Read Josephus, and see how the Romans destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. The words are remarkable in their awful force and accuracy. Only Omniscience could foresee and foretell so fully and faithfully the woes that were to befall the murderers and their city.

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C.H. Spurgeon
1834- 1892

“Read Josephus”

AD70: “His first coming to judgment”

It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering out of those who recognized the crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Saviour foresaw and foretold.

He told his disciples some things which related to the siege of Jerusalem, some which concerned his Second Advent, and some which would immediately precede “the end of the world.”

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RELEVANT WORKS:

• High Praise for “The Parousia” 
• 1857: C.H. Spurgeon: Spiritual Resurrection
• 1867: C.H. Spurgeon: Old Testament Saints, Members of the Church 
• 1883: C.H. Spurgeon, Sermons, V2 (pdf)
• 1885: C.H. Spurgeon: Israel And Britain. A Note of Warning – They went so far as to crucify him, and cried as they did so, “His blood be on us, and our children,” words so sadly verified when Jerusalem was destroyed, and her children slaughtered, sold as slaves, or scattered to the four corners of the earth. It was indeed, a terrible blindness which happened unto Israel. But although this blindness was a punishment for former sin, it was itself a sin. They willfully rejected the testimony of God against themselves; they refused the self-evident Christ who would so greatly have blessed them. This wilful rejection was carried out so effectually that it became impossible to convert and heal them; they could not be instructed, or reformed, and therefore they were given over to destruction. Nothing remained but to allow the Romans to burn the temple and plough the site of the city. It was a dreadful thing that they should deliberately choose destruction, and obstinately involve themselves in the most tremendous of woes. Poor Israel, we pity thee! It was sad indeed to fall from so great a height! Yet we are bound to admit that God dealt with thee justly, for thou didst choose thine own delusions. The Lord cries, “Oh that my people had harkened unto me.”
• 1890: C.H. Spurgeon: Commenting and Commentaries
• 2011: Sharon Nichols: Spurgeon, Justification and Full Preterism
• 2012: James Swann: Charles Spurgeon, Full-Preterism, and Figurative Language Those involved with Preterism appear to look for anything written by anybody in regard to A.D. 70 and the fall of Jerusalem (simply skim through the pages at the Preterist Archive).

RELEVANT WORK

• Dennis Swanson: The Eschatology of Spurgeon – While the terminology for amillennialism has been altered slightly since the time of Spurgeon, the essential features have remained the same. Those Spurgeon identified as “Preterist” would fit into the amillennial scheme.

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“I will not espouse the cause of the pre-millennial or the post-millennial advent” [“The Double Coming,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 27:390-91.}

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The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God

(On the Significance of A.D.70; Matthew 24:34)
“The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God.

Truly, the blood of the martyrs slain in Jerusalem was amply avenged when the whole city became a veritable Aceldama, or field of blood. It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering out of those who recognized the crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Saviour foresaw and foretold, and the prospect of which wrung from his lips and heart the sorrowful lament that followed his prophecy of the doom awaiting his guilty capital… Nothing remained for the King but to pronounce the solemn sentence of death upon those who would not come unto him that they might have life: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” The whole “house” of the Jews was left desolate when Jesus departed from them; and the temple, the holy and beautiful “house”, became a spiritual desolation when Christ finally left it. Jerusalem was too far gone to be rescued from its self-sought doom.” [Commentary on Matthew, p. 412,413]

“The King left his followers in no doubt as to when these things should happen: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” It was just about the ordinary limit of a generation when the Roman armies compassed Jerusalem, whose measure of iniquity was then full, and overflowed in misery, agony, distress, and bloodshed such as the world never saw before or since. Jesus was a true Prophet; everything that he foretold was literally fulfilled.” [The Gospel of the Kingdom, p.218]

(On the Church Triumphant; Increase of His Government – Isa 9:7)
“It would be easy to show that at our present rate of progress the kingdoms of this world never could become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Indeed, many in the Church are giving up the idea of it except on the occasion of the advent of Christ, which, as it chimes in with our own idleness, is likely to be a popular doctrine. I myself believe that King Jesus will reign, and the idols be utterly abolished; but I expect the same power which turned the world upside down once will still continue to do it. The Holy Ghost would never suffer the imputation to rest upon His holy name that He was not able to convert the world.”
[Taken from jacket of Paradise Restored]

