And there is no prophecy in the Bible of a Third Coming of Christ in our future.
Sounds like the mad ravings of a cult. Or someone who's totally insane. Psychotic. Detached from reality.
That claim certainly doesn't sound like something any reliable Bible teacher would say.
That's what I would have thought a few years ago.
Surprisingly, a growing number of serious, competent, Bible-believing scholars have come to the conclusion that there are no prophecies in the Bible concerning a "second coming" of Christ in our future. They have concluded that the Bible teaches that this event took place in the past.
When I first read these scholars, what they said instantly made sense. I realized what they were saying was clearly Biblical.
I'll bet I can make the case in a way so compelling that you'll have a hard time refuting it.
If you're like me, you'll be thinking initially, "What a waste of time!" "What a terrible doctrine!"
Here are three reasons I hope you'll give me a chance to persuade you.
I refuse to believe that Jesus could have been mistaken. I refuse to believe that the Bible has errors. I will never give up trying to find a resolution to difficulties. Maybe you've wondered about this:
It is the pervasive teaching of the New Testament that Jesus was coming soon. On almost every page, we are told that Jesus would end the old age and begin the new before those who were His eye-witnesses were dead:
The Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds. There are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. (Matthew 16:27-28; cf. Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27)
Some atheists have said, "See? Jesus wasn't God. He mistakenly predicted his second coming in his own generation.
This is a good question. There's an answer. The answer is here.
In the last 100 years or so, we've seen so many predictions that Jesus would be coming soon, and they've all been wrong. We've had predictions that Mussolini, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Putin, and many others, were the "Antichrist." Everytime something happens in Israel, some prophecy preacher says it's a "sign of the times."
And it never is.
Why have they all been wrong?
The answer is found in the conflict between two ways of looking at the Bible. One is called "futurism," the other is called "preterism." "Preterism" comes from the Latin word for "past." As in "already happened." That's what this article is about. More about "preterism" here.
Not only have most prophecy teachers been wrong, but they've bamboozled an entire generation of Christians to be worthless. They are no longer the salt of the earth and a light to the world. They're just waiting around for the "rapture." They think Jesus is going to come back "any moment." And during the last 100 years, we've seen hundreds of millions of people killed by socialism, communism, and other forms of atheism. Americans don't even know what a "woman" is. Jesus would say these Christians are only good to be walked on (Matthew 5:13).
This is a really, really serious problem.
I have discovered that pursuing this crazy idea -- the Second Coming already happened -- has made me a better "Berean."
- Acts 17:11
- "Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true."
I thought I knew the Bible until I heard this argument ("The Second Coming already happened!") and wasn't able to refute it.
- Proverbs 18:17
- "The first to state his case seems right until another comes forward and examines him."
I totally welcome your comments. Let's sharpen each other
- Proverbs 27:17
- "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
The view that prophecies about the Second Coming were fulfilled in our past is called "Preterism." Obviously, most Christians today are "futurists."
"Preterism" comes from the Latin word for "past."
A "preterist" interpretation of a prophecy claims that the prophecy was fulfilled in the past.
Isaiah predicted (chapter 10) that Assyria would attack Israel. Every Bible scholar is a "preterist" on this chapter. It already happened. It was fulfilled between 740 and 720 B.C.
We'll call this "partial preterism." Every "futurist" is also a "partial preterist."
But there are passages under dispute. Do they predict something that happened in our past, or do they predict something that is in our future?
This might seem like a dry, academic, nit-picking theological question, but some people get very emotional about the subject. They say that the wrong answer to that question is a "heresy." Even a "damnable heresy," meaning that if you answer the question wrong, you're going to hell. They will block you on Facebook, refuse to fellowship with you, and denounce you to their friends.
I may not be able to persuade you to become a consistent preterist, but I would like to persuade you not to block me, excommunicate me, or slander me. I would like to leave you assured that I'm a Bible-believing Christian.
One of the most theologically and historically significant events in the first century was the destruction of the temple during the military siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies, in the years A.D. 68-70. Jesus warned His disciples:
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 There will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.
Luke 21:20-23
Many church-goers have gone their entire adult lives without ever hearing about this event.
It's on almost every page of the New Testament.
To prove that "the Second Coming" already happened, all I need for you to do is to read a couple hundred verses of Scripture.
If you're not willing to read the verses, there's no way I can persuade you, and no way you can be a "Berean." This is not about me tricking you, or confusing you. It's just a matter of reading the verses that we have filtered out because they don't fit the theological paradigm that we have been hearing since we were small children (if we grew up in a typical Christian home and church).
If you read all these verses and still don't agree with me, that's fine. But I believe you'll have to wrestle, do some digging, and grow in your understanding of the Bible, in order to make sense of them all. That's not a bad thing, is it?
Plus, I think you'll agree that "preterists" like me are not evil people, even though at first you were thinking I'm a nut for saying the Second Coming already happened.
Previously, I simply provided these links:
I don't think previous readers clicked through to those pages, so I'm going to print them out here:
New Testament readers were anticipating the end of the old and the beginning of "the New Heavens and the New Earth" (2 Peter 3). Incredible, miraculous, unprecedented things
Either they happened, or the New Testament writers (and those who believed them)
This is a very serious issue, and many atheists have recognized what's at stake.
Atheist Bertrand Russell, in his book Why I Am Not A Christian, discredits the inspiration of the New Testament based on the failed prediction of Christ and the Apostles:
I am concerned with Christ as He appears in the Gospels . . . and there one does find some things that do not seem to be very wise. For one thing, He certainly thought that His second coming would occur in clouds of glory before the death of all the people who were living at the time. There are a great many texts that prove that. He says, for instance, "Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come." Then He says, "There are some standing here which shall not taste death till the Son of Man comes into His kingdom"; and there are a lot of places where it is quite clear that He believed that His second coming would happen during the lifetime of many then living. That was the belief of his earlier followers, and it was the basis of a good deal of his moral teaching. [1]
Russell is correct when he says that much of the New Testament was based on the belief that the Kingdom and end of the age were "at hand." If Christ and the Apostles were teaching the imminent destruction of planet earth and the inauguration of the "eternal state," then they were clearly mistaken.
There have been various responses by Christians to this criticism of the Christian faith. Among these, one is particularly striking. We get a profound impression of just what a challenge this argument is to the integrity of the Christian faith when we realize that a great Christian thinker and apologist such as C.S. Lewis despaired at finding a solution to it. Lewis surrendered to the assertion of the skeptics that Jesus was wrong. He attributed this to the limited knowledge Jesus had in His incarnate human form. He correctly pointed out that Jesus himself said, in Matthew 24:36, that He did not know the exact time when He would return:
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
Lewis despairingly wrote,
“Say what you like,” we shall be told, “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.”
“It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.”[2]
To this, the skeptic may reply, “If Jesus incorrectly predicted His return within the contemporaneous generation, but actually did not know that He was going to return within that time frame, then why did He so confidently assert that all of the words He had just spoken would come to pass in Matthew 24:35? He said, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.’ ”
Recently, Christians like R.C. Sproul have suggested that most -- and maybe even all -- of these "any moment" verses were fulfilled when Jerusalem was destroyed and the age of the Old Covenant terminated. If this is true, then the Bible can be trusted. If not, then Christians need to come up with an answer for people like Bertrand Russell.
Read these verses. Read them in context in your own Bible if you think we're taking them out of context.
Get the big picture.
Take this issue seriously.
Admit that this is a question that needs to be answered.
1. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2)
2. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come?” (Matthew 3:7)
3. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees.” (Matthew 3:10)
4. “His winnowing fork is in His hand.” (Matthew 3:12)
5. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)
6. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 10:7)
7. “You shall not finish going through the cities of Israel, until the Son of Man comes.” (Matthew 10:23)
8. “....the age about to come.” (Matthew 12:32)
9. “The Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds.” (Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26)
10. “Verily I say unto you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom.” (Matthew 16:28; cf. Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27)
11. “‘When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?’ ‘....He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.’ ‘....Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.’ ....When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.” (Matthew 21:40-41,43,45)
12. “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Matthew 24:34)
Prophecy:
|
First-Century Fulfillment |
| Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world (oikumene) for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. |
Romans 10:18 |
|
Mark 13:10 |
Romans 16:25-26 |
|
Mark 16:15 |
Colossians 1:5-6 |
|
Mark 16:15 |
Colossians 1:23 |
|
Acts 1:8 |
Romans 10:18 |
13. “Hereafter, you [Caiaphas, the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, the whole Sanhedrin] shall be seeing the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 22:69)
14. “The kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mark 1:15)
15. “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. ....They [the chief priests, scribes and elders] understood that He spoke the parable against them.” (Mark 12:9,12)
16. “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Mark 13:30)
17. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come?” (Luke 3:7)
18. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees. “ (Luke 3:9)
19. “His winnowing fork is in His hand.” (Luke 3:17)
20. “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Luke 10:9)
21. “The kingdom of God has come near.” (Luke 10:11)
22. “What, therefore, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” The scribes and the chief priests understood that He spoke this parable against them.” (Luke 20:15-16,19)
23. “These are days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:22)
24. “This generation will not pass away until all things take place.” (Luke 21:32)
25. “Daughters of Jerusalem , stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’” (Luke 23:28-30; Compare Revelation 6:14-17)
26. “We were hoping that He was the One who is about to redeem Israel .” (Luke 24:21)
27. “I will come to you. In that Day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.’ ‘Lord, what then has happened that You are about to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?’” (John 14:18,20,22)
28. “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” (John 21:22)
29. “This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall be in the last days’” (Acts 2:16 -17)
30. “He has fixed a day in which He is about to judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31 )
31. “There is about to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” (Acts 24:15)
32. “As he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment about to come” (Acts 24:25)
33. “Not for [Abraham’s] sake only was it written, that [faith] was reckoned to him [as righteousness], but for our sake also, to whom it is about to be reckoned.” ( Rom. 4:23-24)
34. “If you are living according to the flesh, you are about to die.” (Romans 8:13 )
35. “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18 )
36. “It is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand.” ( Romans 13:11-12)
37. “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20 )
38. “The time has been shortened.” (I Corinthians 7:29)
39. “The form of this world is passing away.” (I Corinthians 7:31)
40. “Now these things were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (I Corinthians 10:11)
41. “We shall not all fall sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (I Corinthians 15:51-52)
42. “Maranatha!” [The Lord comes!] (I Corinthians 16:22)
43. “...not only in this age, but also in the one about to come.” (Ephesians 1:21)
44. “The Lord is near.” (Phil. 4:5)
45. “The gospel was proclaimed in all creation under heaven.” (Colossians 1:23; Compare Matthew 24:14; Romans 10:18 ; 16:26 ; Colossians 1:5-6; 2 Timothy 4:17 ; Revelation 14:6-7; cf. I Clement 5,7)
46. “things which are a shadow of what is about to come.” (Colossians 2:16-17)
47. “we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds You, brethren, are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief.” (I Thessalonians 4:15,17; 5:4)
48. “May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Thessalonians 5:23)
49. “It is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire.” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-7)
50. “Godliness holds promise for the present life and that which is about to come.” (I Timothy 4:8)
51. “I charge you that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Timothy 6:14)
52. “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for that which is about to come, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” (I Timothy 6:19)
53. “In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self Avoid these men. For of these are those who enter into households and captivate weak women These also oppose the truth But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all” (2 Timothy 3:1-2,5-6,8-9)
54. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is about to judge the living and the dead” (2 Timothy 4:1)
55. “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.” (Hebrews 1:1-2)
56. “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14 )
57. “He did not subject to angels the world about to come.” (Hebrews 2:5)
58. “and have tasted the powers of the age about to come.” (Hebrews 6:5)
59. “For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near a curse, and it’s end is for burning.” (Hebrews 6:7-8)
60. “When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.” (Hebrews 8:13)
61. “The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way of the [heavenly] Holy Places has not yet been revealed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.” (Hebrews 9:8-10; Compare Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 2:21-22; 3:17; 4:13)
62. “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things about to come” (Hebrews 9:11 )
63. “Now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin.” (Hebrews 9:26)
64. “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things about to come” (Hebrews 10:1)
65. “as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)
66. “the fury of a fire which is about to consume the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:27)
67. “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.” (Hebrews 10:37)
68. “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one that is about to come.” (Hebrews 13:14)
69. “Speak and so act, as those who are about to be judged by the law of liberty.” (James 2:12)
70. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!” (James 5:1,3)
