The Significance of A.D. 30

The Significance of A.D. 30
“AD30 Preterism” (Eusebius as Champion]

The Baptism in Jordan, The Cross!!, Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost as Fulfillment of Prophecy

The Significance of AD30 | AD70 | AD135 | AD312 | Christian History’s Preterist Assumption

John 19:30 – When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: (tetelestai) and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Rev 16:17 – And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. (ginomai)

Rev 21:6 – And he said unto me, It is done. (ginomai) I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

• Jirair Tashjian: The Second Coming (2011) “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.”

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)

• What Was Finished? – Last Words ‎”Tetelestai comes from the verb teleo, which means “to bring to an end, to complete, to accomplish.” It’s a crucial word because it signifies the successful end to a particular course of action. It’s the word you would use when you climb to the peak of Mt. Everest”
• Hebrews 9:11 But now Christ has appeared as high priest of the good things which have come to pass   (The majority reading is “the good things that are to come”, but the weight of the evidence favors “the good things that have come” (so P.46 B D* 1611 1739 2005 with the Syriac versions, Chrysostom, and Cyril of Jerusalem).  “But now the time of reformation has arrived; what used to be “the good things to come” are now “the good things that have come” (RSV), “the good things already in being” (NEB).  “For Christ has appeared, and in him the shadows have given way to the perfect and abiding reality.  And his appearance is properly announced with a triumphant trumpet-flourish; his entrance into the presence of God is not a day of soul-affliction and fast, like the Day of Atonement under the old legislation, but a day of gladness and son, the day when Christians celebrate the accession of their Priest-King.   “The combination of the oldest Greek and Latin with the Syriac evidence is in itself almost irresistible” in support of genomenon rather than mellonton (G. Zuntz, the Text of the Epistles [London, 1953, p. 119); the reading mellonton is probably due to the influence of 10:1. See p. 235.” (The Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 211)

Sound doctrine is focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Any theology which makes anything but the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ the primary focal point misses the mark.   Among preterists, AD70 often gets most of the attention for the fulfillment of “all things which are written” ; however, Scripture places much more emphasis on the work of Jesus leading up to the cross, even declaring that at the end of Jesus’ ministry work,  “all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 19:28).

Obviously, the redemptive sacrifice was not fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the judgment of God on the Jewish nation was not fulfilled at the cross.  These two events – separated by 40 years – each have their own immense significance:  However, it is vitally important to realize which is of primary significance and which is of secondary significance.

Whereas the significance of AD70 has been of primary focus for the fulfillment of “all things” in the past, it is important to put AD70 in its place by seeing the greater significance of “AD30” in relation to the ministry work of Jesus Christ leading up to His sacrificial death on the Cross for the fulfillment of “all things”.

So… does AD30 point to AD70, or does AD70 point to AD30?

The fall of the “greater temple” (Jesus Matthew 12:6) must always been seen as fulfilling the promises of God, which were then revealed as such by the fall of the “lesser temple” (Herod’s).    The “PROOF OF THE GOSPEL” line of argumentation which generally seeks to focus on the consequences of the rejection of the gospel, actually points to the coming of the gospel itself 40 years before!   There is a cause and effect relationship between AD30 and AD70.   AD70 is simply the effect of the cause, and therefore sits in an inferior position to the cause, which is AD30.

Historically, the fall of Jerusalem was seen as the answer to the coming of Christ in the flesh.   That is, the AD70 events took a back seat to the significance of the AD30 events.  Here is an example from Athanasius:

“So the Jews are indulging in fiction, and transferring present time to future. When did prophet and vision cease from Israel? Was it not when Christ came, the Holy One of holies? It is, in fact, a sign and notable proof of the coming of the Word that Jerusalem no longer stands, neither is prophet raised up nor vision revealed among them.”

proof of the coming of the Word (Cause) that Jerusalem no longer stands (Effect)

The fulfillment of the promises of God through the revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ stand pre-eminent.   Historically, Christianity has had no problem acknowledging this.   Here is another example, this time from Tertullian, where the sign (inferior) of the coming of the Son of man (superior) is the fall of Jerusalem (inferior):

“And so the times of the coming Christ, the Leader, must be inquired into, which we shall trace in Daniel; and, after computing them, shall prove Him to be come, even on the ground of the times prescribed, and of competent signs and operations of His. Which matters we prove, again, on the ground of the consequences which were ever announced as to follow His advent; in order that we may believe all to have been as well fulfilled as foreseen.”