(On the book, The Parousia)
“The second coming of Christ according to this volume had its fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem and the establishment of the gospel dispensation… Amidst the many comings of Christ spoken of in the New Testament that which is spoken of as a second, must, we think, be personal, and thus similar to the first; and such too must be the meaning of ‘his appearing.’ Though the author’s theory is carried too far, it has so much of truth in it, and throws so much new light upon obscure portions of the Scriptures, and is accompanied with so much critical research and close reasoning, that it can be injurious to none and may be profitable to all.” [Reprinted from the October 1878 issue of The Sword and the Trowel Magazine]

(On Forty Years and That Generation)
The Kingly Prophet foretold the time of the end: “Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering out of those who recognized the crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Savior foresaw and foretold, and the prospect of which wrung from his lips and heart the sorrowful lament that followed his prophecy of the doom awaiting his guilty capital.” (in loc.)

(On Matthew 16:28)
“If a child were to read this passage I know what he would think it meant: he would suppose Jesus Christ was to come, and there were some standing there who should not taste death until really and literally he did come.  This, I believe, is the plain meaning…  The third (interpretative possibility) still holds its ground and is currently received, though I believe it to be quite as far from the Truth of God as the others. Will you carefully read the chapter through at your leisure and see if you can find anything about the siege of Jerusalem in it? Yet this is the interpretation that finds favor at the present time!” [“An Awful Premonition” in 12 Sermons on the Second Coming of Christ – Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1976, 5]

(On Matthew 24:2)
“To them the appearance was glorious; but to their Lord it was a sad sight. His Father’s house, which ought to have been a house of prayer for all nations, had became a den of thieves, and soon would be utterly destroyed: Jesus said unto them, “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Josephus tells us that Titus at first tried to save the temple, even after it was set on fire, but his efforts were of no avail; and at last he gave orders that the whole city and temple should be levelled, except a small portion reserved for the garrison. This was so thoroughly done that the historian says that “there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited.” [Spurgeon, “An Awful Premonition” in 12 Sermons on the Second Coming of Christ – Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1976, 5]

(On Matthew 24:4)
“They were to beware lest any of the pretended Messiahs should lead them astray, as they would pervert many others. A large number of impostors came forward before the destruction of Jerusalem, giving out that they were the anointed of God”

(On Matthew 24:15-21 , the Abomination of Desolation)
“This portion of our Saviour’s words appears to relate solely to the destruction of Jerusalem. As soon as Christ’s disciples saw “the abomination of desolation,” that is, the Roman ensigns, with their idolatries, “stand in the holy place,” they knew that the time for their escape had arrived; and they did flee to the mountains.” [Matthew: The Gospel of the Kingdom. . p. 215]

(On Matthew 24:16)
“The Christians in Jerusalem and the surrounding towns and villages, “in Judea “, availed themselves of the first opportunity for eluding the Roman armies, and fled to the mountain city of Pella, in Perea, where they were preserved from the general destruction which overthrew the Jews. There was no time to spare before the final investment of the guilty city; the man “on the house-top” could “not come down to take anything out of his house”, and the man “in the field” could not “return back, to take his clothes.” They must flee to the mountains in the greatest haste the moment that they saw “Jerusalem compassed with armies.” (Luke 21:20).”

(On Matthew 24:17)
“Then shall the end come.” Before Jerusalem was destroyed, “this gospel of the kingdom.” was probably “preached in all the world” so far as it was then known..”

(On Matthew 24:21)
“For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Read the record written by Josephus of the destruction of Jerusalem, and see how truly our Lord’s words were fulfilled. The Jews impiously said, concerning the death of Christ, “His blood be on us, and on our children.” Never did any other people invoke such an awful curse upon themselves, and upon no other nation did such a judgment ever fall. We read of Jews crucified till there was no more wood for making crosses; of thousands of the people slaying one another in their fierce faction fights within the city; of so many of them being sold for slaves that they became a drug in the market, and all but valueless; and of the fearful carnage when the Romans at length entered the doomed capital; and the blood-curdling story exactly bears out the Savior’s statement uttered nearly forty years before the terrible events occurred.” [Commentary on Matthew, p. 412,413]

(On Matthew 24:29)
“Our Lord appears to have purposely mingled the prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and his own second coming, so that there should be nothing in his words to satisfy idle curiosity,” [Matthew: The Gospel of the Kingdom. p. 217]

