Sinking the Ship of "Hyper-Preterism"

Torpedo 1

"Some Unfinished Business"

Joe Puckett Jr.

Is There An End To The Story?

The Lord did come in judgment upon the Jewish nation just as He promised His disciples He would, Matthew 24:34. The significance of this AD 70 event should not be overlooked. It was then that Jesus said His Kingdom would be officially taken from the unbelieving nation and given to the spiritual nation bearing its fruit, Matthew 21:43. It was at that time when the Kingdom “came” in a public display of glory, Luke 21:31 (although it already existed in reality, Col. 1:13, Acts 2). It was at this time that Jesus manifested His already existing right and authority to judge as King at the right hand of God, Matthew 26:64. But while many of us do not put enough emphasis on what took place back then, some of us put too much emphasis on it.

Was the destruction of Jerusalem the only “end” the New Testament talked about? Did the year AD 70 mark the end of the Biblical story? Some say so. Those involved in Covenant Eschatology (i.e. The AD 70 Doctrine) say that the Bible says NOTHING about the future of the earth. They say that when Christ came in AD 70 He finished the story of God’s plan of redemption. Is this true? Is there nothing more in to the story? 

While the cross is the climactic and pivital event that reveals to us just what God is willing to do to save us, redemption, however, is much more than an event. It is a story that unfolds within the context of human history throughout a time-bound world which stems from its timeless Creator. The story of redemption begins in a garden, thousands of years ago. In Genesis 3, God creates free-will beings called “man” and puts him in a paradise where eternal fellowship and happiness is enjoyed. It was a place of peaceful work with the potential for ageless time. As the story climaxes we learn that the very place where joy was full and fellowship was shared, it was also a place where man’s love was dangerously tested. In chapter 3 we are introduced to Satan. We then quickly learn of what sinning against God can do to our souls. We also learn what it does to our families, our bodies, our jobs, and our environment. As soon as sin entered the picture everything God created was in an uproar. But He said it would happen that way. He told them before it happened that death would come if they sinned against Him, Gen. 2:17. And now after it happened they learn just how bad it would be. The consequences God gave them in that day were more than Adam and Eve bargained for. They were separated from God’s fellowship, vs. 8, Is. 59:1-2; the family unity became divided, vs. 12, the woman would have multiplied pain with birth and some tough times with regard to the home, vs. 16; the man would now work with sweat and tears while working through the gardener’s new enemy - thorns and weeds. Even the snake was cursed to slither on his belly. Among the punishments given to them, the one that was expected to come did. They were going to die, 3:19.

If the AD 70 theorists are correct, then Jesus did not reverse all of what happened in Genesis 3. They say that Jesus came to bring spiritual life and that’s all. Redemption, they say, has NOTHING to do with the physical world. They say that the death pronounced on the man and woman was ONLY spiritual in nature. They say that physical death had nothing to do with sin. Is this what we see in Genesis 3? Look at it again. Was the tree of life literal or figurative? If you believe the Bible, then it was literal. Was there a spiritual truth being illustrated with the physical tree? Absolutely! But it was still a physical tree. And although it was designed to show them what they lost spiritually, the actual loss of access to the tree, nevertheless, still brought physical death as well. In this way, physical death was an illustration of spiritual death. Here is another important question. What kind of life was the literal “the tree of life” in Genesis 3 designed to give? It could not be “spiritual life” because spiritual life means intimate fellowship with God and they already had that before sin came in and before any tree was eaten, 2:15-16. Besides, no physical thing can, of itself, give us spiritual blessings. So just what would the tree of life give them if they were aloud to eat of its literal fruit? If it is not spiritual life (for they already had it) it must have been eternal physical life. In other words, they would never die physically. This is the only kind of life a physical tree could actually give. Certainly it would be a miraculous act of God to give a tree that kind of power, but it was still a tree.

