Are We In "The Last Days?"

Are We in "The Last Days?"

        We frequently hear Bible teachers say we are in "the last days."

"The last days" of what?

The last days of earth's history. The planet earth is soon -- very soon -- going to be dissolved in a nuclear cataclysm and then recreated into "a new heavens and a new earth." This will occur after "The Great Tribulation" and the rise of "the Antichrist."

These Bible teachers are completely mistaken.

"But doesn't the Bible speak of "the last days?"

Yes, but "the last days of what?

  • Not the last days of planet earth.
  • The last days of the Old Covenant.

The Apostles said repeatedly that they were in "the last days." They believed something extraordinarily significant was going to happen in their generation.

Were they mistaken?

The Apostles lived in the last days of the Old Covenant and the first days of the New Covenant. They promised their readers that the New Covenant would be fully brought it when the Old Covenant was destroyed. This destruction culminated in AD 70 when Roman Armies destroyed Jerusalem and the Old Covenant temple system came to an end -- just as Jesus predicted it would (Matthew chapters 23-24).

If you've been taught over the last few years that we are now in "the last days," it will take some prayerful study to undo that teaching and conclude that we are not in the last days. Here are some helpful links:

        

The Last Days by David Chilton

       

PARADISE RESTORED

A Biblical Theology of Dominion

David Chilton
Dominion Press
Tyler, Texas.

(PART 13)

THE LAST DAYS

As we began to see in the preceding chapter, the period spoken of in the Bible as "the last days" (or "last times" or "last hour") is the period between Christ's birth and the destruction of Jerusalem. The early church was living at the end of the old age and the beginning of the new. This whole period must be considered as the time of Christ's First Advent. In both the Old and New Testament, the promised destruction of Jerusalem is considered to be an aspect of the work of Christ, intimately connected to His work of redemption. His life, death, resurrection, ascension, outpouring of the Spirit, and judgment on Jerusalem are all parts of His one work of bringing in His Kingdom and creating His new Temple (see, for example, how Daniel 9:24-27 connects the atonement with the destruction of the Temple).

Let's consider how the Bible itself uses these expressions about the end of the age. In 1 Timothy 4:1-3, Paul warned:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Was Paul talking about "latter times" which would happen thousands of years later? Why should he warn Timothy of events which Timothy, and Timothy's great-great-grandchildren, and fifty or more generations of descendants, would never live to see? In fact, Paul tells Timothy, "If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ" (1 Tim. 4:6). The members of Timothy's congregation needed to know about what would take place in the "latter days," because they would be personally affected by those events. In particular, they needed the assurance that the coming apostasy was part of the overall pattern of events leading up to the end of the old order and the full establishing of Christ's Kingdom. As we can see from passages such as Colossians 2:18-23, the "doctrines of demons" Paul warned of were current during the first century. The "latter times" were already taking place. This is quite clear in Paul's later statement to Timothy:

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come; for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as James and Jambres resisted Moses, so also do these resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith (2 Tim. 3:1-8).

The very things Paul said would happen in "the last days" were happening as he wrote, and he was simply warning Timothy about what to expect as the age wore on to its climax. Antichrist was beginning to rear its head.

Other New Testament writers shared this perspective with Paul. The letter to the Hebrews begins by saying that God "has in these last days spoken to us in His Son" (Heb. 1:2); the writer goes on to show that "now once at the end of the ages He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb. 9:26). Peter wrote that Christ "was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for you who through Him are believers in God" (1 Pet. 1:20-21). Apostolic testimony is unmistakably clear: when Christ came, the "last days" arrived with Him. He came to bring in the new age of the Kingdom of God. The old age was winding down, and would be thoroughly abolished when God destroyed the Temple.

From Pentecost to Holocaust

On the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit had been poured out and the Christian community spoke with other tongues, Peter declared the Biblical interpretation of the event:

This is that which was spoken of through the prophet Joel: "And it shall be in the last days," God says, "that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord. And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:16-21).

