Jirair Tashjian: The Second Coming “When writers and preachers make such a big fuss about the Second Coming and the end of the world, they are forgetting something much more important. They are in effect minimizing the First Coming. In a real sense the world ended some two thousand years ago in Jesus. Something decisive happened for humanity and for our relationship with God in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.” [The destruction of the veil provesde jure fulfillment] // “For Christ has appeared, and in him the shadows have given way to the perfect and abiding reality.”
“It is time to speak out because Christian Zionism has become a formidable and dangerous movement. By portraying the modern state of Israel as God’s chosen people on earth, the role of the church has been reduced in the eyes of many to providing moral and biblical justification for Israel’s colonization of Palestine. Those who oppose her are demonized. While not all Christian Zionists endorse the apocalyptic views of Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye, the movement as a whole is nevertheless leading the West, and the church with it, into a confrontation with Islam. Using biblical terminology to justify a pre-emptive global war against the `axis of evil’ merely reinforces stereotypes, fuels extremism, incites fundamentalism and increases the likelihood of nuclear war.” Zion’s Christian Soldiers
Re-inking the Pen: Concerning scribal errors “This article argues that the constant necessity to re-ink one’s pen provided the opportunity for scribal distraction at the level of eye, memory, judgement and pen, and would thus have been an occasion for the introduction of unintentional copying errors. This conclusion is suggested by writing practices in antiquity and confirmed by several striking examples in P. Oxy. 657 (=P13) where observable re-inking practices correlate with the introduction of new singular readings.”
Leicester Ambrose Sawyer The Elements of Biblical Interpretation (1834, Presbyterian; Martinsburg, NY) ” those interpretations…which refer, all the predictions contained in them, to the destruction of the city of Jerusalem” / The Elements of Biblical Interpretation: Containing a Brief Exposition of the Fundamental Principles and Rules of this Science “12. Those interpretations of prophecy in which the events supposed to be pointed out, do not correspond to the prediction, must be false. This rule shows the fallacy and incorrectness of those interpretations of the 24th and 25th of Matthew, which refer, all the predictions contained in them, to the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by the Romans, and to contemporaneous and preceding events.
The prophetic account of the advent of Christ, given in those chapters, and of the general judgment in which all nations are to be concerned, and their destinies of weal or woe decided upon, has nothing in the history of the destruction of Jerusalem, and contemporaneous events, which answers to it. There was no visible advent of Christ at the destruction of Jerusalem; there was no general judgment at that time more than at other times; there was no receiving of the righteous into glory, and banishment of the wicked into hell, at that time, more than at other times. For these reasons, therefore, as well as others, we may conclude, that all the predictions contained in these chapters did not receive their fulfillment at the time referred to.” // “The 24th chapter of Matthew has been enveloped in needless obscurity by a neglect of this rule. The subjects treated of in that chapter, are mentioned in the 2d and 3d verses—the destruction of Jerusalem, the future coming, or second advent of Christ, and the end of the world ; events perfectly distinct, though treated of continuously.” (p 58)
Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran Sectarian Writings, Philo, Josephus (1984; Ed Michael E. Stone) “The scrolls appear more or less related in spirit to a group of writings transmitted by Christianity and known as the Pseudepigrapha. Yet another group are the Apocrypha, closely related to later biblical writings and incorporated within the Greek Old Testament.”
2/12/15:
Sizer: New Heresy “In 2006, I drafted what became known as the Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism signed by four of the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem: His Beatitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch, Jerusalem; Archbishop Swerios Malki Mourad, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, Jerusalem; Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East; and Bishop Munib Younan, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. In it they insisted:
“We categorically reject Christian Zionist doctrines as a false teaching that corrupts the biblical message of love, justice and reconciliation. “
Francis X. Gummerlock: Revelation and the First Century – Among the many new insights gained in this book, you will read from many early and medieval Christians who believed:
John wrote Revelation before A.D. 70
“The hour of testing” (Rev 3:10) occurred immediately after the death of Nero
The Emperor Titus was one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse
The seal and trumpet judgments were fulfilled in the Roman-Judean war
The Roman Emperor Nero was the beast of Revelation 13
Nero’s name was used in calculation of the number of the beast, 666
Perhaps even more impressive, Dr. Gumerlock has combed through dozens of ancient manuscripts that have never before been translated into English. Revelation and the First Century will lead to a number of historical reassessments of Bible prophecy.