71. “Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.” (James 5:7)
72. “You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” (James 5:8)
73. “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (I Peter 1:5)
74. “He has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.” (I Peter 1:20)
75. “They shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” (I Peter 4:5)
76. “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.” (I Peter 4:7)
77. “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.” (I Peter 4:17)
78. “as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is about to be revealed.” (I Peter 5:1)
79. “We have the prophetic word which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the Day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19)
80. “Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” (2 Peter 2:3)
81. “In the last days mockers will come. For this they willingly are ignorant of” (2 Peter 3:3,5)
82. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” (2 Peter 3:10-12)
83. “The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.” (I John 2:8)
84. “The world is passing away, and its desires.” (I John 2:17)
85. “It is the last hour.” (I John 2:18)
86. “Even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour.” (I John 2:18; Compare Matthew 24:23-34)
87. “This is that of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” (I John 4:3; Compare 2 Thessalonians 2:7)
88. “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. About these also Enoch prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly’” (Jude 1:4,14-15)
89. “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, ‘In the last time there shall be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’ These are the ones who cause divisions” (Jude 1:17-19)
90. “to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place.” (Revelation 1:1)
91. “The time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)
92. “Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.” (Revelation 2:25)
93. “I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is about to come upon the whole land.” (Revelation 3:10; cf. Matthew 2:6,20,21)
94. “I am coming quickly.” (Revelation 3:11)
95. “And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is about to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.” (Revelation 12:5)
96. “And in her [the Great City Babylon] was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.” (Revelation 18:24; Compare Matthew 23:35-36; Luke 11:50-51)
97. “to show to His bond-servants the things which must shortly take place.” (Revelation 22:6)
98. “Behold, I am coming quickly. “ (Revelation 22:7)
99. “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” (Revelation 22:10; Compare Daniel 8:26)
100. “Behold, I am coming quickly.” (Revelation 22:12)
101. “Yes, I am coming quickly.” (Revelation 22:20)
Thanks to David Green for putting together these verses.
He adds:
|
There are clearly many verses in the New Testament which inescapably point to an event or events that would occur in the first century. Another question which might be raised is this: is there a single verse in the Bible which inescapably predicts an event that would occur in the 21st century or later, and can be interpreted in no other way?
[1] Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A Christian (New York: A Touchtone Book by Simon & Schuster, 1957), 16.
[2]. Essay, "The World's Last Night" (1960), found in The Essential C.S. Lewis, p. 385. Lewis' views were pointed out by Marshall "Rusty" Entrekin. http://www.thingstocome.org/whatgen.htm || Mere C.S. Lewis: The most embarrassing verse in the Bible
For Further Reading:
There is another indication that something important was about to happen in the last days of the Old Covenant. This is seen in the Greek for "about to," which is mello. Read these "about to" verses here.
A basic rule of hermeneutics is to interpret unclear verses in light of clearer verses. All these verses which say Jesus is "about to" return "at any moment" are clear. Any interpreter who claims that an event is going to happen thousands of years after the closing of the canon in AD 70 needs to have a text which is equally clear or more clear than those which say the event is "about to" happen. But there is not a single verse in the New Testament which says a cataclysmic historically discontinuous event will take place thousands of years from now (when the words were written). There are verses which are clearly talking about the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Verses like these:
Luke 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Matthew 21:40-41,43,45: When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers? '....He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.' ....Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.' ....When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.
Matthew 22:7: But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Matthew 24:1-3: Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
But there are no verses which speak of a similar tribulation which clearly identifies the time this tribulation would occur as being thousands of years in the future.
So we are faced squarely with this conclusion:
| There is not a single verse in the New Testament which was intended by its author and understood by its original audience to be prophesying an event thousands of years in the future. |
The New Testament writers were focused on events that would take place in their generation.
There are many verses which clearly speak of Christ coming in judgment against His enemies, and this coming is clearly timed as occurring before the generation that rejected Him dies out. This first-century coming is such a dominant theme in the New Testament Scriptures, that a sound application of the “grammatical-historical hermeneutic” would require any verse which is not clear about the timing of Christ's coming in judgment to be interpreted as fitting into that "default" pre-70AD time-frame. Some clear, explicit departure from that dominant context needs to appear in the text before one would conclude that that text breaks the mold and speaks not of an event in "that generation.," but of an event thousands or millions of years in the future.
Utilizing the standard rules of Biblical Hermeneutics, one can only arrive at the conclusion that the predicted second coming of Jesus occurred in that generation, as predicted, and there is no prediction of a third coming of Christ thousands of years in the future.
So why do so many Christians believe in a third coming of Christ thousands or millions of years after the coming of Christ which was predicted in the pages of the New Testament?
The answer is obvious: they are reading a doctrine taught by the church (but not in Scripture) into certain verses of Scripture. This is "eisegesis" (reading a doctrine into Scripture) rather than exegesis (read a doctrine from or out of Scripture. This is why it is necessary to distinguish between three kinds of preterists:
For more on the latter, see here.
If you apply Biblical Hermeneutics or the “grammatical-historical hermeneutic” consistently, you will not accept a third coming of Christ in our future. No Biblical author taught such an idea. No prophecy was intended to predict such an event, and during the last days of the Old Covenant, nobody was talking about such an event. The idea of a third coming of Christ in our future was invented by Greeks who converted to Christianity and became known as "the Church Fathers." They did not understand the Hebrew roots of the New Testament. And, yes, consistent reformed (Protestant) hermeneutics leads to the conclusion that the "Apostles' Creed" is mistaken. It is not really the Apostles' creed, it is the "Church Fathers Creed."
There are clearly many verses in the New Testament which inescapably point to an event or events that would occur in the first century. Another question which might be raised is this: is there a single verse in the Bible which inescapably predicts an event that would occur in the 21st century or later, and can be interpreted in no other way?
But whereunto shall I liken this generation?
(Matthew 11:16-24)
(Matthew 3:7-12) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? {8} Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: {9} And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. {10} And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. {11} I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: {12} Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
(Matthew 11:16-24) But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, {17} And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. {18} For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. {19} The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. {20} Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: {21} Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. {22} But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. {23} And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. {24} But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
(Matthew 12:24-45) But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. {25} And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: {26} And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? {27} And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. {28} But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. {29} Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. {30} He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. {31} Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. {32} And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. {33} Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. {34} O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. {35} A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. {36} But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. {37} For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. {38} Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. {39} But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: {40} For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. {41} The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. {42} The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. {43} When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. {44} Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. {45} Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
(Matthew 16:1-12) The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. {2} He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. {3} And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? {4} A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed. {5} And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. {6} Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. {7} And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. {8} Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? {9} Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? {10} Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? {11} How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? {12} Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
(Matthew 17:12-23) But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. {13} Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. {14} And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, {15} Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. {16} And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. {17} Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. {18} And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. {19} Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? {20} And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. {21} Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. {22} And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: {23} And they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
(Matthew 23:27-39) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. {28} Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. {29} Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, {30} And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. {31} Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. {32} Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. {33} Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? {34} Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: {35} That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. {36} Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. {37} O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! {38} Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. {39} For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
(Matthew 24:34) Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
(Mark 8:11-12) And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. {12} And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.
(Mark 8:31-38) And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. {32} And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. {33} But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. {34} And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. {35} For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. {36} For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? {37} Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? {38} Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
(Mark 9:19) He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
(Mark 13:30) Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
(Luke 3:7-9) Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath about to come? {8} Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. {9} And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
(Luke 7:31-35) And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? {32} They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. {33} For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. {34} The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! {35} But wisdom is justified of all her children.
(Luke 9:41) And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither.
(Luke 11:29-32) And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. {30} For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. {31} The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. {32} The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
(Luke 11:39-54) And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. {40} Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? {41} But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. {42} But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. {43} Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. {44} Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. {45} Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. {46} And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. {47} Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. {48} Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. {49} Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: {50} That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; {51} From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. {52} Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. {53} And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: {54} Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him. {12:1) In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
(Luke 17:25) But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
(Luke 21:32) Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
(Acts 2:40) And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
When Jesus was born, it was said of Him (Luke 1):
68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
Who have been since the world began,
71 That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
74 To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The "enemies" of God's people turned out to be "that generation." The "remnant" of true believers were assaulted by that "wicked generation," the descendants of those who killed the prophets (Matthew 23). Read more.
Christ's "Second Coming" in judgment against the very same generation that witnessed His First Coming is clearly a major theme in the "last days" of the Old Covenant (in the writings of the "New Testament").
Jesus delivered a lengthy discourse on the Mount of Olives. Preterists believe this discourse is all about the destruction of Jerusalem as Jesus came in vengeance against the generation that rejected Him as Messiah. A few paragraphs above we quoted from Luke's account of the Olivet Discourse ("When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies...").
Nothing John writes in Revelation suggests that he's talking about events that would take place thousands of years in the future. Nothing indicates John intended his original audience to walk away with that conclusion, and there's no reason to believe any of his original readers came to that conclusion. They thought the Apostle was talking to them about events in their lifetimes and what they themselves should do to prepare. (Three recommended books on the Olivet Discourse are here.)
But aren't there some verses which say the Second Coming is a long way off?
Only a couple, and they are mis-interpreted.
