- The Mt. Olivet discourse
- What "Generation" Will Witnesses the End?
- What "Age" Was about to End?
- The Destruction of Jerusalem
- Who is the antichrist?
- When is the resurrection?
- When is the millennium?
As a Pastor of the Eternal Grace Baptist Church, it is quite refreshing to read a book in our time, when sensationalism seems to sell, that offers a biblical perspective rather than the rehashed blind fanciful predictions of "Prophets for Profit." This is not a definitive answer to the swirling controversy regarding Christ's return, but it is a definite response from a "Mainline theologian" sure to stimulate the earnest believer to search the Scriptures.
What Sproul does is exposes the major flaws of various commentators in their defense of the preterist or futurist position, while buttressing the validity of preterism. By raising the questions that naturally surface when the preterist view is held, Sproul enables honest seekers to examine the evidence in an atmosphere conducive to sane, consistent, Biblical meditation.
It has been stated that a stimulating book must have a catchy title, an intriguing cover, and provocative content. The Last Days According To Jesus manages to achieve all three beginning with the provocative title. Upon the cover centrally located in the top of the book is the famous clock nearing the twelfth hour. Concerning the content, Mr. Sproul is perfectly correct when he asserts that part of the problem regarding prophecy is "the confession concerning biblical interpretation stems from contemporary usage of the term literal. ... " (p. 65). Lazy literalists miss the time-frame-references and thereby promote views from texts out of context which become a pretext, thus opening the flood gates for bizarre beliefs unattached to contextual Scriptural truth.
Sproul subtly raises and answers the objections sure to surface by futurists. Although it is primarily a book length review of the preterist position as presented by J. Struart Russell in his work, The Parousia and its shortcomings, nonetheless it serves the astute Christian student well in clearly stating the biblical position. Sproul's treatment is very charitable, to say he least, with those holding positions clearly questionable. It is federal reserve notes (commonly thought to be money) well spent. It retails for $16.99 by Baker Book House Company; second printing November 1998.