(On Matthew 24:32-33)
“Our Lord here evidently returns to illuminate the subject of the destruction of Jerusalem, and in these words gives his apostles warning concerning the signs of the times. He had recently used the barren fig tree as an object-lesson; he now bids his disciples “learn a parable of the fig tree” and all the trees (Luke 21:31). God’s great book of nature is full of illustrations for those who have eyes to perceive them; and the Lord Jesus, the great Creator, often made use of its illuminated pages in conveying instruction to the minds of his hearers. On this occasion, he used a simple simile from the parable of the fig-tree: “When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.” They could not mistake so plain a token of the near return of summer; and Jesus would have them read quite as quickly the signs that were to herald the coming judgment on Jerusalem: “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” The Revised Version has the words, “Know ye that he is nigh,” the Son of man, the King. His own nation rejected him when he came in mercy; so his next coming would be a time of terrible judgment and retribution to his guilty capital. Oh, that Jews and Gentiles today were wise enough to learn the lesson of that fiery trial, and to seek his face, those wrath they cannot bear!”

(On Matthew 22:7)
“In these terrible words, the siege of Jerusalem, the massacre of the people, and the destruction of their capital are all described. “When the king heard thereof, he was wroth. The King had reached the utmost limit of his forbearance and long-suffering patience. “The cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” overflowed when he heard how his servants had been maltreated and slain; and: he sent forth his armies. The Roman emperor thought that he was sending his armies against the Jews; but he was, unconsciously, working out the eternal purposes of the most High God, even as the kings of Assyria and Babylon had been, in the olden time, the instruments by which the Lord had punished his rebellious people (see Isaiah 10:5, Jeremiah 25:9).

“The cruel executioners did their terrible work in the most thorough manner. Read Josephus, and see how the Romans destroyed: those murderers, and burned up their city. The words are remarkable in their awful force and accuracy. Only Omniscience could foresee and foretell so fully and faithfully the woes that were to befall the murderers and their city.”

(On The ‘Millennial Reign’ of Christ)
“Those who wish to see the arguments upon the unpopular side of the great question at issue, will find them here; this is probably one of the ablest of the accessible treatises from that point of view. We cannot agree with Mr. Young, neither can we refute him. It might tax the ingenuity of the ablest prophetical writers to solve all the difficulties here started, and perhaps it would be unprofitable to attempt the task.” [Review of Short Arguments about the Millennium; or plain proofs for plain Christians that the coming of Christ will not be pre-millennial; that his reign will not be personal, B. C. Young. In The Sword and Trowel 1:470 (October 1867).]

(On the “Israel of God”)
“Difference of dispensation does not involve a difference of covenant; and it is according to the covenant of grace that all spiritual blessings are bestowed. So far as dispensations reach they indicate degrees of knowledge, degrees of privilege, and variety in the ordinances of worship. The unity of the faith is not affected by these, as we are taught in the eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. The faithful of every age concur in looking for that one city, and that city is identically the same with the New Jerusalem described in the Apocalypse as “a bride adorned for her husband.” [“There be some that Trouble You,” in The Sword and Trowel, (March 1867), 120.]

(On Luke 21:28-31)
“But all that time, —the most awful time, perhaps that any nation ever endured,— the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were altogether unharmed. It is recorded that they fled to the little city of Pella, were quiet according to their Lord’s command, and that not a hair on their head perished.” (Joyful Anticipation of the Second Advent, 42:603.)

(On the New Heavens and Earth)
“Did you ever regret the absence of the burnt-offering, or the red heifer, of any one of the sacrifices and rites of the Jews? Did you ever pine for the feast of tabernacle, or the dedication? No, because, though these were like the old heavens and earth to the Jewish believers, they have passed away, and we now live under a new heavens and a new earth, so far as the dispensation of divine teaching is concerned. The substance is come, and the shadow has gone: and we do not remember it.” (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. xxxvii, p. 354).