Matthew's account of the Olivet Discourse contains "The Parable of the Talents." In that parable, the lord gave money to his servants to invest. Verse 19 says,
"After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them."
I've heard very good Bible scholars say this proves the Second Coming is thousands of years in their future. Does it?
No. Taken at face value, the parable is about events that took place in one generation. The same generation of servants that were entrusted with wealth was the same generation that faced an accounting. The "coming" of the lord to judge his stewards was not delayed thousands of years. That really doesn't make any sense.
People who actually look up these verses are shocked. They are not prepared for the conclusion that seems inescapable. It may take years for you to be fully persuaded. Literally, years.
Even when you start to become persuaded, you may still feel a sense of disappointment, or disillusionment. You may have been hoping to be alive when the Second Coming occurred.
But even if you realized that the odds are good that you would die before it happened, you still believed that when it happened you would be positively affected by it. You resist the conclusion that it already happened.
I would like to try to persuade you that the advantages of no second coming (in our future) vastly outweigh the disadvantages you think you might experience.
The first reason people find preterism unpersuasive has to do with the present.
We long for something in the future because we are ungrateful for what we have in the present.
But in a perverse sense, we are grateful for what we have -- because we refuse to sacrifice it so that future generations can have more.
We cling to what we
have, and we want more of it, and resort to fraud and theft and war to obtain more.
Imagine that God appears to you and makes you an offer.
God informs you that "the modern Sodom and Gomorrah" will be destroyed, by which He means the United States and the other largest exporters of weapons and pornography, and probably also those nations which consume them.
Their destruction will not be through fire and brimstone from heaven, but economic collapse due to military conflict (e.g., the "War on Terror") and currency debasement.
As it stands right now, God informs you, the 21st century will be 2x more bloody than 20th
Double the deaths, double the loss of rights, and double loss of property we had in the 20th century, and you have the 21st century -- as it now stands.
But God tells you you can change this. You only need to do one simple thing (which you should be doing anyway).
Do this one simple thing, and God promises to orchestrate this simple obedient act and transform the 21st century and the entire planet earth.
That one thing is this: proclaim a message of good news to everyone you meet.
This is the message:
"Peace on earth is possible if we will obey the commands of King Jesus, Who will pour out His blessings if we do."
By "blessings," the Bible means the peace and prosperity which will result if archists repent and beat their "swords into plowshares" (Micah 4).
An "archist" is someone who believes he has a moral right to impose his own will on others by force or threats of violence ("the sword"). Archists usually employ such means as:
The Bible says that if we obey His commandments, God will not send "swarms" of archists
"to eat out our substance" and enslave our children (1 Samuel 8). This means
• peace
(freedom from archists) and
• prosperity (low prices, no shortages).
See Leviticus
26 for the non-archist nature of "blessing."
See Galatians 3:28 for the link between "blessing" and
"Gospel" (the English word "Gospel" is used to translate a Greek word (εὐαγγέλιον)
which literally means "good news" or "glad tidings."
In summary, God offers:
• hundreds of millions of lives saved
• trillions of dollars of property protected
• lifespans increased (Isaiah 65:17ff)
• God glorified
• repentance and revival bringing happiness
That's "good news" indeed.
More good news: Things will only get better.
• no armageddon
• no "great tribulation"
• no "mark of the beast"
• no "antichrist"
This is what "preterists" have been saying.
But there's a "downside" to this offer:
• no rapture
• no second coming
• no resurrection for you
• no heaven for you when you die
When you die, "the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7), but there's no resurrection for you and no heaven as you have always imagined it: "An Everlasting Playground" as Chuck Colson described it; "paradise lite" as another phrased it.
Would you give up your resurrection in order to bring about worldwide revival and blessing?
Most people won't take this offer. Their reaction is that there is something fundamentally heretical about it.
Something's wrong with preaching the Gospel? Something's wrong with giving thanks for the blessings of peace and prosperity? Something's wrong with wanting to extend all this to others around the world?
Preterism says that Jesus became the Christ in the past. It is a matter of historical fact that as the Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached over the last 2,000 years, we have dramatically increased peace and prosperity in our world. Every nation that bans the gospel soon collapses into war and poverty.
We're not issuing some kind of Papal Encyclical which infallibly teaches ex cathedra that there will not be a mass resurrection thousands or millions of years from now of every human being ever born. We're just saying that if such a doctrine is so important, surely hundreds of verses (out of the more than 30,000 verses in the Bible) would make that claim. But there isn't a single one.
I'm not saying Chuck Colson is right and you are wrong; this isn't a Bible quiz. This is a psychology quiz. I'm asking about how you think. Are you always "Looking out for #1?" or are you willing to sacrifice your own imagined interests for the best interests of others?
Isn't it a prime feature of Christian ethics to be willing to sacrifice yourself for others?
What is most important to understand in order to get our present duties right, is understanding the past ("preterism"), not longing for the future.
Here's an example of that, which also hints at how we should use the Scripture.
Premillennialists are disappointed to hear that the second coming already occurred, because they have inflated imaginations of what that event would be like. Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye have written mega-bestselling books describing in the style of grand, Hollywood action flicks, the "Great Tribulation" and the "Rapture" and the "Millennium." When preterists point out that the verses they rely on were fulfilled, because those verses employ the same prophetic style as verses in the Old Testament -- which have already been fulfilled -- premillennialists are greatly disappointed. But partial preterists have come to terms with this reality, and admit that the "falling stars" rhetoric employed by Old Testament prophets and those prophets speaking in "the last days" of the Old Covenant were not foretelling literal astronomical marvels.
In the same way, when the prophets spoke of the glorious conditions that would result after the "stars fell" and the old creation was de-created, we tend to take those prophecies too literally. We imagine a self-centered, self-gratifying paradise, which is not what the prophets had in mind.
However . . .
(and I'm forced to keep saying "however" and "on the other hand," because we have a tendency to veer off the path to one side, and then to over-correct and veer off the other side, first to the left, and then to the right)
even though we over-embellish prophetic descriptions of the “Vine & Fig Tree” world and the New Heavens and New Earth, the prophets who uttered those prophecies would fall on their knees in gratitude and praise for what the predicted Messiah has already accomplished in his reign on earth.
We want another second coming of Christ because we're not satisfied with what Christ accomplished (or set in motion) during the first century at His first coming and at His first (and only) second coming.
A complete mental, spiritual, and emotional re-arrangement is required.
This will take some time.
We now live in The New Jerusalem.
Most people won't believe that.
Those who see the Biblical proof for that claim will at first be disappointed. They will have to shed a number of humanistic preconceptions.
This is the big dispute as I see it. Did Jesus become the Christ in the past (preterism), or will He begin reigning as Messiah in the future (futurism).
The vast, overwhelming majority of Christians are futurists. They believe Jesus offered to be the King of the Jews, but the Jews rejected Him, and so, like a puppy with his tail between his legs, Jesus dejectedly walked away from His Messianic role and became a "savior," but not a King. He won't become King (Messiah) until He comes again -- in our future.
I see three problems with this view.
First, there is no difference in the Bible between a "savior" and a "king."
A "savior" in the Biblical sense is also called a "judge" or a "ruler." Read your Bible from cover to cover and circle every occurrence of the word "save" or "savior." It becomes obvious.
When the Jews rejected Jesus as their King, they rejected Him as their Savior. They rejected Him as their Judge, King, and Lawgiver (see Isaiah 33:22). Not only should you not expect to go to heaven if you reject Jesus as King, but why would anyone who says Jesus is not the Christ/Messiah/King want to spend eternity in the same room as this con man and false messiah? If the Jews rejected Jesus as Christ, they also rejected Him as "savior" (under the popular definition of "savior" as "gives out tickets to heaven" but not as King/Messiah/Christ).
But it was never Jesus' intention to rule as Messiah from a throne on earth. He intended to rule the world from the throne in heaven. Read Peter's sermon in Acts 2.
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Jesus is called "The Last Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:45). Jesus came to un-do what the First Adam did.
God created human beings and commanded them to exercise dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). Adam chose not to obey God, but to be his own god. And since "the Fall" of Man, men have chosen to dominate other men rather than exercise a godly stewardship over the earth.
When you compare the first three chapters of Genesis with the last three chapters of Revelation, you'll see that God's plan was for Man to transform an undeveloped Garden into the City of God. God told Man where the gold was (Genesis 2:11-12) and man was to pave the streets with it (Revelation 21:18,21). In other words, Man was commanded to turn "natural resources" from an undeveloped form into "wealth" which was serviceable to mankind, and to do so to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). But instead of serving consumers by transforming "resources" into "wealth" which raises the standard of living for consumers, some have chosen to rule over consumers as false Christs and false gods. These are "Pharaohs," "Caesars," and "Führers" -- and the bureaucrats and SWAT team members who have given them their allegiance.
The Bible says that if we reject God as our King, Judge, and Lawgiver, and vote for human politicians to rule us, and to be gods for us, God gives us our wish, and sends "swarms of officers" to eat out our substance (see the threats that Samuel conveyed to Israel from God in 1 Samuel 8). The Bible says God sends "the sword," that is, "civil governments." Romans 13 says God sends "the powers," which are demonic rulers. God "ordains" evil.
But if we obey God's commandments, Blessing progressively replaces the Curse. God promises to send us wealth, and freedom from false gods. See Leviticus 26.
Joy To The World!
Isaac Watts wrote:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
With reference to the "curse" in Genesis 3:17, Watts said:
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.
Jesus the Messiah has been doing this.
If they could travel through time to our day, every person whose name is mentioned in the Bible would fall to his knees in gratitude
and praise for the reversal of the curse that has been accomplished since the first Christmas 2,000 years ago.
Even secular anthropologists and historians will admit that human life before the Birth of Jesus was violent almost beyond our imagination. But since Jesus became the Messiah, the world has become Christianized, and far more peaceful and prosperous than human life was before Jesus became the Christ. A surprising percent of human beings died violent deaths before the birth of Christ. Maybe half or more. They were intentionally killed, or died prematurely from the physical effects of slavery, exile, military conquest or subjugation, often by intentional famine or blockade. Today, in a world that has undergone astonishing Christianization, most people die peaceful deaths. It is truly astonishing.
If you are reading these words, you are among the top 1% of the wealthiest human beings who have ever lived on this planet.
It is truly awe-inspiring.
Most of us are not nearly as grateful as we should be.
We should fall on our knees in tears of gratitude that God sent His Messiah to the earth.
But most of us are not grateful, and we wait for God to send His Messiah in the future.
"Saviors" Before Christ
In case you've forgotten (I tend to digress) we're looking at the first of three problems with the mainstream view that Jesus did not become the Christ at His first Advent, but only a "savior," since the Jews rejected Him as their Messiah.
