Emile and Elect, Praise the Almighty to see you both posting again. You both have so much to offer---Please continue to stick around and keep those blessings of truth flowing.
Elect, I saw your posts on the Gold thread and decided to bring a post to you on ASk God. Some of the posters on the Gold Price Monitor lose their patience with we Christians posting on that board. I am sure you have probably seemn this but it is a valuable contribution to the Preterist doctrine of proving our poiny of view of the Parousia and the ressurrection. God bless you, brothers!
The Timing Issue
by Michael Fenemore - Revised: 2002 APR 06
1. Jesus made several references to the approximate time of his return:
I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28, NIV throughout)
When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. (Matthew 10:23). [Most of the cities of Israel were burned to the ground and the inhabitants either killed or taken away into slavery by September, A.D. 70.]
I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…Look, your house is left to you desolate. (Matthew 23:36-38). [The temple was destroyed in A.D. 70.]
When you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. (Mark 13:29-30).
When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. (Luke 21:28).
2. The New Testament writers, including the apostles, interpreted Christ's timing references to mean that the second coming, the resurrection, the judgment, the last days and the end of the age were a single package of events to be completed in their lifetimes:
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. (Romans 16:20)
Do not look for a wife…What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short…this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:27-31)
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)
According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord... (1 Thessalonians 4:15)
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2)
Now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages (Hebrews 9:26)
Let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)
In just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay." (Hebrews 10:37)
The Lord's coming is near…The Judge is standing at the door! (James 5:8-9)
The end of all things is near. (1 Peter 4:7)
Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. (1 John 2:18)
3. The apostolic interpretation cannot be wrong:
...the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)
When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth…and he will tell you what is yet to come. (John 16:13)
Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned…I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:8,12)
Therefore, the second coming and all related events must have occurred in the first century. Those taking the view that the apostles were mistaken presume to understand the timing of the second coming and the resurrection better than those who were:
• eyewitnesses to the ministry of Jesus;
• personally trained by him; and
• promised divine revelation regarding the future.
To suggest the apostles were wrong implies:
• the Bible is seriously wrong in numerous places; and
• Jesus was misleading the apostles, or Jesus was wrong too.
The unfulfilled view presents a stumbling block to Jewish people who have no option but to reject this version of the gospel, because for them, anyone making predictions in the name of God must be judged by Deuteronomy 18:20-22:
A prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say…must be put to death. You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
This test would condemn Jesus and all of the apostles to death. "God's household" was "built on the foundation of…holy apostles" with Jesus Christ as "the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:19-20;3:5). The unfulfilled view presents a church founded by a band of classic false prophets.
There is only one acceptable conclusion: The apostles must have been right. The second coming and the resurrection must have taken place in the first century or we Christians are wasting our time studying the unreliable teachings of the apostles in the supposed "inerrant", or "infallible" Word of God. All Scripture referring to "end-time" events must relate to the Jewish war with Rome during the period A.D. 66-70 which culminated in the destruction of the temple and the end of Judaism as it was known to that time. The promised resurrection must have occurred soon after. There remains no Scriptural basis for a future coming of Jesus. All "difficult" prophetic passages must be interpreted based on this premise.
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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The "NIV" and "New International Version" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademarks Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society. |