Most significant of all is how this calculus is derived from the mouth of the Savior Himself:

Luke 19:41-44 “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,  Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. (2) For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,  And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because (1) thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

What is Jesus’ focal point in this passage?  Is not the coming desolation the afterthought to the rejection of the Gospel?  Jesus didn’t weep because Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, but because those in the city had rejected Him and would continue to reject Him past the point of no return!   Respecting significance, there are two ways to look at the relationship between AD30 and AD70:

1) AD30 (the fall of the Greater Temple) points to AD70 (the fall of the lesser temple)
2) AD70 (the fall of the lesser temple) points to AD30 (the fall of the Greater Temple)

Historically, it has been the Jewish scribes who have dated the timing of the tearing of the veil from the fall of the temple.   Christians, on the other hand, have always dated the fall of the temple from the tearing of the veil (that is, His flesh).. proving the pre-eminence of AD30 over AD70 for significance.

Therefore, as with so many things, it is the ministry of Jesus Christ which is the focal point of prophecy.  Everything else points to that… including the fall of Jerusalem in AD70.    Hebrews 8, 9, and 10 are built upon this reasoning as well.. not looking FORWARD to the fulfillment, but looking BACKWARDS.

This backwards looking focal point for fulfillment is being classified as “AD30 Preterism” to distinguish it from the forward looking focal point for fulfillment of “AD70 Preterism”.   The issue of this balance and subservient position of AD70 in church history becomes very relevant in the discussion of Hyper Preterism.   A fuller examination of the misrepresentation of church history as AD70-centric is given at bottom.

Chronological Treatise on Daniel’s Weeks
Benjamin Marshall “Second Generation Modern Preterist”
(1725)

Wherein is evidently shewn the Accomplishment of the Predicted Events, As Especially Of the Cutting Off of the Messiah after the Predicted VII Weeks and LXII Weeks, according to the Express Letter of the Prophecy, and in most exact Agreement with Ptolemy’s Canon ; So Also Of the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, in the LXXth, or separate One Week, in the Litteral, Obvious, and Primary Sense

1. 
   “To finish the transgression,”
   – This was fulfilled. (Matt 21:33-45; 23:32,35,36,38;Luke 11:47-51;1 Thess. 2:14-16)
2. “Make an end of sins,”
   – This was fulfilled. (John 1:29; Matt 1:21; Acts 10:43; Hebrews 9:12-14,26; 10:9-14)
3. “Make reconciliation for iniquity,”
   – This was fulfilled. (Romans 5:8-11; II Cor. 5:17-21; Hebrews 2:17; Col 1:12-21)
4. “Bring in everlasting righteousness,”
   – This was fulfilled. (Romans 3:21-26; 4:13; 5:17,18; 9:30,31; 14:17 (Isa. 51:8) ; Hebrews 9:12; II Thess 2:16; I Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 9:9)
5. “Seal up vision and prophecy,”
   – This was fulfilled. (Matthew 13:14,15 (cf. Isaiah 6:9,10); 17:5; John 1:1; 12:39-41; Acts 7:37; 28:25-27;Romans 1:1-2,3:21, 16:25-26; Ephesians 2:11-17; 3:3-6; Colossians 1:26; Hebrews 1:1-2; I Peter 1:9-11; II Peter 1:19-21)
6. “Anoint the most holy (or holy place).”
   – This was fulfilled. (Matthew 3:15-17; Luke 4:18; John 1:32; Acts 2:32,33,38,39; 4:26,27; 10:37,38,44,45; Hebrews 9:22-24 / Not Physical Temple -Acts 7:48-49)

Note that all of these point to Calvary for fulfillment… not AD70.  Score six for “AD 30 Preterism“, and all within a fully “orthodox theology”!  See Also David Chilton, Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hayne, Gregory Sharpe, Herbert Thorndike // Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Study Archive

LATEST ADDITIONS:

• Bryan W. Ball “The ‘eschatology of biblical realism’ described the attempt to evaluate New Testament eschatology from the viewpoint of its writers as distinct from interpretation latterly imposed by modern scholarship.  In contemporary eschatological schemata it may be placed between the Continental ‘consistent eschatology’ of Schweitzer and Werner, inter alios, which interprets the New Testament eschatological emphasis in terms of a mistaken apocalypticism on the part of Jesus, and the Anglo-Saxon ‘realised eschatology’ of Dodd, Glasson, and Robinson, inter alios, which postulates that eternity and the kingdom are already here in the person of Christ, leaving little or no room for a future consummation; cf. Moore, op., cit., pp. 35-36. (A Great Expectation, p. 14)
• G.L. Stone – The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy or, All true prophecy terminated in the advent of Christ and the establishment of Christianity (1855) The argument of Mr. Stone proceeds somewhat on the principles of prophetical interpretation adopted by the late Dr. Samuel Lee. Mr. Stone states that the learned Professor was more indebted to Calvin for his views than he appeared to be aware of; and that Grotius and Hammond, Bossuet and Calmet, also ” immensely helped towards the same conclusion.” (The Journal of Sacred Literature, Vol. II, 1856, p. 467)
• 5. The same in this: I have completed the work you have given me to do (John 17:4). How does he commemorate the fulfillment of the work of human salvation when he had not yet climbed the standard of the cross? But by the determination of his will, by which he decided to undergo all the marks of the venerable passion, he properly means that he completed the work himself.” (Victor, Bishop of Capua, from the response to the chapters of St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, disciple of John the evangelist.)
• “Polycarp”: Was Pentecost the Regathering of Israel? (2009) “There is indeed an regathering of Israel, but it has happened through the Church and can only happen through the Church – as we have the word of the Apostles. It is a regathering through the cross. Our Apostolic foundation of epistles have already given us the correct interpretation as our covenant and our day . The day of Pentecost, the inauguration of the regathering as well as the ingathering of the Gentiles, is the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel, and to the Gentiles (Amos).”
• Todd Dennis: Hyper Preterism’s AD70 Focal Point is Fundamentally Different From Christianity’s Focal Point of the Cross (2009) “When the life of Jesus was draining away on the cross, He Himself noted that the redemptive work had been accomplished, in saying “it is finished”. It is finished (Tetelestai), is from the verb teleo, and means “to complete, to accomplish”.  Though some HyPs may try to diminish the meaning of the cross and Jesus’ declaration prior to His sacrificial death by stating that another 40 years were necessary to accomplish that redemptive work (which diminishment in itself serves as a litmus test for error), it was of the utmost significance in that day. In fact, in order to maintain continuity with Christianity, it must remain the central focus.”

[Note: I have added (1) for cause, and (2) for effect]

“It is, in fact, a sign and notable proof of the coming of the Word that Jerusalem no longer stands”

Athanasius (A.D.345)
“He was like those sent by the householder to receive the fruits of the vineyard from the husbandmen; for he exhorted all men to render a return. (1) But Israel despised and would not render, for their will was not right, nay moreover they killed those that were sent, and not even before the Lord of the vineyard were they ashamed, but even He was slain by them. Verily, when He came and found no fruit in them, (2) He cursed them through the fig-tree, saying, “Let there be henceforth no fruit from thee” [Matt. 21:19]; and the fig-tree was dead and fruitless, so that even the disciples wondered when it withered away.