In Genesis 3:18 God said, “…Till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.” When He said this, He was pronouncing something on them that they would not have experienced before sin entered the picture. What was that “something”? It was physical death. Physical death is a consequence of sin. So while spiritual death was the main thing they lost, they lost more than that as well. The entire world they were living in was affected. Now let me ask you this. If redemption is reversing the effects of sin (and it is), and the effects of sin are things like spiritual and physical death and a hurt-filled world, then wouldn’t you expect the redemption of Jesus to reverse all of these? There is no question that we can have eternal spiritual life and fellowship with God. Jesus came and did that. But has He dealt with EVERYTHING caused by sin in this world? Is the world in which we live still a mess? Is God not going to clean up the mess WE made, or does He plan to allow these consequences to continue throughout eternity? Deep down we all know that something is still not quite right in the world. There are still “thorns” that cuts us up when tilling the ground, 3:18. Cancer still breeds on the flesh of the ill. Intense pain still haunts the woman in child birth, 3:16 (Just ask my wife who went through 23 hours of labor only to have a c-section). We know it deep down that when death knocks on the door of a loved one that something has just gone wrong in the world. All this pain is surely not what God intended. So is there no end to this hurt-filled creation? Will it last forever and ever? Or will humanity die a very slow agonizing death when the world just winds down naturally. Personally, I don’t think God is going to let all this sin caused pain to continue forever. And I don’t think God is going to allow it to do itself in either. God is going to have the last word and suffering. But don’t take my word for it listen to Paul who said in Roman 8:19-25,

“¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; ²¹because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now….²⁴For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”

I know, I know. Right now you are thinking, “But Joe that’s taking about people waiting for redemption not physical things. The word “creation” is the same word as found in Mark 16:15 and it’s used for people not the planet.” I understand the concern here. It sure sounds like people when the creation is said to be “hoping” for something. After all inanimate objects do not “think” let alone “hope”. But is this really a valid objection? After all, it was not uncommon to personify inanimate objects to show them doing things they literally cannot do, Ps. 96:12, 148:9, Isaiah 55:12. This “creation” was subjected to futility separate from anything it did to itself. It was not “willingly” subjected. In other words it was cursed, not because of anything it did but rather to bring about a purpose in which the whole world would long for a better life, vs. 20. God has an overall redemptive purpose to pain and suffering in life. But one day that pain will be gone. The creation itself will be released from the curse that was placed on it in Genesis 3:16-24.

While he is personifying the creation, Paul is saying that one day everything will be made right. The corruption that sin brought on the “whole creation” is not an eternal condition. One day God will fix ALL the mess we made for ourselves. Whatever else Jesus may have done in AD 70, taking away weeds, thorns, thistles, sweat, physical death, and pain in childbearing was not part of it. By the way, the last time I checked the snake was still on his belly.

So the Lord did come just as He promised His disciples He would, Matt. 24:34. But He is coming again just as He promised the world He would, Act 17:30-31.

Consider this point too. In Acts 17:32 some people were upset that Paul preached about the “resurrection of the dead”. Why were they so upset? Many of the people who were listening to Paul were “Stoic” and “Epicurean” philosophers, vs. 18. These philosophies wrongly believed that the physical body was evil. The idea that Jesus’ body rose from the grave was an evil doctrine to them. But why do I bring this up here? Because what they were upset about is that they heard Paul preach about the “resurrection of the dead”. The word “dead” in the Greek is in its plural form meaning that Paul was talking about more than Jesus being raised. They understood Paul to be saying that the “dead ones” will be raised. Paul did not deny this and, therefore, the accusation was true. The bodies of the dead ones would be raise like Jesus. This is why they were upset. Because people are still dying and bodies are still in the graves, this resurrection must still be in the future (I’ll say more on this in another article).

Is There Unfinished Business?    

But didn’t Jesus say that ALL prophecies would be fulfilled in AD 70? This view usually stems from Luke 21:22 which says, “These are the days of vengeance, that ALL things which are written may be fulfilled.” (emphasis mine) Since Jesus said everything was going to be fulfilled in the AD 70 event does not this prove that nothing is left to be accomplished after that? This argument sounds compelling and was one of the points that confused me as well for a while. However upon closer examination this argument is not as compelling as first appears.

