Christ’s Return – Part 1
Hello, my name is Danny and I was a Latter-day Saint for 6 decades.
In the previous video, I introduced the subject of Eschatology - which is the study of end times.
The majority of, mainstream Christianity, including Mormonism have been conditioned to believe that the Second Coming of Christ to the earth has not yet happened and remains a future event. Churches have been warning about the impending end of the world for hundreds and thousands of years - declaring with great emphasis that “Jesus is coming soon.” All the “signs of the times” are present, they claim. This is a Futurist viewpoint.
Then there are those - who believe that all the prophesies in the Bible about the “last days” and the Second Coming of Christ were either mostly fulfilled or completely fulfilled in the First Century. That is called - a Preterist viewpoint.
We have well-documented written sources from which to make our evaluation. They include of course the 27 historical religious texts in the Apostolic Record or New Testament. AND the historical secular texts of the time, written by noted non-Christian authors like Flavious Josephus, Publius Cornelius Tacitus, and Pliny the Younger – who were eyewitnesses to the final events.
Here again is the big question: Were the Gospels, Epistles, and book of Revelation written directly to those Jewish and Gentile peoples then - Or were they written to us in the modern future, two thousand years later? I propose that those words of the New Testament were written to those people then, and about them - who lived two millennia ago. They were not written to us - living in the 21st Century and beyond. Almost every book in the cannon of scripture speaks of Christ’s return to them - in their lifetime. I’m not basing this on just a couple of scriptures. There are a hundred verses or more in the New Testament referencing Yeshua’s return for them in their lifetime. I am here to assert that Christ already returned during the professed “Last Days” - which was 66-70 AD.
Let’s dive in! I do want to state at the outset – I am going to try and not repeat the same passages in this series of videos, because there are so many other verses to support my argument.
There is no way that, first century, believers could have thought anything different than what was taught and written to them. It’s impossible for them to think, “well crap, I guess He isn’t coming for us. I hope those people living a few thousand years into the future are going to be prepared for His arrival.”
You see, what Christians today fail to realize is that - by denying Yeshua’s return for His first century church as He promised them - they are bearing false witness that Yeshua lied. The Bible is very clear about the consequences of wrongly prophesying? In Deuteronomy 18:21-22 we find the definition of how to identify a false prophet. “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken.” If a prophet predicted something that didn’t come to pass, then he was a false prophet. Pretty clear cut, right? And what was the law against false prophets back then? It was death by stoning.
If Yeshua did not return soon for them as He prophesied, then by the Bible’s own definition - Yeshua is a false prophet. That means not only should He have died the first time - it also means He deserves to die again. If what Yeshua prophesied wasn’t from God, His Father - then what Yeshua prophesied was false, and we should never believe nor trust in what He taught. If we can’t trust the Bible in this one important thing about His Return - then we have no reason to trust that Yeshua conquered sin, Satan, death, hell or the grave.
As I read my Bible and discovered the continuous thread of prophesy concerning his Second Coming - I had to make a choice as to whether to believe in a futuristic Second Coming 2 to 3 thousand years from when all this was spoken and written, OR was I going to be consistent with scripture and believe in what Christ and His disciples said back then? I have made my decision after thoroughly studying the Bible and have determined - that fulfilled eschatology is biblically verifiable. If this isn’t true, then Yeshua lied to his bride and every word of the Bible collapses under that lie. Jesus would stand condemned by His own words and only a fool would put their hope in Him.
Well, it’s time to explore exactly what Yeshua did have to say about His Return – and later examine what His disciples said and wrote about His Return.
At the very beginning of Yeshua’s ministry, He came to Galilee preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God. It says in Mark 1:14-15 “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled (the time for waiting over), and the kingdom of God is at hand (near by): repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Does that not sound imminent to them then?
Then speaking to His disciples, Yeshua says in Mark 8:38 “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he (Jesus) cometh (His Return) in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.“ Next verse, Mark 9:1 “And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you (them not us), That there be some of them (His disciples) that stand here (in Galilee), which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” So far does it sound like He is going to Return to them in the First Century, or to us 2,000 years later?
Now here is the banger verse! Mark 13:30 “Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.” Remember, a generation is about 40 years, and Jesus is stating this in about 33 AD. But, in 1960, the great Christian apologist, C. S. Lewis, wrote that Mark 13:30 “is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible” where Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all these things take place.”
