The Return of Christ Fulfilled
A Brief Presentation of the Preterist View
by Ben Andersen

"Prove all things: hold onto that which is good."
- Paul, I Thessalonians 5:17

Introduction: Are we in the "last days"?

Prophecy always excites our interest, as theologian Philip Mauro explains "because [it] appeal[s] to the element of curiosity which is prominent in our human nature…" Because of this, often interpretation of Biblical prophecy can become sensational, especially evidenced in the evolution of the dispensational Premillennialist view of prophecy over the years. This futurist view has been the reigning eschatological view for over 150 years, began by an Englishman named John Nelson Darby and popularized by an American named C.I. Scofield (he produced the famous Scofield Reference Bible).

The Dispensationalist view has seen considerable change from its original form, but it has fallen short. Futurists have been predicting that the Second Coming was imminent for centuries and centuries, and yet He has never come. These false hopes have been causing Christians disillusionment and mockery from unbelievers. The various futurist views such as dispensational Premillennialism have failed for a number of reasons, but mainly because they fail to understand the historical and cultural context in which the end time prophecies were given. Many Christians are looking for more a reasonable answer to the age old question, "Are we in the last days?"

What is the Preterist view?

The term "Preterist" essentially means "past in fulfillment". A Preterist believes that most or all Biblical prophecy has been fulfilled in the first century, up to the year AD 70. This view, as strange as it may sound, is not new and is absolutely compatible with all essentials of the Christian faith. The opposite of Preterism, of course, is what most Christians believe: futurism.

Preterists are divided into two major groups: Partial Preterists and Full Preterists. Partial preterists believe that some Biblical prophecy was fulfilled in the First Century. Full preterists believe that all Biblical prophecy (including the Second Coming, the Judgment, and the Resurrection) was fulfilled in the first century. This view, of course, does not say that we have nothing to look forward to. Full preterism affirms that some prophecies have an ongoing fulfillment as the Kingdom of God expands. This study will take the full preterist view.

Literal vs. Figurative Language in Prophecy

Most futurists argue that they hold to a literal interpretation of Scripture, while charging that their theological opponents (e.g., preterists) have a tendency to "spiritualize" prophetic passages. I would answer that claim by saying that often futurists "literalize" too many passages.

The literal method originally referred to a grammatical/historical method of interpretation (which is the best way of interpretation), but now it is believed to mean the direct opposite of symbolism (the wrong way of interpretation). Instead, the literal method should recognize the fact that Biblical prophecy is often written in figurative, poetic language.

The people of Jesus’ day, like many prophecy "experts" of today, many times missed the symbolic meaning behind Jesus’ words. Nicodemus thought being born again meant to literally enter a second time into his mother’s womb (John 3:4). When Jesus spoke of the Temple of His body (John 2:21), the Jews thought he was talking of the physical Temple in Jerusalem, and sought His death because of this (Matt. 26:61). The Samaritan wanted a literal drink of water from Jesus’ fountain of eternal life (John 4:10-15).

The truth is that, for the most part, both camps believe that Scripture should be interpreted literally at times and symbolically at other times, depending on the context of the passage and intent of the author. What we disagree on is which passages should be recognized as symbolic.

An Air of Expectancy (prophetic time statements)

Most Biblical scholars will readily admit that there is a prevalent, pervasive sense of contemporary expectancy in New Testament. This expectancy has been called the "imminency factor". What the imminency factor tells us it that the first century apostolic church clearly expected the fulfillment of end times prophecy in their lifetime. The strange thing is that Jesus and His Apostles didn’t reject the early church’s expectancy. In fact, a close look at certain passages in the New Testament reveal that Jesus and His Apostles were the source of it.
Because of the imminency factor, many critics of Christianity have attempted to discredit Christ and the Bible. After all, if these end times events are still in our future, Christ and the Apostles were dead wrong in saying that they were near. How could the early church expect to see events that were to happen some 2,000 years in the future? Here is a quote from a renown atheist and opponent of Christianity, Bertrand Russell in his book Why I Am Not a Christian :

"I am concerned with Christ as he appears in the Gospel narrative as it stands, and there one does not find some things that do not seem very wise. For one thing, he certainly thought that his second coming would occur in the clouds of glory before the death of all the people who were living at that time. There are a great many texts that prove that... That was the belief of his early followers, and it was the basis of a good deal of his moral teaching."
Russell concludes that Jesus was not God but a fool or insane because His supposedly infallible prediction didn’t occur. Russell came to this conclusion primarily because of this verse (which C.S. Lewis called "the most embarrassing verse in the Bible"):

Matthew 24:34, "Verily, I say to you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." ("All these things" refer to the events He describes in the whole chapter of Matthew 24, i.e. the end of the age, the Great Tribulation, and the Second Coming. See the context for verification).

