Here are well researched books that are helpful for understanding each time period.
30-70AD Recommended Books
Before Jerusalem Fell
by Kenneth Gentry
Revelation is one of the most misunderstood books of the Bible. Much of this misunderstanding is due to the confusion regarding the time it was written. The dating of the book is central to understanding its purpose and audience. Dr. Gentry proves that the book was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The evidence for this conclusion is found within the pages of Scripture itself. We do not have to depend on writings from a hundred years or more after the fact to get the accurate story. God's own Word sets the record straight.
Beast of Revelation Identified
by Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry and Eric Holmberg
Numerous candidates for the Beast have been advanced throughout the years. They have included Pope Leo X, Napoleon, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Henry Kissinger, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, and even Bill Gates. Predictions about who the Beast is and what he will do are so varied – and dissimilar – that one could almost be forgiven for thinking that the answer to the riddle is unknowable to all but God. And yet the Bible clearly challenges us to gain understanding so that we can decipher his identity. By placing the book of Revelation in the context of the time it was written and letting Scripture (rather than current events) interpret Scripture, a plausible candidate for the Beat of Revelation has been identified – or, more properly re-identified. The Beast of Revelation Identified is divided into three sections that are easily adaptable for Sunday School or personal Bible study. Historical footage, graphics and a compelling introduction by Eric Holmberg help amplify the material you are about to consider. A one hour Q&A session addresses many of the speculations and objections presented by the modern-day self proclaimed “prophecy experts."
Beast of Revelation
by Kenneth Gentry
Kenneth L. Gentry's scholarly skills are evidenced in this fascinating book. Who is the mysterious person behind the number 666? Who is the Beast who has perplexed and evaded prophecy students for 2,000 years? The reader will quickly learn that the Bible does interpret itself. Gentry employs this method throughout the book and exhibits its rational and illuminating effects page after page. If you are weary of the hype over the identity of the Beast and the plethora of theories that border on the nonsensical, then you are in for a most refreshing read.
Days of Vengeance
by David Chilton
Good news for those of you who have wanted a copy of David Chilton's extraordinary verse-by-verse exposition of Revelation. After being out of print for five years and only available at exorbitant prices in used book stores, Days of Vengeance is back! Going where no commentary has dared to go before, this work shuts the mouths of end-times doomsayers with their pessimistic view of the future. A bibilical and scholarly exposition of Revelation is laid out for readers to soak up and begin to view the world with renewed hope and optimism. Chilton skillfully shows in detail that Christians will overcome all opposition thourgh the work of Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is not about the antichrist, the devil, microchips or bar codes. It is, as the very first verse says, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." If this book isn't in your library, it should be.
Last Days According to Jesus
by R.C. Sproul
Dispensationalism is dead. Unfortunately, Christians continue to purchase dispensational products and keep the position alive even though the prophetic pronouncements never come to pass.. R.C. Sproul takes on the dispensational establishment and presents a biblical case for preterism. While he rehearses the arguments of others–DeMar and Gentry included–Sproul deals with issues generally not covered by preterist and futurist authors.
Last Days Madness (Fourth Edition)
by Gary DeMar
In his book, Last Days Madness, Gary DeMar sheds light on the most difficult and studied prophetic passages in the Bible, including Daniel 7:13-14; 9:24-27; Matt. 16:27-28; 24-25; Thess. 2; 2 Peter 3:3-13, and many more. Gary identifies the Beast, the Antichrist, and the Man of Lawlessness and clears the haze regarding Armageddon, the abomination of desolation, the rebuilding of the temple, and the meaning of 666. This is the most thoroughly documented and comprehensive study of Bible prophecy ever written! Last Days Madness will be your survival guide and spiritual compass to insure you escape the paralysis of last days madness.
70AD Recommended Books
Parousia
by James Stuart Russell
This book written in 1878, is the most popular introduction to and defense of the preterist view of Bible prophecy in print today. Most theologians in Europe a century ago took a preterist approach, so it is not surprising to read some of Russell's well-known contemporaries say nice things about his book. Charles H. Spurgeon, who did not hold to the preterist view, stated that the book "...throws so much new light upon obscure portions of the Scriptures, and is accompanied with so much critical research and close reasoning that it can be injurious to none and may be profitable to all." Dr. R.C. Sproul (Ligonier Ministries) states, "I believe that Rusell's work is one of the most important treatments on Biblical eschatology that is availbable to the church today." Gary DeMar says that Russell's book is a breath of fresh air in a room filled with smoke and mirror hermeneutics.
http://www.americanvision.org/store/pc-114-9-parousia.aspx (Paperback, 570 pages)
Expectations Demand a First Century Rapture
by Ed Stevens
The first book from a Preterist in this generation teaching a literal rapture of all true Christians at the time of the Parousia in AD 66-70. Five scholars a century ago (J. S. Russell, Milton S. Terry, Richard Weymouth, William S. Urmy, and Ernest Hampden-Cook) took a similar view. This book takes their somewhat sketchy theory and fully develops it. Includes answers to all the major objections and a phrase-by-phrase grammatical analysis of the rapture text (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Ground-breaking new work. The "next wave" in Preterism! Walt Hibbard, Arthur Melanson, and many others join with Stevens in offering this theory for your consideration.
http://www.preterist.org/preteristbookstore.asp (158 pages, paperback)
Taken to Heaven in A.D. 70
by Ian D. Harding
Harding examines every NT text that says anything about what the first century Christians EXPECTED to experience at the Parousia. He exhaustively proves from scripture that those saints not only expected to KNOW when Jesus returned, but to see, hear, and experience it in a literally TRANSFORMING way (by being "changed" and "caught up" into the air to meet with Jesus at His descent from heaven at the Parousia). If you are looking for a book which argues the case for a literal rapture in AD 70 strictly from Scripture, this is it! This will be one of the defining books of the Preterist Reformation for all generations to come. A "must read" for all preterists!
http://www.preterist.org/preteristbookstore.asp (335 pages, paperback)
