by Brian Godawa
“Thus, a resurrection of Israel is in view. The wicked are raised, but do not profit from it, and are destroyed. The saints experience a great distress, and live with God forever and ever.”
James B. Jordan, The Handwriting on the Wall: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2007), 618–619.
“Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake – This refers primarily to the Gospel being preached. Many who sleep in the dust, both Jews and Gentiles, shall be awakened by the preaching of the Gospel out of their heathenism. It has a secondary application to a future resurrection when the multitude that sleep in the dust shall awake; many shall arise to life, and many to shame.
“Is this referring to the First Resurrection in which we receive eternal life through regeneration?
“Or does it refer to the Final Resurrection that will occur at the Second Coming of Jesus when we will be raised as spiritual bodies and glorified with Christ?
“This is one of the verses in Daniel that creates a lot questions from a preterist perspective. In the context of the following verses, I believe it refers to awakening of God’s chosen people at the preaching of the Gospel. However, like other apocalyptic passages in the Bible, there is also a “telescoping” aspect of this imagery. The Final Resurrection is projected onto the historical events of the first century. We see in the dawning light of the Gospel during the first century a prefiguring of the final glorious state of the kingdom of God at the Second Coming of Christ and the Resurrection of the saints.
Daniel 12:3 – And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
“They that be wise shall shine – Just as the kingdom of God is in the here and now, but won’t be revealed in all its glory until Christ returns, so the born-again believers in Jesus Christ are seated in heavenly places reigning with Christ in the present (Ephesians 2:4-7). This began to be made manifest when Jesus first began to preach the kingdom of God…
“There are two aspects of our resurrection just as there are two aspects of Christ’s coming in the glory of His kingdom. We are even now raised with Christ and seated with Him. Spiritual death has been defeated.”
Jay Rogers, In the Days of These Kings: The Book of Daniel in Preterist Perspective (Clermont, FL, Media House Intl., 2017) 477-478.
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Moshe quotes from:
Isaiah 11:10–11
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples – of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people…
Paul shows that this is fulfilled in Christ in Romans 15:8-12.
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CHAPTER 26
This incident is drawn from two incidents that I blended into one: Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5.2.1-2, §47-66 and The Wars of the Jews 5.3.3, §109-119.
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The king shall do as he wills:
Daniel 11:36
36 “And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done.
Duncan McKenzie makes a good argument that Titus is the king of Daniel 11:36. Jay Rogers argues that it is the line of Caesars beginning with Julius, and Philip Mauro argues for Herod the Great. But there is certainly a consistency of this tyrannical will between all tyrants in Daniel, indeed in Scripture.
Other kings who "did as he wills" were:
1) Cyrus the Great: Dan 8:4
2) Alexander the Great Dan 11:3
3) Antiochus III the Great: Dan 11:16
4) Ptolemy VI Philometer: Dan 11:28
5) Dan 11:36: Julius and Caesars, or Titus or Herod the Great
“Exegetical necessity requires that 11:36-45 be applied to someone other than Antiochus IV. The context indicates that the ruler now in view will live in the last days, immediately prior to the coming of the Lord. Verse 40 reveals that this king’s activities will take place “at the time of the end” (cf. 10:14), and the “time of distress” mentioned in 12:1 is best understood as the same “distress” (the tribulation) predicted by Jesus Christ in Matt 24:21 as occurring immediately before his second advent (Matt 24:29-31; cf. Rev 7:14). But the clearest indication that this “king” will live in the latter days is that the resurrection of the saints will take place immediately after God delivers his people from this evil individual’s power (cf. 12:2). Of course, the resurrection is an eschatological event. Finally, vv. 36-39 seem to introduce this king as if for the first time.”
McKenzie PhD, Duncan W., The Antichrist and the Second Coming: A Preterist Examination Volume I (Kindle Locations 2896-2903). Xulon Press. Kindle Edition.
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This incident with Titus is adapted from Josephus: Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5.2.1-2, §52-66.
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CHAPTER 27
Treatment of snake bites in the ancient world:
Adrienne Mayor, “Treating Snake Bite in Antiquity,” Wonders and Marvels online:
http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2012/08/treating-snake-bite-in-antiquity.html
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Opium poppy seeds as anesthesia: Roman Medicine http://www.crystalinks.com/romemedicine.html
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The visitation of Yahweh and judgment:
Luke 19:43–44
43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
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CHAPTER 28
Cassandra is quoting: Matthew 24:40–41.