Here's how Nehemiah sums up Israel's history of rebelling against God's Law and then being "saved" from the consequences of their disobedience:
- Nehemiah 9:23-31
- 23 You also multiplied their children as the stars of heaven,
And brought them into the land
Which You had told their fathers
To go in and possess.
24 So the people went in
And possessed the land;
You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land,
The Canaanites,
And gave them into their hands,
With their kings
And the people of the land,
That they might do with them as they wished.
25 And they took strong cities and a rich land,
And possessed houses full of all goods,
Cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves,
And fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate and were filled and grew fat,
And delighted themselves in Your great goodness.
26 “Nevertheless they were disobedient
And rebelled against You,
Cast Your law behind their backs
And killed Your prophets, who testified against them
To turn them to Yourself;
And they worked great provocations.
27 Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies,
Who oppressed them;
And in the time of their trouble,
When they cried to You,
You heard from heaven;
And according to Your abundant mercies
You gave them saviors who saved them
From the hand of their enemies.
28 “But after they had rest,
They again did evil before You.
Therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies,
So that they had dominion over them;
Yet when they returned and cried out to You,
You heard from heaven;
And many times You delivered them according to Your mercies,
29 And testified against them,
That You might bring them back to Your law.
Yet they acted proudly,
And did not heed Your commandments,
But sinned against Your judgments,
‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’
And they shrugged their shoulders,
Stiffened their necks,
And would not hear.
30 Yet for many years You had patience with them,
And testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen;
Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
31 Nevertheless in Your great mercy
You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;
For You are God, gracious and merciful.
God sent Israel many "saviors." When most Christians today think of "savior," they think of getting a ticket to heaven when they die. When Bible-believing saints of the past think of a "savior," they think of someone who will save Israel "out of the hand of their enemies." The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, and said:
- Matthew 1:18-23
- Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.
A first-century Jew, steeped in the Scriptures, would hear this as a promise to save "His people" from the consequences of their sins, the curses imposed on them by God because of their rebellion against His Law. John the Baptist's father "Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying"
- Luke 1:67-80
- 68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
71 That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
74 To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
79 To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The Babe born in Bethlehem saved Christians in the first century from their enemies: the Jews who collaborated with Rome. Then the Rock destroyed Rome, and has filled the earth with Christian Civilization -- The City of God. The growing and filling continues.
Consider this classic Christmas text:
- Luke 2:8-20
- 8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
- 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
- 14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”
What would a first-century Israelite think if an angel of the LORD announced the coming of a "savior?" They would doubtless think back to all the saviors in the [Old Testament] Scriptures. Those saviors did not just promise a ticket to heaven when everyone died. They promised to save Israel from the consequences of her sins. Those consequences included "the Sword." Freedom from the sword is one aspect of the holistic Biblical concept of Salvation, and one of the benefits of a Biblical savior. The savior brought the benefits ("blessings") of obedience upon a people who had not been obedient, but who had repented of their disobedience.
Jesus was a Savior in this Biblical tradition. He came to bring Salvation. He came to save His people from their enemies, so they could get on with the work of building the New Jerusalem.
Jesus is the final savior. No more saviors. No more kings.
This incredible change happened in the past (preterism)
Second, no prophecy in the Bible speaks of the coming of a christ in our future. Not even Jesus Himself.
I know that sounds kooky, heretical, even evil. I challenge you to be a "Berean" and "search the Scriptures" to see if this is so.
In the Old Testament, the Jews were God's chosen people. But God extended political, military, and social salvation to non-Israelites ("gentiles") in the New Testament. God commanded Moses and Solomon to build temples where God would live. These temples were small models of the Heavenly Jerusalem. They were "paved with gold" as it were (Revelation 18:16) and with the precious stones of the Garden of Eden.
But an earthly temple is no longer appropriate.
God destroyed the old temple by fire in AD 70.
The New Testament is replete with prophecies about the destruction of Jerusalem and of the generation that rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus promised to save His people by destroying their enemies. In the pages of the New Testament, the "coming" of Christ meant saving believing Jews from unbelieving Jews. And saving believing Gentiles from the gentile army that would be used to judge unbelieving Israel.
Luke 21:20-23
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 There will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.Matthew 16:27-28
27 `For, the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father, with His messengers, and then He will reward each, according to his work.
28 Verily I say to you, there are certain of those standing here who shall not taste of death till they may see the Son of Man coming in His reign.'
Young's Literal Translation
The "Second Coming" was Christ's coming in vengeance on His enemies, who rejected Him at His first coming, and who were persecuting His people.
This is what the Bible says "saviors" do. They save the faithful from their enemies by destroying their enemies.
When you look at prophecies about "the second coming" in this theological and historical context, you become a preterist. This is how first-century readers of Paul's epistles would have understood them. This is how we should understand them.
You can't understand them unless you read them. So please, read all those verses. There's over 100 verses in those three links above, but they change everything.
And then, once we understand that Jesus became the Christ in the past (preterism), we should stand up and get busy building the New Jerusalem. Building is what we should be doing as citizens of heaven, living in the New Heavens and New Earth (following the destruction of the Old Heavens and Earth in AD70).
This interpretation of "heavens and earth" is not a "kooky" or heresy. It is scholarly and faithful. Great theologians like John Owen espoused this view.
Who was John Owen?
Here is Owen's exposition of 2 Peter 3:
The Old Covenant was the old "heavens and earth." The New Covenant is the "New Heavens and New Earth." This is Biblical language, even though it is not the language of the popular prophecy novelists and televangelists.
Third, denying that Jesus is the Christ is the doctrine of antichrist:
- 1 John 2:22
- Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
If you don't want to become a preterist, that's OK. For now. I'm praying that you'll come around. In the meantime, I won't call you an "antichrist" if you won't call me a "heretic."
Many objections have been raised against preterism. I totally understand. This is a shocking idea to most folks.
A consistent ("extreme") preterist claims that all prophecies have been fulfilled. All of them. Already. In our past.
Even those prophecies about a "Second Coming" of Christ. Fulfilled in the past.
This is a jaw-dropping claim for most folks. They would immediately ask how a prophecy like this could have been fulfilled in the first century:
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and all of the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heaven to another (Matthew 24:29-31).
Preterist scholars say Matthew 24 was fulfilled in AD 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman armies ("preterism"). Other scholars say that the prophecy will be fulfilled in our future ("futurism"). They ask, "How could it possibly be the case that the stars fell from heaven in AD 70?
You've got to be a Berean (Acts 17:11) and "search the Scriptures" to see whether preterism is true. And you need to understand the rules for interpreting Scripture, which are called
In order to become a consistent preterist, you have to develop a consistently Biblical hermeneutic. "Hermeneutics" is the science of interpreting verses. The standard method of Bible interpretation is called "the grammatical-historical method." This means arriving at the meaning of the words as the author intended them at the time he wrote them. If he wrote the words in a day when a word meant "X," we should give the verse the "X" interpretation, even if the word today means "Y." This is the same way the Framers of the U.S. Constitution intended their document to be interpreted by subsequent generations.
There is not a single verse in the New Testament which was intended by its author to convey the idea of something occurring thousands of years in the future.
There is not a
single verse in the New Testament which was understood by its original audience to convey the idea of something occurring thousands of years in the future.
Another way to interpret the Bible (but one which full preterists deny is Biblical) is to claim that Popes and Bishops will be guided by the Holy Spirit, who will reveal to them entirely new meanings of the verse which are not evident in the words themselves, nor intended by its original author, nor understood by the original audience.
Consider Matthew 24:30. John Nelson Darby, the godfather of dispensational premillennialism, an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher associated with the early years of the Plymouth Brethren, published a translation of the Bible which translates Matthew 24:30 in this way:
Matthew 24:29-31
29 But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the land lament, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from [the one] extremity of [the] heavens to [the other] extremity of them.
This passage was fulfilled in the events of A.D. 70. Futurists think it's goofy to believe that the stars fell from heaven in the first century. But "all the tribes of the land" understood that Jesus was referring to the destruction of Jerusalem. In its textual context (Matthew 24), in its grammatical context (the celestial language was a common way for Old Testament prophets to speak of the fall of a great nation), and historically, this passage was understood to be describing events that would come to pass during the lifetime of that generation.
“This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Matthew 24:34)
Nobody in Jesus' day -- I repeat, nobody -- believed that Jesus was talking about events that would take place thousands of years in the future.
This hermeneutic -- used by all partial preterists -- should be used consistently. Doing so will make one a consistent preterist.
For falling stars and such, start here:
All such questions usually come down to this: How would readers in the first century -- steeped in the Old Testament Scriptures -- have understood these words. Not "How do readers of Hal Lindsey in the 21st century understand these words."
Many non-preterists will say that a consistent preterist is not even a Christian. Anyone who denies a future coming of Christ has denied the ecumenical creeds, which all affirm that Christ will come again (in our future).
But the only question that really matters is whether an "extreme preterist" denies any verses of the Bible.
Martin Luther proved that "the institutional church" could not even be trusted to safeguard one of the most important theological doctrines of all: Justification. Why must we believe that "the church fathers" got everything right about eschatology?
The question is whether there is a single event prophesied to occur in our future. The consistent preterist says there is no such prophesied event. Every prophesied event has already taken place, and every state or condition that was prophesied to come about has already commenced. (Isaiah speaks of a coming "new heavens and new earth," in which houses will be built and vineyards planted. The consistent preterist does not claim that every house that will ever be built has already been built, and every vineyard that will ever be planted has already been planted; only that the building of houses in the "new heavens and new earth" commenced in the past.)
Reconstructionist writer David Chilton became a consistent preterist. He concluded that the prophecies in the New Testament were all about the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. He concluded that there were no prophecies in the Bible about a future (for us) Second Coming. However, he was not considered an "extreme preterist" at that time because he continued to believe that there would be another coming of Christ in our future, even though no writer in the Bible spoke of such an event. The reason Chilton continued to believe in that future Coming, even though not taught in the Bible, was because "Holy Mother the Church has taught that doctrine for two thousand years." His eschatology was a by-product of his ecclesiology. Chilton was a part of the high-church thinking of Reconstructionists in Tyler, Texas. "Revelation Chilton" wore a clerical collar. I do not know if he continued wearing a clerical collar after he began to identify as a "full preterist."
Thus, your assessment of consistent preterism is likely dependent on whether you identify as a Bible-first "Berean," or whether you are a churchman.
So in answer to the question "What is Preterism?" preterism is either a damnable heresy, or it is a way of looking at the Bible which radically differs from 99 out of 100 Christians.
But I would say that believing that Jesus is the Christ today, and that He is building the civilization of the City of God on earth, is not a heresy, but a wonderful world-and-life view.
How to Become a Whacked-Out Hyper-Preterist
Our view of preterism is a "Christian Reconstructionist" view of Preterism.