Nate DuBois: Understanding the “Mortal Body” of Scripture “The “mortal body” that would be given life (Rom 8:11) is the soul. The “flesh” that would be made alive, that was dead at the present time that Paul wrote Romans 8, was the soul. He was a prisoner to the “law of sin” because his soul was dead and he could not, in his dead state, stop the physical acts of sinning. It was a war he fought daily and why he said he daily had to crucify his “flesh,” which was obviously not a literal statement, and live according to the spirit.”
Church History: The Annals of Eutychius of Alexandria (10th c. AD) – chapter 9 “In the second year of his reign there was made bishop of Jerusalem James, son of Joseph, called “brother of our Lord,” who was the first of the bishops who then followed in Jerusalem. He held the seat for twenty-eight years. The disciples suffered great tribulations at the hands of the Jews and the Romans, and many of them were killed. ”
Hardy on the Prophecies (1770) Counter-Preterism. Theological preterism was the “general opinion”:
“With regard to some prophecies, he ventures to oppose what has been the general opinion, supported by the suffrage of very learned men, concerning their explication and accomplishment: thus concerning the predictions of Christ which are commonly supposed to have received their fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, he fays, ‘This prophecy was delivered very opportunely to strengthen the faith and hope of the disciples, and to render their confidence in him^ especially after his resurrection, steady and unshaken. And it is our own fault, if we make not this use of it at this very day. For the prophecy, as I believe, concerns us, and the generations that are future, as well as it concerned the Apostles, and contains irresistable persuasions to perseverance in our warfare. -—You will perceive then, that I am for extending this prophecy of our blessed Saviour’s long beyond the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.’
Charles Leslie (1755) The case of the Jews, considered with respect to Christianity, by the author of Deism refuted “And Corn. Tacit. (Hist 1.5.) speaks almost the same words, telling of the great Prodigies, which preceded the Destruction of Jerusalem: He says, That many undersood them as the Forerunners of that extraordinary Person, whom the antient Books of the Priests did foretel should come, about that Time, from Judea, and obtain the Dominion.”
“The most recent addition to this genre, Finkelstein argues, is Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz’s bestseller, The Case for Israel.
The core analysis of Beyond Chutzpah sets Dershowitz’s assertions on Israel’s human rights record against the findings of the mainstream human rights community. Sifting through thousands of pages of reports from organizations such as Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and Human Rights Watch, Finkelstein argues that Dershowitz has misrepresented the facts.”
2/10/15:
Frank Budlong: Harvard Textbook (1899) “The Destruction of Jerusalem / “So fell Jerusalem. Its destruction was not only a fulfillment of prophecy, but it also transmits to us its own impressive lesson — “righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Cult sites discovered in Israel “Some 100 prehistoric “cult sites,” complete with penis stone structures and artifacts with vulva shapes cut into them, have been discovered in the Eilat Mountains, an extremely arid area of the Negev Desert in Israel.”
Is a secret rapture in the Bible? “While many Bible prophecies have dual fulfillments, “the abomination of desolation” has three. The first occurred in 167 BC, when Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes offered a pig to the Greek god Zeus on the Temple altar in Jerusalem. The second fulfillment is a type of what Christ referred to in Matthew 24:15, when Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. The third fulfillment—the main one—is now imminent!”
Mummy mask may reveal oldest known gospel “A text that may be the oldest copy of a gospel known to exist — a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that was written during the first century, before the year 90 — is set to be published. / At present, the oldest surviving copies of the gospel texts date to the second century (the years 101 to 200.”
1/10/15:
Archaeologists Uncover Possible Royal Escape Tunnel at Biblical Site “Excavations of the remains of the later city, that of Bethsaida, have yielded numerous finds confirming the site’s occupation during the time of Jesus and his disciples and after their deaths, such as a Roman temple and associated artifacts dated to the early 1st century CE, other structures, fishing and cooking implements, and coins. Most recently, in 2014, a rare Judaea capta coin was discovered, a coin minted by Emperor Domitian between 81 and 96 CE to commemorate the conquest of Judaea and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE by emperors Vespasian and Titus.”