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“And there was no more sea.” —Revelation 21:1

Scarcely could we rejoice at the thought of losing the glorious old ocean: the new heavens and the new earth are none the fairer to our imagination, if, indeed, literally there is to be no great and wide sea, with its gleaming waves and shelly shores. Is not the text to be read as a metaphor, tinged with the prejudice with which the Oriental mind universally regarded the sea in the olden times? A real physical world without a sea it is mournful to imagine, it would be an iron ring without the sapphire which made it precious. There must be a spiritual meaning here. In the new dispensation there will be no division–the sea separates nations and sunders peoples from each other. To John in Patmos the deep waters were like prison walls, shutting him out from his brethren and his work: there shall be no such barriers in the world to come. Leagues of rolling billows lie between us and many a kinsman whom to-night we prayerfully remember, but in the bright world to which we go there shall be unbroken fellowship for all the redeemed family. In this sense there shall be no more sea. The sea is the emblem of change; with its ebbs and flows, its glassy smoothness and its mountainous billows, its gentle murmurs and its tumultuous roarings, it is never long the same. Slave of the fickle winds and the changeful moon, its instability is proverbial. In this mortal state we have too much of this; earth is constant only in her inconstancy, but in the heavenly state all mournful change shall be unknown, and with it all fear of storm to wreck our hopes and drown our joys. The sea of glass glows with a glory unbroken by a wave. No tempest howls along the peaceful shores of paradise. Soon shall we reach that happy land where partings, and changes, and storms shall be ended! Jesus will waft us there. Are we in Him or not? This is the grand question.”

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RELEVANT QUOTES FROM SPURGEON ON ENDTIME PROPHECY

(On the Personal Antichrist)
“Your guess at the number of the beast, your Napoleonic speculations, your conjectures concerning a personal Antichrist —forgive me, I count them but mere bones for dogs; while men are dying, and hell is filling, . . .

. . . it seems to me the veriest drivel to be muttering about an Armageddon ….

Blessed are they who read and hear the words of the prophecy of the Revelation, but the like blessing has evidently not fallen on those who pretend to expound it,

for generation after generation of them have been proven to be in error by the mere lapse of time, and the present race will follow to the same inglorious sepulcher.

(On the Study of Prophecy)
“I am not now going into millennial theories, or into any speculation as to dates.

I do not know anything at all about such things, . . .

. . . and I am not sure that I am called to spend my time in such researches.

I am rather called to minister the gospel than to open prophecy.

Those who are wise in such things doubtless prize their wisdom, but I have not the time to acquire it, nor any inclination to leave soul-winning pursuits for less arousing themes.

I believe it is a great deal better to leave many of these promises, and many of these gracious out-looks of believers, to exercise their full force upon our minds, without depriving them of their simple glory by aiming to discover dates and figures.

(On the Restoration of the Jews)

“Let this be settled, however, that if there be meaning in words,

1. Israel is yet to be restored.
   
2. ISRAEL IS TO HAVE A SPIRITUAL RESTORATION OR A CONVERSION.”

Spurgeon taught:

1. “It is also certain that the Jews, as a people, will yet own Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, as their King,
2. and that they will return to their own land,
3. “and they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations,
4. and they shall repair the old cities, the desolations of many generations.[10]

At an all-denominational meeting at The Metropolitan Tabernacle on June 16, 1864,Spurgeon preached on “The Restoration and Conversion of the Jews,” on behalf of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Jews.

Here Spurgeon clearly spelled out several important statements about the future of the Jewish people.

First of all he believed that the Jews would physically and literally return to inhabit and have political control over their ancient land.

He stated:

1. “There will be a native government again; there will again be the form of a body politic;
2. a state shall be incorporated, and a king shall reign.
3. Israel has now become alienated from her own land.
4. Her sons, though they can never forget the sacred dust of Palestine, yet die at a hopeless distance from her consecrated shores.
5. But it shall not be so for ever, for her sons shall again rejoice in her: her land shall be called Beulah, for as a young man marrieth a virgin so shall her sons marry her.
6. “I will place you in your own land,” is God’s promise to them. . .
7. They are to have a national prosperity which shall make them famous; nay, so glorious shall they be that Egypt, and Tyre, and Greece, and Rome, shall all forget their glory in the greater splendour of the throne of David. . .
8. If there be anything clear and plain, the literal sense and meaning of this passage [Ezekiel 37:1-10] – a meaning not to be spirited or spiritualized away –
9. – must be evident that both the two and the ten tribes of Israel are to be restored to their own land,
10. and that a king is to rule over them

. . that though Spurgeon saw the Restoration of EARTHLY LITERAL ISRAEL – and yet taught that:

1. the CHURCH consists as “modern Tribes” –
2. – of “Our Israel” –
3. – a SPIRITUAL ISRAEL,
4. with a NEW JERUSALEM,
5. practicing a CIRCUMCISION of the HEART,
6. with a TRUE JEW being that SEED of Abraham belonging to Christ!
7. ALL the SEED of Abraham and HEIRS of the PROMISE

FOOTNOTES

1. Charles H. Spurgeon. Lectures to My Students (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1881 1st Series; reprint, Pasadena Texas: Pilgrim Publishers, 1990 Four volumes in one),  1:83.
2. Pike, Spurgeon, 3:122.
3. Spurgeon, “The First Resurrection,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 7:345.
4. Spurgeon, “The Harvest and the Vintage,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 50:553-54
5. Spurgeon, “The Harvest and the Vintage,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 50:553-54
6. Spurgeon, “The Two Advents of Christ,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 8:39.
7. Spurgeon, “Things to Come,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 15:329.
8. Spurgeon, “The Double Coming,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 27:390-91.
9. Spurgeon, “The Double Coming,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 27:390-91.
10. Spurgeon, “The Harvest and Vintage,” 50:553.
11. Spurgeon, “The Restoration and Conversion of the Jews,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 10:426.
12. Chilton, David, Taken from jacket of Paradise Restored;

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That Spurgeon believed in the personal and literal return of Christ to the earth is a fact which cannot be disputed. He looked forward to this great event with anticipation and announced it to his congregation with regularity.

We know that Christ was really, personally, and physically here on earth.

But it is not quite so clear to some persons that he is to come, really, personally, and literally the second time. . .

Now, we believe that the Christ who shall sit on the throne of his father David, and whose feet shall stand upon Mount Olivet, –

– is as much a personal Christ as the Christ who came to Bethlehem and wept in the manger.[6]

On June 13, 1869, he told his congregation:
We are to expect the literal advent of Jesus Christ, for he himself by his angel told us, “This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner [emphasis his] as ye have seen him go into heaven,” which must mean literally and in person.[7]

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“I conceive that among religious people of a certain sort, the abortive explanations of prophecy issued by certain doctors gratify a craving, which in irreligious people finds its foods in novels and romances.”

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“Guess not at the precise era for the destruction of Antichrist; go and destroy it yourself, fighting against it every day. But be looking forward and hastening unto the coming of the Son of Man, and let this be at once your comfort and excitement to diligence, that the Savior will soon come from Heaven.”

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“Those who kiss not the sceptre of silver, shall be broken with the rod of iron. They who will not have Christ to reign over them in love, shall have him rule over them in terror in the day when he puts on the garments of vengeance, and dyes his vesture in the blood of his foes. O acknowledge him as he is covered with his own blood, lest you have to acknowledge him when he is covered with yours!”

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Date: 27 Sep 2003

Time: 00:07:50

This is the best website on the internet. Thank you for your labor of truth…and may God dissolve everything , by His Mighty fire , that would exalt itself against the true knowledge of our Lord and His Holy Word. Eternal Thank You…. I am severely enriched ! Bryan Davis Oozewind@aol.com

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Date: 10 Nov 2003

Time: 08:46:48

“The Parousia” Book Review by C. H. SPURGEON The continued DISTORTION of Spurgeon’s views by “PRETERISTS” by Bob L. Ross

A book entitled THE PAROUSIA was issued by J. Stuart Russell (1816-1895) in 1878, and it was reprinted in 1983 by Baker Book House in collaboration with Walter Hibbard of Great Christian Books. On the back cover of the large paperback book, A FEW WORDS were excerpted from C. H. SPURGEON which, IF ‘taken’ by themselves alone, would imply that Spurgeon had a certain favorable view of the book (which is actually misleading on the whole).