I would like to suggest that if you like Christian Reconstructionism, you'll love "extreme preterism." "Extreme Preterism" is Christian Reconstructionism on steroids.
Gary Demar co-authored a book with Gary North in 1991 entitled, CHRISTIAN RECONSTRUCTION What It Is, What It Isn't. He wrote:
|
Christian Reconstruction, unlike Christian "movements" in general, has no central director, no overall, tightly controlled strategy. What unites Reconstructionists is their commitment to certain distinctive biblical doctrines that are fundamental to the Christian faith and have been supported by the church for centuries. In particular, Reconstructionists espouse the following distinctives:
|
One problem in defending "Christian Reconstruction" is that each of these 5 points is a separate and large body of thought, yet all five are inextricably linked, and defending one point entails raising the others.
The controversy over "Preterism" is related to Point Three above: a Reconstructionist preterist has a "victorious view of the future progress of the kingdom of God." Unlike the premillennialist, the preterist does not believe that Gospel prosperity depends on Christ returning to earth and ruling from a throne in Jerusalem. So the "extreme preterist" view of the current age is solidly Reconstructionist. The point of contention is whether or not there is prophesied in the Bible a future (for us) coming of Christ after a period of Christian Reconstruction. "Postmillennialism" is "optimillennialism," not "pessimillennialism." "Extreme Preterism," I would contend, is more optimistic than "lukewarm preterism," or "inconsistent preterism," or "partial preterism."
Rushdoony said that a concise definition of Christian Reconstruction "is well stated in the title of T. Robert Ingram’s excellent study, The World Under God’s Law." The Supreme Court of the United States at one time acknowledged that America was "a Christian nation." The Puritans sought to place all of human action under God's Law. Not just the church on Sunday, but all of life the rest of the week as well. Today the U.S. is an atheistic nation, as is most of Europe. But imagine being able to see the effect of India and China and the Islamic nations of the Middle East being "under" the authority of God's Law and Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace. Christian Reconstructionists believe all these non-Christian nations will become even more consistently Christian than America was in 1636 when Harvard University was founded to train Christian ministers of the Gospel.
It takes a big imagination to visualize "The World Under God's Law."
And Reconstructionists have said that all this happens before the Second Coming of Christ; that Christ does not return until after ("post") the "millennium" (that is, a "golden age" described in Revelation 20 as a "thousand years").
Question: How "under" does the world have to become before Jesus returns?
(Actually, under "postmillennialism," Jesus never
literally "returns." His feet never touch the streets of Bethlehem or Jerusalem. At the "Second Coming," Christ simply ends all efforts at Christian
Reconstruction on earth. "History" ends and "eternity" begins.) Perhaps the year before the Second Coming, Reconstructionists will have been trying to pass one
additional Biblical law, or get one final unBiblical law repealed. Or convert one final remaining unbeliever. Or disciple that new believer. Or further sanctify a long-time
believer. But when the Second Coming occurs, will Christians in every nation on earth be sitting around with nothing left to reconstruct? Will every institution, every field of
human action, and every individual, be completely "under" God's Law? Perfectly sanctified? Extremely reconstructed?
The Bible promises that perfectly faithful obedience will be blessed by God. Read Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. The day of zero remaining reconstruction will be the day of maximum blessings. All people will be willing to work productively to serve others and will find their labors blessed with abundance and prosperity. What are the economic implications of maximum blessing described in those two chapters? The economic implications are staggering. Prime rib is a nickel a pound. Investment in the economy's capital stock skyrockets, further increasing productivity and prosperity.
Why must Christian Reconstruction come to an end? Why must Jesus stop building civilization? Why must God's will cease being done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)? I don't know, but partial preterists say it must be thus.
Actually, the Bible never says that Reconstruction comes to an end. The Bible never says that Jesus stops being the Christ, the King, the Edifier (Builder) of the edifice of Godly civilization. Consider these verses:
Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
The Messianic Kingdom is Everlasting.
Not just 10 centuries, as millennialists hold.
Christian
Reconstruction is eternal.
Of the baby Jesus it was foretold:
Luke 1
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
This reign began 2,000 years ago. And it has only just begun.
This is not an easy concept. It raises a few thorny questions.
Here is an article critical of "extreme preterism": "Heretical Preterism"
This is the position of "the Church." The same institution which provoked a "Reformation" by screwing up a central doctrine of the Christian faith: Justification.
It does not bode well for an article that is highly critical of a position when that article does not fairly state the position it is attacking, nor anticipate the obvious rebuttals that will be offered by that position. None of the verses above are considered in that article. Nor are these:
Micah 4:5
Though all people walk each in the name of his god,
We will walk in the name of the LORD our God Forever and ever.Micah 4:7
I will make the lame a remnant,
And the outcast a strong nation;
So the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion
From now on, even forever.Daniel 7:14
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.Daniel 7:27
Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’Revelation 11:15
Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”Revelation 14:6
6 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—
The Book of Hebrews says Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6; 6:20; 7:17,21). Many anti-preterists believe that no priestly intercession will be needed in the sinless New Heavens and New Earth.
The article above creates more problems than it solves.
In reply, it might be said that the "everlasting" kingdom will not begin until the Second Coming. Which is another way of saying that Jesus is not the reigning Messiah right now; not the Christ today. Which falls under the condemnation of 1 John 2:2. So while our position might be called "heretical," the opposing position might be called "antichrist."
|
There is nothing in the Bible that says that Jesus cannot make His people perfect. This perspective is pejoratively labeled "perfectionism." But again, there is no verse against this idea.
Throughout church history, it is frequently the case that "heretics" are persecuted because they want to raise moral standards in the church today, not because they want to lower them.
Was Chilton correct to conclude that there are no verses in the Bible that speak to us of a coming of Christ in our future? I believe he was. I realize that sounds crazy. Let me illustrate the preterist way of thinking.
Imagine a UFO lands in your front yard as you are mowing the lawn. The extra-terrestrial being who emerges from the craft informs you that he has come to earth to study the origins of the human race and our history. Rather than the customary "Take me to your leader," he says in effect, "Take me to your historian." Being the good Christian that you are, you give the E.T. a copy of the Bible, telling him (?) that this is the authoritative history of the human race. Being the good Protestant that you are, you also give him a copy of a standard reference work on hermeneutics so that E.T. can properly interpret the Bible.
You do not give him directions to the Vatican to have the Bible properly interpreted for him by "the Church."
When he applies the standard principles of hermeneutics to the prophecies of the Old Testament, he concludes that they have been fulfilled. For example:
Everyone agrees on the interpretation of these passages, that they were all fulfilled in the past (preterism). This is not an "extreme" position.
But when we come to similar prophetic rhetoric in passages in the New Testament regarding the "end of the world," the "coming of Christ, the "resurrection" and "The Last Judgment," E.T. ignores Hal Lindsay and the doomsdayers of today and comes to the conclusion that these events happened at the Second Coming of Christ, which happened within the lifetime of the generation that witnessed the first advent of Christ. Just as similar prophecies by Isaiah were fulfilled in the past.
The only way E.T. could come to any other conclusion is if he asked Popes and Bishops and other notable teachers of "the church" what the Bible is saying, and relied on their authority. If E.T. uses standard Protestant hermeneutics, E.T. becomes an "extreme preterist."
Let's start with these verses:
"The Judge will instruct the jurors to read every single one of those verses."
These verses show that the writers of the New Testament were focused, consumed, engrossed, dominated, engaged, and riveted with the promise that Jesus was going to return in their generation to take vengeance against those who murdered Him, destroy "the world" of the Old Covenant and bring in a "New Heavens and New Earth." Almost every page of the New Testament makes reference to an event that was assuredly going to take place before that generation died out (See Matthew 16:27-28). Here's a few verses on "this generation":
The difference between a "Full Preterist" and a "Partial Preterist" is that
If you are a "partial preterist," my question for you is this:
Which verse of Scripture
cannot rationally be interpreted
as having been intended by its author
to point the original audience to an event
in their generation?
If there is a verse that cannot refer to the past, it must refer to the [our] future. This verse would disprove Full Preterism.
So I need to present dozens of verses to prove my position, but you only need to present ONE VERSE which will bring down my entire case.
There are more than 100 verses in the New Testament concerning "eschatology."
A "partial preterist" believes that many or most of these verses -- but not all -- have already been fulfilled in the past.
A full preterist believes that all of those verses were fulfilled in the past.
If you're a Partial Preterist, which verse is the Full Preterist misinterpreting?
I would say that the percentage of verses which have a past fulfillment is so predominant, and the energy in those verses (and throughout the New Testament) is so strong, that the "default" assumption should be "preterist." We should assume preterism unless there is clear and convincing evidence of futurism -- evidence from the text of Scripture itself.
That last phrase is critical: "evidence from the text of Scripture itself." We'll see why below.
Maybe your verse is not on that list. That's fine. Please tell me which verse that is, and why no rational person could claim that verse was intended by its author to describe something in the years AD30 - AD70, or why no rational person could deny that the verse was intended by its author to point to our future.
I asked this question on Doug Wilson's blog. Didn't get an answer.
We've used that word "eschatology" twice now. What does it mean? It comes from the Greek word ἔσχατος (eschatos), meaning "last," as in
|
But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall
be first.
|
The writers of the New Testament could not have been clearer: they were living in the "last days," the "last times," the "last hour." They were living in the "eschaton." There isn't a single verse in the New Testament which says that the eschaton would begin thousands of years in the future. We are no longer in "the end times." We are in The Beginning Times.
I think the verses in the "101 "Any Moment" Verses" page I referred to above prove that the "Second Coming" of Christ -- that is, His coming in vengeance against His enemies -- happened in the events of AD 70 and the destruction of the Old Jerusalem.
The objection to this Bible-based argument takes many forms, beginning with different events that are associated with the Second Coming, like Resurrection and Judgment. The argument is against the Bible:
How can you expect me to believe what the Bible says if no secular historian confirms it?
Are those 101 verses true and trustworthy, or are they not? If they say something would happen within 40 years, I believe it happened just like the Bible said it would, even if an Imperial propagandist for Rome does not mention the events in his reports.
The number of verses which say significant events would take place within 40 years (ask, "When?") is a much greater number than the number of verses which say something would happen (ask, "What?") that we just can't figure out exactly how it happened (ask, "How?") if it happened in the first century A.D.
Phillip G. Kayser is not a full preterist, but he admits that the Bible speaks of a resurrection to occur within that first century generation. Kayser gives us
a boatload of Scriptures which speak of an imminent judgment against Jerusalem, connected with an imminent resurrection that was about to happen, and an imminent age that was about to begin. Unfortunately the Greek word μέλλω in each of those verses is sometimes translated away. But that Greek word always refers to something that is about to happen. How do premils handle these verses? Well, they use them to prove that the Second Coming is about to happen and has been about to happen for the last 2000 years. Well, 2000 years after those Scriptures were written is not something that is about to happen. I won't take the time to go through the whole long list of Scriptures that have the Greek word μέλλω, but each of those references show some massive changes that would happen soon in AD 70. For now I want to focus on the verses that speak of a resurrection that was about to happen, since that is the one that so many people miss.