1/5/15:
Failed Messiah: Leading Archeologist Says Giant Building Stones At Base Of Temple Mount Near Kotel Not Caused By Destruction of Second Temple “The heap of large building stones piled next to the southern section of the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem didn’t get there through the Roman destruction of the Second Temple, despite the fact that official signs, books, tour guides and archaeologists have for decades said the opposite.Instead, Shimon Gibson, the British-born Senior Associate Fellow at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem and an adjunct Professor of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, now says these walls toppled almost than 300 years after the Second Temple’s destruction in the major earthquake that devastated Jerusalem in 363 CE.”
1/4/15:
Christians in the Roman Army: Countering the Pacifist Narrative “From the conversion of Cornelius at about AD 39 to AD 173, we have absolutely no sources referencing Christian participation in the army… In 173, we have a story that would be easy to dismiss were it not documented by five sources. ” http://gatesofnineveh.wordpress.com/…/christians-in-the-rom… (Pic: Mosaic on the floor of an early Christian church within the Roman army fortress at Megiddo.)
1/1/15:
List of false prophecies and failed predictions I am fed up with all these stupid predictions that never came through. So I decided to compile predictions from this website and from other sources and bust them one by one.
Times of Israel: Anti-semitism makes me question Jews’ future in UK “Netanyahu’s constitutional change would define Israel as “the nation state of one people only – the Jewish people – and of no other people”. / Danny Cohen, who is the director of BBC Television, claimed that anti-Semitism has become so bad that he has to question the long-term future for Jews in Britain.”
HuffPost: Exploding Jerusalem ‘if Christian Zionists… do not stop supporting and encouraging these provocations, they will be complicit in what may erupt.’
“But there is one more thing that’s even more important. American Christian Zionists have not been helpful. For them, the building of the “Third Temple” is a part of an imagined prophesy fantasy that has taken churches by storm. They speak loudly about the need to build this temple, the prophesied war that will erupt, and the conclusion of history with the Second Coming of Jesus. And they send millions of dollars to Zionist organizations to help advance this fantasy and the resulting conflagration to come true. Lord have mercy.”
Two millennia after the sack of jerusalem what does history tell us “Joseph, or Josephus as be became known, lived through the most turbulent period of the Jewish-Roman wars, and — to the joy of later historians — loved writing as much as he enjoyed talking about himself. He had a very high opinion of everything he did, and clearly saw himself at the centre of events. That said, his boastful personality is inextricably linked to the extraordinary life he led, and to his unique closeness to the decision makers on both sides of the war. Whatever one thinks of his character or actions, his eye for detail and his fascination with the politics driving Rome and Jerusalem make him one of the most immediate and exciting writers of the first century.”
America Has Been Warned (Hermeneutic of History) “Gibbon begins his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire with a look at the ruins of the Roman Forum—once the vital hub of the Republic, then of the Empire. But many centuries later, he recorded, the Forum had disappeared as an urban center; the once-important public space was now just ruins, overgrown with petty farming and overrun by farm animals”
11/6/14:
jpost.com: Christian Insecurity: The Problem of the Second Coming “In other words since people are expected to make mistakes, Jesus in human form also would be prone to this failing. But where does that leave Christian promises? If Paul, the “father” of the religion was wrong about Jesus Return then where does that leave Paul’s promise of Eternal Life in Jesus? And if even Jesus, Son of God and the Christ was mistaken… Does Christianity just come down to a roll of dice, another instance of Pascal’s Wager? “
10/14/14:
Event: Friday (10/17/14) on TBN’s “The Church Channel”: John Noe‘s excellent ‘Synthesis Eschatology’
Theologian claims rapture proponents all wrong “William Lane Craig of ReasonableFaith.org is an outspoken critic of the rapture theory, which serves as the basis for recently released Hollywood thrillers like “The Remaining” and “Left Behind.” But in an interview this week, he specifically addressed some of the verses in the Bible that he believes rapture enthusiasts interpret incorrectly when addressing the end times and the second coming.”
Philip Schaff: “The Didache aptly closes with an exhortation to watchfulness and readiness for the coming of the Lord, as the goal of the Christian’s hope. The sixteenth chapter is an echo of the eschatological discourses in the Synoptical Gospels, especially the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, with the exception of those features which especially refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.”
“The Synoptical Gospels were written before AD70, and hence contain no hint at the fulfilment, which could hardly have been avoided had they been written later.”