“So the Jews are indulging in fiction, and transferring present time to future. When did prophet and vision cease from Israel? Was it not when Christ came, the Holy One of holies? It is, in fact, a sign and notable proof of the coming of the Word that Jerusalem no longer stands, neither is prophet raised up nor vision revealed among them. And it is natural that it should be so, for when He that was signified had come, what need was there any longer of any to signify Him? And when the Truth had come, what further need was there of the shadow? On His account only they prophesied continually, until such time as Essential Righteousness has come, Who was made the Ransom for the sins of all. For the same reason Jerusalem stood until the same time, in order that there men might premeditate the types before the Truth was known. So, of course, once the Holy One of holies had come, both vision and prophecy were sealed. And the kingdom of Jerusalem ceased at the same time, because kings were to be anointed among them only until the Holy of holies had been anointed. Moses also prophesies that the kingdom of the Jews shall stand until His time, saying, “A ruler shall not fail from Judah nor a prince from his loins, until the things laid up for him shall come and the Expectation of the nations Himself.” And that is why the Savior Himself was always proclaiming “The law and the prophets prophesied until John.” So if there is still king or prophet or vision among the Jews, they do well to deny that Christ is come; but if there is neither king nor vision, and since that time all prophecy has been sealed and city and temple taken, how can they be so irreligious, how can they so flaunt the facts, as to deny Christ Who has brought it all about?.. What more is there for their Expected One to do when he comes? To call the heathen? But they are called already. To put an end to prophet and king and vision? But this too has already happened. To expose the Goddenyingness of idols? It is already exposed and condemned. Or to destroy death? It is already destroyed. What then has not come to pass that the Christ must do? What is there left out or unfulfilled that the Jews should disbelieve so light-heartedly? The plain fact is, as I say, that there is no longer any king or prophet nor Jerusalem nor sacrifice nor vision among them; yet the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, and the Gentiles, forsaking atheism, are now taking refuge with the God of Abraham through the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. (Incarnation, Ch. VI )

Eusebius (A.D.314)
“And all this prophecy of what would result from their insolence against the Christ has been clearly proved to have taken place after their plot against our Saviour. For it was not before it, but afterwards from that day to this that God turned their feasts into mourning, despoiled them of their famous mother-city, and destroyed the holy Temple therein when Titus and Vespasian were Emperors of Rome, so that they could no longer go up to keep their feasts and sacred meetings. I need not say that a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord has overtaken them all, in return for their rejection of the Word of God; since (1) with one voice they refused Him, so (2) He refuses them.” (Eusebius, Demonstratio Evangelica, X)

“When, then, we see what was of old foretold for the nations fulfilled in our own day, and when the lamentation and wailing that was predicted for the Jews, and the burning of the Temple and its utter desolation, can also be seen even now to have occurred according to the prediction, surely we must also agree that the King who was prophesied, the Christ of God, has come, since the signs of His coming have been shewn in each instance I have treated to have been clearly fulfilled.” (Demonstratio Evangelica (Proof of the Gospel) ;  BOOK VIII)

“These things took place in this manner in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, in accordance with the prophecies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who by divine power saw them beforehand as if they were already present, and wept and mourned according to the statement of the holy evangelists, who give the very words which be uttered, when, as if addressing Jerusalem herself, he said: (1) “If thou hadst known, even thou, in this day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. (2) For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a rampart about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee and thy children even with the ground.” (Book III, Ch. VII)

Irenaeus (Approx. AD 174)
CHAP. IV.–ANSWER TO ANOTHER OBJECTION, SHOWING THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, WHICH WAS THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING, DIMINISHED NOTHING FROM THE SUPREME MAJESTY’ AND POWER OF GOD, FOR THAT THIS DESTRUCTION WAS PUT IN EXECUTION BY THE MOST WISE COUNSEL OF THE SAME GOD.
1. Further, also, concerning Jerusalem and the Lord, they venture to assert that, if it had been “the city of the great King,”(12) it would not have been deserted.(13) This is just as if any one should say, that if straw were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat; and that the vine twigs, if made by God, never would be lopped away and deprived of the clusters. But as these [vine twigs] have not been originally made for their own sake, but for that of the fruit growing upon them, which being come to maturity and taken away, they are left behind, and those which do not conduce to fructification are lopped off altogether; so also [was it with] Jerusalem, which had in herself borne the yoke of bondage (under which man was reduced, who in former times was not subject to God when death was reigning, and being subdued, became a fit subject for liberty), when the fruit of liberty had come, and reached maturity, and been reaped and stored in the barn, and when those which had the power to produce fruit had been carried away from her [i.e., from Jerusalem], and scattered throughout all the world. Even as Esaias saith, “The children of Jacob shall strike root, and Israel shall flourish, and the whole world shall be filled with his fruit.”

1. The fruit, therefore, having been sown throughout all the world, she (Jerusalem) was deservedly forsaken, and those things which had formerly brought forth fruit abundantly were taken away; for from these, according to the flesh, were Christ and the apostles enabled to bring forth fruit. But now these are no longer useful for bringing forth fruit. For all things which have a beginning in time must of course have an end in time also.

