1. The words
"you," "we," and "us" in the New Testament refer to
YOU who are reading the passage.
To understand the
New Testament as Jesus and the disciples
understood it, "you " is the person being
addressed, and "us " and "we " involves the person
speaking and the group being addressed. It can be
determined from the context. Besides the gospels
and Revelation, the New Testament is a collection
of letters from people in the first century to
others in the first century. This should be
considered to determine who is meant by "you,"
"us" and "we."
2. The "end" is
the end of the world.
The "end" does
not mean the end of the world. What is the "end"
of? The "end" was defined by Jesus. The disciples
asked Jesus about the destruction of the temple
building: "when will these things be, what will be
the sign of your coming, and the END of the AGE? "
(Mt.24:3) Jesus replied, "Such thing must happen,
but the END is still to come. "(Mt.24:6) "but he
who stands firm to the END will be saved.
"(Mt.24:13) "and then the END will come." Since
the question was asked about the end of the AGE,
the END in Jesus' response would most reasonably
refer to the END in the question. That was the end
of the AGE. An AGE is defined as a period of
history marked by some major event. The first
century certainly qualifies. Jesus and His
Apostles understood the "end" to be the end of the
AGE in which they lived. (Mt.24:3; 1Cor.10:11;
Heb.9:26) Today we live in what they understood as
the AGE to come. (Mt.10:29,30; 12:32)
3. The world must
come to an "end."
Jesus never said
the world would be destroyed. He did say the
temple would be torn down (Mt.24:2), Jerusalem
would be laid desolate (Lk.21:20) and Judea would
suffer great distress. He warned them that when
THEY see the abomination of desolation standing in
the holy place, those in JUDEA should flee, and
when THEY see JERUSALEM surrounded by armies, they
would know its desolation is near. Those in JUDEA
should flee. (Mt.24:16ff; Mk.13ff; Lk.21:21ff)
These things happened during the Jewish Wars which
lasted from A.D.66 through A.D.73.
4. The "world" in
the Bible means the entire world today in the 20th
century.
The "world" in
the New Testament does not refer to our 20th
century definition of the word today. It does not
mean the world as WE know it. It means "world," as
those in the first century understood it. Usually
the Greek is more accurately translated as the
"inhabited earth" or "habitable earth," which
always meant the known world of the Roman Empire
in the first century. So when Caesar Augustus took
a census of the "world", he meant the Roman
Empire.
5. The gospel
must be preached throughout the whole world before
the end comes.
This statement is
a distortion of biblical intent. Since the "world"
in the first century was understood to be the
extents of the Roman Empire (habitable earth), the
gospel was preached to the whole world in the
first century. The Bible remains consistent with
this understanding. The gospel was preached
throughout the "world" after Paul's missionary
journeys. Paul said so. (Ro.1:8, 16:25-27,
Col.1:23)
6. Within the
parameters set forth in the Bible, the only
possible time of the second coming of Christ is in
our future.
This is simply
not accurate. If Jesus said he would come again
after His resurrection, then He could return again
any time from His resurrection onward. Precisely,
A.D.30 onward.
7. The second
coming of Christ has not happened, and by this we
know the end has not yet come.
This logic is based on the faulty assumption that all
history is known to us. Tremendous volumes of ancient
history were destroyed with the Alexandrian Library in
A.D.391. The official history written by historians in
the first century was only that which was approved by
Caesar. The history written of the decades of the 70's
and 80's is missing. If Christ came the second time in
the late first century and gathered up His elect, then
none of those who understood what happened were left
to record the event.