Christian History: AD50-150 – P.Oxy. 1224“W[h]at [is] the ne[w] doct[rine] [that they say] [you] te[ach]” / “It seems an independent Gospel”
Free Online Books:John Home (1737) The Scripture History of the Jews, and Their Republick (PDF) “Nor did he cease till he made a final End and Dissolution of the Jewish Oeconomy, which St. Peter calls the End of all things (I Pet. iv. 7) and St. James, the Coming of the Lord (Jam. v.8) and which our Saviour calls the Coming of the Son of Man (Mat. xiv. 27,28) the last of which verses may probably be an Allusion to the Roman Eagle, which was the Ensign of the Roman Empire.” (p. 303)
10/4/14:
Solzhenitsyn book infuriates Russian Jews| Discussion“In the book, “Two Hundred Years Together,” Solzhenitsyn, 84, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970 for being the first to expose the horrors of the Stalinist gulag [the chain of brutal Soviet prison camps where he was imprisoned], deals with one of the last taboos of the communist revolution: that Jews were as much perpetrators of the repression as its victims.”
10/5/14:
The Antichrist and the Muslim Mahdi “Muslims see the Mahdi as a savior who will lead a global revolution and establish a worldwide Islamic empire. The Mahdi will rule the Earth as the final Caliph of Islam (a caliph is both a political ruler and a spiritual representative of Allah on Earth).”
HuffPost: Nobody is getting left behind We are absolutely living in the last days, but as my professor said so long ago, we have been ever since Jesus walked about of the tomb on Easter morning.
Joseph Mattera: 3 Last-Days Views That Lead to Massive Deception: Hyper Preterism (2014) “Although I agree with some form of preterism (for example, many of the prophecies of Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation were fulfilled with the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70), the problems I have with this view regarding eschatology are the following”
4/11/14:
Pope Benedict XVI on Origen: “He was a true teacher.” “I invite you to welcome the teachings of this great teacher of the faith into your hearts.”
F.W. Farrar – “The more merciful opinions on some of these subjects, though notorious, and though even by that time they had been continually discussed, were not condemned by the first four General Councils; were in the case of the two Gregories never condemned at all; were not (as I shall endeavour to show) distinctly condemned (as his other errors were) even in the case of Origen; did not so much as come into discussion (as is sometimes falsely asserted) at the Fifth Oecumenical Council; and were spoken of at first, even by those who did not share in them, with perfect calmness and toleration.”“Mercy and Judgment”
Philip Schaff “Did the Fifth Synod examine the case of Origen and finally adopt the XV. Anathemas against him which are usually found assigned to it? It would seem that with the evidence now in our possession it would be the height of rashness to give a dogmatic answer to this question. Scholars of the highest repute have taken, and do take to-day, the opposite sides of the case, and each defends his own side with marked learning and ability. To my mind the chief difficulty in supposing these anathematisms to have been adopted by the Fifth Ecumenical is that nothing whatever is said about Origen in the call of the council, nor in any of the letters written in connexion with it; all of which would seem unnatural had there been a long discussion upon the matter, and had such an important dogmatic definition been adopted as the XV.” Cite
Roger Pearse “Now I was under the impression, rightly or wrongly, that the Council of Constantinople held by Justinian had condemned Origenism, and perhaps anathematised Origen himself, depending on some text-critical questions. To pronounce a man anathema 300 years after he died in the peace of the church, and died moreover from the effects of torture in confessing Christ, would be morally wrong of course.”
WWCOG Recognizes Jesus Christ as fulfillment of the Sabbath & the Old Covenant (aka AD30 Preterism). “Jesus came as the climax, the conclusion, and the very reason for the old covenant.”
“I’ve been doing some cleaning-house (or rather cleaning-office), and I came across an article I used to read in my old sabbath-keeping sermon. The following are excerpts from Editor in Chief, Joseph W. Tkach, article “The Sabbath Rest in Christ” on page 1 of the August 1995 issue of the Worldwide Church of God’s magazine, “The Plain Truth”:
“The Worldwide Church of God [has] changed its historical position as a strict seventh-day (Saturday) Sabbath-keeping fellowship. … It no longer holds to the doctrine that the old covenant Sabbath commandment is binding on Christians.