We are reprinting the ENTIRE REVIEW to give the totality of Spurgeon’s opinion on the book — and the “Preterist” view of prophecy which it presents. Reviewed in THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL Magazine, October 1879, page 553. C. H. Spurgeon on “PRETERISTS”

“The second coming of Christ according to this volume had its fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem and the establishment of the gospel dispensation. That the parables and predictions of our Lord had a more direct and exclusive reference to that period than is generally supposed, we readily admit; but we were not prepared for the assignment of all references to a second coming in the New Testament, and even in the Apocalypse itself, to so early a fulfilment. All that could be said has been said in support of this theory, and much more than ought to have been said. In this the REASONING FAILS. In order to concentrate the whole prophecies of the Book of Revelation upon the period of the destruction of Jerusalem it was needful to assume this book to have been written prior to that event, although the earliest ecclesiastical historians agree that John was banished to the isle of Patmos, where the book was written, by Domitian, who reigned after Titus, by whom Jerusalem was destroyed. Apart from this consideration, the compression of all the Apocalyptic visions and prophecies into so narrow a space requires more ingenuity and strength than that of men and angels combined. Too much stress is laid upon such phrases as ‘The time is at hand,’ ‘Behold I come quickly,’ whereas many prophecies of Scripture are delivered as present or past, as ‘unto us a child IS born,’ etc., and ‘Surely he HATH borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.’ Amidst the many comings of Christ spoken of in the New Testament that which is spoken of as a second, must, we think, be personal, and thus similar to the first; and such too must be the meaning of ‘his appearing.’ Though the author’s theory is carried too far, it…

 [Note: At this point in the half-page review, the ‘Preties’ have “sliced-off” the following words in BLUE, and then printed them on the back-cover of the Stuart book, as if to imply Spurgeon’s “endorsement” of the book. Please note that every preceding line has been in a critical and negative category, while the following words are but a meager “conciliatory” remark, which was Spurgeon’s usual manner in finding some ‘positive’ commendation for practically all the books sent to him by publishers for review. Now, the remainder of the sentence…]

…has so much of truth in it, and throws so much new light upon obscure portions of the Scriptures, and is accompanied with so much critical research and close reasoning, that it can be injurious to none and may be profitable to all.”

– it was these brief LAST (few) words that were MISused as an “ENDORSEMENT” by the Preterists on the book’s cover!

• Spurgeon’s High Praise for “The Parousia”

Read MORE of this DISTORTION of Spurgeon’s views with extensive comments by Bob L. Ross in his article… PRETERIST PROPHETIC PHANTASYLAND ALSO… The Historical Background of Modern Preterism And, Read more here…. Charles Spurgeon’s VIEW OF THE MILLENNIUM If you have questions on Preterism, please send them; I will be happy to answer. >> EMAIL – pilgrimpub@aol.com << Please see the links below for more study; especially “The TIME of Jesus Christ’s RETURN.”

Note — My two books: NOT ONE STONE, ISBN 1-56186-521-4, $6, and THE LITTLE HORN OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL, ISBN 1-56186-511-7, $5, present a more detailed discussion of Daniel 11 and the prophecies concerning the end of the age. (+ $2 shipping, either book) * “BOB’S LIST” — UPON REQUEST, Bob will add you to his E-MAIL LIST to receive his regular articles, many featuring comments on Preterism. Several recent refutations of the Preterism advocated by both the “Part-Preties” and “Full-Preties” are available in our email Files. At your request, we will add your name to our mailing list. “Back articles” are also available on request. — FURTHUR SUGGESTED READING… Spurgeon’s VIEW OF THE MILLENNIUM Spurgeon & ESCHATOLOGY The Major Work! @ “A. D. 70” — Was ANY Prophecy Fulfilled in A.D. 70? The TIME of JESUS CHRIST’S RETURN The POPE = The FALSE PROPHET The ANTICHRIST “RUSSIAN INVASION” of Israel — Ezek. 38-39 Erroneous Interpretation RAPTURE 1998 — Are You Ready For the RAPTURE 5-31-98? The HISTORICAL BACKGROUND of Modern “PRETERISM” PRETERIST PROPHETIC PHANTASYLAND JEWISH ORIGINS of “PRETERISM” A PRIMER on “PRETERISM”

[TDD: The whole Spurgeon comment has been posted on this site since the beginning.. including the critical parts.  Bob must answer for censoring this review from Spurgeon’s Works to suit his own personal interests.]

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Date: 09 Nov 2004

Time: 19:28:48

I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT MATT.24;21 IS REFERRING TO THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IN 70AD.THE VERSE PLAINLY SAYS “TRIBULATION” AND VERSE 29 REPEATS WHAT IS TAKING PLACE. HOW CAN ONE PLACE THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND ALL THAT TAKES PLACE IN THE TIME PERIOD OF 70AD? I REALIZE THAT CALVINIST BELIEVE THIS AND THE REFORMERS BUT CAREFUL STUDY DOES NOT SUPPORT THEIR VIEW.

