Jesus and the Future ― Understanding What He Taught About the End Times

Jesus was a prophet who often spoke about future events. Some readers apply all of Jesus's teaching about the future to the distant future: his return, the future resurrection, and final judgment. Other readers contend that virtually everything Jesus taught about the future was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The authors conclude that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. As a prophet, Jesus spoke both about the near future events of AD 70 and the distant future events surrounding his second coming. The challenge lies in determining when he was speaking about near instead of distant future events.

In Jesus and the Future, the authors examine everything Jesus said about future events as recorded in the four canonical Gospels. This includes the famous Olivet Discourse along with many other parables and sayings. The authors situate Jesus's teaching in its original literary and 1st century Jewish and Greco-Roman context.

Jesus and the Future is designed to discuss Jesus' teaching about the end times in a way that is accessible, biblical-theological, exegetical, and devotional and spiritually-nurturing. Written with a scholar's mind but a pastor's heart, the book is geared to a popular audience interested in making sense of end-time phenomena and conflicting teachings on the end times.

Andreas Kostenberger (Ph.D., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior research professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and founder of Biblical Foundations? (www.biblicalfoundations.org). He is the author, editor, or translator of more than 30 books, including The Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters and The Final Days of Jesus.

Alexander Stewart (Ph.D., Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is academic dean and associate professor of New Testament language and literature at Tyndale Theological Seminary in Badhoevedorp, the Netherlands. He is the co-author (with Andreas J. Kostenberger) of The First Days of Jesus.

Apollo Makara (M.Div., Tyndale Theological Seminary in the Netherlands) is from Kigali, Rwanda. He serves with New Creation Ministries (Kigali) as a lecturer in their Pastoral Training School and the Christian Leadership Institute of Rwanda.