The document discusses whether Christians are destined for defeat or victory on Earth. It argues that many prophecies cited as signs we are living in the "last days" were actually fulfilled in the 1st century. It says the "end times" referred to the end of the Old Covenant, and the "Great Tribulation" is past, referring to events of the 1st century. It claims the Book of Revelation was written in the 60s AD to address seven churches, and that the resurrection of believers occurs after Christ's millennial reign, not in a pre-tribulation rapture. The document aims to inspire Christians to positive action rather than inactivity based on escapist eschatology.

1. Are we living in the last days?
Dr. Peter Hammond

3. Are we living in the last days?
Dr. Peter Hammond

31. As Christians, are
we doomed to
defeat on earth
– or are we
destined for
victory?

32. Is the fulfilment of our Lord’s Great
Commission your supreme ambition?

33. Or is your main obsession to be raptured from
your responsibilities on earth?

34. Is your faith
being
strengthened
by the
victorious
vision of the
Bible?

35. Or have you
been
neutralised
by a
defeatist
view of the
end times?

36. Does your
understanding
of the future
inspire you to
positive prayer
and action?

37. Or are you
being
Paralysed
into inactivity
by an
eschatology
of escapism?

38. Do you long to see
the church revived
and faithfully
“making disciples
of all nations”?
Or do you long to
be removed from
your
responsibilities
here on earth?

39. Is the glory of
Christ inspiring you
to greater service
for Him?
Or are speculations
about the antichrist
depressing you into
inactivity?

41. Christ came in
“these last days” Hebrews 1:1-2.
The day of Pentecost was in
the last days, Acts 2:16:17: “. . . this is
what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days, God says, I will pour
out My Spirit’ . . .”

43. When will these things be?

44. Jesus said: “I tell you the
truth, this generation will
certainly not pass away
until all these things have
happened.”
Matt. 24:34

45. Most of the Scriptural
prophecies being
quoted today in
support of
speculation that we
are in “the last days”
were fulfilled in the
lifetime of Christ’s 1st
century hearers!
Fulfilled prophecy is
being interpreted as if
it is unfulfilled
prophecy.

46. For example:
Many Jews today are
still awaiting the
Messiah.
They do not realise
that the Messianic
prophecies have
already been fulfilled
– and so they are still
expecting what has
already occurred.

47. Jesus proclaimed:
“For the Son of Man is going to come
in His Father’s glory with His angels,
and then He will reward each person
according to what he has done.
I tell you the truth, some who are
standing here will not taste death
before they see the Son of Man
coming in His kingdom.”
Matt. 16:27-28

48. “I tell you the truth, all this will come
upon this generation.”
Matt. 23:36 (see Matt. 21:42-45)

49. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here
will be left on another, every one will be
thrown down.” Matt. 24:2

50. Scripture is the best interpreter
of Scripture.

52. Note that the clear and plain
meaning of the following
apocalyptic prophecies can only
refer to an imminent event, that
was to occur in the life time of
those original 1st century believers
who heard and read the prophecies:

53. Matt. 10:22-23; 26:64
Rom. 13:12
1 Cor. 10:11
James 5:8-9
1 Peter 4:7
1 John 2:18
Rev. 1:1; 1:3; 3:11; 22:6

54. The Revelation of
Jesus Christ – not a series
of crystal ball revelations.
Rev 1:4 “. . . To the seven churches in the province of
Asia . . .”
Rev 1:11 “. . . to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna,
Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
Real first century Christians, in actual churches, in
historical cities, are being addressed.
THE DATE AND THEME OF
REVELATION

55. Rev 1:3 The first century Christians were meant to
read and understand the message of Revelation as most
relevant to themselves.
Rev 1:1 “. . . what must soon take place . . .”
Rev. 1:3 “. . . the time is near.”
Rev 2:16 “. . . I will soon come to you and will fight
against them with the sword of My mouth . . .”
Rev 3:11 “I am coming soon . . .”
Rev 22:6, 7 “. . . the things that must soon take place.
‘Behold I am coming soon.’”
Rev 22:12 “Behold I am coming soon! . . .”
Rev 22:10 “. . . Do not seal up the words of the prophecy
of this book, because the time is near.”
(Compare with Dan 12:9 where the prophecies are sealed.)

56. Rev 1:7 “Look He is coming with the clouds, and every
eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him . . .”
Compare the apocalyptic language of
“coming with the clouds” with:
Isaiah 19:1 “. . . See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before
Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.”
Ps 104:3, 4 “. . . He makes the clouds His chariot and rides
on the wings of the wind. He makes winds His
messengers, flames of fire His servants.”
(Also Ps 18:7-15; Joel 2:1, 2)
Matt 21:40-45
Christ’s hearers understood His coming to be in
Judgement upon their own generation.

