The Last Days According to Jesus, Revised and Updated Edition: When Did Jesus Say He Would Return?

This is a old, but it is a "must read." Here is a link to the related teaching series

http://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/last_days_according_to_jesus/crisis-in-eschatology/

This is my first book that I have read by R.C. Sproul and I have mixed feelings about it. I have heard great things about Sproul and I was anxious to read this book, especially since the end times fascinate me so. This age we are in is a crazy time and I was looking for a book that helped make sense of the end times and what to expect. This book both achieved this goal and didn't achieve it. While this book spoke on the end times, it was more of an argument for the Preterist view point. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just not what I expected. Also, I felt the book was rather unclear. I did not feel like I walked away from this book with a better sense of what to think but instead felt more conflicted and not convinced of any viewpoint. This book was definitely not one that I would recommend to a believer who was new to the faith as it was confusing at points and I feel as if a new believer would be more lost than helped. The book was good, just not as great as I expected it to be considering Sproul's reputation. I would give it a 3/5.

This book was provided to me by Baker books in return for my honest review.

R.C. Sproul is undoubtedly one of the preeminent evangelical theologians of the current period. Pastor of a large church, founder of Ligonier Ministries, author of a myriad of books, and so on and so on.

By the title of this volume one can observe that The Last Days is a redo, in this case revised and updated. I have not read the original version so I have no means of comparison. However, if I had read the original, it is unlikely that I would have taken the time for the second.

If you buy this book in search of a detailed analysis of the end times, you will be disappointed. You will not receive clarity or at least a clear understanding of Sprouls views concerning future events. This volume is an analysis and criticism of preterism. In fact, Sproul states the purpose of the book in his introduction: The purpose of this book is to evaluate moderate preterism and its view of eschatology. There are endless quotes from preterist theologians (particularly James Stuart Russell) and Sproul's response to them. To be fair, as quoted above, Sproul does warn us concerning the purpose of the volume right from the start in the Introduction.

I fear this volume will have an extremely limited audience. You will only need to purchase The Last Days According to Jesus if you are doing extensive research on the Bible and future events or if you are experiencing sudden attacks of insomnia.

The bottom line: Save your money on this one. But if you must purchase an R.C. Sproul book, get your hands on Knowing Scripture, you will gain valuable knowledge from that one.

Disclaimer: This book was provided to me by BakerBooks for a fair and honest review.