Acts 17:31 speaks about a resurrection. It says, "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge [And the Greek word is μέλλω - "is about to judge"] the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Why would Christ's resurrection be a guarantee of imminent judgment? Because Daniel connects judgment against Israel with resurrection. And we will look at the Daniel passage in a moment.
So Christ's resurrection was a down payment or an assurance (a firstfruits, so to speak) that guaranteed that there was about to be a judgment day with another resurrection. In terms of the barley harvest imagery that the Jews were familiar with, that would make sense because Christ's firstfruits resurrection was the assurance of the rest of the barley harvest [later, in AD70]. Look next at Acts 24:15. This is Paul speaking. He says,
I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. (Acts 24:15)
The word "will be" is the Greek word μέλλω which refers to something very very near. It is more literally translated "that there is about to be a resurrection of the dead." Well, he said that about ten years before the AD 70 resurrection, so it was literally true. Look down at verse 25 where μέλλω occurs again.
Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come [literally, the judgment about to come], Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.” (v. 25)
It was the very imminence of this judgment that made Felix afraid. Turn next to Romans 8:18. The whole context is the reversal of every facet of the curse, including the resurrection of our bodies, which in verse 23 Paul calls the "redemption of our bodies." But I want you to notice the use of the word μέλλω in verse 18.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be [literally, "which is about to be"] revealed in us. (v. 18)
In context Paul is saying that this glory is the redemption of our bodies. That glory is about to be revealed in us. Paul had already revealed that he would die prior to Christ's coming in AD 70, so he was about to be raised in AD 70.
Maybe one more verse. 2 Timothy 4:1.
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge [literally, who is about to judge"] the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: (2 Tim. 4:1)
No New Testament writer directly prophesies a resurrection thousands of years in the future. Kayser infers a future resurrection based on his understanding of "the barley harvest," which is surely very indirect proof of that future event, if it is proof at all. Every New Testament writer speaks of a resurrection and a judgment that is "about to" happen, in their generation.
How exactly did this AD 70 resurrection take place? What was the exact nature of this resurrection? That's an interesting question, but it takes us far a field of our present inquiry, which is about the timing. WHEN was the event prophesied to occur? In that generation, or thousands of years in the future? The Bible repeatedly speaks of events that were "about to happen" to "this generation." The Bible never speaks of any events thousands of years in the future. That idea comes from "Holy Mother the Church."
But since we don't know exactly HOW the resurrection took place in the first century, then we also wouldn't know exactly HOW such a resurrection could take place after thousands of years of decomposition of the body and dissipation of the molecules of the flesh throughout the dust of the earth. If you believe God could resurrect a totally dispersed cadaver in the future, then it should be no great task to believe He did it when He said He would do it. We can affirm it even if we don't completely understand it.
So, in conclusion, believe in a future resurrection if you want to -- "it's a free country" -- but do not deny the verses in the New Testament which speak of a resurrection in the first century. Be like David Chilton: admit that the Bible is "preterist" because it speaks only of events in our past, and not in our future, and then, if you want to, believe what the Church creeds teach about the future.
But let's at least agree that the Bible teaches preterism.
All non-preterists believe that men must be resurrected before they can be judged on "the last day." But Jesus said The Great Judgment would occur within 40 years:
|
We begin with sinful Israel: |
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this
adulterous and sinful generation; of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His
Father's, and of the holy angels; and then He shall reward every man according
to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of
man coming in His kingdom with power. When
the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: |
We end with sinful Israel. |
| Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” | Mark 8:38-9:1 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” 9:1 And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” | Luke 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.” | Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. [Judgment and reward ensues.] | Matthew 19:28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. | Revelation 1:7 Behold, he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, even they which have pierced him, and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of him. Yea. Amen. |
That means the "resurrection" must have occurred as well, in order for those once-dead people to stand before the Throne of God and be judged.
Or else the Bible is mistaken and untrustworthy.
My goal, it seems to me, is to figure out exactly WHAT happened and HOW it happened, but the WHEN is clearly stated: in the first century.
My job is not to say "I don't understand HOW it could have happened in the first century, therefore it did not happen, and MUST be something that will happen in the future."
Because the Bible doesn't hint at any of this happening thousands of years in the future. All the writers of the Bible plainly say the events associated with "the Second Coming" of the Messiah would all take place within the lifetime of the generation that witnessed the first coming of the Messiah.
Preterism is the result of a standard "historico-grammatical" analysis of the text of Scripture.
Futurism is the result of obedience to Popes
and Bishops and the creeds of "the Church."
Consider another variety of "partial preterist." This third position still upholds a belief in a yet-future eschatological event, even though this position grants the claim of the "full preterist" that there are no verses of Scripture which teach that yet-future event.
As I mentioned above, in the last conversation I had with David Chilton on the phone, he said he had concluded (exegetically) that there are no verses in the New Testament which were intended by their author to predict events which were thousands of years in the future of the original audience. In his words, there are no verses which predict a future (for us) Second Coming.
But at that point David Chilton was not a "full preterist." Or at least he was not condemned as a "full preterist." That's because he went on to say that although no verses in the text of the Bible teach the doctrine of a future "Second Coming" [ future for us],
I believe the doctrine anyway because Holy Mother the Church has taught that doctrine for two thousand years.
I remember his words well. "Holy Mother the Church."
|
If you are a "partial preterist," or if you are not a "full
preterist," |
Is it God's Truth or merely man's claim that someone who believes all the eschatological verses in the Bible were fulfilled by AD70 is not a genuine believer in Christ?
I've heard that claim.
I've heard it said that if someone embraces "full preterism," that person has "denied the orthodox faith" and is no longer a Christian.
Not a Christian.
Damned to hell for eternity.
Even if that person affirms the deity of Christ and His substitutionary atonement.
He's not a Christian.
Even if he's a six-day creationist and a five-point Calvinist.
Not a true Christian.
Even if that person affirms and defends the first 30 chapters of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Dammed to hell.
Even if his behavior is characterized by moral purity and the spirit of Christ.
He denies one of the teachings of "the Church," and has therefore denied the "orthodox faith," and is therefore not a genuine believer.
He's not a real Christian because he's a "full preterist."
I'm not making this up.
I strenuously disagree with the claim.
Matthew 24:30 says,
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the land lament, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
A "preterist" interpretation of this verse says it predicts events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
A "futurist"
interpretation says this verse concerns events to take place thousands of years after Matthew recorded these words.
Leading Christian Reconstructionists take a "preterist" interpretation of Matthew 24. In fact, this way of viewing the verse is now considered "Eschatology 101" in Reconstructionist circles. Failure to interpret this verse in a preterist manner is a gateway drug to becoming a dispensational premillennialist.
I exaggerate slightly, but I'm being serious.
A few Reconstructionists, like Ken Gentry, have said that the second part of Matthew 24 is about a future second coming, but the first part (including verse 30) is talking about the fall of Jerusalem, and hence is to be understood preteristically. Everyone in the Reconstructionist camp agrees that verse 30 is a preterist verse.
But . . .
The Westminster Confession of Faith takes a "futurist" interpretation of this verse.
This is an exegetical error, according to nearly every Christian Reconstructionist.
In fact, all of the credal statements about the "Second Coming" (in our future) are based on this exegetical error.
The formulations of eschatology in the creeds are hermeneutically premillennial.
Premillennialism is a fundamental error.
It is based on statism. defeatism, and escapism.
The premillennial (futurist) hermeneutic is profoundly significant and influential.
It poisons one's entire Biblical Worldview.
Watch here for a link defending those claims.
Nobody in his right mind would say that Gary DeMar or Gary North are not Christians because they take a preterist interpretation of Matthew 24:30, even though they disagree with "the creeds" by doing so.
But there are many futurists who say that "Full Preterists" have denied the Christian faith and are not real Christians.
This is because "the faith" is defined for futurists by ecclesiastical promulgations, and not the Bible alone ("sola Scriptura").
They believe that the Holy Spirit has guided "the institutional church," and even if the Bible doesn't teach a future (for us) Second Coming, "Holy Mother the Church" does.
Let's just say for now there are 13 verses related to "the Second Coming."
"Full Preterists" believe all these prophecies came to pass in the years
leading up to AD70 (because the writers of the Bible said they would, not because we have any "secular" evidence from The New Rome Times that confirms the
fulfillment of these prophecies).
"Partial Preterists" believe at least one of these 13 verses is referring to an event that is still in our future.
But here's the interesting thing: partial preterists disagree among themselves as to which verse is which: "Is this verse AD70 or yet-future?"
Let's consider a dozen or so great Christian commentators, whom all would regard as genuine Christians.
Let's map out their interpretations of the various passages that are up for grabs in this debate.
| Text #1 | Text #2 | Text #3 | Text #4 | Text #5 | Text #6 | Text #7 | Text #8 | Text #9 | Text #10 | Text #11 | Text #12 | Text #13 | |
| John Calvin | Preterist | Futurist | Both | Pret | Pret | Fut | Both | Pret | Pret | Both | Fut | Pret | Pret |
| Gary DeMar | Pret | Preterist | Both | Fut | Pret | Both | Both | Pret | Both | Both | Pret | Both | Pret |
| R.J. Rushdoony | Fut | Pret | Preterist | Fut | Pret | Both | Both | Pret | Fut | Both | Pret | Both | Both |
| Gary North | both | Both | Fut | Preterist | Pret | Both | Pret | Both | Pret | Both | Both | Pret | Fut |
| David Chilton | Pret | Pret | Both | Pret | Preterist | Pret | Pret | Pret | Both | Pret | Pret | Pret | Pret |
| John Gill | Fut | Both | Both | Pret | Pret | Preterist | Both | Fut | Pret | Both | Pret | Pret | Fut |
| Matthew Henry | Pret | Fut | Both | Both | Fut | Fut | Preterist | Pret | Pret | Both | Fut | Fut | Both |
| Matthew Poole | Fut | Pret | Both | Fut | Both | Fut | Fut | Preterist | Pret | Both | Pret | Pret | Pret |
| Charles Spurgeon | Fut | Pret | Pret | Pret | Pret | Fut | Fut | Pret | Preterist | Fut | Pret | Pret | Pret |
| John Lightfoot | Pret | Both | Both | Fut | Pret | Both | Pret | Fut | Pret | Preterist | Fut | Fut | Pret |
| J.C. Ryle | Fut | Pret | Fut | Pret | Fut | Pret | Fut | Both | Fut | Both | Preterist | Fut | Fut |
| Craig S. Keener | Pret | Fut | Both | Fut | Pret | Fut | Pret | Pret | Both | Both | Fut | Preterist | Both |
| D. A. Carson | Fut | Both | Both | Both | Fut | Both | Pret | Both | Pret | Fut | Both | Pret | Preterist |
Though these commentators may differ (contradict) on their interpretations of the relevant texts, we would still grant that they are "rational," even though
contradiction violates the laws of rational thought.