Some Christians mistake this verse as an oblique reference to a “rapture” of Christians being taken away FROM judgment. But the phrase is taken from the Flood and the Babylonian exile where those who were taken away were judged and/or sold into captivity. That is not a rapture away from judgment, but a deliverance INTO judgment.
Here is a verse about the Babylonian exile:
Jeremiah 6:11–12
11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the elderly and the very aged. 12 Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land [of Israel],” declares the LORD.
Here is a verse from Josephus about the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem that is similar:
Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 6:8:2 (6.384-386)
[The Romans] left only the populace [of Jerusalem], and sold the rest of the multitude, with their wives and children, and every one of them at a very low price… (386) and indeed the number of those that were sold was immense; but of the populace above forty thousand were saved, whom Caesar let go whither every one of them pleased.
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The Parousia “coming” of Christ in the Thessalonian letters: Gary DeMar writes:
“Is “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” a reference to the Second Coming, that is, an event that is still in our future, or is it a coming in judgment upon first-century Jerusalem that would be the event to bring the “last days” to a close (2 Thess. 2:1)?[7] The word translated “coming” in verse 1 is the Greek word parousia, best translated as “presence” in other contexts (2 Cor. 10:10; Phil. 2:12). “The term itself does not mean ‘return’ or ‘second’ coming; it simply means ‘arrival’ or ‘presence.’
“Translating parousia as “coming” is not at all improper, however, since the Bible’s use of �
��coming” does not always mean bodily presence, as so many Old and New Testament passages make clear. In addition, we know that the Bible clearly states that “the coming [parousia] of the Lord” was said to be “at hand,” that is, “near” to Christians living prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (James 5:8). How could James have told his readers to “be patient … until the “coming of the Lord” if the Lord’s coming was not “near” for them? James bases his call for patience upon the fact that the Lord’s coming was near, near for those who first read his letter. “James clearly believed, as others of his time did, that the Coming of Christ was imminent. Since, then, there is not long to wait, his plea for patience is greatly reinforced.”[10]
“God’s presence was a sign of blessing because of Israel’s special covenantal status (Isa. 55:3; Jer. 1:19). God’s departure was a sign of judgment. For the nations, God’s presence was a sign of judgment because of their wickedness. Because of Israel’s abominations, God’s presence left the temple (Ezek. 5–11). Israel was then treated like the nations and would hide from and lament His presence in the future. In similar fashion, because of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah and the persecution of His church, Christ’s bride, God would make His presence known to Israel in the form of judgment. God rejected His once-covenanted people and their temple of stone because of the nation’s rejection of the promised Son of Man (Matt. 23:38; 24:1). Like Ezekiel (Ezek. 8), Jesus inspected the temple, found it filled with abominations (Matt. 21:12–13), and left it desolate (23:38). He returned in A.D. 70 to inspect the temple for a final time and found it full of abominations. His presence now abides with a new people of God constructed as a “spiritual house,” the true temple of God (1 Peter 2:4–10; cf. 2 Cor. 6:14–18). In effect, Christ’s parousia in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 is the fulfillment of the promise that the presence of Christ will reside with the true Israel forever (Rom. 2:28–29; 9:6; 10:12; Gal. 6:15–16; Phil. 3:3; Col. 3:11; Heb. 8:8, 10). Remember, during His earthly ministry Jesus “came out from the temple” (Matt. 24:1), foretold its destruction (24:15–34), and returned in A.D. 70 to destroy it (22:7).
“There is no doubt that Jesus’ “coming” in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 should be attributed to the first century since the time indicators (“has come,” “now,” “already”) leave no room in this passage for a coming in the distant future (e.g., Matt. 16:27–28; 24:29–31; 26:64; Heb. 10:37; James 5:7–8; Rev. 2:5, 16; 3:11). Jesus’ coming in A.D. 70 was a coming in judgment upon an apostate nation.”
Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Powder Springs, American Vision, 1999), 274-277.
