Ten Reasons to Reject Preterism



Preterism is the belief that many of the events in Matthew 24 and in the Book of Revelation have been largely or completely fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Roman Army in AD 70.

The two views are:

Partial Preterism – The belief that most of Matthew 24 has been fulfilled and that Jesus came back spiritually, demonstrated at the destruction of Jerusalem. Partial Preterists believe that Revelation was written around AD 65 and that it talks about the destruction of Jerusalem, so the Book of Revelation has largely been fulfilled. They do still believe that certain aspects, like another of Jesus’ Second Comings are still yet future events.

Full Preterism – This is the belief that ALL prophecy has been fulfilled including the Tribulation Period, the Second Coming of Jesus, and the Great White Throne of Judgment. In order to maintain this view, Preterists need to spiritualize virtually every prophecy to make it fit into their eschatological view.

Here are Ten Reasons to Reject Preterism:

1. Matthew 24:34 says “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”

This is hands down the number one verse Preterists use as a proof text. They say “this generation” refers to the generation Jesus is speaking to and that “all these things” were fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

But, when we read the verse in context with the previous verses of Matthew 24, we see that Jesus had just explained the signs leading up to His Second Coming. These events which Jesus talks about are devastating, cataclysmic and global and they are just too massive to be about the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

So, in response to the disciples earlier questions as to “what will be the sign of Your coming” (verse 3), Jesus says that after these things take place, the generation alive at this time i.e., a future generation, will not pass away and will see these things come to pass.

2. Revelation 1:1 says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants--things which must shortly [Greek: tachos] take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John”

See also Revelation 2:16; 11:14; 22:12 where the word quickly is used.

Preterists will say that Jesus was coming quickly and soon after John wrote these words, but is this the meaning that John was trying to convey?

The words quickly [Greek: tachus] and soon [Greek: tachos] mean “shortly, quickly, speedily or swiftly”. They don’t convey the idea of a “soon” event but “an event that when it comes will be swift and quick”.

◦ Vines Expository of the Old and New Testament Words says that tachus means, “swift, quick” and signifies “quickly”.

◦ Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon says that tachus means “quickly, speedily”

John was not referring to when the event would happen but in what manner the event would take place. These events would come upon us “swiftly and suddenly” because “the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:2). In other words, they would come swiftly.

3. The Early Church Fathers in their writings never mentioned that Jesus’ Second Coming already occurred.

Charlie Campbell, Director of Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry says that “The idea that Jesus came back in A.D. 70 was a foreign idea during the first five centuries of the church and then only mentioned sporadically after that until about 400 years ago. It wasn’t until the early 17th century—when preterist thinking was applied by the Jesuit Catholic scholar named Alcazar to the book of Revelation—that it was given very serious consideration.”

If Jesus Christ Second Coming had already occurred, don’t you think the early church fathers would have found it significant to at least mention it once?

4. The Christians that lived through the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 believed that the Second Coming of Jesus was still a future event.

For example, the didache, an early church order document which is dated between AD 80 and AD 100 provides evidence that the early Christians believed Jesus’ second coming was still in the future.

Dr. John Macarthur says in his book The Second Coming that the didache was “certainly used and cited in the early centuries by many Church Fathers (as well as by the historian Eusebius). So its early existence is well documented… This document proves that those who actually lived through the events of A.D. 70 regarded Matthew 24:29-31 – and the entire Olivet Discourse – as yet-fulfilled prophecy.”

5. The late dating of the Book of Revelation can be demonstrated to be after AD 70.

In order for Preterists to claim that Revelation had largely or completely been fulfilled, they say it had to be written before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 or around AD 65.

It’s believed, and with good reason that the Book of Revelation was written by John around AD 95, during the time of the Roman Emperor Domitian’s reign as Mark Hitchcock documents:

|Domitianic Date of AD 95 |Neronic Date of (AD 65) |

|Hegesippus (AD 150) | |

|Irenaeus (AD 180) | |

|Clement of Alexandria (150-215) | |

|Tertullian (160-220) | |

|Origen (185-253) | |

|Dio Cassius (150-235) | |

|Victorinus (ca. 300) | |

|Eusebius (260-340) | |

|Jerome (340-419) | |

|Sulpicius Severus (ca. 400) | |

|Orosius (ca. 400) | |

|Primasius (ca. 540) |Syriac Version of NT (508 & 616) |

|Paulus Orosius (ca. 600) | |

|Andreas (ca. 600) | |

|The Acts of John (ca. 650) | |

|Venerable Bede (ca. 700) | |

| |Arethas (ca. 900) |

| |Theophylact (d. 1107) |

Nero was the Roman emperor who reigned from (AD 54-68) and Domitian was the Roman emperor who reigned from (AD 81-96).

6. The Roman emperor Nero could not have been the Antichrist.

Even though it’s highly likely and even probable that Nero was a type of Antichrist, he cannot be “the Beast” that is mentioned in Revelation.

First, when we look at 2 Thessalonians 2:8, we see the demise of the coming world leader known as the Antichrist.

2 Thessalonians 2:8 says, “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”

The Bible teaches that the Antichrist will be destroyed at Christ’s coming. When Jesus returns at Armageddon (i.e. His Second Coming), He will capture the Antichrist along with the false prophet, and cast them alive into the lake of burning sulfur (Revelation 19:20).

