I am continuing my response to Pastor Bob DeWaay. He states emphatically:
“Prophecy is not given in chronological order in the Bible. You need to know that. [He cites Matthew 24 as a passage that does not give chronology.]”
This is an incredible assertion. The following is a list of Jesus’ chronological language from Matthew 24.
“when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”” (Matt 24:3).
“See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.” (Matt 24:6).
“All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. (9) “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation…” (Matt 24:8-9a).
“And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” (Matt 24:10).
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:14).
“So when you see the abomination of desolation” (Matt 24:15a).
“then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” (Matt 24:16).
“For then there will be great tribulation,” (Matt 24:21a).
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it” (Matt 24:23).
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened” (Matt 24:29a).
“Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man” (Matt 24:30a).
“and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn,” (Matt 24:30b).
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.” (Matt 24:32).
“So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.” (Matt 24:33).
How could DeWaay or anyone else believe that Jesus intends that his Coming could occur, for example, before the beginning of birth pangs, or before the Great Tribulation. Clearly, Jesus intends for his audience to understand that chronologically his Coming (parousia) occurs when the Great Tribulation is cut short. In the next installments, we will see the explicit chronological language of Paul and Revelation. In addition I will respond to his reasoning why he thinks we cannot discern a chronological element of prophecy in the New Testament.