In addition to being "rational," we would agree that they are "faithful." Nobody would say that John Calvin was not a real Christian because he took a "preterist" interpretation of some of those passages. Nobody would say that R.J. Rushdoony was not a Christian because he took a "preterist" interpretation of some of those verses.
(A scholar may take a preterist position on all the verses, but may also take the position that at least one prophecy will have a "double fulfillment." That is, the original author intended to convey an imminent first-century event, but the prophecy will nevertheless have a second fulfillment thousands of years in his future, some time in our future, which the original author may not have even contemplated when he wrote the words to a generation he believed would see the fulfillment of his prophecy. Such a past-and-present interpretation is listed in the chart above as "both." As long as you believe at least one verse teaches a future (for us) second coming, you have the Seal of Approval from the anti-full-preterist crowd, even if you believe that all of the verses were originally preterist [prophesying events in the immediate future {"this generation"}] in the mind of the New Testament author.)
(Ultimately, such a person is relying on church authority rather than being strictly limited to the text, and using standard hermeneutics to interpret the text. If you say that Paul (for example) intended his original audience to interpret his words as referring to an event in their generation, but that his words will have a "double fulfillment" -- even if there is no textual evidence in the Bible itself that Paul intended his original audience to make that inference, and no other Scripture speaks of Paul's words with reference to events thousands of years after Paul wrote his words, you are relying on church authority to impose that meaning on Paul's words.)
But when it comes to exegeting the Bible, if you just happen to agree with Godly Christian scholars on just the right combination of verses (in the chart above, the interpretations indicated by bold brown typeface), there are some who will boldly say that you are not a Christian at all and are going to hell.
If you agree with Calvin's interpretation of verse #1, DeMar on verse #2, Rushdoony on verse #3, etc., you are a "Full Preterist" and you are not a real Christian.
Because you disagree with the teaching of "the church."
I think this is insane.
The phrase "Holy Mother the Church" refers to interpreters of Scripture which I would place at the very bottom of an expanded version of the chart above. This would include the names of Popes and Bishops you've probably never heard of. Many of them were "premillennial," which I would regard as a Jewish heresy. But they are called "the Church Fathers."
The "church fathers" were infected with Jewish premillennialism and Greco-Roman statism. Premillennialists -- and most amillennialists and post-millennialists are infected with the basic error of premillennialism -- deny that building the City of God, the New Jerusalem, is the responsibility of the Body of Christ in this age. It's like premils believe that Christ will hand the fulfillment of the Great Commission to the saints on a silver platter in the future.
(I would also note that many of those who do accept our responsibility to build the City of God in this current age deny that this work of building is accomplished solely by living and preaching the Gospel, not by the sword. To deny the use of the sword is, for them, the heresies of "pacifism" or "anarchism." I have said elsewhere that "anarcho-preterism" is the Gospel. The "good news" is that the entire planet will increasingly "obey the Gospel" and be blessed [(Galatians 3:8].)
Cornelius Van Til dissected "the Church Fathers," and found them deeply compromised philosophically and Biblically. Van Til's festschrift is entitled Jerusalem & Athens. The "Church Fathers" were generally Greeks, from "Athens," not Hebrews from "Jerusalem." This is important. Preterists and Futurists understand Matthew 24 differently based on their familiarity with the symbolic rhetoric of the Hebrew prophets. The "Church Fathers" generally did not think like Hebrews, but like Greeks. This affected their eschatology.
These men, despite great faith and accomplishments in some areas, should be called "the Church Babies" because they lived in the infancy of Christendom. That's the conclusion of James B. Jordan, who writes:
The true Fathers of the Church are Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John, and the other Fathers in the Bible. These men, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, created the apostolic deposit from which the Church always grows.
The men who came after them, in the first and second and third centuries, are not Church Fathers but Church Babies. This is how we should regard Ignatius, Irenaeus, Basil, the Gregories, and yes, even Augustine. [I]n terms of the corporate biography of the Church, they lived in the infant stage and their great accomplishments were only the beginning of that corporate biography. We appreciate what the Holy Spirit did with them, and the theological accomplishments they made, but to say that they understood everything and laid everything out definitively would be grotesque, ludicrous, and idiotic.
We actually have a better understanding of the Christian faith today than "the Church Fathers" did. Jordan continues:
We may think that because these men lived right after the apostles, they must have known a lot. Remarkably, this is not the case. Anyone who reads the Bible, climaxing in the New Testament, and then turns to the "apostolic fathers" of the second century, is amazed at how little these men seem to have known. The Epistle of Barnabas, for instance, comments on the laws in Leviticus, but completely misinterprets them, following not Paul but the Jewish Letter of Aristeas. It is clear that there is some significant break in continuity between the apostles and these men. What accounts for this? I can only suggest that the harvest of the first-fruit saints in the years before AD 70, which seems to be spoken of in Revelation 14, created this historical discontinuity.
"But didn't some of the earliest church fathers study at the feet of the Apostles?"
Maybe. But at what point in time? And what did they learn from the Apostles as the Apostles spoke outside of Scripture (which, unlike everything else the Apostles said, was "breathed out" by God [2 Timothy 3:16])? Even the Apostles, like Peter, were fallible, and even at times, in grave error:
But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Matthew 16:23
Yikes! How would you like Jesus Himself to say something like that about you?
Even after Christ's resurrection, the Apostle Paul said of Peter:
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;
13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14 they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel
Galatians 2
Wow, that's a heavy charge against "the first Pope." Not an auspicious beginning for "church authority."
The "church fathers" are, at many points, an offense to King Jesus.
And, of course, Luther pointed out that "Holy Mother the Church" failed in her responsibility to safeguard one of the most precious and important doctrines of the entire Christian faith: Justification. (But we're to rest assured in their earliest conclusions regarding eschatology?)
Opponents of Full Preterism put their loyalty and allegiance to the "church" fathers ahead of the Bible fathers, whose canonical writings were breathed out by God. I would say that condemning a preterist who believes in the deity and substitutionary atonement of Christ, but denies that the New Testament predicts any eschatological events thousands of years in the future, is the height of ecclesiastical authoritarian arrogance.
And it is "authoritarian," because it seeks to subsume the authority of the Scriptures under the authority of "Holy Mother the Church." Such authoritarians likely have created an institution of their own ("the local church") which they seek to buttress. They are saying a person is not a genuine Christian because he puts the Bible ahead of Popes and Bishops and "the local church."
Excommunicating full preterists is the eschatological authoritarianism of the Westboro Baptist Church.
Is it the authoritarianism of your church?
I believe that what I've written above is a "prima facie case" for preterism. If it isn't refuted from Scripture, then the institutional church should be pronounced "guilty" of adding doctrines to the Bible.
The second reason people reject preterism is that many people want to be resurrected after they die so that they can have a "second chance." A life "do-over." And a life very much like the one they have now, but with no worries, no responsibilities, no cares, no burdens, no tears. This longing is certainly understandable, but it puts psychology ahead of theology. It puts the Bible in second place behind our own wishes.
In reply, I will simply say "It's a free country. You can believe anything you want."
But don't you want to tie your beliefs to the Bible in some way?
Imagine you have died. Your corpse is getting colder in the hospital. Is it possible that you are already enjoying a resurrection body at that very moment?
The question is sometimes posed,
"What if I'm on an ocean cruise and I fall overboard and I'm partially eaten by a shark, and then thousands of other fish eat the scraps that the shark didn't eat. Then these fish are eaten, or die and decompose on the ocean floor, and maybe in a thousand years all of the molecules of my body wash up on shore and are mixed with the sands of the beach. Can God still resurrect my body?"
...or...
"What about a person who died thousands of years ago, and worms have eaten his flesh, and the apple tree has nourished its leaves with his molecules, and other people have eaten apples with him inside? Can God still resurrect this saint's body?
And of course the BibleAnswerMan assures the listener that God can still re-create the human body, just as He created Adam out of the dust of the earth.
If God can do that in the future, He could have done it in the past. He could do it the instant your body dies.
If you want to believe this because "Holy Mother the Church" teaches it, fine. But don't tell people that the Bible says there is going to be a mass resurrection thousands of years after the closing of the canon. Because the Bible doesn't say that.
Jesus said that He would return in power and glory and judge the men of that
generation, before the men of that generation died out.
New Testament writers repeatedly affirmed a "second coming" in that generation, and even that there was "about
to be" a resurrection.
If you preach in the pulpit or post on Facebook that there is going to be another coming of Christ, another resurrection, and another
judgment thousands of years in the future, and there isn't a single verse that says "another," will you eventually stand before God accused of being a false
prophet (Deuteronomy
18:20; 13:5; Jeremiah 14:14-15; Zechariah 13:2–5)?
You may have been taught all your life that those "anothers" will happen, and you may want those
things to happen, but there isn't a single verse in the Bible that says they will happen. There are only man's ecclesiastical pronouncements to that effect.
But wanting, and having those desires confirmed by official pronouncements, makes it very difficult to be persuaded that they won't happen -- even if there is nothing in the Bible to support those desires.
So the first reason people find preterism unpersuasive is their entrenched beliefs about things they were told would happen in the future.
For further study:
No, Don't "relax." Build.
The meaning of “salvation” in the Christmas story means more than "going to heaven when you die." Jesus’ name comes from the Hebrew word for “salvation,” yasha, as the angel announced:
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21
Scholars give us this definition of the Hebrew word for "salvation":
Yasha and its derivatives are used 353 times. The root meaning . . . is “make wide” or make sufficient: this root is in contrast to sarar, “narrow,” which means “be restricted” or “cause distress.” To move from distress to safety requires deliverance. [T]he majority of references to salvation speak of Yahweh granting deliverance from real enemies and out of real catastrophes. That which is wide connotes freedom from distress and the ability to pursue one’s own objectives. Thus salvation is not merely a momentary victory on the battlefield; it is also the safety and security necessary to maintain life unafraid of numerous dangers.
John E. Hartley, “yasha,” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Vol 1, pp. 414-15
"Salvation" in the Bible primarily means a peaceful civilization. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, commands us to love our enemies and "resist not evil." This is the foundation of civilization. Up above we started looking at the prophecy of John the Baptist’s father, Zacharias, in Luke 1, who was filled with the Holy Spirit after John was born, and prophesied, saying:
68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
Who have been since the world began,
71 That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
74 To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Zecharias’ prophecy is a major stumbling block for many Christians. It seems like Jesus the Messiah did not do what Zecharias (and other Old Testament prophets) said the Messiah would do. Certainly the unbelieving Jews of Jesus’ day -- and our day -- would agree that Jesus failed as a Messiah.
