Category Archives: AD 70

GOD’S DIVORCE DECREE IN REVELATION (4)

AD 70, Israel, Revelation February 18, 2020 Leave a comment

PMW 2020-012 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is the fourth installment of an eight-part series on the crucial imagery involved in Revelation’s seven-sealed divorce decree.

In Jeremiah’s new covenant promise, God complains of Israel’s unfaithfulness noting that they broke his covenant, though “I had mastered [ba’l] them as a husband” (Jer 31:32). This verb derives from a root meaning “to become master.” Therefore, as Old Testament scholars note, it means to marry “with an emphasis on the rights and authority the husband exercised,” cp. Genesis 20:3; Numbers 5:19–20, 29; Deuteronomy 21:13; 22:22. Whereas the word for “husband” (‘hś) “is apparently an endearing expression”, ba’l “emphasizes the legal position of the husband as lord and ‘owner’ of his wife.” The legal relation and subsequent obligation is clearly in view. Continue reading →

GOD’S DIVORCE DECREE IN REVELATION (3)

AD 70, Israel, Revelation February 14, 2020 Leave a comment

PMW 2020-011 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is my third article on the identity of the seven-sealed scroll in Revelation. In this article I will deal with covenantal marriage, which is essential for understanding the covenantal divorce transpiring in Revelation.

We must recognize at the outset that Revelation is an extremely Hebraic book that draws heavily from the Old Testament. And we should understand that John’s theme verse warns of Christ’s judgment-coming against the Jews. Continue reading →

GOD’S DIVORCE DECREE IN REVELATION (2)

AD 70, Israel, Revelation February 11, 2020 Leave a comment

PMW 2020-010 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is my second installment on the identity of the seven-sealed Scroll in Revelation. This symbol is crucial to understanding Revelation’s point. I will begin where I left off last time (sounds logical, doesn’t it?).

(10) In Revelation 10 we see the scroll fully opened and in a strong angel’s hand (Rev 10:2). This is Christ appearing as the “Angel of the Covenant” who is expected in Malachi 3:1 for the purpose of bringing judgment upon Israel. He appears here in angelic form, because he is a “messenger” [aggelos] swearing an oath as a legal witness (Rev 10:1, 5, 6). This vision appears just before Revelation’s clearest statement regarding the earthly temple in Jerusalem: Revelation 11:1–2 (see next point). Continue reading →

GOD’S DIVORCE DECREE IN REVELATION (1)

AD 70, Israel, Revelation February 7, 2020 Comments: 7

PMW 2020-009 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

I am beginning a new series of studies that will present a detailed case for identifying the seven-sealed scroll in Revelation. Revelation is performative drama that employs forensic rhetoric. The succession of scenes will increasingly inform the audience of the legal action undertaken within. The identity of this scroll will exercise a large interpretive influence over the later chapters of Revelation.

By way of introducing this court-drama I will trace in broad strokes Revelation’s interesting legal plot-line, then I will backup and provide the particular evidence that leads me to this understanding. Continue reading →

LUKE 17 VS. MATTHEW 24?

AD 70, Christ, Matthew 24, Second Coming February 4, 2020 Comments: 27

PMW 2020-017 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

In this blog I have previously investigated the apparent problem involved when comparing Matthew 24 and Luke 17. See: “Orthodox Preterism and Luke 17.”

There I note that Matthew separates the local judgment-coming prophecies regarding AD 70 from the global ultimate-coming prophecies of the Second Coming and the Final Judgment. Many prominent evangelical preterist scholars recognize Matthew’s clear structure. Scholars such as:

• J. M. Kik, An Eschatology of Victory (originally published as an article in 1948)

• R. V. G. Tasker, Matthew (Tyndale Bible Commentary) (1961)

• David E. Garland, Reading Matthew: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the First Gospel (1993)

• Alistair I. Wilson, When Will These Things Happen: A Study of Jesus as Judge in Matthew 21–25 (2004)

• R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (New International Commentary on the New Testament) (2007)

• R. C. Sproul, Matthew: An Expositional Commentary (2013)

• Jeannine K. Brown, Matthew (Teach the Text Commentary Series) (2015)

• Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew 21:1–28:20 (vol. 3 of the Concordia Commentary on Matthew) (2018)

See my blog article: Best Matthew Commentaries. Thus, this view is not “Ken Gentry’s view,” as I frequently hear from Hyper-preterists. I got it from others. It is a well-known, highly-regarded view published by a number of reputable scholars.

As I have pointed out elsewhere, this clean separation is quite evident in Matthew 24:34–36. There Matthew’s peri de (“but concerning”) narrative transition-formula shifts his attention away from the known time of his local (metaphorical) judgment-coming against the Temple (Matt. 24:2) in Judea (Matt. 24:16), which was to be in “this generation” (Matt. 24:34). He shifts his attention to “that day and hour,” which timing neither he nor the angels know (Matt. 24:36, 50; 25:13). [1] Continue reading →

THE TEMPLE’S DESTRUCTION IN REVELATION

AD 70, Revelation, Temple August 20, 2019 Comments: 3

PMT 2014-008 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

temple destroyedRev. 11:1–2: “Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, ‘Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.’”

Here in Rev 11 a voice commands John to measure the inner temple in the “holy city,” which must be Jerusalem (Isa 48:2; 52:1; Neh. 11:1–18; Mt 4:5; 27:53). This is the place where the Lord “was crucified” (Rev 11:8; cp. Lk 9:22; 13:32; 17:11; 19:28). In Rev 1:7 John states his theme (see earlier article) which is the judgment-coming of Christ against those who pierced him, i.e., the first-century Jews. Continue reading →

WHY IS AD 70 IMPORTANT?

AD 70, apologetics May 9, 2019 Comments: 6

PMW 2019-038 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Since “Moses and all the Prophets” point to the first century coming of Christ (Luke 24:27), we know the very “fulness of the time had come” (Gal. 4:4). This ample revelation in the Old Testament word prepares us for the abundant redemption in the New Testament world. All Christians are well aware of the unparalleled redemptive-historical significance of the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. We are equally well apprised of His victorious pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in A.D. 30. But too few realize the significance of the pouring out of His holy wrath upon Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Continue reading →