First Century Fulfillment
Besides the more recent (within 500 years) predominance of preterism, the greatest number of the earliest Christians believed that a number of, if not all, prophecies of the Olivet Discourse were fulfilled in the first century destruction of Jerusalem. The challenge, in fact, is to find even one early Christian that didn't teach the preterist interpretation of Matthew 24. As will be shown, the earliest and most significant writers were in unanimous agreement, proclaiming the fulfillment of these prophecies in the time of the AD70 destruction of the Jewish city, temple and nation.
Due to the heavy contemporary reliance upon the work of Iraeneus (who relied upon Papias alone for his Chialism, according to Eusebius), Christians have the tendency to think that all early writers were Chialists and futurists. This is simply not so. The most eminent men of the early centuries were completely satisfied that the desolation of Jerusalem was the working of God in the fulfillment of the promises of Christ that "these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." (Luke 21:22). Therefore, we will use this page to put on display the relevant teachings of those men, throughout the centuries, who display a continuous stream of doctrinal Preterism.(nufsaid)
preteristarchive.com
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