“The Church’s new doctrinal position resulted from a careful, prayerful, and honest study of the scriptural teaching.
“The Worldwide Church of God has come to understand that the New Testament affirms that the law (all the law, not selected parts of it) … that none of it is valid and binding for Christians ‘apart from’ its fulfillment in Christ. … In other words, the key to interpreting the validity of the Old Testament laws for Christians is understanding how they are fulfilled in Christ.
“Jesus came as the climax, the conclusion, and the very reason for the old covenant. The old covenant pointed to Him, not He to it. It existed to foreshadow Him, not He to reestablish it. And once He came, it became obsolete.
The Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. That means they must be interpreted in light of God’s supreme act of salvation in Him. Our former doctrinal framework resorted to the opposite. … We now understand that this flaw in interpretation led to all sorts of wrong conclusions and the imposition of a ‘form of godliness’ that denied the power of the Savior.”
4/6/14:
Dr. Stephen Sizer: Christian Zionism: The Heresy that Undermines Middle East Peace (2004) “Christian Zionism is the largest, most controversial and most destructive lobby within Christianity. It bears primary responsibility for perpetuating tensions in the Middle East, justifying Israel’s apartheid colonialist agenda and for undermining the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.”
Christian Friends of Israel: The Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism “Christian Zionism is not heretical; in fact, Christians from all traditional backgrounds have held such a view for two thousand years.”
Sizer: Christian Zionism is “an exclusive theology driving a political agenda which elevates one nation over others, rather than an inclusive theology centered on Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. In its worst forms, Christian Zionism uses the Bible to justify racial superiority, land expropriation, home demolitions, population transfer, colonial settlements, the denial of international law, and the dehumanization of Arabs. It fuels not only Islamophobia but also anti-Semitism and Islamist retaliation against Christians.”
K.C. Boyd: God’s Foreign Policy: Christian Zionism (2012) “When John Hagee, Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee talk about the “ingathering,” they’re using coded language that refers to the Christian Zionist yearning for a battle—which may come in the form of a nuclear holocaust.”
(Video) Christian Zionism: The Tragedy and The Turning, Part I (Full Documentary) Are you a Christian Zionist? Take the litmus test: “Do you believe that the modern state of Israel is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy?”
David Durell “AD70=Second Coming” quote in 1763 – “But other Parts of Scripture and the Event shewn us, that Christ’s Second Coming, and the Dissolution of the Jewish State are one and the same Thing… The Destruction of Jerusalem by Vespasian, which put an end to the Jewish Government, is so well known in Scripture by Christ’s, or the Son of Man’s, Coming, that it were lost Time to endeavour to prove it, it being mentioned no less than seven Times in one Chapter under that Image.” (The Hebrew text of the parallel prophecies of Jacob and Moses relating to the twelve tribes, p. 67)
M. Cooper “AD70=Second Advent” quote from 1745 – “As oft as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup, ye shew forth the Lord’s Death till he come. Which words, till he come, that they lay a particular Emphasis upon; understanding them, either to speak of Christ’s gracious coming in the Hearts of Believers, or of his vindictive Advent at the Destruction of Jerusalem.” (A Dissertation on the Voluntary Eating of Blood, p. 89)
With that cite for synne it stood so tho,
That yif Romeyns be marcial violence
Hadde nat komen & doon hem al this wo,
The erthe sholde han opnid & ondo,
Deuoured the peeple, void of al refuge,
Or drowned the toun be sum sodeyn deluge.
Breefli to passe, this vengaunce most terrible
Doon upon Iewes for ther transgressioun,
For ther demerites the punshyng most horrible,
Of Iherusalem fynal subuersioun,
Of the temple, tabernacle & toun,
In Iosephus, who list seen al the deede,—
De bello Iudaico, the surplus he may reede.
“Christ, if I am capable of discerning any thing, distinctly answers two distinct questions. – The coming of Christ many do not distinguish from the end of the world, being, I apprehend, deceived by the ambiguity of the word; for it is most certain, that the word parousia [or coming] has a diversity of acceptation. – I here interpret it, not of the Judgment, but of THE KINGDOM of the Messiah.”