In Matthew 24:34, the Greek word for "generation" is genea. Genea in the New Testament always, always, always means "generation". Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament maintains that genea in Matthew 24:34 means "The whole multitude of men living at the same time." Arndt-Gingrich’s Greek Lexicon defines the word as such, "basically the sum total of those born at the same time, expanded to include those all living at a given time. Contemporaries." Generally, a Biblical generation is considered 40 years. Christian scholars of the Greek language are painfully aware that Bertrand Russell, in a sense, is right: Jesus was speaking of His generation, i.e. the people then living.
Many futurists will attempt to explain away the word genea by saying that it actually means "race", not "generation". In fact, "race" is suggested as an alternate meaning in the margins of many Bibles. It is suggested that Jesus was really speaking of the Jewish race, that the Jewish race would not pass until they saw the fulfillment of the end. The fact is that "race" cannot be a possible meaning, and this is easily proved by looking at many other verses in the Gospel’s that contain genea (for instance, see Matthew 1:17). Genea is always translated "generation", not "race".

Thus Matthew 24:34 is a very pivotal verse, not only for Biblical prophecy, but also for the integrity of Jesus Christ Himself. We basically have two choices:

1.)     We can take Bertrand Russell’s word and say that since Jesus didn’t come when He said He would, He is not God but a false prophet and a fool,

2.)     Or we can conclude that since Jesus was God and spoke infallible words, He did come back within that generation. We have no other choice if we want to consistently uphold the deity of Christ and the inspiration of Scripture.

Here are some other verses in the New Testament which affirm that Jesus, the Apostles, and the early church believed that Christ would return in their generation. Please note the specific time references in them and you will grasp what the imminency factor actually is (this is not a complete list of all imminency verses) :

Matthew 16:27-28: some standing next to Jesus would not die until the Second Coming

Matthew 3:7, 10, 12: God was ready to uproot THAT wicked generation in judgment

Matthew 3:2: the coming of the Kingdom was at hand

Luke 21:22: THOSE were the days of vengeance when ALL would be fulfilled

John 16:16: He would be gone for a little while with His Father, but then come back

Romans 13:11,12: the night was gone, and the day was at hand

I Corinthians 1:7-8: the Corinthians (not Christians 2,000 years in the future) were to wait for the end and the coming of Christ

I Corinthians 7:26: why does Paul advise against marriage here?

I Corinthians 7:29,31: the time was short, the fashion of that world was passing away

Philiians 4:5: the Lord was near, at hand

Hebrews 1:2: in "these" last days

Hebrews 9:26,28: THEN was the consummation of ages

Hebrews 10:37: THEY saw the day drawing near

James 5:8,9: Jesus (the Judge) was standing right at the door, His coming near

I Peter 1:5-7: in THAT last time, the revelation of Christ would come in a little while

I Peter 4:7: the end was at hand

Revelation 1:1,3: the time was near, "must soon take place"

Rev. 33:20: He was coming soon, "Come, Lord Jesus"

Can God Tell Time?

So, what will we do with the above verses that clearly demonstrate the imminency factor? Many futurists will say that prophetic time statements in Biblical prophecy are relative, not absolute. This is tantamount to saying that God cannot tell time! If God told us in these verses when certain events would occur, and they didn’t, God can’t tell time! (em. web ed.) The words of preterist scholar Don Preston come to mind, "If God cannot tell time, there is no such thing!".

The Bible was communicated by God to humans with human language and human concepts. God also used man’s concept of time in communicating to him. I am saying this because many times people will appeal to the fact that God is above time, so His statements about the imminency of the end times are relative because they were written from His eternal point of view. I do not deny that God is above time. In fact He created time. (Psalm 90:2, Isaiah 9:6-9). This, however, is irrelevant to our discussion. God knows we cannot understand His eternal point of view, so He wrote to us using our temporal (limited by time) point of view.  So, when God says through His prophets that the time is "at hand" (near in proximity of time), it is really "at hand". It can’t be any more simple than that. Can God communicate to us understandably, or does He purposely speak in mystical, ambiguous ways in order to confuse us? "At hand" means near and ready, not some 2,000 years in the future!

Another objection set forth by many is the dispensationalist claim that God was unable to fulfill His end times agenda as promised in the first century because of Jewish unbelief. I don’t care how obstinate a people can be against God’s will, God’s will always accomplishes exactly what it wants to do when it wants to do it!
If it’s true that God did abandon His prophesied end times plan for the first century, how can we even be assured of ANY of His promises? The Lord is not slow in fulfilling His promises:

II Peter 3:9a, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness..."

When God wants us to know a fulfillment is a long time in the future, He tells us in simple language:

Numbers 24:17, "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel..." (Balaam was prophesying the coming of the Messiah).

Daniel 10:14, "Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision [is] for [many] days." (Daniel prophesies from his perspective concerning the end).

Why didn’t God say this about the Second Coming if it was to be 2,000 years in the future? Instead, He told the church that it was "at hand".

It is interesting to note here a very strange thing about the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation. God specifically tells Daniel that his book of prophecies about the end times (the book of Daniel) should be sealed up, whereas God specifically tells John that his book of prophecies about the end times (the book of Revelation) should NOT be sealed up:

Daniel 12:4a, "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end:"
Revelation 22:10, "And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand."
Daniel was told to seal his book "even to the time of the end" (because from Daniel’s perspective, the end was NOT at hand) , whereas John was told NOT to seal his book, specifically because God said "the time is at hand". God knows what He is talking about; He would not command His prophets to do such things if His time statements were "relative".

The End?