2. Since, then, the law originated with Moses, it terminated with John as a necessary consequence. Christ had come to fulfil it: wherefore “the law and the prophets were” with them “until John.”(2) And therefore Jerusalem, taking its commencement from David, and fulfilling its own times, must have an end of legislation when the new covenant was revealed.”

Lactantius (3rd Century)
“But He also opened to them all things which were about to happen, which Peter and Paul preached at Rome;  and also said that it was about to come to pass, that after a short time God would send against them a king who would subdue the Jews, and level their cities to the ground, and besiege the people themselves, worn out with hunger and thirst. Then it should come to pass that they should feed on the bodies of their own children, and consume one another. Lastly, that they should be taken captive, and come into the hands of their enemies, and should see their wives most cruelly harassed before their eyes, their virgins ravished and polluted, their sons torn in pieces, their little ones dashed to the ground; and lastly, everything laid waste with fire and sword, the captives banished for ever from their own lands, because they had exulted over the well-beloved and most approved Son of God. And so, after their decease, when Nero had put them to death, Vespasian destroyed the name and nation of the Jews, and did all things which they had foretold as about to come to pass.” (Lactantius: DIVINE INSTITUTES, BOOK IV)

“Also Zechariah says: “And they shall look on me whom they pierced.” Amos thus speaks of the obscuring of the sun: “In that day, saith the Lord, the sun shall go down at noon, and the clear day shall be dark; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and your songs into lamentation.” Jeremiah also speaks of the city of Jerusalem, in which He suffered: “Her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she hath been confounded and reviled, and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword.” Nor were these things spoken in vain. For after a short time the Emperor Vespasian subdued the Jews, and laid waste their lands with the sword and fire, besieged and reduced them by famine, overthrew Jerusalem, led the captives in triumph, and prohibited the others who were left from ever returning to their native land. And these things were done by God on account of that crucifixion of Christ, as He before declared this to Solomon in their Scriptures, saying, “And Israel shall be for perdition and a reproach to the people, and this house shall be desolate; and every one that shall pass by shall be astonished, and shall say, Why hath God done these evils to this land, and to this house? And they shall say, Because they forsook the Lord their God, and persecuted their. King, who was dearly beloved by God, and crucified Him with great degradation, therefore hath God brought upon them these evils.” For what would they not deserve who put to death their Lord, who had come for their salvation? (Lactantius: EPITOME OF THE DIVINE INSTITUTES, Ch. 46)

Origen (2nd Century)
“I challenge anyone to prove my statement untrue if I say that (2) the entire Jewish nation was destroyed less than one whole generation later (1) on account of these sufferings which they inflicted on Jesus. For it was, I believe, forty-two years from the time when they crucified Jesus to the destruction of Jerusalem.” (Contra Celsum, 198-199)

Tertullian (Approx. AD 200)
CHAP. VIII.– OF JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION.
“Accordingly the times must be inquired into of the predicted and future nativity of the Christ, and of His passion, and of the extermination of the city of Jerusalem, that is, its devastation. For Daniel says, that “both the holy city and the holy place are exterminated together with the coming Leader, and that the pinnacle is destroyed unto ruin.” And so the times of the coming Christ, the Leader, must be inquired into, which we shall trace in Daniel; and, after computing them, shall prove (1) Him to be come, even on the ground of the times prescribed, and of competent signs and operations of His. Which matters we prove, again, on the ground of (2) the consequences which were ever announced as to follow His advent; in order that we may believe all to have been as well fulfilled as foreseen.

“Therefore, when these times also were completed, and the Jews subdued, there afterwards ceased in that place “libations and sacrifices,” which thenceforward have not been able to be in that place celebrated; for “the unction,” too, was “exterminated” in that place after the passion of Christ. For it had been predicted that the unction should be exterminated in that place; as in the Psalms it is prophesied, “They exterminated my hands and feet.”   And the suffering of this “extermination” was perfected within the times of the lxx hebdomads, under Tiberius Caesar, in the consulate of Rubellius Geminus and Fufius Geminus, in the month of March, at the times of the passover, on the eighth day before the calends of April,(8) on the first day of unleavened bread, on which they slew the lamb at even, just as had been enjoined by Moses.(9) Accordingly, all the synagogue of Israel did slay Him, saying to Pilate, when he was desirous to dismiss Him, “His blood be upon us, and upon our children;”(10) and, “If thou dismiss him, thou art not a friend of Caesar;”(11) in order that all things might be fulfilled which had been written of Him.” (An Answer to the Jews 8.)