We have already seen how the "blood and fire and vapor of smoke" and the signs in the sun and the moon were fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem (see pp. 100f.). What is crucial to notice at this point is Peter's precise statement that the last days had arrived. Contrary to some modern expositions of this text, Peter did not say that the miracles of Pentecost were like what Joel prophesied, or that they were some sort of "proto-fulfillments" of Joel's prophecy; he said that this was the fulfillment: "This is that which was spoken of through the prophet Joel." The last days were here: the Spirit had been poured out, God's people were prophesying and speaking in tongues, and Jerusalem would be destroyed with fire. The ancient prophecies were unfolding, and this generation would not pass until "all these things" were fulfilled. Therefore, Peter urged his listeners, "Be saved from this perverse generation!" (Acts 2:40).

In this connection, we should note the eschatological significance of the gift of tongues. St. Paul showed, in 1 Corinthians 14:21-22, that the miracle of tongues was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy against rebellious Israel. Because the covenant people were rejecting His clear revelation, God warned that His prophets would speak to them with foreign tongues, for the express purpose of rendering a final witness to unbelieving Israel during the last days preceding her judgment:

Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue….
That they may go and stumble backward, and be broken
And snared and taken captive.
Therefore, hear the Word of the LORD, O scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death,
And with Sheol we have made a pact.
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
It will not reach us,
For we have made falsehood our refuge
And we have concealed ourselves with deception."
Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD:
"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed;
He who believes in it will not be in a hurry.
And I will make justice the measuring line,
And righteousness the level;
Then hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters shall overflow the secret place.
And your covenant with death shall be canceled,
And your pact with Sheol shall not stand;
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
Then you become its trampling place.
As often as it passes through, it will seize you.
For morning after morning it will pass through,
And by day and by night.
And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means."
(Isa. 28:11-19)

The miracle of Pentecost was a shocking message to Israel. They knew what this meant. It was the sign from God that the Chief Cornerstone had come, and that Israel had rejected Him to its own damnation (Matt. 21:42-44; 1 Pet. 2:6-8). It was the sign of judgment and reprobation, the signal that the apostates of Jerusalem were about to "stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive." The Last Days of Israel had come: the old age was at an end, and Jerusalem would be swept away in a new flood, to make way for God's New Creation. As Paul said, tongues was "for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers" (1 Cor. 14:22)—a sign to the unbelieving Jews of their approaching doom.

The early Church looked forward to the coming of the new age. They knew that, with the visible end of the Old Covenant system, the Church would be revealed as the new, true Temple; and the work Christ came to perform would be accomplished. This was an important aspect of redemption, and the first-generation Christians looked forward to this event in their own lifetime. During this period of waiting and severe trial, the Apostle Peter assured them that they were "protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5). They were on the very threshold of the new world.

Expecting the End

The Apostles and first-generation Christians knew they were living in the last days of the Old Covenant age. They looked forward anxiously to its consummation and the full ushering in of the new era. As the age progressed and the "signs of the end" increased and intensified, the Church could see that the Day of Judgment was fast approaching; a crisis was looming in the near future, when Christ would deliver them "from this present evil age" (Gal. 1:4). The statements of the apostles are full of this expectant attitude, the certain knowledge that this momentous event was upon them. The sword of God's wrath was poised over Jerusalem, ready to strike at any time. But the Christians were not to be afraid, for the coming wrath was not aimed at them, but at the enemies of the Gospel. Paul urged the Thessalonians to "wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come" (1 Thess. 1:10). Echoing Jesus' words in Matthew 23-24, Paul emphasized that the imminent judgment would be poured out upon "the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the uttermost" (1 Thess. 2:14-16). The Christians had been forewarned and were therefore prepared, but unbelieving Israel would be caught off-guard:

Now as to the times and epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day…. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 5:1-5, 9).

Paul expanded upon this in his second letter to the same church:

For after all it is a righteous thing for God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire dealing out vengeance to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed (2 Thess. 1:6-10).

Clearly, Paul is not talking about Christ's final coming at the end of the world, for the coming "tribulation" and "vengeance" were specifically aimed at those who were persecuting the Thessalonian Christians of the first generation. The coming day of judgment was not something thousands of years away. It was near—so near that they could see it coming. Most of the "signs of the end" were in existence already, and the inspired apostles encouraged the Church to expect the End at any moment. Paul urged the Christians in Rome to persevere in godly living, "knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light" (Rom. 13:11-12). As the old age had been characterized by sin, despair, and bondage to Satan, the new age would be increasingly characterized by righteousness and the universal reign of the Kingdom. For the period of the "last days" was also the time when the Kingdom of heaven was inaugurated on earth, when the "Holy Mountain" began its dynamic growth and all nations began to flow into the Christian faith, as the prophets foretold (see Isa. 2:2-4; Mic. 4:1-4). Obviously, there is still a great deal of ungodliness in the world today. But Christianity has been gradually and steadily winning battles since the days of the early church; and as Christians continue to make war on the enemy, the time will come when the saints possess the Kingdom (Dan. 7:22, 27).