Now we come to the question, what is the END that the Bible has in mind? Is it the end of the world, or is it the end of the age? When the Bible seems to speak of "the end of the world", it is actually a poor translation. The Greek word aion can is often incorrectly translated "world" in the context of "the end". Aion means in this context "age" (see Matt.13: 39-40, 49; 24:3; 28:20; I Corinthians 10:11; Heb. 9:26), and most Bibles translate it thus.

So, what is the end of the age? A proper understanding of the end of the age is absolutely crucial to the understanding of Biblical prophecy. For the Jews, history was to be divided into two distinct ages : the Premessianic age and the Postmessianic age (Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the NT): "As the Jews distinguished the time before the Messiah, and the time after the Messiah." (p. 19)

Jesus and the writers of the NT considered themselves to be at the termination point of these two ages, but they considered the two ages to be the Age of the Law (Mosaic) and the Age of Grace (Messianic).  In their writings, we have two ages in contrast: "This age" and "The age to come". They were in the last days of "this age", awaiting eagerly "the age to come". The early church knew that they were in a transition period between these two ages, waiting for Christ to come back and begin "the age to come".

"This age" was the age of the ethnic nation of Israel, and "the age to come" was to be the age of the church. These two ages are spoken of in terms of covenant, i.e. the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. John describes the people of the Old Covenant (Israel) as a Babylonian whore (Revelation 17-18), who God was to bring charges against,  because of spiritual adultery (Jeremiah 2:9, Micah 6:2).  John describes the people of the New Covenant (the church) as the true bride of Christ (Revelation 21:2), who Jesus was to marry when He returned in AD 70 (this date will be explained in detail later).

The Heavens and the Earth: Old and New

When discussing "the end of the world", it is also necessary to explain what the Apostle Peter means when he writes the following:

II Peter 3:10, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

Jesus also speaks of a passing of the heavens and earth in relation to the Old Covenant Law:

Matthew 5:17-18, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

Has the Old Covenant been fulfilled in Christ? I don’t know of any Christians who would say that every single Old Testament ceremonial law is still currently in force. Yet Jesus said that heaven and earth absolutely had to pass away before the slightest letter of the Law could be fulfilled. Thus, if the Law has been fulfilled, the heaven and earth Jesus spoke of must be already taken out of the way.
We can tell that Jesus obviously was NOT speaking of the literal earth He was standing on and the literal heavens He was standing under. If we understand heavens and earth in that passage to be physical, then the Law is still in effect and we are all going to hell without the atonement of Christ. If we understand heavens and earth as figurative, then it is possible that they have passed along with the Law.

Perhaps a look at the Old Testament terminology of "heavens and earth" would be appropriate here. God in Isaiah describes the old heavens and earth in a covenantal sense (the Old Covenant was Israel’s heavens and earth) :

Isaiah 51:16, "And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people’"

Perhaps these heavens and earth—the Old Covenant and Law—were the "heavens and earth" Jesus was talking about. Jesus does not have the still existing physical heavens and earth in view. And Jesus knew as Isaiah prophesied, that these heavens and earth (the Old Covenant) must be destroyed so that the new heavens and earth, the New Covenant of Christ could be established (the same as the vision at the end of Revelation). Please note in the first passage WHY the creation was to be destroyed:

Isaiah 24:4-5; "The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant."

Revelation 21:1, "Now, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..."

The writer of Hebrews also bears this idea out, and prophesies the passing of the Old Covenant as a destructive shaking of the heavens and earth (Heb. 12:18-28). This study of heavens and earth could go on forever, so to make a long story short, Jesus was to return in His generation in order to fulfill the Old Covenant of Israel (make the old heavens and earth pass away) and bring in the New Covenant of the Church (create the new heavens and earth, Rev. 21).

If you believe that we live under the New Covenant, then you should believe that we live in the new heavens and earth. That is, if you don’t have a literalistic/physical mindset.

So, what happened in AD 70???

The coming of the New Covenant was not only described in the terminology of heavens and earth, it was also described in terms of the Holy City, Jerusalem. The Old Covenant’s city was the old, earthly Jerusalem; and the Temple was the central image and symbol of the Old Covenant.

Jesus prophesies the end of the earthly Jerusalem and it’s Temple in connection to His Second Coming, and John prophesies the coming of the heavenly New Jerusalem. Closely compare the imagery of these two passages. You will find the destruction of an old physical Jerusalem and Temple, the passing away of an old creation, and a coming of a new creation and New Jerusalem:

Luke 21:5-6, 20, 24, 32-33 "Then as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, "These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down... But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away."

Revelation 21:1-2, "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth passed away... Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

So, finally, what happened in AD 70? This year saw the desolation and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Roman Empire. And this all happened within Jesus’ generation’s lifetime, within a Biblical generation, 40 years later (Matthew 24:34)! AD 70 was the end of the Old Covenant age, the passing of the Old Creation, and the Coming of the New Creation.

AD 70 was the date of Jesus’ coming back for His bride, the church, the New Jerusalem!

To Israel, If their Temple was still standing, it was a sign that all was good with God in the land (see Psalm 48:9). But if their Temple was destroyed, it meant to them that God was angrily judging Israel, His presence leaving the Holy Place and the land of Israel (see the book of Lamentations, written after the first Temple was destroyed). The Temple signified the Old Covenant world of the Jews, and when it was destroyed in AD 70 as Jesus prophesied the end of the Old Covenant and the coming of the New.