John Calvin
“With this view Christ quotes this passage in Matthew 24, while he admonishes his hearers diligently to attend to it. Let him who reads, understand, says he. We have stated this prophecy to be obscure, and hence it requires no ordinary degree of the closest attention. First of all, we must hold this point; the time now treated by the angel begins at the last destruction of the Temple. That devastation happened as soon as the gospel began to be promulgated. God then deserted his Temple, because it was only founded for a time, and was but a shadow, until the Jews so completely violated the whole covenant that no sanctity remained in either the Temple, the nation, or the land itself.”  (Commentary)

S.G.F. Brandon (1951)
“The apparent cruciality of this event for Christianity has been the subject of our investigation, and the conclusion has been reached that that cruciality is a fact of profound historical significance for the understanding of the nature of Christian Origins. It would indeed not be an exaggeration to say that Christianity was in a certain sense reborn as a result of the Jewish catastrophe of A.D. 70… in the overthrow of the Jewish state the old wine-skins of Judaism were burst asunder and perished, liberating the new wine to flow freely abroad and to reach maturity in places more congenial to the original genius of its creator. Thus we may conclude that, after the Resurrection experiences, the next most crucial event in the life of the Christian Church was the overthrow of the Jewish nation, which was dramatically epitomized in the destruction of its holy city of Jerusalem in A.D. 70″ (The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church, pp. 249, 251)

G.W.H. Lampe (1984)
“Jewish Christianity, as well as Gentile, had by this time established its own identity. . . . During the war and in the ensuing three or four decades . . . the separation of the Jewish Christians from Judaism became complete… the main principles of the Christian position had been established against Judaism well before the first Jewish war ended.. the decisive event which vindicated Jesus as the Christ, the Lord, the Son of God, was not the destruction of his enemies but his resurrection from the dead and his exaltation to God’s right hand.”

“From the letter to the Galatians Christians had learned that they were children of the Jerusalem which is ‘above’, the community which, because it enjoys the freedom of the Spirit, stands over against its antithesis, the earthly Jerusalem which is in servitude to the Law (Gal. 4:25–6, cp. Phil. 3:20). The foundations, once again, had been laid for the later development of the theme of the ‘heavenly Jerusalem’ in Hebrews (12:22), the ‘new’ or ‘holy’ Jerusalem which, according to the Revelation of John (3:12; 20:9; 21:2), is to descend from heaven and in which the presence of God will not be focused or localised in any temple, and for the reinterpretation by the Fourth Evangelist of the idea of a holy place, established by God for worship, in terms of community which worships in the Spirit and truth (John 4:21–3). Paul had already taught that the holy temple of God, indwelt by the Spirit, is the congregation of Christian people, the temple of the living God in which his presence assures the fulfilment of the covenant promise, ‘I will be their God and they shall be my people’ (I Cor. 3:16–17; 2 Cor. 6:16); and Paul had also shown that in a secondary sense each individual believer is the temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit (I Cor. 6:19). In this ark of Christian theology, too, the foundations of later developments, such as the teaching of Eph. 2:21 and I Pet. 2:5, and, through a combination of the themes of the ‘temple of the Spirit’ and the ‘body of Christ’, of John 2:21, had been firmly laid in the years before the Jewish war.”  ⁽“A.D. 70 in Christian Reflection,” Jesus and the Politics of His Day, eds. Ernst Bammel and C. F. D Moule (London: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 156-158.)

1. R. Tippit
   “The concept of Israel as the chosen people does not imply a certain divine favoritism, as some seem to think, but an opportunity of grace, a calling that involved the assumption of the servant role among the nations. It was the fact that they had interpreted themselves as special objects of God’s favor, and (1) rejected the servant role, that (2) led to their own rejection.” (Church Growth and the Word of God)

Hyper Preterism Advances AD70 to the Diminishment of AD30

By classifying “full preterism” as “systematic hyper preterism” at PreteristArchive.com, a very specific charge is being leveled that this view takes the evidence of Scripture and history too far beyond what is acceptable.  In fact, the AD70 focal point for the removal of separation between man and God is shown to be fundamentally different than the storyline of historical Christianity.   Along those lines, this section will demonstrate how AD70 is made too significant by Hyper Preterists, and is used to actually diminish the significance of AD30.

