Has Bible Prophecy Been Fulfilled?  by Pastor Dan Maines

 All the prophecies of the Bible were fulfilled in the first century during the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70.  When Jesus began His preaching, He said the kingdom of God was "at hand." The kingdom "came with power" in A.D. 70 Mark. 9:1 and continues to exist in power today.


Jesus said "This generation shall certainly not pass away before all these things are fulfilled" (Matthew 24:34), He was telling the truth!" You don't have  to scratch your head to figure this out.  A seven year old  can understand this.

We are a children of God living in His kingdom right now.  We have the benefits of an accomplished salvation! Never again will you have to say that you were grafted in as a Jew.  We are citizens of the true Israel with full rights and privileges, true children of Abraham, whether Jew or Gentile.  We are living in the Kingdom Age.  Some call it the Church Age.

We are free from the fear of disaster and tribulation. Nor more fear of being left behind in a so called rapture.  Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom and now, That's all He wants us to do is teach people about His kingdom.  When we share the gospel of the kingdom we are spreading the good news.  Religion out there has been poisoned.  Many Religions will avoid scripture that include "at hand", near, "shortly take place", "end of age", "last time", fulfilled and if they do they interpreted them to mean "a long time," and "far into the future."  Then there are some Religions most in my opinion that are heathens.  In my fourteen year study, I have discovered, If your Religion has a man made doctrine.  Their teachings are started incorrectly from the very start making them heathens.

If we do not take Jesus at His word then we might as well say He is a liar and a false prophet like Ellen White, Joseph Smith ect.

Jesus said his Second Coming would take place in the Generation of people He spoke to during His earthly ministry had passed away.  This is good news! people overlook it.  By this happening, when we die, we go directly to Heaven.  We can literally prove this from scripture.  Do you trust Him enough to believe what He said?  He said some of His first century followers would not die before they saw His return and the full establishment of the New Covenant kingdom of God.  Friends don't miss out on this opportunity.  We are in the Kingdom now.  If truth is not important to you, and you do nothing about it, then, you will never know where you stand.

Let's review the following passages.  Think about what they say without the system you have been taught.  Let's try to understand the obvious an not replace it with another explanation.  Were looking for the obvious that show only fact. 

"When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes" (Matt 10:23). Again, Jesus is telling His disciples He Himself would return before they could finish going to all the towns of Israel.

"For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom" (Matt 16:27-28).  This is Jesus speaking again. He said He would return before some of them died.

"Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened" (Matt 24:33-34).  Again, Jesus said "this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened"

So from these three verses is it accurate to say Some of the people in the first generation will still be alive to see the Son of Man (Jesus) return in His kingdom?  The answered is Yes and it's very obvious.

Now, for those who may be tempted to interpret the word "generation" (Greek: genea) as meaning "race" (Greek: genos), compare the use of the same word by the same author, just one chapter earlier :

"And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation" (Matt 23:35-36).  If we need

"But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, 'I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.' 'Yes, it is as you say,' Jesus replied. 'But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven'" (Matt 26:63-64).  This high priest Jesus was answering, died during the AD 70 siege of Jerusalem. If he did not see the coming of Christ in the events that took place at that time, Jesus was mistaken.

Throughout the NT, salvation is equated with the second coming of Christ, and it is spoken of as being yet future:

"And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed" (Rom 13:11).

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph 4:30).

"...who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet 1:5).

If Christ has not yet returned as He said He would, we are still waiting for salvation!

Let's not redefine words in order to escape their primary meanings, some may need to re-examine their basic assumptions.
 

The last days are not about the end of the world, the earth. It's about the end of the age, the Old Covenant Age.
To understand Bible prophecy, we need to know, in AD 70 the destruction of Jerusalem ended the old covenant. In this war, the Roman Army wiped out Jerusalem and the Jewish temple, killing over a million Jews. This is when sacrifices for sin ended forever.  The end came in AD 70, 40 years after Jesus' crucifixion.

Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem in Matthew 24:1-3

Jesus gave signs that would happen before the end of the age. (His Second coming)  Believe it or not the bible tells us all were fulfilled in the first century.  Let's look at them. The first was Matthew 24:14  The bible show this was fulfilled in four different places.  They are Romans 1:8; 16:26; Colossians 1:6, 23  Paul claimed that the gospel had been preached throughout the whole world.

We may cover more signs but, lets jump straight to the point.  Luke tells us all of these things are fulfilled. in Luke 21:20-22, 32, 36,

Second Matthew 24:6 Jesus is telling His disciples they will hear rumors of wars but the end is not yet.  And we know this because it all revolves around the destruction of Jerusalem 40 years after Jesus returned to Heaven

Matthew 10:23; Matthew 16:27-28; Matthew 26:64). These were not events thousands of years in the future. They were world wide events, Jesus told His disciples could avoid them by fleeing to the mountains.

Jesus' disciples understood that they would experience these things not some future generation.

Many people  claim Daniel in Daniel 12 is speaking of the world coming to and end.  Many bibles title it "The Time of the End."  So it's about the time of the end.  The end of what?  Well, let's look at a few versed from chapter 12.

In Daniel 12:7, 11 Daniel tells us that the time of the end would be when the "burnt offerings" would cease.  It would be 1290 days from the last sacrifice to the abomination of desolation. Some call this the "Great Tribulation" Christ echoes in Matthew 24:21-22. Both Daniel 12:7 and Revelation 12:14 show that the Great Tribulation will last three-and-one-half years, or "a time, times, and half a time."

Daniel 12:7 is evidence that He is not talking about the end of the world, he is talking about the end of the Old Covenant. Jesus referenced Daniel 12 and quoted "the abomination of desolation," which clearly ties this with the destruction of Jerusalem.

This was the  New Covenant Age, the Old Covenant Age was finally swept away in AD 70. There was a period of about 40 years in which the two systems existed side-by-side.

In Daniel 12:4,9 uses the same phrase "time of the end"

There are several passages of the "last days," or "last times" or "last hour" or "the end" in the New Testament by Jesus and the apostles. everyone of the verses can be placed outside of the first century.

The Apostle Paul taught that all of the people in his generation were living at the "end of the age" 1 Corinthians 10:11 Paul told Timothy to avoid certain people in the last days. If the last days were generations to come, Timothy would have to be alive today.

1 Timothy 4:1, 6:14; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Acts 2:14-17; Acts 3:24; 1 Peter 4:7, 17; Luke 21:28; Romans 13:11; 1 Peter 1:3-5, 20; Hebrews 1:1-2, 9:26; Hebrews 8:13

 

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