The date of God’s judgment against unbelieving Israel, AD 70, then, is the most important date in this Preterist study of Biblical prophecy...

Matthew 24 : The Return of the Messiah in AD 70

Matthew chapter 24 (and its parallels in Mark 13 and Luke 21) is Jesus’ outline of the end times and His Second Coming. Only by understanding this chapter, often called by theologians "the Olivet Discourse" will we be able to understand the prophetic teaching of the Apostles and the bizarre imagery of the book of Revelation.

The Context of Matthew 24

Matthew 24 is not just a collection of unrelated teachings or sayings of Jesus. It is a unified discourse about the end of the age and the Second Coming, and its central images are the city and Temple of Jerusalem. Looking at the context of the chapter, starting all the way back in chapter 22, is very important in understanding our Lord’s prophecies.

Matthew 22 begins with the Parable of the Wedding Feast. This parable is the story of a king (representing the Father) who arranges a wedding feast for his son (Jesus). The king sends his servants (the Prophets and the Apostles) to invite the people (the Jews), but the people would not come. The people mocked the king’s servants and put them to death. Notice what the king does when he hears of the murders:

Matthew 22:7, "But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out armies destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."

Isn’t this strikingly similar to the rejection of the Gospel by the first century Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman armies in AD 70? The rest of chapter 22 concerns Jesus defending His ministry from the criticism of the Jewish religious authorities. Jesus became extremely angry when the Pharisees question His Lordship and authority (v. 41-45).

Matthew 23 is a very angry chapter, in which Jesus pronounces the "woes" upon the Jewish religious authorities. Especially important is the following judgment of Christ upon them:

Matthew 23:31-36, "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."

In other words, Jesus was holding that generation of Jews responsible for the murders of all the righteous people on earth, from the murder of Abel by Cain to the murder of last Old Testament prophet. Israel was to soon fill up the measure of their fathers’ guilt by murdering Christ and the rest of His prophets. The judgment for this was to come in AD 70. The last indictment of Israel came when Jesus began to weep over this coming fate of Jerusalem, and it was an indictment against the Temple:

Matthew 23:38, "See! Your house [the Temple] is left to you desolate..."

In saying that the Temple was left to them desolate, Jesus meant that the very presence of God had left the Temple. All was ready for the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Jesus summed up the nature of the last days of Israel and its Temple thus:

Luke 21:22, "For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled."

Jesus declares that the says He was living in, the last days before His coming (see context of Luke 21), were the days when the blood of the righteous would be finally avenged. Notice Jesus says ALL THINGS written by the prophets would be absolutely fulfilled in those days, culminating in the destruction of the Temple in AD 70.

Jesus’ introduction to the end times

Matthew 24:1-2, "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.’ "

This prophecy sets that backdrop of the whole chapter and was fulfilled in AD 70, when the Roman general (and later Emperor) Titus ordered the burning and wholesale destruction of the Temple. Emperor Nero ordered Roman armies sent in order to put down a violent Jewish Zealot revolution. In this siege, the city of Jerusalem was literally burned to the ground. All of the Jews were either killed by the sword, starved, burned to death, or taken captive and sold as slaves. Early Christian historian, Eusebius, however says that the Christians in Jerusalem escaped before the destruction took place (this escape will be discussed later).

The Disciples Respond

The disciples are obviously horrified by Jesus’ prophecy, and ask Him three things:

Matthew 24:3, "Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will the be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ "

So they ask three things, assuming that the destruction of the Temple is connected to the Second Coming and the end of the age:

When will the destruction of the Temple be?

What will be the signs of the Second Coming?

What will be the signs of the end of this age?

False Christs, Wars, Famines, Earthquakes, and Persecution

Jesus begins to answer the questions of signs. First, He prophesies the rise of false teachers:

Matthew 24:4-5, "...Take heed that no one deceives you. For many shall come in My name, saying ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many."

John in one of his epistles reports the fulfillment of Jesus’ words:

I John 2:18, "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know it is the last hour."

Specific examples of false Christs recorded by Scripture include Barjesus the Sorcerer in Acts 13:6-9 (who sought to lead Christians away from the faith) and Simon Magus in Acts 8:9-24 (who bewitched the people of Samaria by performing signs and was called the "Great Power").

Extra-Biblical history records many other false Christs, such as Dositheus the Samaritan (who thought he was the Messiah foretold by Moses) and Theudas (who lead multitudes to the Jordan River for "deliverance"). In fact, first century historians tell us that in the reign of Nero, cultic leaders and imposters were so frequent that they were apprehended and killed almost every day.

Wars and Rumors of Wars

Matthew 24:6, "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."

The wars and rumors of wars Jesus spoke of were fulfilled in the first century, but they are especially significant because they occurred in the age of Roman peace, Pax Romana, which was inaugurated in 17 BC by Augustus Caesar.

History tells us that towards AD 70 this Roman peace was becoming fragile in the Empire. The Jews were revolting violently against the tyranny of Rome. The Syrians were fighting the Jews for control of Caesarea, a war which resulted in some 20,000 deaths and the destruction of whole major Syrian cities. Similar events occured between Alexandria and Damascus, in which some 60,000 people were slaughtered.

