Customer Reviews

When Will Jesus Come?: Compelling Evidence for the Soon Return of Christ

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Hunt uses specific verses from the Bible, that COULD NOT have been fulfilled in ANY other time than the one we live in now, to show the time is very short for the "end times" events to begin.

The evidence is compelling and thought-provoking. If Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes, and it is, you need to read this book to see the reasons Hunt believes the time is short.

As for the one-star review from Mike...he confuses the "last day" or "last judgement" with the return of Christ. No where in the Bible does it say that Christ's return immediately commences the "Judgement Seat" of Christ. Read this book to decide for yourself...you will learn that what is happening in our world TODAY has already been fortold in the scripture.

Dave Hunt amazes the reader with his insights and in-depth analysis of "End Times" hype. Recent authors have done a lot to bring attention to this most crucial element of the Christian faith - Jesus' Return. Wonderfully written and extensively researched, this is a must for any end times library. Maranatha!

The author backs up all his info with biblical quotes and sources. A good book to share with your unsaved friends or family about what to expect in the near future!

Dave Hunt combines prophecy, history, scripture, and common sense to reveal why every single Christian should believe in the pre-trib, and be looking to the sky for the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Thank you Dave.

Even if you completely disagree with the pre-trib rapture theory (which will be hard to do after giving it an honest read) Dave does an excellent job of laying it out clearly and precisely. The book pours out logic, and scripture in a very easy to read fashion and flows very nicely. Probably one the best books ive read to date, a must have for any eschatology library.

I read this book a few years ago, but really despised Hunt's language aimed at anyone who doesn't accept a pretrib view: "consistent blindness", "prejudice", "rejection", "ignorance", "indifference", "obscuring fog", "tragically ignorant". And that was just in the first ten pages. He certainly could have done without any of that. Regardless, I just picked it up again so that I could comment.

The truth of the matter is that Hunt spends an inordinate amount of time posturing with rhetoric rather than examining Scripture. Were I to critique the entire book, it might require me to write a book of my own. So I'll just focus on some gross misconceptions of his. One involves his interpretation of what "the day of the Lord" (DOTL) is. On page 166, he says: "While agreeing that the day of the Lord begins with the rapture...". He is, of course, working under the presupposition that the rapture is pretribulational. On page 165, he says: "The day of the Lord, however, includes more than the Great Tribulation...and Armageddon." So Hunt clearly supposes that the DOTL includes the Great Tribulation.

Now let's see what Scripture actually says. First of all, the popular mantra is "God isn't coming for a beat-up bride." That battle cry is based on 1 Thess 5:9:

1 Thessalonians 5:9- "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,"

What is the "wrath" which we're "not appointed to"? Paul tells us in verse 2:

1 Thessalonians 5:2- "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."

So Paul's focus in 1 Thess 5 is the DOTL, as he tells us in verse 2, so that clearly is the "wrath" which we're "not appointed to". I think most who study eschatology would agree on this premise. Now let's see why Hunt is incorrect about when the DOTL begins. What did the Lord say?

Matthew 24:29- "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:"

The Lord unequivocally tells us that the heavenly signs come after the tribulation. What does Peter say? In quoting Joel 2:31, he says this:

Acts 2:20- "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:"

So Peter reminds us that the DOTL comes after the heavenly signs. So the Lord told us that the heavenly signs come after the tribulation, and Peter tells us that the DOTL comes after the heavenly signs. So the sequence of events is as such:

Tribulation-->heavenly signs-->DOTL

From this alone, we can know that the "wrath" which we're "not appointed to" is NOT the tribulation, because according to the Lord and Peter, the DOTL follows the tribulation and heavenly signs. Therefore, it would be safe to say that the "wrath" which we're "not appointed to" is referring to the wrath associated with the Lord's literal second coming (Greek "parousia"). For a vivid description of that, read 2 Thess 1:7-10 and Revelation 19:14-21.

So the entire premise for Hunt's defense is off from the get-go, and entirely unScriptural. There is yet another way to confirm that the DOTL is post-tribulational. Look again at what Paul says:

1 Thessalonians 5:2- "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."

So he describes the DOTL as coming like a "thief". Many recall the Lord describing coming like a "thief":

Matthew 24:43-44: "But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

The popular teaching is that this is referring to a pretrib rapture, despite the fact that everything else in Matthew 24 is sequential. So why would the Lord describe His "parousia" in verses 29-31, and then later describe a pretrib rapture in subsequent verses? One should also note that in the parables which the Lord describes in the latter part of Matthew 24, and also in Matthew 25, He never gives any indication that anyone "left behind" gets a "second chance". They are "cast into outer darkness" and "cut asunder". Again, no glimmer of hope for a second chance of any kind. That would be true to the analogy of the "days of Noah", as no one left out of the ark had any type of second chance.

In any case, was the Lord describing coming like a "thief" at a pretrib rapture? Well, we've already seen how the DOTL (which Paul describes coming like a "thief") comes after the tribulation. Now also see a little known verse in pretribulational circles such as Hunt's, as the Lord does tell us when He comes like a "thief" in relation to the tribulation:

Revelation 16:15- "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame."

