Question: Josephus himself in his antiquities declared that to be the fulfillment of Daniel, so why would do people have a problem with Jesus comming in AD 70 to judge Israel?
Answer: Well, you are correct about Josephus, but the reason why people have a problem with the A.D. 70 coming of Christ is because they believe, as you seem to, that while Jesus may have come in the destruction of Jerusalem, that he is also coming at the "end of the world." I reject that concept, and believe that the A.D. 70 coming of Christ was the end of the age parousia predicted in the scriptures, and that there is not another yet future, "end of the world" coming of Christ.
Question: As far as the resurection, is it me or do people miss things like when some of the old saints were raised from the dead along with Christ?
RESPONSE: Well, the problem is, as I see it, that the event in Matthew 27:52 is never referred to as the eschatological resurrection, nor the parousia, nor the judgment! It was a sign of Christ’s past resurrection,
but, no N. T. writer ever refers back to it as having any other significance.
Question: Tell me, are you one of those people that claim Christ won’t set up a physical Kingdom here on earth?
RESPONSE: Yes, I am one of those people! 🙂
Question: I hear that alot, problem is, both old and new testament tell us that there will be a time when man will not learn war any more.
RESPONSE: There are a couple of assumptions underlying your "argument" here.
1.) You assume that the "warfare" has to do with literal military warfare.
2.) You fail to see also that the time predicted by the prophet was emphatically said to be present in the first century.
3.) You overlook the fact that Jesus said the kingdom had drawn near, 2000 years ago.
4.) You overlook the fact that the N. T. writers, fully conversant in the prophecies you cite, said that those prophecies were being fulfilled in their day (compare Isaiah 10:10f with Romans 15:8-15, where Paul directly
cites Isaiah and said it was being fulfilled in Christ and Paul’s ministry!).
Question: By the way, are you aware that the battle of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 is the battle of Armegeddon in Revelation?
Both passages have the following scenarios:
1. Israel in great peril.
2. Messiah comess to save Israel
3. The Kingdom is restored to Israel
4. The temple is built after the war
5. There is peace.
RESPONSE: Yes, I am very much aware of the relationship. Are you aware that John was told "these things must shortly come to pass…for the time is at hand!"? We have no right today, living 2000 years later, to say that the prophecy was not fulfilled shortly then, but will be fulfilled shortly now! I have written a little book on Armageddon, entitled "Blast From the Past: The Truth About Armageddon," that you might find to be very helpful. It is on the website. Here is one of the arguments from that book. The "Battle of Armageddon" was to be the Great Day of the Lord (Revelation 16:16f).
But, the Great Day of the Lord was to be the time of the vindication of the martyrs (Revelation 6:9-17). Jesus said all the martyrs who ever lived, all the way back to creation, would be vindicated and judged in the judgment of Jerusalem in his generation (Matthew 23:29-36). Therefore, the Great Day of the Lord (Armageddon), was in A.D. 70.
QUESTION: One little clue that the promised physical return of Christ has not taken place is in Ezekiel, I believe in chapter 39 and 40. Read the passage that describes the temple, and the spring that flows out from the temple and heals the sea. Upon this healing, there is a place for fisher men to cast their nets.
I pulled out a map and followed it easward, the path ends up in the dead sea. Ezekiel tells us that when the Temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem, and Christ has come, people will be able to fish on the
dead sea.There will be fish in it like the fish of the great sea. This is similar to saying that the "lamb will lie down with the lion". These are things that don’t happen in our age, but in the Kingdom age, these things will occur because Christ has come physically and His presence brings about peace to all.
RESPONSE: My problem with your scenario is that it fails to honor what the text says about when those things would be fulfilled, and how the N. T. writers interpreted them.
1.) Ezekiel’s prophecy was to be fulfilled "in the last days." The N.T. writers emphatically tell us that they were living in the days foretold by the O.T. prohets (Acts 2:15f; Acts 3:24f), and, it is my working
assumption that the N. T. writers understood those prophecies better than anyone today! So, when they tell me that the time and events foretold by the O. T. prophets was present 2000 years ago, I am going to believe them!
I wrote two articles that may peak your curiosity, The most logical day of Christ’s return and the Fig Tree Prophesy (I think I need to change the title to this one).
Be aware that I wrote The Most logical Day of Christ’s return between 2000 and 2002, and I wrote the Fig tree prophesy in January of 2007. While I can not claim that the Fig Tree Prophesy proves conclusively that
Christ will come in the year and on the day that I have logically deduced for the various arguements I put forth, but I do believe that it does prove that within the next ten to twelve years, Christ will return and set up His Kingdom on earth.
RESPONSE: Well, with all due respect, and I mean that sincerely, your prediction is wrong, and will be proven wrong, in the next few years. Jesus said he was coming back, in power and great glory, in the judgment, in the first century, and that means that anyone predicting his coming in any generation after that is prima facie wrong.
I consider the on-going, generation to generation predictions of Christ’s anytime return as a great disservice to our Lord. It fails to honor his word about when he said he was coming! Should we not accept what he said about when he said he was coming? The disciples certainly believed, and taught as inspired truth, that Christ’s coming in judgment at the end of the age was near in the first century. So, again, with all due respect, your predictions of a yet future coming of Christ are off by 2000 years, and based on faulty hermeneutics.
I am not trying to be offensive nor do I question your integrity or sincerity for one moment. However, it is high time that the modern church begin to accept Jesus’ words and the words of his apostles and the
inspired authors about when he was coming, and that time was in the first century.