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Date: 07 Jul 2006
Time: 17:08:09

Traditional Christianity has taught us in the 16th to 20th centuries and possibly before, that we are still living in the days of the early church, and are waiting to be raptured-out of this world before the great tribulation spoken-of in the book of Revelation and also by the prophet Daniel of the Old Testament.

We do know by reading our earliest-known historical accounts, that the earth went through a period of Dark Ages just before what historians call “Medieval Times.”

But what we do not know is: what happened, and why…during the Dark Ages.

To find out what happened that brought-on this period of “dark history,” we could extrapolate a theory—that is, we could calculate on the basis of available information found in books of earliest history, or we could take the words of both Jesus and Apostle Paul and see exactly what happened.

The chapters in the Gospels that have to do with “tribulation” and the “end of the age” are Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. They all begin with the incidence of Jesus and His disciples departing from the temple: and His disciples coming to Him remarking about the magnificence of the buildings. Jesus said to them, “See how great these buildings are? – There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” [This prophecy came to pass around the year 70 A.D.] Then Jesus went and sat on the mount of Olives, across from the Temple. Peter, James and Andrew came privately and asked Him to tell them when those things would be, and for signs that would let them know when all these things would be fulfilled.

Traditional “time-line” seekers have interposed their thoughts about what Jesus meant. Not understanding; nor being able to accept the fact that all those things already took place around 70 AD. Because we’ve been taught doctrines carried-over from the Roman Catholics, via the “protestants,” we’re not able to separate the “last days” or “last times” from “The Day of the Lord.” When He mentioned the “fig tree” putting on new growth, Jesus was not talking to our generation…about Israel becoming a new nation…In fact, in the passage of Luke 21, He referred not only to the fig tree, but ALL the trees when they begin to put-on new growth. He was using an allegory to re-enforce the importance of watching for His Return. Then He said, ” So you, when you see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is near at hand, even at the doors. This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled.”

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Date: 07 Jul 2006
Time: 17:11:39

Jesus was speaking to His disciples: Peter, James and Andrew. It was their generation of people who saw these things come to pass. That’s why He told them…when they see JERUSALEM COMPASSED WITH ARMIES, and the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION spoken of by Daniel, standing in the Holy Place, then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains because in those days there would be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation unto that time, nor afterward. He said that immediately after the tribulation of that time, the sun would be darkened and the moon not give her light and the stars of heaven would fall.

In study of ancient history, you find that there were various mentions of stars falling from heaven, looking at the sun seemed like looking through sackcloth, and the moon appearing red as blood. Then there were the “dark ages” when afterward, calendars and times were changed by some of the emperors and popes of the Roman Catholic �?church’. The Word of God even mentions this in Daniel 7:25. A man named Edward Gibbon who lived during the 1700s wrote a book that comes to us in two large volumes titled “THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.” These volumes reveal the lives and times of all the popes from the earliest, which was supposedly the Apostle Peter.

Now let’s take a really close look at Jesus’ answer to His disciples when they asked Him about the end of the world, or the end of their age. There are three phrases from Jesus words about His second coming, that are very important in realizing the truth about the end of that age. They are:

[1] “all these things,”
[2] “There are some standing here that shall not taste of death …”
[3] “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come,

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Date: 30 Nov 2006
Time: 13:23:54

I think that this is a dangerous false teaching. I say this for two reasons. First, it has been the inspiration for anti-Semitic pogroms against the Jewish people since the early days of Christianity. Two thousand years of anti-Semitism in the name of Christ has not endeared the Jewish people to this idea that Jesus is the promised Messiah. It is the branches boasting against the root and that is clearly warned against by the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:18.

Secondly, God’s everlasting promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and His pledge of fidelity to the children of Israel cannot be disregarded anymore than His promises to the body of believers, the Church (Jews and Gentiles who have been made one in Christ) can be abrogated. If God can change His mind where the Jewish people are concerned, than He can also change His mind about the Church.

You do a disservice to the gospel by excluding the Jewish people and the instructions of Romans 1:16. Heaping condemnation upon them as if the rejection of Jesus by their spiritual leaders dooms the entire race of people to some sort of unpardonable sin lacks credibility. It is in fact more odious than just leaving the lost sheep of the House of Israel out of evangelistic outreaches; it destroys Jewish people spiritually by negating God’s promises to them. Even the New Covenant is clearly established with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, Jer. 31:31-37; Rom. 9:4-5 (if Israel is the Church, who then is Judah?).