One should note that the Lord is saying this after the 6th vial, which even Hunt would say is immediately prior to the Lord's literal second coming. So the Lord comes like a "thief" at His second coming. Not seven years prior.

So Hunt's premise as well as his entire book falls flat on it's face. Once the reader gets past the barrage of insults and rhetoric, he can see this. One should ask several questions, to see whether or not the commonly cited verses say what the popular teachings purport them to say:

1)Did the Lord describe any gathering together of believers prior to the tribulation? No. Only "after the tribulation..." (Matthew 24:29-31). Paul reiterates that it's only after the "apostasia" and revealing of the "son of perdition" (2 Thess 2:1-3), and he goes on to warn the Thessalonikans not to let them let anyone else deceive them into believing a different chronology of events. One should be sure of the context. Someone had been telling them that the rapture had already happened. What was his response? To give them two SURE markers to look for, so that they could KNOW that it hadn't yet happened, and would not until these two markers came to pass. Had he tried to reassure them with a different chronology (rapture first--->AC second), then they would have been fooled again by the very next charlatan claiming that the rapture had happened, and their anxiety would have surfaced all over again.

2)Did the Lord describe more than one resurrection of believers? No. Only one. (John 6:39,40). Paul reiterates this in 1 Cor 15:22-24.

3)Did the Lord describe coming back from Heaven with anyone OTHER than His angels at His second coming? No. Only His angels:

Matthew 25:31- "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:"

Again, nowhere did the Lord describe coming back with the church/body/bride/elect. That's something which Hunt likes to sweep under the carpet. What an odd omission of Scripture that would be if we really do come back with Him. Many assert that 1 Thess 3:13 and Jude 14 are "evidence" that we do indeed come back with Him, because He is said to return with His "saints". The problem with that interpretation is a failure to understand the Greek term "hagios". It is not synonymous with "church saints". On the contrary, it only refers to "church saints" a minority of the time it's used in the NT. If Hunt would only use a concordance, he'd realize that the Greek words for "holy angels" in Matthew 25:31 are "hagios aggelos". So the Lord already TOLD us who the "hagios" are who he comes back with: His "hagios aggelos" ("holy angels"). No need for us to plug in "church saints" in 1 Thess 3:13 or Jude 14. What's more, Paul tells us who comes back with the Lord at His second coming, in no uncertain terms:

2 Thessalonians 1:6-8: "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:"

Where does Paul have us until the time of the Lord's second coming (the word "revealed" is the Greek "apokalyptos")? Right here. And who does Paul say that the Lord returns with? His angels.

Hunt's book isn't even worth the paper it's written on. He should come out of his own "obscuring fog", and instead believe the Lord and apostles. For that matter, anyone contemplating buying this book should just turn to Scripture, with a concordance nearby.

I leave this review with two quotes from the early church fathers, which dispels any myth that the pretrib was taught by the early church:

Hippolytus (190-236 A.D.):

"With respect to his name, it is not in our power to explain it exactly, as the blessed John understood it and was instructed about it, but only to give a conjectural account of it; for when he appears, the blessed one will show us what we seek to know. ... Wherefore we ought neither to give it out as if this were certainly his name, nor again ignore the fact that he may not otherwise be designated. But having the mystery of God in our heart, we ought in fear to keep faithfully what has been told us by blessed prophets, in order that when those things come to pass, WE may be prepared for them, and not be deceived. For when the times advance, he too, of whom these things are said, will be manifest." (13)

"Now concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall UPON THE CHURCH from the adversary, John also speaks thus, "And I saw a great and wondrous sign in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, ... And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent." That refers to the one thousand two hundred and threescore days (the half of the week) during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the CHURCH....These things then, being come to pass, beloved, and the one week being divided into two parts, and the abomination of desolation being manifested then, and the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord having finished their course, and the whole world finally approaching the consummation, what remains but the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from heaven, for whom WE have looked in hope." (4)

Justin Martyr, AD 110-165:

"Two advents of Christ have been announced: the one, in which He is set forth as suffering, inglorious, dishonored, and crucified; but the other, in which He shall come from heaven with glory, when the man of apostasy, who speaks strange things against the Most High, shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against US THE CHRISTIANS, ... Now it is evident that no one can terrify or subdue us who have believed in Jesus over all the world. For it is plain that, though beheaded, and crucified, and thrown to wild beasts, and chains, and fire, and all other kinds of torture, we do not give up our confession; but the more such things happen, the more do others and in larger numbers become faithful, and worshippers of God through the name of Jesus."

I've also been unable to find any hymn written prior to the late 1800s which has us anywhere other than here, up until the Lord's post-tribulational second coming.

In Christ Alone,
John

It is so simple. You interpret the unclear verses by the clear verses in the Bible.

Jesus says: "Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day"
(John 6:40).

"At the last day" - not 7 or 1007 years before the last day as Hunt believes.

Jesus says: "There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words. That very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day." (John 12:48)

Hunt needs to accept the word of Jesus when He says "at the last day."

Jesus says: "The hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear my voice and come out. Those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." (John 5:28-29)

Hunt inserts 1000 years between Jesus' call and ignores the word "all".

See 2 Peter 3:10-13 for a description of the last day. The rest of the Bible agrees with Jesus not Hunt.

Mike