LIFE ... I have the fullness of this reward already (according to Jn 3:16-21) (1 Jn 3:2) (Jn 1:16)

A physical/material 'heaven based on earth and located around physical Jerusalem in the distant future' .... to this my reply is "Have you been born again?" Do you not believe Jesus when HE says the 'Kingdom is within you' (Luke 17:21)...only those who are 'born of the Spirit can (even SEE let alone) enter the Kingdom of God' (John 3:3&5) ... 'My kingdom is NOT of this world' (John 18:36) ... 'I am not of this world' (John 8:23)

A physical man called Jesus who supposedly now still sits next to God on  physical throne in heaven? ... to this I ask again "Have you been born again of the Spirit?"... because all I can see is a 'natural mind' trying to limit our God who IS SPIRIT (Jn 4:23-24) ... and is omnipresent ... to a physical world HE has cannot be contained by! 

I would describe myself as a christian who is reformed in theology, charismatic in experience and a preterist in regards to eschatology.

I am one who believes that 'Jesus' real name is Yeshua (because in Hebrew the name actually has a powerful meaning)....and that the God we serve wants us to know Him as YAHWEH ... and OUR Father (The 'I AM' ...the Self-Existent One ...'The One who was and who is and who HAS come' ... exactly as and when He promised)

My passion is to KNOW the truth about the God who saved me... rather than the doctrines of men. And then to help my fellow believers to discover the Truth and to walk in it.

How do you describe yourself?....