Timing Is Everything
Gary DeMar writes that "One of the first things a Christian must learn in interpreting the Bible is to pay attention to the time texts". He says that futurists "ignore the time texts that speak of a near coming of Jesus in judgment upon an apostate Judaism that rejected its Messiah in the first century" (DeMar,"Last Days Madness", p.37).
Gary DeMar quotes the following verse: "And when the Chief Shepherd ‘appears, you will receive’ the unfading crown of glory" (1 Peter 5:4).
In his comment on this verse he says,"If Peter had a distant generation in mind, he would have written,‘they will receive’ " (Ibid.,pp.40,42).
Gary DeMar accuses others of ignoring "time texts" and then he does exactly the same thing when it comes to the "time texts" in regard to the time when the Christian will be "caught up" to meet the Lord in the air.
"We Shall Not All Sleep"
Paul believed that the Christians who received his epistles would remain alive when the Lord Jesus comes to catch up His saints:
"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1Cor.15:51-52).
"Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1Thess.4:17).
Henry Alford, whom Gary DeMar quotes eight times to support his teachings in his book "Last Days Madness", has the following to say about Paul’s words in the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians :
"Then, beyond question, he himself expected to be alive, together with the majority of those to whom he was writing, at the Lord's coming. For we cannot for a moment accept the evasion of Theodoret and the majority of ancient commentators (viz. that the apostle does not speak of himself personally, but of those who should be living at the period), but we must take the words in their only plain grammatical meaning, that ‘we which are alive and remain’ are a class distinguished from ‘they that sleep’ by being yet in the flesh when Christ comes, in which class by prefixing ‘we’ he includes his readers and himself. That this was his expectation we know from other passages, especially from 2 Cor. 5." ("Alford's Greek Testament", Vol.III, in loc).
Paul surely believed that it was possible that the catching up to meet the Lord in the air could have happened during his lifetime or else he would not have written that "we shall not all sleep" and that "we who are alive" shall be caught up.
Let us again look at the verse Gary DeMar quoted earlier, 1 Peter 5:4:
"And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1Pet.5:4).
Earlier in the same epistle Peter speaks of this inheritance:
"To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you" (1Pet.1:4).
Peter describes the Christian’s inheritance of a glorious body as being "incorruptible", and that is exactly the same word which Paul used to describe the Christian’s glorious body which he will receiving when he is "caught up" to meet the Lord:
"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1Cor.15:52).
Peter says that the believer’s glorious body is "reserved in heaven for you" (1Pet.1:4) and Paul says that the believer will be "clothed upon" with a "house that is from heaven":
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, If so be that, being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life" (2Cor.5:1-4).
Gary DeMar is under the mistaken belief that the words at 1 Peter 5:4 were fulfilled in A.D.70..However, it is evident that none of the believers received the "unfading crown of glory" at that time.
"Catching Up" Imminent?
We can see other evidence of the fact that Paul thought that the "catching up" could have occurred at any moment and therefore he believed it possible that the event was imminent. First he tells the believers to be constantly looking for the return of the Lord Jesus:
"For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.… The Lord is at hand" (Phil.3:20,21;4:5).
The word "look" is translated from the Greek word "apekdechomai", which means "assiduously and patiently to wait for" ("Thayer's Greek English Lexicon"). Paul is telling believers to be constantly and unremittingly (assiduously) waiting for the Lord's return.
Paul says that "the Lord is at hand". The Greek word translated "at hand" is "eggus", and the meaning is "concerning things imminent and soon to come to pass" ("Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon").
Gary DeMar himself even admits that the term "at hand" always means "close in relation to time or distance": "Every use of ‘near’ or ‘at hand’ in the New Testament means close in relation to time or distance" (Ibid., p.384).
Since at the time Paul wrote those words the Lord Jesus was no closer in "distance" (because He remained sitting at the right hand of the Father) then the words "at hand" at Philippians 4:5 must refer to "time".
Paul believed that the "time" when believers will put on glorious bodies like the glorious body of the Lord Jesus was "imminent". Despite the fact that the Greek word translated "at hand" means "imminent" Gary DeMar writes:
"Dr. Hindson says these words mean "that Christ’s coming is imminent, and he defines ‘imminent’ to mean that Jesus’ coming ‘could occur at any moment.’ Why didn’t the translators use ‘imminent’ if that’s what they meant to say since the above time words in other contexts mean that events are always near either in terms of distance or time?" (DeMar,"The New Last Day Scoffers", Part 5).
Earnest Expectation
Paul did use a word in regard to the appearing of the Lord Jesus that does mean "imminent" but Gary DeMar does not address Paul’s words there, just as he does not address Paul’s words when he says that "we who are alive" will be "caught up" to meet the Lord in the air.
An examination of other "timing" passages reveal that Paul used a Greek word in regard to the Lord’s appearing that can only mean that His appearing could "occur at any moment":
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation (apokaradokia) of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God…And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body" (Ro.8:18,19,23).
Here Paul is speaking of "the redemption of our body", an event that will happen when the Lord Jesus appears. The Greek word translated "earnest expectation" is "apokaradokia", and this word means "to watch with head erect or outstretched…to wait for in suspense" ("Thayer's Greek English Lexicon").