As an example of this tendency, I am republishing a section from Wikipedia regarding the teachings of Eusebius. The misrepresentation of Scripture and church history as being AD70-centric is aptly demonstrated with this exchange between Hyper Preterist Virgil Vaduva and a user named “Mise-en-page”:

Virgil Vaduva “Eusebius was a full preterist, not a partial preterist. Rather than making a general statement about this, I recommend including full quotes referencing what you are trying to communicate. I also fail to see what a historic reference to a 2nd or 3rd century has to do with either full or partial preterism or what value it bring to the article itself. We are not talking about the history of either one. The goal of the article is to define it and explain it to a reader. — 21:32, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
Mise-en-page “On what basis can Eusebius be called a Full Preterist? In his Proof of the Gospel, Eusebius wrote that the latter part of Isaiah 66:18-19 refers to “His second glorious Advent, when all nations shall see His glory, and when He comes in the heavens with power and great glory” (see 6.25) And also: “The prophecies about the Christ should be divided, as our investigation of the facts shews, into two classes: the first which are the more human and gloomy will be agreed to have been fulfilled at His first Coming, the second the more glorious and divine EVEN NOW await His second Coming for their fulfilment” (see 4.16).

I’m sorry, but this is not Full Preterism. Do you have any references that show Eusebius holding to Full Preterism? I just can’t believe what you’re saying. – 23:22, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Virgil Vaduva “The Holy Scriptures foretell that there will be unmistakable signs of the Coming of Christ. Now there were among the Hebrews three outstanding offices of dignity, which made the nation famous, firstly the kingship, secondly that of prophet, and lastly the high priesthood. The prophecies said that the abolition and complete destruction of all these three together would be the sign of the presence of the Christ. And that the proofs that the times had come, would lie in the ceasing of the Mosaic worship, the desolation of Jerusalem and its Temple, and the subjection of the whole Jewish race to its enemies. The holy oracles foretold that all these changes, which had not been made in the days of the prophets of old, would take place at the coming of the Christ, which I will presently shew to have been fulfilled as never before in accordance with the predictions.” – Eusebius, Demonstratio Evangelica, Book VIII

Let’s all do our homework before we present inaccurate information to readers; if not, your inaccurate references will be deleted, not just by me, but any other editor here. — ) 15:29, 1 May 2008

Mise-en-page “I’m perfectly okay with doing the homework, and working to support any claims made in this article with the most specific citations. I agree and would maintain that all of us need to do so.

Now, unfortunately, you still haven’t established clearly that Eusebius was holding to Full Preterism. Eusebius is still only talking about the First Coming of the Messiah here:

“You have then in this prophecy of the Descent of the Lord among men from heaven, many other things foretold at the same time, the rejection of the Jews, the judgment on their impiety, the destruction of their royal city, the abolition of the worship practised by them of old according to the Law of Moses; and on the other hand, promises of good for the nations, the knowledge of God, a new ideal of holiness, a new law and teaching coming forth from the land of the Jews. I leave you to see, how wonderful a fulfilment, how wonderful a completion, the prophecy has reached after the Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (St. Eusebius: Demonstratio Evangelica [Proof of the Gospel]; Book VI – Chapter 13)

At this point, the burden only lies on you. I’ve already demonstrated that Eusebius saw the Second Coming (which means that glorious, final one on the Last Day; not the one in judgment against apostate Israel) as still future even in his time. Every idea he’s talking about in what you’ve quoted is also contained in the Book of Hebrews. And it’s in Jeremiah 31, as well as most of Zechariah and Malachi. These were just Messianic expectations, which sometimes went against what the Jews perceived, and which were absolutely fulfilled once Messiah came and even more so within the generation that followed. But it’s only concerning the emergence of a new faith in Christ which would trump the Jewish temple system and its remaining nationalism. That’s not Full Preterism, because he is saying nothing about the Final Judgment or the Final Resurrection having already occurred.” – 16:07, 1 May 2008

(no response to Mise-en-page on this important point since May 1st)

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