In the city of Rome, officials fought violently for control of the Empire, creating many civil wars which caused the deaths of four Roman emperors in the space of two years.

Nation Against Nation, Famine, and Earthquakes

In addition to wars between nations, Jesus also speaks of horrible famine and earthquakes:

Matthew 24:7-8, "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places."

In Acts 11:28, a Christian prophet named Agabus prophesied that a great famine would come involving the whole Roman Empire (or the whole known world to them), and the famine did come to pass. The Jewish historian Josephus also records that there was a severe Jewish famine leading up to AD 70, which even led some to cannibalism of their own children. Widespread famine breeds widespread pestilence (i.e. plagues, sickness), and multitudes of deaths have been recorded as occurring as a result of this empire-wide hunger.

Josephus also records that there was a major earthquake in Judea in AD 70, and other historians record that earthquake activity was severely heightened leading up to AD 70. Several major earthquakes occurred mostly in places where Jews lived (Judea, Crete, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Laodecea, Hieropolis, Colosse, Campania, and several in Rome). And then of course, there was the violent earthquake that freed the Apostle Paul and Silas from prison (Acts 16:26).

Signs in the Heavens

Luke, unlike Matthew, here records another prophecy of Jesus foretelling that there would be great signs in the skies leading up to the end. The appearance of comets and other anomalies in the sky were thought in Jesus’ time to be a warning of coming calamity:

Luke 21:11, "And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven."

History verifies that unprecedented celestial phenomena occurred leading up to AD 70. In AD 60, during the reign of Nero, a comet appeared over Rome. Because of this, rumors of Nero’s downfall became widespread, and Nero himself took the rumors seriously. In order to secure his position as Emperor of the Roman Empire, he starved and poisoned his family to death.

Although he seemed to have survived this comet, but another comet appeared in AD 66. Two years later, while the siege of Jerusalem was taking place, Nero was killed (presumably suicide). This comet that appeared that appeared in AD 66 is known to us today as Halley’s Comet. Issac Asimov (an atheist) comments on the supposed significance of the appearing of the comet in Jerusalem:
"Halley’s Comet of AD 66... was regarded as an omen predicting the fall of the city to the Romans which actually occurred four years later."

In addition to natural celestial phenomena like comets, history also records some strange, unexplained supernatural phenomena that occurred directly over Jerusalem in AD 70. These sources are reputable early sources, secular and unbiased:

Josephus (Jewish historian/eyewitness), The Wars of the Jews (6:5:3), "There was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year."

Tacitus (Roman historian), Histories (v.13), "In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armor. A sudden lightening flash from the clouds lit up the Temple."

Eusebius (church historian) Ecclesiastical History, "For before the setting of the sun chariots and armed troops were seen throughout the whole region in mid-air, wheeling through the clouds and encircling the cities."

The Tribulation of the Saints, Falling Away, and Lawlessness

Matthew 24:9-13, "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray each other, and will hate each other. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved."

The book of Acts contains many accounts of the persecution and martyrdom of God’s saints caused mostly by the Jewish religious leaders, in direct fulfillment of Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:

Matthew 23:34, "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute city to city..."

Saul (Paul before he became a Christian) was one of the most notorious persecutors of Christianity. He was directly behind the murder of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, and helped to scatter the church at Jerusalem:

Acts 8:1, 3, "...At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles... As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison."

In addition to the fierce persecution by the Jews, history tells us that Nero Caesar, one of the most hated tyrants ever, started the first organized persecution of Christianity. Both the Jewish and Roman persecutions combined caused the deaths of the apostles (except John, who was exiled to Patmos, where he wrote Revelation) and many other prominent Christians, all before AD 70:

Stephen stoned by Saul and the Jews

Philip crucified by Jews for preaching gospel

Bartholomew crucified for giving Philip proper burial in same year

Matthew slain by sword

Mark dragged through streets by horse, and then bled to death in prison

James stoned to death

Matthias stoned and beheaded

Andrew crucified

Peter crucified upside down

Paul beheaded in Rome

Jude crucified

Thomas slain by spear

Luke crucified

Because of the fierce persecution, many Christians fell away from the faith and became lawless like the rest of the world. Many went back to Judaism under the influence of the cult-like Judiazers, who according to Paul preached another gospel (Gal. 1:6-19, Acts 15).

Specific examples of Christians who fell away are Phygetus and Hermogenes (who turned the Asian church away from Paul, II Tim. 1:15), and Demas (who betrayed Paul and loved the world, II Tim. 4:10). Paul also records that many others deserted him and turned away from the gospel (II Tim. 4:16). The Roman historian Tacitus records that most Christians who were arrested by Nero denied Christ and betrayed their fellow Christians by revealing where secret churches were. As a result, multitudes of Christians were discovered and slaughtered.

The secular world became increasingly lawless under the control of the emperors Caligula and Nero (whose names were almost synonymous with "lawlessness"). Even the church was becoming more and more lawless as the end drew nearer. The sin and sensuality of the Roman world invaded churches such as the Corinthian church, who were plagued with sexual immorality. The opening chapters of the book of Revelation show that the Asian churches were being bombarded with immorality as false teachers arose.