Vine says that the word means "primarily ‘a watching with outstretched head’ (apo, ‘from,’ kara, ‘the head,’ and dokeo, ‘to look, to watch’), signifies "strained expectancy, eager longing," the stretching forth of the head indicating an ‘expectation’ of something from a certain place, Rom. 8:19; Phil. 1:20" ("Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words"; http://www.mf.no/bibelprog/vines?word=¯t0000962).
The same Greek word "was used in Greek writings to describe the alert watchman who peered into the darkness, eagerly looking for the first gleam of the distant beacon which would announce the capture of Troy." ("Precept Austin"; http://www.preceptaustin.org/philippians_118-24.htm).
So according to the Greek experts the word that Paul used in regard to the "redemption of our body" is a word that indicates that this event can take place at any time.
Was Paul wrong in his belief? Of course not. The Lord had evidently told him that His appearing could occur at any time.
Rewards According to Works
"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (Rev.22:12).
The preterists insist that the Lord’s words in this verse were fulfilled in 70 AD. However, the Lord says that when this happens "every man" will receive "rewards" according to his works. Do not His words in regard to "rewards" and "works" refer to the following?:
"Every man's work shall be made manifest…If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward" (1Cor.3:13,14).
"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing" (2Tim.4:8).
"And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown" (1Cor.9:25).
If the coming "quickly" of the Lord has already happened then perhaps the preterists will tell us what "rewards" the Christians received in A.D.70?
Two Appearings
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1Jn.3:2).
The "appearing" spoken of at 1 John 3:2 is an appearing when the Christian will "be like Him". And as demonstrated previously, Paul uses a word that means that tells the Christians that they should be looking with an outstretched head for that appearance. That could not be in regard to His "coming" mentioned at Matthew 24:30:
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Mt.24:30).
Before this can happen there are many things which must precede His coming in the clouds of heaven. The "abomination of desolation" must first stand in the holy place (Mt.24:15) and the "great tribulation" must take place (Mt.24:21).
Paul would not be telling anyone to be looking with their heads outstretched in eager anticipation of His appearing if it was not possible for the Lord to appear until certain events took place, events which had not yet occurred when he wrote his epistles. Paul would not say that the "Lord is at hand", or His appearing is imminent, if it would not be possible for the Lord to appear until "after" the "great tribulation".
So the "appearing" spoken of by Paul and John in their epistles must refer to a separate and distinct "appearing" than the one spoken of at Matthew 24:30.
"The Last Days"
Gary DeMar writes,"The last days were in operation in the first century when God was manifest in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ!
‘God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world’ (Heb.2:1,2)’ " (Ibid., pp.37-38).
Of course the Jewish Christians believed that they were living in the "last days". They knew that after they would be caught up in the air that the remaining prophetic events would begin to take place. First there would be the "great tribulation" and then the general resurrection:
"…and there shall be a time of trouble,such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan.12:1-2).
After the event when Christians will be "caught up" there will be the "great tribulation": "For then shall be great tribulation,such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Mt.24:21).
And then on the very "last day" of the last days will be the resurrection:
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (Jn.6:44).
"Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day" (Jn.11:24).
Despite the fact that this resurrection has not yet occurred Gary DeMar insists that the "last days" ended in A.D.70 with the destruction of Jerusalem:
"In A.D.70 the ‘last days’ ended with the dissolution of the temple and the sacrificial system" (Ibid., p.38).
Why the Delay?
Sir Robert Anderson writes,"Israel's story may teach us something here. When the people were encamped at Sinai, Canaan lay but a few days' march across the desert. And in the second year from the Exodus, they were led to the borders of the land, and bidden to enter and take possession of it. ‘But they entered not in because of unbelief’…Does not this throw light on the seeming failure of ‘the hope of the Church’? Putting from us the profane thought that the Lord has been unmindful of His promise, are we not led to the conclusion that this long delay has been due to the unfaithfulness of His people upon earth?" (Anderson,"Forgotten Truths", p.83-84).
Anderson continues: "Here I will call another witness whose words should command attention. The following is a quotation from Dean Alford's Commentary on the Lord's Parable recorded in Matthew 12:48-44. After explaining the direct application of the parable to the Jewish people, he proceeds:
‘Strikingly parallel with this runs the history of the Christian Church. Not long after the apostolic times, the golden calves of idolatry were set up by the Church of Rome. What the effect of the captivity was to the Jews, that of the Reformation has been to Christendom. The first evil spirit has been cast out. But by the growth of hypocrisy, secularity, and rationalism, the house has become empty, swept, and garnished by the decencies of civilization and discoveries of secular knowledge, but empty of living and earnest faith. And he must read prophecy but ill, who does not see under all these seeming improvements the preparation for the final development of the man of sin, the great repossession when idolatry and the seven worse spirits shall bring the outward frame of so-called Christendom to a fearful end.’ " (Ibid., p.97).
Anderson sums up his argument by saying,"Though the purposes of God cannot be thwarted by the sins of men, the fulfilment of them may be thus postponed. And just as the wilderness apostasy of Israel prolonged their wanderings for forty years, although Canaan was but a few days’ march from Sinai, so the far more gross apostasy of Christendom has prolonged for nigh two thousand years an era which the Lord and His Apostles taught the early saints to look upon as brief" (Anderson,"Misunderstood Texts of the New Testament", pp.16-17).