Category: Eschatology

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Eschatology Video Commentaries

Zechariah 14 Commentary (Amillennial)

zechariah 14 mt olivet splits

Zechariah is one of the hardest prophetic books to understand, its difficulty culminating in its final chapter 14. Here Bible-teacher Steve Gregg delivers a series of lectures on the fascinating book of Zechariah. In this post, we zoom into his teaching on the meaning of Zechariah 14. Does Zechariah 14 really foretell the second coming of Christ, Armageddon and the end of the world?

Zechariah 14:1-5

When Jesus returns, will His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives? Will the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south? What does it mean that the Lord will come, and all the holy ones with Him?

Additional resource: https://cbtseminary.org/an-amillennial-interpretation-of-zechariah-14-1-of-8/

Zechariah 14:6-21

Zechariah 14

1 A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.

2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

6 On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. 7 It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light.

8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.

9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

10 The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place. 11 It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

12 This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. 14 Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15 A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

20 On that day holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty.

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Eschatology Video Commentaries

Who is the Man of Lawlessness? (Man of Sin)

Who is the Man of Lawlessness (Son of Perdition)?
The only place we see the “man of lawlessness” title in Scripture is in 2 Thessalonians 2. Writing in the early 50’s AD, Paul shifts from discussing Christ’s return on the last day (sometimes called Judgment Day, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12) and now addresses a more immediate concern for the young church in Thessalonica. Time is running out: 20 years have passed since Jesus sat upon the Mount of Olives and predicted a time of terrible tribulation.

In this lesson, Matthew Schoenherr takes a closer look at the man of sin and identifies a few candidates.
Session notes: https://prophecycourse.org/session/more/man-of-sin/

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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Eschatology Video Commentaries

How to Read the Book of Revelation: Idealist, Preterist, Historicist, and Futurist Views Explained

R.C. Sproul summarizes the four primary lenses through which most people read the Book of Revelation: idealism, preterism, historicism and futurism.

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Eschatology Video Commentaries

Coming in the Clouds

Pastor Jeff Durbin teaches on the Great Tribulation and the Olivet Discourse. What does it mean when Jesus says Israel will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven? What was Jesus quoting from when He referred to this? When did the Lord Jesus say this would occur? (Hint: “this generation“)

Note: Even though Pastor Durbin hails from the postmillennial perspective, AMILLENNIAL.org finds his teaching on “coming on the clouds” completely accurate. Though largely in sync with one another, the amillennial and postmillennial perspectives’ greatest difference remains amillennial’s more pessimistic view of the end times versus postmillennial’s assertion Christianity will expand as a physical presence to cover the globe (which actually seems very premillennial, when you say it like that.)

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Eschatology Video Commentaries

Revelation, the Beast, and the Meaning of 666

Once again John Alley brings a message about “end times”, beginning with an examination of the meaning of the “coming” of Christ and then giving an overview of the book of Revelation. Revelation, John explains, is the most Jewish of all the books of the New Testament, drawing greatly on Jewish symbols, history, concepts and nuances of language. The book was written to the seven churches of Asia, at a time when there was a larger percentage of Jewish Christians in the Asian region, and there was a huge emphasis on Emperor worship. John examines events from history which all point to the book of Revelation being written in about 64 or 65 AD. With this understanding, then, it is very easy to see that most of the prophecy of the book of Revelation has been fulfilled in the great tribulation and suffering inflicted on the Church by the Emperor Nero. Therefore, the Beast referred to in the book would seem to most likely have been Nero himself. John explains many fascinating facts including the source of the number 666 and then goes on to say that as for the future, we have hope, a great calling, a great many promises and a Messiah King ruling in Heaven. We should be encouraged, says John, that although difficult times will come for some people, the Gospel triumphs over them all and we need to pour ourselves out in service to God for the furtherance of the Kingdom.

In any modern Bible study on the last days, a common practice for understanding the dark, end-times enemy known as the Antichrist is to mix together Paul’s man of lawlessness, John’s antichrists (plural), and John’s beast of Revelation 13, while sprinkling in a dash of Daniel’s 70th week for flavor. The result? A tyrannical dictator the likes this world has never seen. But is this apocalyptic amalgamation biblical?

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Eschatology Video Commentaries

New Heavens and New Earth

What is the New Heaven and the New Earth? Will heaven and earth pass away? NT Wright is one of the world’s most renowned Bible scholars, and he joins us in this episode to talk about the renewal of all things. Learn in this episode why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the linchpin for God’s new creation, which is continuing to unravel through the Spirit-empowered ministry of God’s people, until the day Jesus returns to redeem the entire cosmos—in what Scripture calls, “the New Heavens and New Earth.” Come away from this episode with clarified misconceptions about the afterlife, and with a more profound appreciation for the grand scheme of God’s redemptive plan, from Genesis to Revelation.