Last Days according to Jesus, The [Paperback]

R. C. Sproul (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

A trusted theologian analyzes what Jesus said about his return and the last days.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. R.C. Sproul has served the church as a seminary professor, preacher, and author for more than forty years. He is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries and can be heard teaching daily on the radio program Renewing Your Mind, which broadcasts on more than 300 radio outlets in the United States and throughout 50 countries. Dr. Sproul has written more than 60 books and serves as Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching at Saint Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, Florida.

[updated 7/31/06]

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Baker Books (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080106340X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801063404
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. R.C. Sproul is the founder, chairman and president of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian education ministry located near Orlando, Florida. His teaching can be heard on the program Renewing Your Mind, which is broadcast on hundreds of radio outlets in the United States and in 40 countries worldwide. He is the executive editor of Tabletalk magazine and general editor of The Reformation Study Bible, and the author of more than seventy books and scores of articles for national evangelical publications. Dr. Sproul also serves as president of Ligonier Academy of Biblical and Theological Studies and Reformation Bible College. He currently serves as senior minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew's in Sanford, FL.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to the partial preterist view., April 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Days According to Jesus (Hardcover)

In classic "Sproulian" style, this book probes the subject matter of Christ's Olivet Discourse. Are the events that our Lord describes to be understood as taking place in the distant future (even beyond 1999!) or are they to be understood as events that would take place in connection with Jerusalem's destruction in AD 70? While the former option seems more sensational, more exciting, Sproul methodically shows the reader that an honest read of Christ's words will inevitably lead to the latter conclusion. His discussion of the time frame references ("this generation") is excellent. Did Jesus mean what he said when he promised that the catastrophic events he described would be experienced by many of his orignal hearers? Sproul sees this as an essential question to be answered if we wish to defend the integrity and veracity of our Lord's words. As a pastor, I hope that other Christian teachers and leaders will read this book and be shaken from so much of the dogmatism that surrounds eschatology today. Even if one is not fully convinced by Sproul's argument, he should at least be convinced that maybe there are more options than the "Lahaye-I'm premil,pretrib and you must be too" approach that is so pervasive today! How refreshing to learn that godly men down through the ages have held differing views about the "last days." RC has done a great service for the church!

38 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Apologetics, not eschatology, January 11, 2005

By 

J. M. White (Little Rock, AR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Last Days according to Jesus, The (Paperback)

I've enjoyed what Sproul I've read over the years, but I was a bit disappointed in this offering. As others have said, I found it slightly helpful but generally mediocre.

Part of the problem is that the book is not what it is hyped as being. Rather than a systematic study of eschatology, this book is an attempt to refute Bertrand Russell's book Why I Am Not A Christian, specifically Russell's objection (shared by most liberal critics) that Christ promised he would return during the lifetime of the apostles. Sproul defends against Russell by arguing that Christ did return within their lifetime, but that it was a metaphorical return in the form of judgment (the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.) instead of a literal, visible return.

Because the book is structured as an argument with Bertrand Russell, rather than a defense of a particular eschatological position, it loses much of its persuasive strength. Those who are already preterists will cheer in agreement; those who are not will think little more than, "Hmm, interesting argument." I wouldn't expect this book to change many minds.

53 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction to Preterism, but Unconvincing, January 26, 2004

By 

H. L. Nigro - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Last Days according to Jesus, The (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book as a good, solid introduction to the preterist view. R.C. Sproul gives a fair and comprehensive look at the issues regarding end-times prophecy from a preterist perspective, explaining both the emotional reasons behind the rising popularity of the view (the desire to defend scriptural truth against attacks that first century prophecies were wrong) and make a thorough examination of the preterist view itself.

What I found curious about the book, however, is that even R.C. Sproul does not seem completely convinced of the preterist view, and yet he seems reluctant to address these limitations directly. It is these limitations, in fact, that prevent me from accepting this view myself. Holding to a preterist view -- in my opinion -- is like being pregnant. One is either pregnant or one is not pregnant. One cannot be "sort of" pregnant or "mostly" pregnant. Likewise, either one sees the Olivet Discourse as being completely fulfilled in the first century or one does not. One cannot see it being "mostly" fulfilled or "partially" fulfilled. And this is the very problem with preterism.

Preterism claims to take the scriptures literally -- and to be the only view to do so completely. And yet, in order to maintain preterism's brand of literalism, it must play loose with prophetic fulfillment. Prophetic fulfillment becomes like horseshoes. "Close" is good enough. For those who insist on prophecies being fulfilled precisely, preterism can only get in the ballpark. It cannot provide the kind of precise, literal fulfillment that scripture demands. If one demands, not just a literal fulfillment but a PRECISE fulfillment, the best the first century events can do is to provide a foreshadowing of events to come.

In Acts 1:9, for example, we are told that, when Jesus returns, it will be as He ascended -- in the clouds, in bodily form. Where, in preterism, do we find this? Nowhere but a vision of Josephus. Very unsatisfying. Likewise, the Great Tribulation -- not only did Jesus say there would be none like it, but there never would be again. The slaughter of one million Jews in the first century was horrific, but it pales in comparison to the six million under Hitler and the nine million under Stalin. How could a first-century slaughter fulfill this prophecy? And instead of an abomination inside the temple, as Jesus foretold, preterism substitutes eagles on the Roman standards outside the courtyard. As my mother would say, "It's close, but no banana."

As precise a theologian as Sproul is, his willingness to accept these "close but no banana" fulfillments is curious to me; and his own apparent discomfort with the apparent lack of precision in certain prophecies begs for direct address, and yet one never comes. I did sense that these things seemed to bother Sproul, as well they should. As such, as one of the foremost theologians of our times, I would have liked to have seen him address this problem head-on.

H. L. Nigro, author of Before God's Wrath: The Bible's Answer to the Timing of the Rapture