John’s Revelation – “And there were noises and thundering and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.” (16:18)
Josephus – “for there broke out a prodigious storm in the night, with the utmost violence, and very strong winds, with the largest showers of rain, with continued lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing concussions and bellowings of the earth, that was in an earthquake. These things were a manifest indication that some destruction was coming upon men, when the system of the world was put into this disorder; and any one would guess that these wonders foreshowed some grand calamities that were coming” (“Wars of the Jews” 4:4:5)
John’s Revelation – “Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” (16:19)
Josephus – “it so happened that the sedition at Jerusalem was revived, and parted into three factions, and that one faction fought against the other; which partition in such evil cases may be said to be a good thing, and the effect of divine justice.” (5:1:1)
John’s Revelation – “And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent.” (16:21)
Josephus – “Now the stones that were cast were of the weight of a talent, and were carried two furlongs and further. The blow they gave was no way to be sustained, not only by those that stood first in the way, but by those that were beyond them for a great space. As for the Jews, they at first watched the coming of the stone, for it was of a white color, and could therefore not only be perceived by the great noise it made, but could be seen also before it came by its brightness;” (5:6:3)
David Chilton: Rare David Chilton Lecture Series “The Days of Vengeance”The Days of Vengeance is an extraordinary exposition of the book of Revelation and has undoubtedly been welcomed as a cool drenching rain upon a dry, thirsty ground. Long parched and impoverished by speculative spectacularization, the evangelical scholastic wilderness can do naught but soak in Chilton’s careful and literate commentary. The Days of Vengeance is phenomenal. It is big (nearly 750 pages big, going where no commentary has dared to go before). It is brash (marshalling mountains of long forgotten evidence to the cause). It is a brazen bravura, a delight, a tour de force.
“This system of the teachings of prophetic events is known as Preterism. “Preterism is the eschatological system that teaches that most (modertate, or partial preterism), if not all (extreme, or plenary preterism), of Jesus’ predictions in the Olivet Discourse were fulfilled at the time of Jerusalem’s desolation and the temple’s destruction in A.D. 70.”[2] R.C. Sproul explains preterism as: “An eschatological viewpoint that places many or all eschatological events in the past, especially during the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. [Lawrence A. DeBruyn, “Preterism And ‘This Generation’” Bibliotheca Sacra 167 (April-June 2010): 180-200, 180.]” (Thanks to Michael Miano for heads-up)
“The topic entails another mode of interpreting Luke’s Gospel, complementing other accepted modes (apologetic, pastoral-horatory, doctrinal) and aptly describing described as “historical-typological.” This further mode is grounded in the preface to Luke’s presentation of his gospel as kind of history. It respects the narrative progression of Luke’s Gospel including some attention to the way in which he conditions his typed audience to reflect upon and personally to apply the intended lesson. The fate of Jerusalem is brought about by two major facts. First, the people are insensitive to the terms for peace. Although they are ostensibly favorable to Jesus’ teaching (as “Impressed unbelievers have been hitherto, and are warned rather than condemned, they will, as a matter of historical reality, perish for the more serious sins of others. Second, the rulers of the people (the Romans not excepted, but not considered as primarily responsible) have committed injustice and thus bring about the ruin of the people. The fate of Jerusalem, however, is not ultimately weighed as an event in itself – it is a sign for others, and is expressly related to time for (judgment of) nations.
All this proves to be relevant, parabolically, to Luke’s readership, a man of affluence and influence, educated, who is expected to perceive in “a history” what should be done and what should be avoided, to discern models of good and of evil, with their consequences for society as he knows it. In effect, Luke’s lesson apropos of his account of Jerusalem’s destruction is to be construed as a question prompted in the typed reader’s mind: If this is what happened to Jerusalem because of the way Jesus and those who represent him, his disciples, were treated, what will happen to my city/nation/society if he (and his followers, who stand for him) are treated similarly? What am I, as a respected man with some influence, expected to do?” (viii)
DANIEL’S WEEKS COMPLETELY FULFILLED BY AD70, TAUGHT BY WELL-RESPECTED MEN
“..Bishop of Dromore, to whom at his request I had sent an extra of the eight last verses of the Ninth chapter of Daniel, from the ancient version of the Seventy, lately discovered and published at Rome, most obligingly returned his acknowledgments with the following ingenious remarks.
