Questions on the Doctrine of the Last Things:
By Brian H. Wagner (last edited 11-15-14)
Please feel free to contact me for further discussion – brian.wagner@vbc.edu
Questions Covered – (Hyperlinked to Answers Given)
1. How does one refute the Amillennial view of how the 70 weeks of Daniel are fulfilled?
2. Will the city of Babylon be rebuilt?
3. Will there be animal sacrifices in the millennial kingdom?
4. How do Dispensationalists outline the predictions in Matthew 24:1-28?
5. Does Mt. 24:22 indicate that the Tribulation will be shorter than 7 years?
6. Does Matthew 24:31 refer to the rapture of the Church
7. What is ro g ith the Preterist ie of this ge eratio i Matthe : ?
8. How does one refute the Amillennial recapitulation view of judgments in Revelation?
9. What are the problems with the Amillennial view Revelation 20?
10. Why is the Amillennial equating of the Sheep and Goats Judgment and the Great
White Throne Judgment incorrect?
11. What is the Bi le’s des riptio of the everlasting city, the New Jerusalem?
12. Why is it not probable that 2 Thess. 1:5-12 refers to the Rapture at the Second Advent?
13. Why is it not probable that the cosmic-sign passages from Joel 2:31, Matthew 24:29,
and Revelation 6:12 support the Pre-Wrath Rapture position?
14. What are some other weaknesses of the Pre-wrath Rapture position?
15. How does the Mid-Trib Rapture compare with the Pre-Wrath Rapture?
16. What are the Premillennial views regarding the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion?
17. What are other stro g argu e ts agai st Fru hte au ’s Pretri ulatio al attle ie
of the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion?
18. Why is the doctrine of soul sleep not correct?
19. Is it likely that the Antichrist will be a Jew?
20. What is the eschatology that is taught in Islam?
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1. How does one refute the Amillennial view of how the 70 weeks
of Daniel are fulfilled?
The p ophet Da iel as gi e a isio of eeks o se e s of i e ents of time
o e i g Is ael s futu e. Da iel : -27 reads:
24
“e e t weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
25
K o the efo e a d u de sta d,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
26
A d afte the si t -two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27
Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is pou ed out o the desolate.
The amillennial view of Da iel s th
seven is that it was all fulfilled in the life of Christ,
o at least AD . This ie takes the p i e ho is to o e s. as ei g Ch ist, a d it
is He who breaks His covenant (Mosiac) with Israel through His death, after 3 ½ years of His
earthly ministry. There are some A ille ialists that hold that the p i e ho is to o e is
‘o a , a d the see the eaki g of the o e a t fulfilled Titus desolatio of the te ple i
AD 70.
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The p i e ho is to o e : is ‘o a , but not of the first century, but of the
revived Roman Empire in the last days of the future, led by the coming Antichrist, revealed to
Daniel in other visions which he had. (Daniel 7:8, 11; 8:23-26, 11:36-45). That there is a gap
between the 69th and 70th se e i : is ot u usual to OT p ophe ies of Ch ist s o i g. A
u e of p ophe ies spoke of Ch ist s fi st ad e t a d the of His se o d ad e t i the sa e
sentence. Christ Himself made such a division when he interpreted Isaiah 61:1-2 (cp. Luke 4:18-
19).
This isio of Da iel e eals the di i e pla hi h as fo Is ael fo ou people a d
ou hol it : a d has ot et ee fi ished, fo Jesus Hi self said it ill o ti ue u til
the ti e of the Ge tiles is fulfilled Luke : . Je usale ust e t odde u de foot
the Gentiles till then. God will not be finished with Israel and its transgressions and sins against
the LORD until then. There will be no final reconciliation and beginning of everlasting
righteousness for them as a nation till then. Vision and prophecy will not be completed in their
behalf until then (e.g., the two prophets of Revelation 11). And the most Holy Place of the
temple in Jerusalem will not be anointed with the glory of the Lord once again until then.
A ille ialists a t to see e e aspe t of this pu pose fo Da iel s se e t se e s : as
fulfilled AD. This ould e a di e t eje tio of Jesus p o ise that God is ot fi ished
with Jerusalem and the Jews until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled.
The NT reveals further the revelation of the mystery of the church, which was hidden
du i g Da iel s da , ut o is a pa t of that gap i ti e hi h e ists et ee the th
and 70th
seven in Daniel 9. The details of the divided seventieth seven (9:27) correlate to the details of
the other three and one half year time periods delineated either as 42 months, 1260 days, or as
times, time and half a time mentioned in Revelation as associated with the Antichrist (Rev.
11:2, 12:14, 13:5). All of this ust e futu e to the ti e of Ch ist s fi st ad e t, a d i elatio
to His second advent, thus countering directly the amillennial view that it was fulfilled in the
first century.
An exegetical point can also be made against the recapitulation view of the
amillennialist concerning the information in 9:26 and 9:27. The use of the Hebrew waw
consecutive at the start of Daniel 9:27 indicates that there is a consecutive order of events with
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the events of 9:26. The order of events in the two verses would therefore flow chronologically:
1.) the Messiah being cut off, 2.) the city and sanctuary being destroyed, 3.) the covenant being
confirmed, 4.) the sacrifice ended by the abomination of desolation, and 5.) the
consummation. This order shows that events #3- #5 must transpire after the crucifixion in AD
30 and the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
2. Will the city of Babylon be rebuilt?
Arnold Fruchtenbaum and Kenneth Wuest are among the few premillennialists who
believe that the city of Babylon will be rebuilt. Homer Heater, president of Capital Bible
Seminary is a premillennialist who does not feel Babylon in modern Iraq will be rebuilt, at least
not rebuilt to become the Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17 and 18. John Walvoord, past
president of Dallas Theological Seminary used to hold that same positio ‘e i al of ‘o e,
BSac 126 -1969, 317-328), but changed to holding that the Babylon will indeed be rebuilt. He
says in the Bible Knowledge Commentary on Rev. 16:17- , it is p efe a le to ie Ba lo as
the rebuilt city of Babylon located on the Euphrates River, which will be the capital of the final
o ld go e e t.
Fruchtenbaum, in Footsteps, said that the total dest u tio depi ted i the p ophe ies
regarding the city of Babylon have never been fulfilled in the past, as any encyclopedia article
o Ba lo ill ake uite lea . And Kenneth Wuest, in his Prophetic Light in the
Present Darkness, places a long enough interlude between the rapture and the start of the
Tribulation period during which this international center for the end times, Babylon, to be
rebuilt.
The best answer to whether Babylon will be built from the tourist village it now is in 2014
into a metropolis of international commerce as depicted in Revelation 18, will only be revealed
when it is destroyed by fire as predicted, and the world mourns its destruction, as foretold.
Others have held that Babylon is just a symbolic reference for Rome. They point to a
number of factors that cause them to make this choice, the obvious ones are these.
1. Rome was the center of world trade from the time of Christ up until the time of the
Reformation.