In Luke 18:31 Jesus says the same thing about the crucifixion. He said, “Behold we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be fulfilled.” (emphasis mine) Did you see that? Jesus said that all things that were written about Him would be fulfilled when they went to Jerusalem and when Jesus would be crucified, vs. 31-32. So let me ask you, did Jesus mean ABSOLUTLY everything would be fulfilled when He died? Obviously not. So what does it mean? It must be that Jesus was talking about ALL things that were written about Him concerning His death. Although He does not say that, this must be what Jesus means by “ALL things”. But if you were just to take the verse at face value one might get the idea that Jesus was saying that every Old Testament prophecy concerning Him would be fulfilled at the cross. But even the “full” preterist agrees that the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 was predicted in the Old Testament. And we all agree that this was a prophecy “concerning the Son of Man” and the work He came to fulfill. So we should all agree that the “all things” in Luke 18:31 is limited to the prophecies about the cross event and does not speak of other future prophecies like those about the destruction of Jerusalem.

I suggest the same is true with regard to Luke 21:22. The “all things” in this passage is limited to all the prophecies concerning the “Son of Man” and the “days of vengeance” upon Jerusalem that was predicted in the Old Testament and which was fulfilled in AD 70. Just like Luke 18:31 did not mean that there were no more prophecies to be fulfilled after the cross, neither does Luke 21:22 mean that there can be no more prophecies fulfilled after AD 70. The “hyper-preterist” is so big on audience relevance (and rightly we should be). But here is a place where they violate their own hermeneutics. Jesus is talking TO Jews about the prophecies that had to do with THEIR end. To make this verse say something it was never meant to say concerning the entire world or concerning the whole of Bible prophecy is an abuse of the context.

Matthew 5:18 is a different matter. There is not a shred of evidence that the “heaven and earth” here is the Old Testament system. In this passage Jesus is showing that He is not a moral anarchist. Jesus upholds the Law not violates it. He is saying that “heaven and earth” would have to be removed before the Law would. I don’t believe Jesus is making a prediction here. It is what Jim McGuiggan once said, “The passing of heavens and earth is no prediction but a proverb. Jesus is saying: It would be easier for the Heavens and earth to pass away than for the least important thing in the Law and the Prophets to do so.” In fact, if one puts Luke 16:17 together with this passage this is exactly what Jesus says. The text there says, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” There is no prediction here. This is merely a statement affirming the authority of the Law. Jesus is simply saying that he would never violate the Law, but rather He came to fulfill it. He is showing the stability and authority of even the least of the commandments. In addition, the laws in the context that Jesus is alluding to may very well be found in the Law of Moses (for this is the law they were under and this is the “jot and tittle” Jesus refers to). But in no way were the laws Jesus talked about in this particular sermon going to be destroyed with Jerusalem in AD 70. If so, then hatred, murder, lusting, divorcing, lying, etc all ceased in AD 70. If we believe that the “heaven and earth” in this text has reference to the Jewish system then we should never apply the Sermon on the Mount to us today. Nor should we quote it to give advice on how to live life after AD 70. But in light of Romans 13:8-10, it seems that Christians, out of a love for God and one another, were still obligated to keep the moral truths found within the “jot and tittles” of the Law, even though they were no longer under the Mosaic system, Romans 7:6. While I’m not suggesting that they, nor we, are under the “jot and tittles” of the Mosaic code, I am suggesting that in that code were found moral precepts that are timeless. And with Jesus I will say that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away then for these precepts to do so.

So is there unfinished business concerning Bible prophecy? Sure there is. Unless you believe that God will never reverse the part of the curse that affected the “whole creation” in Genesis 3:16-24 there must be something in store for the future. I believe that Revelation 20 gives a glimpse of the final judgment (But I will deal with this later in another article). I also believe that there will be an end of time (Not just the “time of the end”) bodily resurrection, 1 Thess. 4:13-18, 1 Cor. 15, Acts 17:30-32 (But again, I will deal with this in another article as well).

Let me leave you with some questions for thought. Do you believe that God will leave any part of the curse that is found in Genesis 3:16-24 uncorrected and un-addressed? Are women still having great pain in child bearing? Do thorns and thistles still invade the earth? Do farmers still have difficulty working the ground? Are people still “returning to the earth” in physical death? Do you really believe that tornados and cancer is what God had in mind when He “saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” Gen. 2:31? If not, then it was sin that brought these things on. If so, again I ask, do you believe that any part of the curse found in Genesis 3:16-24 will go uncorrected? If so, then the curse is eternal, and complete redemption will never be finished and Genesis 3 will never be fully reversed. If not, when, pray-tell, will it be reversed?

The truth is, God has some unfinished business to do on earth. And make no mistake about it… He’ll get it done.