The "Worldwide" Spread of the Gospel Before the End

Matthew 24:14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

Many people regard this verse as the Achilles Heel (greatest weakness) of preterism. It is said that the end could not have been in AD 70, because the gospel could not have been preached in all the world before the end came. After all, how could the apostles have preached in America before it was even discovered?

The answer to this hard question lies in the original Greek of the passage. Since most English-speaking Christians are unaware of the actual Greek words as they read the Bible, it is understandable that such mistakes can be made. An investigation into the Greek word for "world", oikoumene, is absolutely crucial in understanding Matthew 24:14.

Jesus said that the gospel must be preached in all the [oikoumene] before the end came. Oikoumene means "the inhabited earth", or in other words, the known earth at that time. Sometimes, depending on the context, translators will translate oikoumene as "the Roman Empire". America and the Western Hemisphere was not in view; it was not believed to be part of the known, inhabited earth at that time! Look how Luke uses the word oikoumene in Luke 2:1:

Luke 2:1, "And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Augustus Caesar that all the world should be registered."

If you maintain that oikoumene in Matthew 24:14 means the whole globe, then you are also logically bound to believe that Caesar wanted to register every single person on the entire globe, including the natives in unknown America! This is clearly preposterous! Some Bible translations translate oikoumene in Luke 2:1 as "empire" or even "Roman empire".

Jesus, when he said the gospel must be preached in all the world, meant the known inhabited earth, or in other words, the Roman Empire. If Jesus meant the whole entire globe, the Greek word should have been kosmos (the globe, or "the circle of the earth"), not oikoumene!

But was the whole Roman Empire even preached to? This is still an overwhelming task, but Paul seems to be confident when he wrote even in the 60’s that it had already been fulfilled! Paul has the oikoumene in mind when he makes the following statements:

Colossians 1:5b-6, "For whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as [it is] in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit…"

Colossians 1:23, "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven…"

Romans 1:8, "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world."

Romans 10:18: "But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."

Titus 2:11: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men."

How could this be? The book of Acts tells us that there were Jews as Pentecost "from every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5), who brought the gospel back to their own nations. History tells us that the Apostles had been very successful in their world missions. According to Phillip Doddridge, the following Apostles and Christians went to the following places with the Gospel (all before AD 70):

Jude: Idumea, Syria, and Mesopotamia

Mark, Simon, Jude: Egypt, Marmorica, Mauritania, other parts of Africa

Matthias: Ethiopia

Peter: Pontus, Galatia, neighboring parts of Asia

John: the territories of the seven Asian churches

Matthew: Parthia

Phillip and Andrew: Scythia

Bartholomew: northern and western Asia

Simon and Jude: Persia

Thomas: Media, Carmania, parts of East

Paul: Jerusalem to Illyricum, Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Britain

The Abomination of Desolation and Escape

Matthew 24:15, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes."

Jesus’ words reflect that the progression towards the end and His coming would become very urgent. When THEY (the people actually listening to Jesus then, not us 2,000 years in the future) saw something called "the abomination of desolation" prophesied by Daniel, they were supposed to flee Jerusalem and the whole land of Judea in order to escape the coming wrath. Luke records an additional sign that was to warn the Christians:

Luke 21:20, "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."

When they saw the Roman armies surrounding the Holy City, it was a sign that God’s judgment was near. They weren’t going to have any time to take possessions form their homes or even grab their clothes if they were naked. Like Lot’s wife, they were not to look back at the coming destruction of a generation worse than even Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt 11:24).

So, what is the abomination of desolation? A better rendering of the phrase would be "the abomination that makes desolation" in the Temple. This refers to the sins of the first century Jews that were making their Temple desolate (deserted by God). Jesus pronounced this desolation to the Pharisees as if it was already a reality:

Matthew 23:38, "See! Your house [the Temple] is left to you desolate..."

The primary abomination that caused the desolation Jesus was speaking of is referred to as the abomination of bloodletting—or the rejection of the atoning blood of the true Lamb, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Instead of accepting the sufficiency of Christ’s shed blood in atoning for sins, the Jews continued to sacrifice animals detestable in God’s sight:

Ezekiel 5:11, "Wherefore, [as] I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish [thee]; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity."

As a result of God’s desolation of the Temple, a Jewish revolutionary political faction called the Zealots invaded the Temple in AD 67 and took it over for political uses in its fight against the Roman Empire. The Zealots murdered the high priests inside the Temple and even committed grave blasphemy against God by roaming freely within the Holy Place. In fact, one of the Zealot leaders, John Levi of Gischala, even sat in the Temple proclaiming himself the ultimate authority of the Temple (compare with II Thessolonians 2:4).

After the Zealots were defeated, the Roman legions began to set fire to the Temple, and as they were watching it burn, they set up Roman idols around it and sacrificed to them. Josephus, a Jewish historian who was an eyewitness to the destruction of the Temple wrote:

"And now the Romans upon the flight of the seditious [Zealots] into the city, and upon the burning of the Holy House itself... brought their ensigns to the Temple, and set them over against its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus imperator [Caesar], with the greatest acclamations of joy." (Wars of the Jews, 6:6:1, 743).
The Gentile worship of pagan gods near the Temple was a sure sign to the Jews that God had left the Temple desolate because of their sin. To the Christians, this abomination that made the desolation of the Temple was their cue from Jesus that they must flee Judea immediately. And according to historian Eusebius, they did obey Jesus in fleeing Judea to a place called Perea.