57. Matt 24:34 “I tell you the truth,
this generation will certainly not pass away
until all these things have happened.”
Who is the harlot referred to in Revelation?
Jerusalem

58. Matt 23:34-35 : “Therefore I am sending you
prophets and wise men and teachers.
Some of them you will kill and crucify;

59. others you will flog in your synagogues
and pursue from town to town.
And so upon you will come all the righteous blood
that has been shed on earth,

60. from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah
son of Berakiah, whom you murdered
between the temple and the altar.
I tell you the truth, all this will come
upon this generation.”

61. Matt 27:25 “All the people answered, ‘Let His blood be on us and on our
children!’”
Rev 11:8 “Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is
figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”
Rev 17:3, 5 “Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I
saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and
had seven heads and ten horns . . . This title was written on her forehead: Mystery
Babylon The Great, The Mother of prostitutes and of the Abominations of the Earth.”
Rev 18:24 “In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all
who have been killed on the earth.”
Lev 20:10; Lev 21:9; Isaiah 1:21; Jer 3:14; Jer 22:8; Lam 1:1; Ez 16:8; Hosea 4:1;
Acts 7:51-52; Rev 16:21; Rev 17:16
Revelation was written by AD 65 and it speaks to the first century Church
concerning the tribulation which they were entering:
Rev 1:9 “I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in the tribulation, and
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ . . .”
Rev 11:1-2 Indicated that the Temple was still standing in Jerusalem when
the book of Revelation was written.

62. CF: Luke 21:5-7 and Luke 21:24 fulfilled in the Jewish War with Rome from Spring
AD 67 to destruction of Jerusalem in August AD 70 – a period of 42 months which fits the
precise measurement of the prophecy in Rev 11:2.
Rev 17:7-14 clearly identifies Rome and the emperor Nero. Rome
sat on the 7 hills and Nero was the sixth emperor of Rome – who
reigned after the deaths of his five predecessors and before the brief
rule of the seventh emperor.
Josephus, the first century historian, listed the first emperor of Rome as Julius Caesar
followed by Augustus, Tiberius, Caius, Claudius and Nero.
Rev 17:10: “. . . Five have fallen . . .” the first 5 emperors are dead; “one is . . .” – the sixth
emperor, Nero, was reigning as John wrote. Nero reigned from October, AD 54 until Jule 8,
AD 68;, “the other has not yet come, but when he does come he must remain for a little
while.”
The seventh emperor Galba reigned only six months until January 15, AD 69.
Rev 2:9 and 3:9 also indicate that the book of Revelation was written prior to the Jewish
War of AD 67-70 because Christian Jews and unbelieving Jews were still intermingled at
the time of writing. A sharp religious, cultural and legal division between Christians and
unbelieving Jews ensued after AD 70.

63. Therefore the Book of Revelation has to have been written
prior to the destruction of the Temple in August AD 70;
before the death of Nero on June 8, AD 68; before the
Jewish War began in AD 67, but after the outbreak of
Nero’s persecution of Christians in November AD 64.

64. The theme of Revelation is the coming judgement
of God upon the generation that had rejected and
crucified the Lamb of God. Jerusalem is depicted as
a harlot and Rome as a beast.

65. The wrath of God was poured out on Jerusalem with the
destruction of the temple in AD 70.
Source: Before Jerusalem Fell – Dating the Book of Revelation
by Ken Gentry

66. The “end of the age” is not the
end of the world.
It refers to the end of the Old Covenant
with its animal sacrifices and temple
rituals which were mere shadows of the
redemptive work of Christ.

67. The Great Tribulation
is past and not future
Ex. 10:14; 11:6
Ezekiel 5:9
Dan. 9:12
Joel 2:2
Luke 11:50-52
John 18:15
Matt. 27:24-26
1 Thess. 2:14-16

68. Christians will always have tribulation
John 16:33
Acts 14:22
2 Tim. 3:12
there is no rapture out of tribulation
for believers.

69. The Christian message hinges on the
reality of the Resurrection
– not the rapture.

70. John 5:28-29 states clearly that
believers and unbelievers will be raised
up at the same time.

71. 1 Corinthians 15 makes clear that
the resurrection of the dead occurs after the
period of the Kingdom and just before “the end.”

72. “. . . so in Christ all will be made alive. But each
in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when
He comes those who belong to Him. Then the
end will come, when He hands over the
Kingdom to God the Father after He has
destroyed all dominion, authority
and power. For He must reign until He has
put all His enemies under His feet. The last
enemy to be destroyed is death.”
1 Corinthians 15:22-26

73. 1 Thess. 4:16-17 relates
to the general
resurrection of the saints
prior to the second
coming of Christ.
There is no Scriptural
teaching of a separate
resurrection/rapture of
believers
7 years prior to Christ’s
return and 1007 years
before the resurrection
of unbelievers and the
end. Such beliefs are not
taught in the Bible at all.

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