Preterism is the belief that the end time events prophesized in the New Testament have already happened. The great war of Armageddon in the book of Revelation occurred in the late 60's and early 70's AD when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, many Jews were killed and the rest were driven from Palestine. When Jesus talked about the end of the world, he did not mean that the physical world would be no more. He taught that the old Jewish worldview was coming to an end, to be replaced by a new concept, the Kingdom of God. Thus, all of the major elements in the book of Revelation (Tribulation, Armageddon, Rapture, etc.) actually took place in the first century AD.
How To Understand Confusing Biblical Passages:
Whenever there is confusion over a passage of Scripture, one must do the following: 1. Humble yourself to submit to the teaching of the Word--admitting you really don't know much about the ways of God (Isa. 55:8). 2. Ask the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of wisdom and understanding (Eph. 1:17) to help you understand as you read and then don't jump to any conclusions until you're certain He has answered. 3. Read the entire passage & consider it within the context of ALL Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16). 4. Consider the meaning of the confusing words in their original languages*. 5. Avoid "proof-texting": simply looking for verses to support your view instead of considering the Bible as a whole. 6. WAIT and keep searching and praying! Sometimes God teaches you things over time. You can't expect to understand everything in an afternoon.
*The trouble of interpretation arises when we strictly rely on the English variances of the Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic words instead of returning to the original languages. Strictly speaking, the Bible is inerrant only in the original languages. Translations must be studied with the understanding that there are inherent difficulties within language translation--take it from someone who knows; I'm bilingual.
A Couple of Verses Explained Which Have Been Misunderstood:
Matthew 24:34: "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things [the end time events] have happened." Trouble: Scholars agree that "these things" refers to end time events; however, they disagree as to what Jesus meant by "this generation". Preterists believe "this generation" meant specifically those who were alive at the time of Jesus' teaching. However, we have to recognize that Jesus had a tendency toward being cryptic--using earthly/physical references to teach spiritual things. The parables provide many examples of this, but perhaps an even better one is in John 2:18-21: "Then the Jews demanded of him, 'What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?' Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.' The Jews replied, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it again in three days?' But the temple he had spoken of was his body." Though Jesus said, "temple", what He meant was "body"--two very different words and very confusing to those around Him; however, later the truth of His statement became clear--even to his enemies and even before His actual resurrection (Matt. 27:63). So, given Jesus' tendency to cryptic messages and the vast amount of Scripture that is very specific about the events that are yet to come, it would be best to be careful in our interpretation of what Jesus intended to say here. Furthermore, the word "generation" lends itself quite easily to double meaning--even more so than the word "temple", in my opinion. The word "generation" in the Greek used here is "Genea", meaning: a space of time, circle of time, a race, an age of time. It could also mean the type of Jew in existence at that time, but it is not specific to a generation as we understand the term in English to mean the lifespan of one individual.
Matthew 10:23b: "I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes." Trouble: Given Jesus' cryptic language and His tendency to make seemingly simple statements which are actually pregnant with deeper spiritual meaning, one needs to really consider the Greek word for "city" in this passage. The word in the Greek is "polis", meaning, "city or town", but is very closely related to the word, "polemai", meaning "warfare, battle, fight or war". If you read the entire chapter you will note the vast number of references to warfare--both physical and spiritual. In fact, verse 34 states, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Jesus' hearers would have understood the double meaning--that the "cities" they were going through would indeed be "battles". Furthermore, the Jews have not yet been reached. Due to the diaspora (the scattering of both the northern and southern tribes of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians centuries earlier) not all of "cities of Israel" were even in Israel at that time. Even today they are scattered across the globe and still have not all been reached with the Gospel of Christ. This verse seems to say that Jesus Himself will have to be here before the Jews are all reached and, yet, since those Jews have consistently remained lost since then until even today, it seems obvious that we are still waiting for His return.
Others: There are various verses in Scripture that refer to Christ coming "soon" or that the time is "near"; and there is no doubt that some of these passages are difficult to understand; however, we must take these in light of how God--who is the Creator of time and not to be governed by it--intends. Naturally, we will not naturally understand God's ways. It must be taught to us through the Holy Spirt and through the Word. Here is one verse that sheds some light on how God sees the passage of time: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
The Trouble of "Missing Events":
One of the primary arguments against preterism is the fact that there is little to no evidence that many of the end time prophesies have, indeed, occurred--let alone within the lifetimes of those who were there to hear Christ's teaching on the subject.