Problem is, Nero committed suicide in AD 68 two years before Preterists say that Jesus returned in AD 70.

Second, when we look at Daniel 9:27, we see that the Antichrist will make a covenant with Israel for one week (i.e. seven years).

Daniel 9:27a says, “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”

Problem is, Nero never made a covenant with Israel.

Third, when we look at 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, we see that the Antichrist enters the temple in Jerusalem and sets himself up to be worshiped as God.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 says, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

Problem is, Nero never entered the temple in Jerusalem and in fact, he never even entered Jerusalem.

Finally, when we look at Revelation 13:16-17, we see that Antichrist’s one-world government requires that everyone take a mark on their forehead or their right hand.

Revelation 13:16-17 says, “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

The problem that confronts the Preterist is that this event has not happened.

7. The Tribulation Period in Revelation is just too global and cataclysmic to be attributed to the Destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

During the admittedly devastatingly local destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, it did not involve “famines, pestilences and earthquakes” (verse 7), Christians being “hated by all nations” (verse 9), the “gospel… [being] preached in all the world” (verse 14), the “abomination of desolation” (verse 15), the “sun darkened, the moon not giving of its light” and the “heavens shaken” (verse 29).

Clearly, the Great Tribulation (verse 29) did not happen and Jesus certainly did not appear at that time (verses 30, 31).

When we look at some of the twenty-one judgments in the tribulation period, we can see that they are experienced over a wider geographic area then just Jerusalem.

For example:

◦ 1/4 of the earth’s population is wiped out (Revelation 6:7, 8)

◦ Great earth quakes and astronomical events (Revelation 6:12-14)

◦ 1/3 of the earths vegetation is destroyed (Revelation 8:7)

◦ 1/3 of the oceans are polluted (Revelation 8:8, 9)

◦ 1/3 of the ships will be destroyed (Revelation 8:8, 9)

◦ 1/3 of the sea life is destroyed (Revelation 8:8, 9)

◦ 1/3 of the fresh water is polluted (Revelation 8:10, 11)

◦ 1/3 of the sun, moon and stars are darkened (Revelation 8:12)

◦ Everything in the ocean dies (Revelation 16:3)

8. The campaign or battle that immediately precedes Jesus’ Second Coming involves “all the nations” and the “kings of the earth”.

Zechariah 12:3 says, “And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.”

Zechariah 14:2 says, “For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem”

It’s a well established historical fact that the forces of Rome’s emperor Vespasian (AD 9-79) led by the military commander Titus Flavius Vespasianus (AD 39-81), led the campaign against Jerusalem ultimately breaking through the walls, taking the city, burning the temple and carting off the spoils to Rome in AD 70.

This was hardly “all the nations” and “the kings of the earth and of the whole world” coming up against Jerusalem.

But this gathering of all the nations will happen in the Tribulation period for the Battle of Armageddon.

Revelation 16:14 says “For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

In other words, this didn’t happen in the first century but it will happen at the Battle of Armageddon just before Jesus’ Second Coming.

9. The Bible says that when Jesus returns at the Second Coming, “every eye shall see Him”.

Revelation 1:7 says “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”

When Jesus returns at His Second Coming, every eye will see Him. This is not “a spiritual eye” or Jesus “coming in judgment and not really a physical return” but a literal, physical Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The word every [Greek: pas] means “all, any, every, the whole”.

The word eye [Greek: opthalmos] means “vision, eye, sight”. In other words, there is no “spiritual eye” in the Greek language. This is where we get the word optometry or someone who is concerned with the eyes and their structure.

◦ Vines Expository of the Old and New Testament Words says that opthalmos is “used of the physical organ”.

In other words the entire world will see Jesus at His Second Coming.

Dr. John Walvoord says that “the coming of Christ…will not be an instantaneous event but will be a gigantic procession of holy angels and saints from heaven to earth.”

10. The Bible says that when Jesus returns, the Mount of Olives will be split in two and water will flow from Jerusalem.

Zechariah 14:4 says, “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.”

Zechariah 14:8 says, “And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur.”

Anybody who goes to Jerusalem today can confirm that the Mount of Olives has not been split in two and there are no rivers flowing toward the eastern sea and toward the western sea.

If Preterists claim that Jesus returned in AD 70, where did the “very large valley” go and how did the mountain get moved back into position?

Conclusion

There are many other objections to Preterism but these ten should make the Preterist stop and think about the implications of this teaching. For one, spiritualizing so many Bible verses in order to make it fit into their specific eschatological view is not the best way to exegete the Scriptures.

Proper Biblical hermeneutics and letting the plain reading of Scripture be your guide is always preferable and we should search the Scriptures daily to see if what is being taught holds up to our final court of appeal – the Word of God.

Recommended Resources:

Things to Come by J. Dwight Pentecost

Every Prophecy of the Bible by Dr. John Walvoord

The Second Coming by Dr. John MacArthur

What is the World Coming To by Chuck Smith

The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy by Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson

The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary by Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson

101 Answers to the Most Asked Questions About Bible Prophecy by Mark Hitchcock

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