The Great Tribulation

Matthew 24:21, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

Jesus’ claims that the tribulation before His coming would be the worst tribulation in history is strikingly similar to Josephus’ secular eyewitness assessment of the Jewish was in AD 70, which he called:
"the greatest of all those, not only that have been in our times, but…of those ever heard of; both of those wherein cities have fought against cities, or nations against nations."
Expositor’s Bible Commentary, sharing Josephus’ sentiments, in explains the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70:

"The savagery, the slaughter, disease, and famine (mothers eating their own children) were monstrous, ‘unequalled from the beginning of the world until now,’ and according to Jesus, ‘never to be equalled again.’ There have been greater numbers of deaths—six million in the Nazi death camps, mostly Jews, and an estimated twenty million under Stalin—but never so high a percentage of a great city’s population so thoroughly and painfully exterminated and enslaved during the fall of Jerusalem."

The Nature of Christ’s Coming

Jesus, after foretelling the escalating horrors of the Great Tribulation, begins speaking of His Second Coming (in context of the whole chapter’s subject of the fall of Jerusalem). First, He demonstrates the nature of His coming:

Matthew 24:23, 26, 27, "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not... Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, [he is] in the secret chambers; believe [it] not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

Jesus here foretells that false prophets would come—but notice what He said they would say. Jesus said not to believe them if they said He was "here... or there", "in the desert", or "in the secret chambers". Why? If Jesus was to come physically like many today claim, why would this be a bad thing for a person to say (providing of course that Christ really was there like they said)? Christ here is demonstrating that His Second Coming would not be necessarily bodily or physical, or in other words, it wouldn’t be physically "here or there"!

Christ then proceeds to compare the nature of His Second Coming to lightning. He said that it would be just like lightning that appears in the east sky and is seen even in the west sky. What is it about lightning that He is trying to convey? Jesus is trying to say that His Coming would be an instantaneous phenomena that would be recognized by even those who were far away. Another interesting thing about lightning that shines from the east to the west is that it never touches the ground! It stays in the clouds!

The Event of Christ’s Second Coming and the Gathering

Matthew 24:29-31, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Christ’s coming like lightning would be immediately after the tribulation of the days He was speaking of (the days of vengeance they were living in, Luke 21:22), the dreaded and at the same time blessed event of the Second Coming would occur, accompanied by the shaking of the heavens.

It is interesting to note here that these words of Jesus here are taken almost verbatim from the words of the Old Testament prophets (see for instance Isaiah 13:10, Zecheriah 12:11, and Daniel 7:13-14)! Jesus was prophesying in the same verbal tradition that the prophets before Him had. This verbal tradition is called by theologians "apocalyptic language". Dr. L. Michael Hall comments on apocalyptic language:

"Herein lies a danger. If you approach the New Testament’s apocalyptic language without recognizing the genre, and do not know how to deal with its tone, images, and symbols, you will surely misunderstand it and its references. And if you literalize it, you will go very far astray in your understandings!"

A prime textbook example of apocalyptic language lies in Psalm 18:

Psalm 18:4-11, "The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, [even] into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth [angry]. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured:.....He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness [was] under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him [were] dark waters [and] thick clouds of the skies."

David here is actually describing a historical event in an apocalyptic, symbolic manner. The historical event described is his flight from the anger of King Saul. And, yet, when the Bible describes this event in literal terms, none of the things that David described happened! Why? Because David is not describing it in a literal manner! The Lord did not aid David by physically riding down from heaven on an angel, breathing smoke and fire. It is meant to be symbolic, or apocalyptic.

Once again, Jesus’ description of His coming is in the same genre, apocalyptic literature. He describes His Second Coming in much the same was David described God’s intervention in delivering him from Saul.

Jesus, in Matthew 24, describes Himself as "coming in the clouds". Clouds, in apocalyptic language, denote God’s presence (like the Shekinah glory cloud in the Temple), and many times they denote a coming in judgment on a rebellious nation. A prime example of this is found in Isaiah:

Isaiah 19:1, "Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it."
This, too, is a description of a historical event, when God judged Egypt. Yet, consider how God accomplished it: He sent the foreign Assyrian army to destroy Egypt. God did not actually ride in on a physical cloud! That would be absurd. Jesus’ coming in the clouds was in the same manner: He sent the Roman armies to destroy Jerusalem.

Matthew 24:29-30 also describes celestial disaster—the darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars, and the shaking of the heavens. This, too, is apocalyptically (symbolically) described. In fact, the Old Testament often speaks of the fall of nations as a shaking of the heavens or a fall of celestial bodies (see the prophecies for the fall of Babylon, Is. 13:9-10; the fall of Egypt, Ez. 32:7-8; and an earlier fall of Israel,

Amos 8:9).

A literal interpretation of Jesus’ words about celestial disaster would not only be absolutely absurd and scientifically impossible, but it would be absolutely destructive to the intended meaning of the prophecy. Thomas Scott comments on this prophecy:

"The darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars, and the shaking of the powers of the heavens, denote the utter extinction of the light of prosperity and privilege to the Jewish nation; the unhinging of their whole constitution in church and state; the violent subversion of the authority of their princes and priests; the abject miseries to which the people in general, especially their chief persons, would be reduced; and the moral or religious darkness to which they would be consigned."