I remind you that the rejection of the leadership of Israel of their own Messiah was clearly prophesied and that Acts 4:27 and Rom. 11:28-32 declares this to be part of God’s divine plan for the redemption of mankind, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. Any attempt to see Romans 1:16 as past tense only serves to support my original premise that preterism does not correctly divide the Word of truth. If it was to the Jew first it must still be to the Jew first, lest it not be the power of God unto salvation unto all that believe.

“I ask then: Did God reject His people? By no means!” Rom. 11:1. When someone fails to rightly divide the Word of truth, it becomes evident that false teaching leads to false conclusions. The Second Coming is the final fulfillment of the New Covenant promises to the Jewish people as noted prophetically in Zech. 12:10 and restated by Paul in Romans 11:26-27, “ And so all Israel shall be saved for out of Zion shall come the Deliverer and He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Who in their right mind would claim the millennial kingdom is already here. Who would claim that the lion is laying down with the lamb and children can play safely with poisonous snakes and only sinners will die young, being only 100 years old. The Old Testament prophets all painted a picture of the millennial kingdom of the Messiah to be a time on the planet when the curse of Adam’s fall would be reversed. A kind of Edenic kingdom would flourish during Christ physical reign over the planet from the thrown of David in Jerusalem. Yet all of these Scriptures are somehow disregarded or spiritualized away. Why?

A prayerful re-reading of Jeremiah 31:31-37 puts the truth to the false teaching of preterism. God says when the sun, moon and stars cease to shine, then He will reject Israel and not before. Furthermore the words of the Savior warn of desolation for rejecting the Messiah on one hand and the promise of restoration should they proclaim, as Bible clearly teaches they will, “Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.”

I realize that this theology agrees with Covenant Reformed doctrine so that your biblical worldview finds preterism compatible with that. I also realize that you have emotionally invested in this teaching, however I am asking you to consider the fruit of your theology. It is important that we consider the influence our personal theological beliefs have one others of like precious faith.

It was the faithfulness of the God of Israel to His Word and the faithfulness of the Jewish apostles to their Savior that brought salvation to the Gentiles. How are the Gentiles handling the Word of Truth today with regard to God’s people Israel? Are they being as faithful and gracious to them today as those early Jewish evangelists were to the Gentiles? Not if their theology discounts the Jew’s rightful place in God’s plan and fails to make reaching them with the Good News a priority.

Rather t provoking them to jealousy (that they would want that personal relationship with the Living God that we have been given in the Messiah) we have more often than not justified the physical extermination of this people, and know it has been extended to the spiritual excommunication of the Jewish people altogether.

Steven Rowitt

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Date: 07 Jun 2009
Time: 21:37:02

Steven Rowitt’s comments are accurate to an extent, though still uninformed. NO – YHWH GOD has not turned His back on Israel and yes he still has a plan for them, His covenant people. No, Israel can’t be “spiritualised” to mean all believers from all over the earth and all peoples. And NO – The “Jews” of today are not The Israelites of the Bible and YES they admit this in their own texts and NO this is not new knowledge. Please see author Ted Weilands book “Israel – out of all nations?” and his book “God’s Covenant People – Yesterday Today and Forever” avbl for FREE at www.missiontoisrael.org

[TD – I once held a written debate with Ted way back in the 20th century.  I hope he still has copies.  I surely have mine.  blessings!]

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Date: 24 Jul 2010
Time: 11:33:46

” I REALIZE THAT CALVINIST BELIEVE THIS”

Who told you that? I imagine some Calvinists believe this, but certainly not all. I imagine many Arminianists also believe this theory.

But Calvinism vs Arminianism has nothing to do with this.

I tend to lean toward Calvinism, but I do not hold to Preterism at all.

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Date: 05 Dec 2011
Time: 13:17:56

Spurgeon was NOT a preterist. He believed in the premillennial return of Christ as a FUTURE event. Please remove his name from your list.
John R Ecob D.D.

[Sir, please read carefully.  What you say is acknowledged, while still pointing out his preterist statements.  Perhaps Spurgeon has something yet to teach you on the subject of fulfilled prophecy.]