Sadly, Lewis believed Jesus was wrong concerning the second coming in that generation. Lewis had been brought up to believe in the futurist tradition of the church. To say Jesus “got it wrong” leaves us with nothing but a flawed Savior and an unreliable bible. When the New Testament is appropriately read in its historical context of the very near destruction of Jerusalem along with the Old Covenant – these apocalyptic passages are no longer “embarrassing” as Lewis put it, but wonderfully and precisely fulfilled just as Yeshua foretold. We are now living in Yeshua’s spiritual kingdom and no anticipation or waiting is necessary.
Let’s go on to Mark 14:61-62 “But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye (you, high priest) shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Yeshua knows He is returning within the lifetime of those He is speaking to. And this corrupt high priest He is talking to - will have a front seat to witnessing it happen. Once again, the conversation is not directed at us living in 21st Century.
To back that up, Jesus states in Luke 9:26-27 “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he (Christ) shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here (in Caesaria), which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.” Jesus knows those who that day will witness His imminent return.
Then later as Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time, He says in Luke 19:43-44 “For the days shall come upon thee (Jewish citizens), that thine enemies (Roman armies) shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” God would allow a complete destruction and tragic death to befall Jerusalem, which began in 66 AD and ended in 70 AD.
Then pointing at the temple, Jesus prophesied in Luke 21:5-6 “And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” All fulfilled in 70 AD.
Same chapter in Luke 21:20-24 “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh (near). Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written (Daniel 9 and 12) may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Many Jews expected the Messiah to return in glory when hostile Gentile armies surrounded Jerusalem. However, Christians in Jerusalem knew what Jesus had said and they obeyed Him - fleeing across the Jordan River mostly to Pella. Few if any Christians perished in the fall of Jerusalem. The Roman conquest of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was complete. History records that 1.1 million Jews were killed and another 97,000 were taken captive in one of the worst calamities ever to strike the Jewish people. After the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews predicted by Jesus in the previous verses - there would come a long period when Jerusalem would be dominated by Gentiles.
Luke 21:31-33 “So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand (on the doorsteps). Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” That generation they were living in would not die till all, would be fulfilled. The day of vengeance and redemption drawing near was for the persecution that the believers had to suffer under the Judaizers and religious leaders. All was fulfilled in that generation.
Don’t these scriptures make more sense - when we put them in a First Century context? I just don’t understand how it is, so misused today in Christian circles.
In fact, Joseph Smith predicted in an April 1843 General Conference Address, that Jesus Christ would not return before Joseph himself would reach the age of 85. His claim is recorded in History of the Church Vol. 5 pg. 336. “Were I going to prophesy, I would say the end [of the world] would not come in 1844, 5, or 6, or in forty years. There are those of the rising generation who shall not taste death till Christ comes… I prophesy in the name of the Lord God and let it be written-the Son of Man will not come in the clouds of heaven till I am eighty-five years old.” That was nearly 200 years ago. Smith was born in December of 1805 and didn’t come even close to reaching 85 years of age. He died at the age of 38 in a gun battle, while incarcerated in jail at Carthage, Illinois. So according to the test of a prophet written in Deuteronomy 18, Joseph Smith Jr. qualifies as a false prophet and got what he deserved as mandated by scripture.
The Brighamite LDS Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, made certain in 2018 that everyone knew the proper name for the Lord’s Church is not the Mormon Church, but it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Well, I suggest the name of that church be changed to The Church of Modern-day Saints. The reason is because in coming videos - I am going to present biblical scripture proving that the “Last Days” were properly placed in the First Century not in 2026. Meaning, the “Last Days” are the “Past Days.” Christ came, fulfilled, had the victory, and Returned for His bride.
Also, consider the Patriarchal Blessings that were given to Mormons throughout the past 200 years. Millions of failed promises to faithful Members that they would be physically alive during the Millennium or when Christ returned. As I understand it, those promises were very common in the 19th century - then less common (but certainly not unusual) in the 20th century. And I have no idea what people are being promised nowadays.
Well stay tuned for more insights into the words of Yeshua and then His disciples - who were truly living in the those “last days” of that old covenant economy which included priesthood, temple worship and sacrifice, laws and ordinances, etc. All fulfilled at His Second Coming by 70 AD.
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God Bless!