Questions About Israel

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Gary answers several questions about Israel from a regular listener.

There is no indication that Matthew 25:31-46 describes a single event. Rather, the passage describes a judgment over time, related to Jesus’ dominion as an “everlasting dominion” (Dan. 7:14). Jesus was “exalted to the right hand of God” where He rules until all His enemies are made a “footstool for [His] feet” (Acts 2:33, 35). Paul writes that Jesus “must reign until He has put all of His enemies under His feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). Milton Terry writes that “the ideal of judgment presented in Matt. xxv, 31-46, is therefore no single event, like the destruction of Jerusalem.” Terry continues:

The Old Testament doctrine is that “the kingdom is Jehovah’s, and he is ruler among the nations” (Psalm xxii, 28). “Say ye among the nations, Jehovah reigneth; he shall judge the peoples with equity. He cometh, he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his truth” (Psalm xcvi, 10-13). The day of judgment for any wicked nation, city, or individual is the time when the penal visitation comes; and the judgment of God’s saints is manifest in every signal event which magnifies goodness and condemns iniquity.

Keith Mathison has a helpful take on Matthew 25:31-46, a passage often used to support the Second Coming. He asks, “which judgment is being described in Matthew 25:31-46?” He links it to Daniel 7 which he argues “is a prophecy describing the inauguration of the messianic kingdom rather than the second coming.” He goes on to state that Jesus is describing “the heavenly judgment of the nations that Daniel associates with the inauguration of Christ’s kingdom (Dan. 7:9-10).” The King of glory is continually judging and reigning among the nations. The judgment began in that generation (Matt. 11:21-24; Luke 10:13-15).

Last Days Madness

In this authoritative book, Gary DeMar clears the haze of “end-times” fever, shedding light on the most difficult and studied prophetic passages in the Bible, including Daniel 7:13-14; 9:24-27; Matt. 16:27-28; 24-25; Thess. 2; 2 Peter 3:3-13, and clearly explaining a host of other controversial topics.

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Gary answers several questions about Israel from a regular listener. Genesis 12, Matthew 25, and John 8 are all discussed as Gary shows that the Bible doesn’t have a special plan, apart from salvation in Jesus Christ, for those who claim to be Jews. All sinners, Jews and Gentiles alike, are saved through the finished work of Jesus, not through who they claim as an ancestor.

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