It seems very likely that Zecharias, like most Jews of his day, considered the Roman occupation forces to be the “enemies” of Israel. Zecharias seems to be prophesying an end to the Roman occupation. He says one of the effects of Christmas––the birth of the Messiah––is
That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
Luke 1:71,74
The idea of Israelites not being under foreign occupation goes back hundreds of years, to previous occupations, and is a major theme of the Old Testament, beginning at least back in Leviticus 26. Not just a “major theme,” it is at the heart of the Biblical word for “salvation.”
Let’s look at some of the references to “salvation” (yasha) as “being delivered from enemies”:
Numbers 10:9
“When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.Deuteronomy 20:4
for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’Deuteronomy 33:29
Happy are you, O Israel!
Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD,
The shield of your help
And the sword of your majesty!
Your enemies shall submit to you,
And you shall tread down their high places.”Judges 2:16,18
Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
And when the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.1 Samuel 2:1
And Hannah prayed and said:
”My heart rejoices in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD.
I smile at my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.1 Samuel 4:3
And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.”1 Samuel 25:26
Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, since the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal.2 Samuel 3:18
Now then, do it! For the LORD has spoken of David, saying, ‘By the hand of My servant David, I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and the hand of all their enemies.’”2 Samuel 22:4
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.Psalm 3:7
Arise, O LORD;
Save me, O my God!
For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone;
You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.Psalm 18:3
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.Psalm 106:10
He saved them from the hand of him who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.Psalm 138:7
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand
Against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.Nehemiah 9:27
Therefore Thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto Thee, Thou heardest them from heaven; and according to Thy manifold mercies Thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
A "savior" brings "salvation." Being "saved from our enemies" is surely a part of the salvation (yasha) that Jesus (yeshua) was to bring.
But Jesus told Zecharias’ countrymen to love their Roman enemies.
This was a stunning shift in thinking.
In His
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addressed this thinking head on:
38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: 41 If a Roman soldier forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles.[1]
43 You have heard people say, “Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.” 44 But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. 45 Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong. 46 If you love only those people who love you, will God reward you for that? Even tax collectors [2] love their friends. 47 If you greet only your friends, what’s so great about that? Don’t even unbelievers do that? 48 But you must always act like your Father in heaven.
Notes:
[1] Under Roman occupation law, a Roman soldier had the right to force an Israelite to carry the soldier's military pack as far as one mile.
[2] These were usually Jewish people who paid the Romans for the right to collect taxes. These "tax farmers" were hated by other Jews who thought of them as traitors to their country and to their religion. See chap. 7 in TREASURE AND DOMINION: An Economic Commentary on Luke by Gary North.
These were shocking statements to Jews in Roman-occupied Palestine. Rome’s military occupation of Israel was constantly in the minds of that generation. Loving these enemies rather than seeking vengeance against them was a big leap. Statements like this dashed the hopes of many disciples that Jesus might be the Messianic King (John 6:66).
But there was an even greater shift in Jesus’ teaching as He approached the hour of His execution: Zecharias’ countrymen -- not the Romans oppressors -- became the “enemies” and Jesus said their enemies would triumph over them! This was in fact part of the Old Covenant which wasn’t emphasized as much as the good part about being "saved from our enemies." But it was there all along: Israel would not be saved from her enemies:
Deuteronomy 28
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from before you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to rescue (yasha) them.
45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:
52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.
53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:[3]
[3] The Jewish historian Josephus records that during the 42-month siege by the Romans, some Israelites, cut off from trade, resorted to cannibalism before they were destroyed. (Wars, 6.3.4)
Jesus said that these prophecies were going to be fulfilled against “this generation”:
Matthew 23
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.Luke 19:41-44
41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city [Jerusalem] and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Jesus was prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem when Roman armies put the city under a siege that would take place shortly before the year A.D. 70.
Luke 21
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.Revelation 11:1-2
1 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.
These are the months from A.D. 67-70, when Israel was destroyed by Roman armies (see Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13).
So what about Zecharias’ prophecy? What happened to the angels' announcement to the shepherds: "Peace on Earth"? Why is it Israel was not saved from her enemies? All of this is a far cry from the salvation that Yeshua the Messiah was supposed to bring.
Here’s another incredible shift: Not only would Israel not be saved from her enemies, Israel herself became the “enemies.” Israel rejected her Messiah, and became the real enemy of the faithful. In numerous parables and sermons, Jesus indicted faithless Israel:
Luke 19
11 Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. 12 Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’
24 “And he said to those who stood by, 26 ‘I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 27 But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’”Matthew 21
33 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
’The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.
True Israel, it turns out, was the remnant that believed in Jesus as the Messiah. And soon this remnant would grow to include believing Gentiles who would be grafted into True Israel, while unbelieving Israel would be cut off as the enemies of God:
Romans 11:28
Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.Matthew 10:36
and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’Philippians 3:18
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
Jesus created a New Israel, suitable for a New Covenant:
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.Galatians 6:15
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.Ephesians 2:15
having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,1 Corinthians 5:7
Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.Galatians 6:16
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.Romans 9:6,8
But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
So believers in Jesus, both Jew and Gentile, are the New Israel, under the New Covenant.
You’re still asking, “So who are the enemies of the New Israel, and how does Jesus save us from our enemies? When's Armageddon when all the bad guys get fried?”
Before answering this question, let’s look at this idea of the old and new Israel.
Zecharias said that one of the reasons Jesus came that first Christmas was so
71 That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to
our father Abraham:
74 To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
We need to learn more about
The Scofield Bible says that God’s promise to Abraham was “unconditional,” and no matter how evil unbelieving Israel became, even if they murder their own Messiah, they would still be entitled to be saved from their enemies and possess the land of Palestine. This is why the formation of Israel in 1948 by Great Britain and “The Anglo-American Establishment" is important to Scofield and his theological descendants.
Jesus and the prophets disagree with Scofield, and Israel was repeatedly warned that if Israel did not repent, they would be “cut off” and dispossessed of the land. Matthew 23-24 is a terrifying indictment of unbelieving Israel.
The old Israel under the Old Covenant was a failure.
Hebrews 8:8
Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
The salvation promised to Abraham, like all of God’s promises, beginning in the Garden of Eden, was conditioned on Israel's obedience to God. God’s promise to Abraham died, as it were, with old faithless Israel, and was resurrected in the New Covenant with a New Israel. The perfect obedience of Christ is imputed (credited) to the accounts of those who believe in Him, and they become the true spiritual descendants of Abraham, the true Israel.
Galatians 3:7
Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.Galatians 3:9
So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.Galatians 3:14
. . . that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.Galatians 3:28-29
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. {29} And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.Galatians 4:28
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.Romans 4:13
Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.Romans 9:8
That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.1 Peter 1:23
having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,Galatians 6:16
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
The promise to the New Israel is not just the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, but the entire planet:
Psalm 2:8
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. (Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; Hebrews 5:5)Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.Romans 4:16
For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
There are some Christians, believing the “dispensational” truths of the Scofield Bible, who say that Gentiles are not a part of the New Covenant. That covenant is reserved for the genetic descendants of Abraham only, and the New Covenant with Israel will not come into effect until a future restoration of genetic Abrahamites into the land of Palestine.
If you believe the Christmas Child is the promised Messiah, then you are a part of the New Covenant spoken of in the Bible, and you have no need to wait for a restoration of unbelieving Israelites to a plot of land in the Middle East. Christians are the seed of Abraham, and our inheritance is the entire world.
The question now is, how do we, the True Israel, take possession of the entire world? And further, why do we still have "enemies" to contend with?
Think about what we've already seen. The Jews alive at the first Christmas focused on the Roman occupation of Palestine. They wanted to be delivered from these enemies by a Messiah riding on a white horse who would blast all the Romans and give Israel control of the land. But being delivered from enemies is a by-product of submission to God's Commandments. And the promise of "salvation" is not just deliverance from temporary enemies. It's broader and more long term. Remember the definition of "salvation" includes these ideas:
That which is wide connotes freedom from distress and the ability to pursue one’s own objectives. Thus salvation is not merely a momentary victory on the battlefield; it is also the safety and security necessary to maintain life unafraid of numerous dangers.
When the angel announced the message of Christmas:
“Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Luke 2:14
much more was intended than a momentary respite from Roman oppression. The idea is an enduring Christian civilization.
Why should you study Preterism, a doctrine which is so reviled and out of step?
I need to figure out a way to entice you to listen.
So here's what I have to offer.
I believe this: If you wrestle with the arguments for consistent preterism, you will experience
the most profound, beneficial,
massive, and lasting
personal transformation
of your entire life.
By "wrestle" I mean "take the Bible seriously."
Start with these three verses:
- Acts 17:11
- "Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true."
You must be willing to study your Bible every day -- as students in every university in America were required to do in 1722 -- and challenge all earthly authorities -- in government and in seminaries -- with the Word of God.
- Proverbs 18:17
- "The first to state his case seems right until another comes forward and examines him."
Expect some of your cherished beliefs to be cross-examined.
You've already heard the "prima facie case" for futurism. Now listen to the defense's case for Preterism
(past-ism).
- Proverbs 27:17
- "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
I'm willing to help sharpen you; I hope you're willing to help sharpen me.
Second, if you're serious about studying this issue, or if you aspire to be some kind of "influencer," I'd like to engage in a little "wager." I'm willing to
put up $1,000.00.
I'll wager that if you thoughtfully and prayerfully consider the case for preterism, you will find your entire understanding of the Christian faith will be
radically transformed.
|
I'm serious about the money.
I'll send $1,000.00 to your attorney to be placed in escrow. You read my verses and answer a 5th-grade level comprehension question about each
verse. Wrestle with these verses and the contrary claims you have heard in your church and from all the televangelists. If at the end of my presentation you are not convinced that
Preterism is a legitimate interpretation of the Bible, your attorney will give you my $1,000.00.
I might expect you to do the same, placing $1,000.00 in escrow which I will be paid if I provide you with the kind of transformation I predict you will experience. But you don't have to do anything. If you want to take me up on this wager, you don't even have to pay me if (when) you lose. Send an email to preterist-escrow at KevinCraig.us and let's make a wager. It will require you to study in depth all five points of Christian Reconstructionism.
Two Latin words, "first" and "face." We might say "first appearance." A "prima facie case" looks like an airtight case. "Open and shut." Enough to convict.
If the Prosecution does not present a "prima facie case" in a court of law, the Defense can move to dismiss the case without even presenting an argument in defense.
But if the Prosecution presents a "prima facie case," then the Defendant will be convicted unless the Defense overcomes the "prima facie case" presented by the Prosecution.