This is the Day with Mike Rogers

Jesus opened his exhortations to watchfulness with a judgment in the distant past: the flood. He closes them with one in the distant future: the sheep and the goats.

For most of church history, Christians have read Matthew 25:31–46 as the final judgment at the end of history. In the last two centuries, two very different groups have moved away from that reading. Dispensationalists make it a sorting for entry into a future millennium. Extreme preterists like J. Stuart Russell confine it to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, and that view has led many to deny the bodily resurrection and the final judgment.

In this episode, Michael explains why Russell's reading nearly destroyed his own faith. He then works through four of Russell's five arguments:

• Why this passage isn't a parable, and why that matters

Along the way, we'll see how Jesus' words to Caiaphas tie it all together. We'll also see how inmillennialism lets us keep Jesus' "this generation" time statement and still confess, with the historic church, that he "shall come to judge the quick and the dead."

Next time: Russell's final argument, and how the passage points to a judgment at the end of history.

Jesus has told his disciples that the temple will fall within their generation, but no one will know the day or the hour. What comes next? He tells them to watch.

In this episode, we begin the last section of the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus gives five exhortations, each built around a judgment. Matthew arranges them in a mirror pattern (a chiasm). At the outside are the flood in the distant past and the final judgment in the distant future. In the middle are three parables about a division that was about to happen in Israel. At the center of it all is entering the kingdom.

We look at the first four:

Along the way, we'll see why these parables fit only one moment in history: the generation when the old and new covenants stood side by side. We'll also see why that brings great assurance to believers today.

The judgment of the sheep and the goats is saved for the next episode.

Scripture: Matthew 24:37–25:30; Matthew 19:28; Matthew 21:28–46; Daniel 7:13–14; Jeremiah 31:4

Based on Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days by Michael A. Rogers. More at www.AD70Ministries.com

In this episode, we continue our journey through Matthew 24 by focusing on Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ “when” question—uncovering the powerful timing statements at the heart of the Olivet Discourse. Through the parable of the fig tree and the unmistakable declaration that “this generation will not pass away,” we explore how Jesus placed the fulfillment of these events squarely within the lifetime of His original audience. This episode highlights the beauty and structure of Jesus’ teaching, the historical fulfillment of His prophecy in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and the purposeful tension between knowing the general timeframe but not the exact day or hour. We also address common modern misunderstandings and show how a straightforward reading of the text clarifies and unifies the text. Ultimately, this teaching reveals how certainty about God’s timing is meant to produce urgency, watchfulness, and faithful action—setting the stage for Jesus’ final exhortations in the next episode.

In this episode, we explore the powerful meaning behind “the sign of the Son of Man in heaven” in Matthew 24 and how it fits within Jesus’ prophetic discourse about the destruction of the temple and the end of the Mosaic age. Continuing our study of the Olivet Discourse, we examine how Christ’s death, resurrection, ascension, and heavenly enthronement become the ultimate sign that the messianic kingdom has begun. By unpacking Old Testament prophecy from Daniel, Zechariah, and Isaiah, we explain what it truly means to “see the Son of Man coming in the clouds,” why the tribes of the land mourned, and how the gospel trumpet gathers the elect from the four winds through the mission of the church. This episode offers a thoughtful biblical perspective on end-times prophecy, the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, and the continuing reign of Christ as the Son of Man enthroned in heaven.

For more information, see my blog (www.MikeRogersAD70.com) or my book, Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days, on Amazon.  

In this episode, I dive deep into Jesus’ “immediate signs” in Matthew 24:27–31—lightning flashing across the sky, vultures circling over a corpse, and the dramatic collapse of sun, moon, and stars. Are these images predictions of the end of the physical universe, or something else entirely? By tracing the prophetic language of the Old Testament and the covenantal context of the Olivet Discourse, this episode argues that Jesus was describing not the end of creation, but the end of Israel’s Mosaic age centered on the temple. I explore how “parousia” speaks of Christ’s judgment-presence, how vultures signal covenant curse, and how cosmic-collapse imagery consistently marks the fall of nations—not the unraveling of the space-time order. The result is a powerful, cohesive vision of the temple’s destruction as the climactic transition from the old covenant world to the unveiled reign of the Son of Man.

For more information, see my blog (www.MikeRogersAD70.com) or my book, Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days, on Amazon.  

In this episode, I continue building our prophetic model of Matthew 24 by examining Jesus’ “later sign” — the great tribulation — and placing it firmly within its first-century, covenantal context. Moving from general birth pains to the specific crisis surrounding Jerusalem, I explore the “abomination of desolation” foretold by Daniel, the “days of vengeance” rooted in Deuteronomy and Isaiah, and the prophetic hyperbole Jesus employs to describe the horror of the Roman siege. Drawing from the historical record of Flavius Josephus, I show how the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 fulfills Christ’s warning, marks the end of the Mosaic age, and inaugurates the fully established messianic age — not as distant speculation, but as coherent, covenantal history.

In this episode, we continue building a historically grounded, text-driven understanding of Matthew 24 by examining what Jesus called “the beginning of birth pains” in the Olivet Discourse. Anchored in the first-century destruction of Jerusalem’s temple, we explore how religious deceivers, wars and imperial unrest, famines and earthquakes, persecution, apostasy, and the worldwide proclamation of the gospel throughout the Roman "world" all fit within the disciples’ generation and culminate in AD 70. Rather than predicting the end of world history, Jesus was describing a covenantal transition—the close of the Mosaic age and the vindication and enthronement of the Son of Man. This episode shows how that framework clarifies difficult New Testament passages, answers skeptical objections about Jesus’ credibility, and strengthens the church’s confidence in living faithfully within the established kingdom age, where Christ reigns, and His mission advances.

Jesus and the disciples linked His "coming" (parousia) to the fall of the temple in their generation. This episode explores the relationship between them.

Jesus foretold the temple's destruction, and the disciples then asked two questions. Were they asking about the end of time? About the last days of planet Earth? Many people assume they were doing so, but in this episode, I suggest another possibility. This option links their questions to the Lord's prophecy, not to some other subject. 

In this episode, I explore the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and explain what Jesus really meant about the destruction of the temple.  I break down biblical prophecy, the disciples’ questions, and the signs Jesus described—without end-times hype or complicated theology. If you’ve ever been confused by Matthew 24, end times prophecy, or the meaning of the Olivet Discourse, this episode provides clear, Bible-based insight and practical context to help the passage finally make sense.