“The word ‘parousia’ is itself misleading, anyway, since it merely means ‘presence’; Paul can use it of his being present with a church, and nobody supposes that he imagined he would make his appearance flying downwards on a cloud. The motif of delay (‘how long, O Lord, how long?’69) was already well established in Judaism, and is hardly a Christian innovation, as is often imagined. The usual scholarly construct, in which the early church waited for Jesus’ return, lived only for that future and without thought for anything past (such as memories of Jesus himself), only to be grievously disappointed and to take up history-writing as a displacement activity, a failure of nerve – this picture is without historical basis. The church expected certain events to happen within a generation, and happen they did.”
N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, Christian Origins and the Question of God (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1992), 462–463.
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The end of all things was not the end of all physical things or all earthly history. It was the end of all things related to the old covenant.
The end of all things is at hand in the first century, not thousands of years from then:
1Pet. 4:7
The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
Last days were in the first century, not thousands of years from then:
Hebr. 1:1
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son,...
Hebrews 9:26
but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
1Cor 10:11
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
1Peter 1:5, 10, 20
by God’s power [you] are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time… 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully…For [Jesus] was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
1John 2:18
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour.
1John 4:3
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
Other ancient writers used this terminology of their own world as well.
Tacitus, The Histories 1.2
The history on which I am entering is that of a period rich in disasters, terrible with battles, torn by civil struggles, horrible even in peace. Four emperors fell by the sword;6 there were three civil wars, more foreign wars, and often both at the same time… Moreover, Italy was distressed by disasters unknown before or returning after the lapse of ages.
End of the Ages:
The following is from Brian Godawa, End Times Bible Prophecy: It’s Not What They Told You (Los Angeles, CA: Embedded Pictures Publishing, 2017), 78-80.
“The notion of the present age and the messianic age to come was prevalent in Jewish understanding and in the New Testament as well. Paul wrote of the Christians living in “this age” (1 Cor 3:18), “this present evil age” (Gal 1:4) that had evil spiritual rulers of this age (1 Cor 2:8; 2 Cor 4:4); but there was the messianic “age to come” (Eph 1:21, Heb 6:4). When Messiah came, he would usher in a new covenant, a new age of spiritual transformation in the world.
“Well, of course, Messiah had come. That “age to come” was not a reference to a second coming of Jesus, but his first coming, bringing the kingdom of God (the kingdom age to come), a kingdom that was both now and not yet. It was inaugurated but not consummated.
“This “age to come” was the new covenant age. Paul wrote elsewhere that the gospel (the new covenant) was “hidden for ages, but now revealed to his saints (Col 1:26). In 1 Corinthians 10:11, he wrote that the old covenant events occurred as an example “for our instruction upon whom the end of the ages has come.” Did you catch that? The temple had not yet been destroyed, and Paul was saying that his generation was at the end of the ages! He said that it had come upon that first century of believers. The end of the age is not a future event that hasn’t happened yet; it occurred in the first century with the coming of the new covenant, confirmed in the destruction of the temple. But Paul isn’t the only one who wrote that in the New Testament.
“Hebrews 9:26 says that Jesus suffered on the cross, “once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” The end of the ages is not the end of history or the end of the world as we understand it. The end of the ages had already occurred at the time of the crucifixion of Christ. The end of the ages was the end of the old covenant era and the beginning of the new covenant in Christ’s blood!
“But get this: that same writer of Hebrews talked about the new covenant in Christ being superior to the old covenant in Hebrews 8. He quoted Jeremiah confirming that the prophets predicted the arrival of the new covenant age. And then he said, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first
one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (8:13).
“What was growing old and ready to vanish at that time?
“It blew my theology when I realized that he was talking about the destruction of the temple as the final culmination of the new covenant replacement of the old covenant! He was writing in the time period after Christ’s death and resurrection and right before the temple had been destroyed. So the new covenant had been established in Christ’s blood, but it was not consummated with historical finality. Like Paul, the writer believed they were at the end of the ages. The new covenant would make the old covenant obsolete. But take a closer look at the language he used. He said that the old is “becoming obsolete and is ready to vanish away,” as if the old covenant had not vanished yet. It was only in the process of becoming obsolete. “Becoming,” not “had become,” and not “would become” thousands of years in the future. What could that mean?