These "missing events" include:
False "Christs" which perform great signs and miracles, Wars, Famines, Earthquakes in various places, most of the believers leaving the faith, the gospel being preached to all nations, an abominable thing will be set up inside the holy place of the Temple, the flight of the people of Judea into the hills, Jesus Christ will appear in the sky and all nations of the earth will mourn, the sun and moon will be darkened, the stars will fall from the sky, the heavenly bodies will be shaken; a loud trumpet will sound, all believers from all around the world will be gathered (raptured) and taken to heaven as they go about their business, many will have long given up and cease to expect Christ's return, the appearance of the Antichrist, the appearance of the ten kings, the enforcement of all to take the mark of the beast or be beheaded, the inability of any without the mark of the beast to buy or sell, the 7 years of tribulation, the 200-million man army from the north, the drying up of the Euphrates River, the falling of 100-pound hailstones, the destruction of all of Satan's forces by the words of Christ's mouth, the battle of Armageddon, the imprisonment of Satan and his spiritual forces, the 1000 years of peace on earth.... and the list goes on and on and on....
How Do Preterists Get Around This Lack of Fulfillment of Prophesy?
The Bible takes a very dim view of false teachers and false prophets. Deuteronomy 18:22 states, "If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him." In other words, if any prophesy goes unfulfilled, then that prophet is a liar. A prophet of God will be correct 100 percent of the time.
The preterists, however, do not say the prophesies went unfulfilled, they simply spiritualize them and try to make them appear to have been figurative only--not real prophesies or literal fulfillments at all. For example, they say that the "old earth", prophesied in Scripture to pass away, is the "Old Covenant". The new earth then becomes the "New Covenant" and the "elements" which Scripture says will burn with fervent heat are the elements of the law. Furthermore, it's quite interesting to watch preterist theologians (after their dogmatic defense of the literal interpretations of other passages of Scripture) try to squeeze the very specific number of the millennium--no less than 1,000 years--into the 40 years between 30 AD and 70 AD. The backflips they have to do with Scripture would make an Olympian beg for an ice-pack.
When we begin to study prophesy, a good place to look for how God both makes and fulfills prophesy is to those prophesies fulfilled by Jesus Himself when He first came to Earth in bodily form. We must ask: Were the prophesies specific in nature? Were the prophesies fulfilled in a specific manner? Were the fulfillments easily recognized? Did all of the prophesies come true up to that point? Were the prophesies about literal, physical realities? Were the prophesies fulfilled literally and physically? To each of these questions, we must respond with a resounding "Yes!" So, it stands to reason that when there are prophesies surrounding the end times that call for "earthquakes in various places" (Matt. 24:7), "an army of 200 million soldiers on horseback" (Rev. 9:16) or "100-pound hail stones" (Rev. 16:21), that those are literal, physical prophesies that must be fulfilled. Well, have they?
So, Is Preterism Sound Doctrine? Based on what I've seen, I would have to say, no.
What Are the Dangers?
When Scripture can, at a whim, be taken as "figurative" in order to make it fit with our worldview, we are straying onto very dangerous ground. Suddenly, anything we dislike, can be rationalized away. Convenient, isn't it? Instead of basing our faith on God and His instruction, we are now trusting in ourselves--massaging our own wants and desires. We no longer even have to have a relationship with Him--we just have to find the path of least resistance toward a "warm and fuzzy" conscience and get on it. (But, beware! A deep pit of legalism waits just down this road!) In fact, why bother taking anything Jesus said seriously? I mean, after all, He could be a bit of a battle-axe sometimes--all that talk about how even looking at a woman lustfully being sin and taking a whip after those guys trying to make a living on Temple grounds. And, while we're hard at the task of stripping away anything that pricks our consciences or makes us afraid or confused, why bother believing in Jesus at all--or even in God?
Do you see how dangerous it is to pretend we have an intellectual superiority over the Scriptures? I'm not denying there are confusing passages within it's pages. That's part of the point! Jesus' words were often very confusing to His disciples. Why did He speak in riddles so often? So that they would SEEK HIM--so that they would RELY on the HIM and, later, on the HOLY SPIRIT, not on themselves to understand spiritual things (Prov. 3:5-6). Remember, only the Holy Spirit can reveal spiritual truth. Reading the Bible alone isn't going to do it.
"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I Cor. 2:14)
No comments:
Post a Comment