Another event Christ associates with His return in Matthew 24:29-31 is the gathering of His elect "from the four winds". This verse is commonly used to support the idea of a future rapture of believers. This gathering is seen by preterists, though, as a spiritual fulfillment that was accomplished in AD 70. Instead of rapture, this gathering of the elect speaks of the spread of the gospel to the nations of the world.

The word "angels" in this passage is angelos, in addition to referring to actual supernatural angels, can also mean simply "messengers", like John the Baptist, Haggai, and Malachi. (see II Chron. 26:15, Hag. 1:13, Mal. 2:7, Matt. 11:10, James 2:25). Thus, it is possible that the angels Christ referred to in His prophecy of the gathering are simply the Apostles and first century evangelists.
Concerning the Great Trumpet that is used in gathering the elect, Gary De Mar comments:

"The ‘great trumpet’ of verse 31 is the call of the gospel. It refers to Numbers 10:1-10, where silver trumpets were made to call the people together for worship and to set them on their march... Matthew 24:31 draws on Old Testament imagery: trumpet, four winds, from one end of the sky to another. The trumpet is symbolic of a great work about to commence, the great gathering of God’s people into a new nation. A gathering of Jews met in a synagogue. Judaism, in its rejection of Christ, had become ‘a synagogue of Satan’ (Rev. 2:9, 3:9). The true synagogue of God—the church—is made up of believing Jews and Gentiles. The elect are scattered around the world... God heralds the great ingathering of His elect from every tribe, tongue, and nation by sending His gospel messengers into the world (John 11:51-52, Rev. 7:9)."

The Fig Tree and This Generation

Matthew 24:32-34, "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

Jesus now begins to reveal the time of His Second Coming to the disciples. He teaches them that they will know the nearness of His coming by studying the times and seasons—like someone observing a fig tree could know that summer is near if they see newly grown leaves. The disciples were to be watchful, and even though they couldn’t know the exact time, date, or hour (Matthew 24:36), they could know its nearness by observing the world around them.

However, Jesus does give them a definite time indicator. He presents them with a very simple time frame within which the fulfillment of "all these things" He described would take place. It was to be within that generation. And it did happen, within 40 years (a Biblical generation) of Jesus’ prophecies. This is one of the most striking vindication of Jesus’ Godhood and reliability I have ever come across—and yet so many Christians deny these incredible fulfillments!

Conclusion: So, where are we now?

The most common objection to the full preterist position is that it seems to reduce the period after Christ’s coming to a kind of limbo of eternal non-fulfillment. Full preterism, they say, allows for no final conclusion to history. It is a given both by preterists and futurists alike that we will live in an eternal state after the Second Coming (so this point does not need to be proved). Full preterists believe that, since the Second Coming has already occurred and redemption is complete, we have an indefinitely long period ahead of us. We now live in the presence of Christ forever (both partly in this world and fully when we get to heaven):

Revelation 21:3, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God."

This belief is based upon Moses’ and David’s statements that God keeps His covenants unto a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 105:8). When Christ came, he brought in the New Covenant and He now dwells with us in this covenant world (the New Heavens and Earth and the New Jerusalem). If we take Moses’ and David’s statements literally, how long would 1,000 generations be? 40,000 years? Most likely they meant it as an understatement. Either way we have a long future ahead of us. Ed Stevens comments:

"In the future, perhaps even as little as 5,000 years from now, Christians in this century will be regarded as ‘the early Church.’ After all, in the year 7,000, we in the year 1997 will have been much closer to the time of Jesus than they will be. Therefore, 1,997 years will seem like a drop in the bucket, time-wise..." This is absolutely unfathomable for us to fully comprehend right now. But let it not be said that this period will be a "limbo of eternal non-fulfillment." Ed Stevens again comments:

"In fact, based on Ezekiel 47’s vision of the little trickle of water that issues forth from the New Temple, and goes 4,000 cubits before it becomes the overflowing river of the water of life that heals the nations, it might be just as reasonable to suggest that the full development of the Church’s basic understanding... might go on for another 2,000 years (for a total of 4,000 years [cubits]) before the early Church phase is finished. Maybe we are only ‘knee-deep’ in it at this point? We have only just begun."

Preterists do not believe in some pessimistic, escapist view of prophecy. Instead, based on passages such as Ezekiel 47, there is reason to believe that the Gospel will be successful in transforming the world ("the healing of the nations", Revelation 22:2). The gates of the New Jerusalem will always be open, welcoming people into eternal life:

Isaiah 60:11, "Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought."
Some will ask at this point, "Has God taken sin and death and sickness out of the world yet?" This is a good question and it is based partly on this verse:

Revelation 21:4, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Notice that this verse speaks of the passing away of death, sorrow, crying, and pain in the New City (the covenant dwelling of the Church); yet it doesn’t speak of the passing away of sin out of the world. Instead, Revelation affirms that the world after the Second Coming will certainly have sinners outside of the New City that will never enter because their names are not in the Lamb’s Book of Life, i.e. sinners outside of the faith of Christ (Revelation 21:27, 22:14-5).

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