“The numbers which in this version are found different from those in the common text he thinks, “may be thus accounted for. “Seventy weeks add seven weeks are 539 years. Now “Cyrus’s decree according to all the Chronologers was issued 536 years before Christ; and if we reckon by hebdomads of years, we cannot come nearer to Christ’s birth. Add to the sixty two years (mentioned ver. 26 and 27. in this Greek version) the surplus of three “years in the period of seventy seven weeks; and you “have the year LXV after Christ, the year immediately preceding the Jewish war.
This too is called “Christ’s coming, Matt. xvi. 28. xxiv. 3. &c. ( Thus the period of weeks refers to the birth of Christ “with a sufficient exactness for prophetical language; “and that of years marks his coming in another sense “with historical precision” Thus the year of our Lord LXX, “when the city was destroyed, and the sacrifice ceased, “was the middle year of the week.”
Origen: “The weeks of years, also, which the prophet Daniel had predicted, extending to the leadership of Christ, have been fulfilled” (Principles, 4:1:5).
Plus Two Dissertations ; with an original Exposition of the Book of Revelation.
the second on the interpretation of prophecy generally, with an original exposition of the book of Revelation, shewing that the whole of that remarkable prophecy has long ago been fulfilled.
FIGHTING FOR SUPREMACY: AD30/33 VS. AD68/70 (AND DON’T FORGET AD312 or 135 or 79)
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones “Christ is fulfilling the law on the cross, and unless you interpret the cross, and Christ’s death upon it, in strict terms of the fulfilling of the law you have not the scriptural view of the death upon the cross.” (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, p. 168)
“The work of James Stuart Russell in his book The Parousia is a great labor from a man of the experience of facing the system of the political and church combined operation. This political and church agreement is one of the main subjects of the book of Revelation and the whole gospel. The first century christian were facing the great Babylon. The 21 century christians are fighting with the same matter in a different situation. The new great Babylon is modern and systematic. They have the history as a mirror to look back and to avoid to make the same mistakes of the past. But in effect, as Christ confronted the system in his days the christians must fight the same. In this way the Apocalypse is repeated each time.” Juan C. Peña Marrero – Bayamón, Puerto Rico.
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Preterism in A.D. 611 :Andrew of Caesarea – On Revelation 6:14b-17: “Our Lord foretold the future events to the apostles who were asking about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and about the end of time, as much as they were able to receive. These things already happened, in the siege of Vespasian and Titus, to the Judeans who killed Christ, just as Josephus the Hebrew narrates.”
Scholars differ on what the Bible says about the End Times (2009) “The only views that qualify as unorthodox are those that deny a future coming of Christ” – Russell D. Moore, senior vice president for academic administration and dean of the theology school at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. [PreteristArchive.com’s classification for “Hyper Preterism” includes (quite reasonably) this doctrine of “The Second and Only Coming of Jesus in AD70″]
King James I (1588) “Of all the Scriptures, the buik of the Reuelatioun is maist meit for this our last age.. Iudge yif this be not ye tyme quhairof this place that I have maide chois of doeth meane, and sa ye dew tyme for the reueiling of this prophecie.” (Ane fuitfull Meditatioun contening ane plane and facill exposition of ye 7,8,9 and 10 versis of the 20 Chap. of the Reuelatioun – Edinburgh)
Hyper Preterism (HyP) – (Absolute Fulfillment of all Bible prophecy – Full Preterism and “Resurrection Past” Teachings; Full Preterism is systematized Hyper Preterism – All Full Preterism is Hyper Preterism, but not all Hyper Preterism is Full Preterism.)
AD70 is awesome! ..when used as a template of how Jesus has worked, is working, and will work. When seen as a single working 2,000 years ago… not so much.
