Job 19:25-26| Resurrection of the Flesh? #5
Those who maintain a belief that Job 19:25-26 foretold a fleshly, bodily resurrection point out that Job said “in the end” or, as some translations say “in the last days” the Redeemer would “raise him up.” This has to refer to the eschatological consummation, we are told. But, it is interesting and significant to notice some of the amazing admissions being made concerning the “last days” by our Dominionist friends.
Dominionist often admit that the NT usage of the term “the last days” refers to the last days of Old Covenant Israel, terminating in the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. For instance, DeMar comments on the “last days”: “In AD 70 the ‘last days’ ended with the dissolution of the temple and sacrificial system. A similar pronouncement is made in 1 Peter 1: 20… Gordon Clark writes of the meaning Peter gives to the ‘last days’; ‘The last days,’ which so many people think refers to what is still future at the end of this age, clearly means the time of Peter himself. 1 John 2:18 says it is, in his day, ‘the last hour.’ Acts 2:17 quotes Joel as predicting the last days as the life time of Peter.” (Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness, (Powder Springs, Ga. 1994)26-28, 349.
This kind of quote could be multiplied, but it is not necessary here. What is so inconsistent among the Dominionists is that they make this kind of admission and then turn around and seek to dichotomize between the last days and the last day.
Joel McDurmon, as well as other Dominionists is insistent that Jesus’ prediction of “the last day” in John 6 must refer to the end of time. But, what proof is offered? Nothing but presuppositions.
Job 19:25-26 and the Last Hour– Fulfilled!
Did the last days (of Israel) not have a “last day”? Of course they did, and McDurmon affirms this. And see DeMar’;s quote again :The last days ended in AD 70.” Well if the last days ended in AD 70, then the last day day of the last days was in AD 70!
McDurmon says of the events terminating in AD 70: “As he (Paul, DKP) wrote, in his time, the Old was becoming obsolete and was ready to vanish away. It has not yet been completely wiped out, but was certainly in its dying moments. It died in AD 70, when the symbol and ceremonies of that Old System– the Temple and the sacrifices– were completely destroyed by the Roman armies. This was the definitive moment when “this age’ of Jesus and Paul ended and completely gave way to their ‘age to come.’ This, of course, is exactly why Jesus tied ‘the end of the age’ to His prophecy of the destruction of the Temple.” (Joel McDurmon, Jesus V Jerusalem (Powder Springs, GA., American Vision, 2011)47- My emphasis).
So, the Old Covenant age of Israel had “last days.” It had a “last day”- in fact, a “definitive” last “moment!” Could that definitive last moment of the Mosaic Age not be “the last hour” that John said had arrived (1 John 2:18)? Joel was asked this very question in the Q & A session and had major difficulty giving a satisfactory answer. Be sure to order your copy of the book of that debate.
Not only did the Mosaic Age have “last days” a definitive last moment, but, it had resurrection to eternal life, at that last definitive moment!
You Must Catch the Power of the following:
McDurmon, like Gary DeMar, Kenneth Gentry and a number of other Postmillennialists agree that Daniel 12:2 predicted the AD 70 resurrection to eternal life. With that in mind, consider the following:
Dominionists agree that Daniel 12:2 foretold the AD 70 resurrection.
Dominionists agree that Daniel 12 foretold the resurrection to eternal life / condemnation.
Dominionists agree that Daniel 12 was fulfilled at the time of the end.
Dominionists agree that Daniel 12 was fulfilled in the last days.
Dominionists agree that the resurrection of Daniel 12 occurred at the “definitive moment,” i.e. a last day– in AD 70. See my book, AD 70: A Shadow of the Real End? for a long list of other critical eschatological tenets that Dominionists admit were fulfilled in AD 70, but then turn around and claim that we are still waiting for fulfillment.
So, the real question is, what is the difference between the Daniel 12, AD 70 resurrection to eternal life, in the last days, at the last “definitive moment” of that age, and the proposed resurrection of 1 Corinthians 15?
During the debate, I asked Joel this very question. I put up a chart comparing Daniel 12 with 1 Corinthians 15 and challenged Joel to demonstrate exegetically what the differences are. I took note of the perfect correspondence between the Daniel 12 resurrection when Israel’s power (Torah) would be shattered, and 1 Corinthians 15 that posits resurrection at the end of “the law” which was the “strength of sin.” That is Torah, without dispute.
I received no answer to my question and my challenge. Joel did say, as James Jordan did in my debate with him, that he could admit / agree that 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 20 had a fulfillment in AD 70, but, that there is another, consummative fulfillment in the future. When I asked for exegetical proof, Joel simply said that his belief system allows this. His “belief system” may allow it, but scripture doesn’t. There is not a Dominionist alive that can demonstrate the difference. The admission that 1 Corinthians had “a fulfillment” in AD 70 is a tacit admission that “the fulfillment of 1 Corinthians 15 was in AD 70. Not a typological fulfillment. Not a foreshadowing fulfillment, but “the fulfillment.”
We will pick up our discussion of Job 19 more specifically in our next installment. We will focus on the language that “at the last” the Redeemer would stand on the earth, and Job would be “raised.” We will take a serious look at the NT and how it develops the idea of the last time and the resurrection. That study will definitively show that Job 19:25-26, if it indeed predicted a “last days” resurrection, that resurrection– not a type or shadow of it– was to be in the first century. So stay tuned!
Be sure to get a copy of my book AD 70: A Shadow of the “Real” End? In which I completely refute the idea that the events of AD 70 were a type and shadow of a yet future resurrection.