Episode 75: What is Already and What is Not Yet?

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 75

Gary interviews Ed Stevens about the 1993 Covenant Eschatology Symposium that was held in Florida.

Debates continue over which biblical passages refer to the AD 70 judgment coming of Jesus and those that refer to what is commonly called the yet Second Coming of Jesus. As I have repeatedly pointed out, there is no unanimous agreement among scholars on this question, especially among those who signed the “Three Questions Letter” that was sent to me to affirm specific creedal and confessional statements or else! Kenneth Gentry argues that Matthew 16:27 and 28 describe two comings separated by nearly 2,000 years (so far).[1] Almost any commentary you pick up will admit that these two verses (also found in Mark and Luke) are difficult to interpret. Honest students of Scripture should be free to study the topic without being labeled a “heretic” for arguing that both verses refer to events surrounding that first-century destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 that included the dismantling of the temple (Matt. 24:1-3). Douglas Wilson is honest enough to admit that he is “not finally settled” but is “strongly inclined to take Matthew 16:27 as a 70 AD reference because of the ‘not taste death’ reference in the next verse.”[2]

Gentry takes a different approach by describing himself “as an orthodox preterist.” Does this mean that anyone who does not interpret Matthew 16:27 the way he does is not “orthodox”? Here’s how he expresses his position:

As an orthodox preterist, I hold that this passage brings together the AD 70 judgment and the Final Judgment. As orthodox preterists argue (following most conservative, evangelical theologians in general), the AD 70 destruction of the temple is a dramatic judgment of God in itself. But it is also a typological foretaste of the universal Final Judgment, which it pictures through the local judgment on Israel. (This is much like the Israel’s Old Testament exodus event being an important act in itself, while serving as a type of coming redemption through Christ.)[3]

Gentry shows by his comment that there is no agreement of two comings in Matthew 16:27-28. Yes, many evangelical commentators state that Matthew 16:27 is a Second Coming passage. Surprisingly, Gentry declares, “Many scholars see v. 28 as simply repeating v. 27, using different words.” This means that by his own admission “many scholars” disagree with him that two comings are described in verses 27 and 28.

Prophecy Wars: The Biblical Battle Over the End Times

If you’re willing to take the Bible at its word, the study of prophecy can strengthen your faith, but if your trust is in man’s speculations, you will be disappointed every time. And that is why Bible prophecy is such a crucial area for apologetics. Skeptics of all stripes have condemned the Bible as inaccurate merely because various well-meaning Christians have been in error about the End Times.

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Gary interviews Ed Stevens about the 1993 Covenant Eschatology Symposium that was held in Florida. R.C. Sproul was one of the attendees and had many good things to say about letting the Bible be the final authority on the topic. Ed discusses the proceedings of the conference, as well as some of his personal interactions with David Chilton before his death in 1997.

Click here for the video of this interview

Read Gary’s article that contains R.C. Sproul’s full closing comments here.

[1] Ken Gentry, “Matt. 16:27-28: AD 70 and the Final Judgment” (July 31, 2018).

[2] Wilson stated this to Michael Sullivan in response to a question. See Sullivan’s “A Full Preterist Response to Kenneth Gentry’s Article ‘Matt. 16:27-28: AD 70 and the Final Judgment—Will the REAL ‘Orthodox Preterist’ Please Stand Up?!?” (August 3, 2024).

[3] Gentry, “Matt. 16:27-28: AD 70 and the Final Judgment.”

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