FIGHTING FOR SUPREMACY: AD30/33 VS. AD68/70 (AND DON’T FORGET AD312 or 135 or 79)
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones “Christ is fulfilling the law on the cross, and unless you interpret the cross, and Christ’s death upon it, in strict terms of the fulfilling of the law you have not the scriptural view of the death upon the cross.” (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, p. 168)
My righteousness is near; My salvation went out; and My arms shall judge peoples; coastlands shall wait on Me, and they shall hope on My arm. (Isa 51:5 LITV)
Vengeance and retribution belong to Me; in due time their foot will slip; for the day of their calamity is near, and the things prepared are hurrying for them. (Deu 32:35 LITV)
Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is at hand. And it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. (Joe 1:15 LITV)
Blow a ram’s horn in Zion, and shout an alarm in My holy mountain. Let all those living in the land tremble. For the day of Jehovah approaches; it is near, (Joe 2:1 LITV)
For the day of Jehovah is near on all the nations: As you have done, it shall be done to you; your reward shall return on your head! (Oba 1:15 LITV)
King James I (1588) “Of all the Scriptures, the buik of the Reuelatioun is maist meit for this our last age.. Iudge yif this be not ye tyme quhairof this place that I have maide chois of doeth meane, and sa ye dew tyme for the reueiling of this prophecie.” (Ane fuitfull Meditatioun contening ane plane and facill exposition of ye 7,8,9 and 10 versis of the 20 Chap. of the Reuelatioun – Edinburgh)
Emperor Titus “God co-operates with us. — Their miseries, by your valor and God’s assistance, are multiplied. Their factions, famine, siege, and the falling of their walls without a battery, do they not manifest that God is angry with them, and assists us?” (Jewish Wars, l. vi. c. 1. 5.)
New 18th Century Modern Preterist: The Hugely Influential Gregory Sharpe, Chaplain to King George III and “Master” of the famed Temple Church
FREE ONLINE BOOKS: Dr. Gregory Sharpe – The Rise and Fall of the Holy City and Temple of Jerusalem An argument in defence of Christianity. Being the substance of a discourse preached at the Temple Church. (1764) “This great event is foretold by almost all the prophets. The destruction of Jerusalem is expressed by The GREAT DAY OF THE LORD”
The Contribution of British Writers Between 1560 and 1830 to the Interpretation of Revelation 13.16-18 – Chapter Five : 1649-1660 – Henry Hammond and the Preterist School of Interpretation “This volume contained a brave but lonely attempt to introduce the preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation to English soil. Hammond laid great stress on the opening words of the Apocalypse in which the book is said to contain ‘things which must shortly come to pass.’ .. But those who argued for the preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation.. were playing to empty galleries, until at least the fourth decade of the nineteenth century. Their views were anything but popular and those who followed them could soon find themselves branded with the infamous mark of the papal beast.” Others who followed: Herbert Thorndike / “author of an anonymous tract on the Millennium published in 1693 (“Millennianism : or, Christ’s Thousand Years Reign upon Earth, considered, in a Familiar Letter to a Friend”)” / Daniel Mace
Eusebius: “I am filled with wonder at the intellectual greatness of the emperor, who as if by divine inspiration thus expressed what the prophets had foretold concerning this monster”
Burlington, N.J. “Destruction of Jerusalem” (1807)
Butt, John Martin – The Revelation of St. John compared with itself, and the rest of Scripture (1804) ; A Commentary on the Prophecy of Daniel relating to the 70 Weeks (1807); A Commentary on the Last Vision of the Prophet Daniel (1808); The Divinity of the Apocalypse demonstrated by its fulfillment. (1809)
Clarke, Richard – A Discourse on the third day of the Gospel, compared with the seventh day of the Law. London (1794)
Clericus, Joan. Veteris Testamenti Prophetae ab Esaia ad Malachiam usque, ex translatione Joannis Clerici ; cum ejusdem commentario philologico &c. Amst. 1731
Cocceius, Joh. Prof. of Hebrew at Leyden. Comm. in prophetica Jeremiae et Ezekielis Amst. 1669.
Corrodi, Heinrich – A critical history of Chiliasm, or opinions respeecting the millennial reign of Christ. Zurich – First published anonymously in 1781.
Eichorn, Joh. Godf. – Commentarius in Apocalypsin Johannis. Gotting. 1791.
Faber, George Stanley. The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy. London 1828 (In this work, which is the last of Mr. Faber’s of any importance, he abandons much of the interpretation which he had previously published)
Full Preterist Millennium “violent and unnatural” “Some interpreters indeed attempt to get over the difficulty by supposing that the thousand years, being a symbolic number, may represent a period of very short duration, and so bring the whole within the prescribed apocalyptic limits; but this method of interpretation appears to us so violent and unnatural that we cannot hesitate to reject it. ” (p. 514)
Revelation 20:5-10 Still Unfulfilled “We must consequently regard this prediction of the loosing of Satan, and the events that follow, as still future, and therefore unfulfilled.” (p. 523)
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