This is why Paul could comfort believers by assuring them that "the Lord is at hand" (Phil. 4:5). Indeed, the watchword of the early Church (1 Cor. 16:22) was Maranatha! The Lord comes! Looking forward to the coming destruction of Jerusalem, the writer to the Hebrews warned those tempted to "draw back" to apostate Judaism that apostasy would only bring them "a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries" (Heb. 10:27).

For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord." And again, "The Lord will judge His people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God…. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: "For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul (Heb. 10:30-31, 36-39).

The other New Testament authors wrote in similar terms. After James warned the wealthy unbelievers who oppressed the Christians of the miseries about to descend upon them, charging that they had fraudulently "heaped up treasure in the last days" (James 5:1-6), he encouraged the suffering Christians:

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! (James 5:7-9).

The Apostle Peter, too, warned the Church that "the end of all things is at hand" (1 Pet. 4:7), and encouraged them to live in the daily expectation of the judgment that would come in their generation:

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy…. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Pet. 4:12-13, 17).

The early Christians had to endure both severe persecution at the hands of apostate Israel, and betrayal by antichrists from their own midst who sought to steer the Church into the Judaistic cult. But this time of fiery tribulation and suffering was working for the Christians' own blessing and sanctification (Rom. 8:28-39); and in the meantime God's wrath against the persecutors was building up. Finally, the End came, and God's anger was unleashed. Those who had brought tribulation upon the Church were cast into the greatest Tribulation of all time. The Church's greatest enemy was destroyed, and would never again pose a threat to her ultimate victory.

        

95 Days of Christmas: Thesis 85: The Last Days of the Old Covenant

       

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Thesis 85: The Last Days of the Old Covenant

As foretold by the Old Testament Prophets, a glorious New Heavens and New Earth would be created in the “latter times.”[1] Christ established this Messianic Kingdom at the time of the Apostles,[2] who knew they were living in “the last days” of the Old Age.[3] The Old Covenant World (the world of the First Adam) was destroyed by fire in A.D. 70,[4] and as the Church is maturing in obedience all Old Testament prophecies concerning the New Covenant Age (the New Heavens and New Earth under the Second Adam) are being fulfilled.[5]

Notes
1. Micah 4:1-5; Isaiah 2:1ff.; Isaiah 11; 65:17ff.; Joel 2:28ff.; Hosea 3:5; Jeremiah 23:20; 30:24; etc.
2. Acts 2
3. Hebrews 1:2; 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20; 4:7; 1 John 2:18; Acts 2:16-17; #73
4. Matthew 24; 2 Peter 3
5. Acts 3:24; 2 Corinthians 1:20; 5:17

References
Gary DeMar writes:

THE LATTER YEARS
Hitchcock and Ice claim that the battle described in Ezekiel 38–39 has to be a distant future battle because it takes place in the “latter years” (38:8) and the “last days” (38:16). “Fortunately,” they write, “Ezekiel actually tells us when this invasion will occur. In Ezekiel 38:8, he says specifically that this invasion will occur in the ‘latter years.’ This is the only occurrence of this exact phrase in the Old Testament” (TBLB 46).[6] The phrase may be unique, but the Hebrew word translated “latter” occurs several times in the OT. More about this in a moment. A careful reading of the text will show that “latter years” is defined for us:

“After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them” (Ezek. 38:8).
“The latter years” means “after many days,” that is, sometime in the future when a certain series of observable events take place. Ezekiel wrote during the Babylonian captivity. He is prophesying about the future when God will restore the Jews to their homeland “from many nations.” Of course, this took place when Cyrus issued his decree “in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah” (Ezra 1:1). Some 50,000 exiles returned to Israel to rebuild the temple and city.
The same Hebrew phrase translated “last days” in Ezekiel 38:16 is often translated as “the days to come” in other contexts. In A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament “the last days” is described as “a prophetic phrase denoting the final period of the history so far as the speaker’s perspective reaches.” In the case of Genesis 49:1, it’s “the period of Israel’s possession of Canaan.”[7] The use of the phrase in Numbers 24:14 probably refers to the battle with the Midianites that took place in Israel’s near future (31:1–12; Josh. 13:21–22). The prophecy of Deuteronomy 31:29, where “latter days” is used in some translations, is best seen as referring to the events described in the period of the Judges. How do we know this? Moses says, “For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I commanded you; and evil will befall you, . . . For you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”[8]
So then, the phrase the “latter years” is a time reference about events that are future to the writer; it is not “eschatological,” that is, it’s not a reference either to a post-rapture tribulation period or a post-tribulation earthly millennium.

6. The fact that this phrase is used only once in the OT should lead the interpreter not to be so dogmatic in his assertions as to its meaning. The process in determining what a phrase means is to see how it’s used elsewhere in Scripture. If it’s not found in any other context, then the closest parallel must be consulted. Hitchcock and Ice fail to follow this procedure in so much of their exposition.
7. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs (BDB), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford), 31. BDB does go on to say, “But it often=the ideal or Messianic future.” The Messianic future could be the first coming of Christ which was certainly Messianic and in the future. But all the examples following this statement in BDB refer to events in the near future.
8. “In the days to come, Cf. Gn. 49:1; in the Judges’ period (cf. Jdg. 2:11–16; 3:7).” R.K. Harrison, “Deuteronomy,” The New Bible Commentary, eds. Donald Guthrie and J.A. Motyer, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1970), 227.

-----=====******O******=====-----
But the New Testament writers clearly affirmed that they were then living in "the last days," presumably the last days of the Old Covenant. We are living in "the Messianic future." By a process of elimination, by comparing every occurrence of "the last days" in the New Testament with the prophecies in the Old Covenant, it will be found that there are no "last days" prophecies that are still yet future for us. There are no prophecies of the "Messianic future" which have not already or are now being fulfilled.
       

King David, the Prophet, Spoke of Jesus, the Messiah

       
It's easy enough to prove that Jesus was made the Christ in the past. Peter explains it in Acts chapter 2. After the Apostles spoke to a large audience of people "from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5) in all their various foreign languages, Peter explained that this was a fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy. He further explains how Jesus had already fulfilled the Davidic prophecies about the enthroning of the Messiah:
Acts 2 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them... “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

     17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
     That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
     Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
     Your young men shall see visions,
     Your old men shall dream dreams.
     18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants
     I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
     And they shall prophesy.
Prophets often used astronomical language to describe the "de-creation" of empires. This is political language, not "scientific" language. See Isaiah 13:9-10 [Prophesying the fall of Babylon to the Medes in 539 B.C.]; Isaiah 34:4 [prophesying the fall of Edom]; Amos 8:9 [foretelling the doom of Samaria (722 B.C.)]; Ezekiel 32:7-8 [judgment of Egypt], etc. Most Christians are "preterists" regarding those prophecies: they were fulfilled centuries ago. Politically, not "literally."
     19 I will show wonders in heaven above
     And signs in the earth beneath:
     Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
     20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
     And the moon into blood,
     Before the coming of the great and awesome
          day of the Lord.
     21 And it shall come to pass
     That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
     Shall be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says [Psalm 16:8–11] concerning Him:

     ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face,
     For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
     26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
     Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
     27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
     Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
     28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
     You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’

29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says [Psalm 110:1] himself:

     ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
     “Sit at My right hand,
     35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 

God made Jesus of Nazareth the Christ -- 2000 years ago -- fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies concerning the throne of David. Peter and other devout Jews came to believe this; Christians should believe this; today's Jews do not. What was happening in Peter's "present" happened in our "past." This is "preterism."

        

When were "The Last Days?"

       

Preterism

Focus text: "in the last days"

And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the House of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains
And it will be raised above the hills

According to Peter in Acts 2, and elsewhere in the New Testament, the Apostles were living in "the Last Days" of the Old Covenant. This is when Jesus was made the Christ: in the past. He came a second time in judgment against those who rejected Him as the Christ. The claim that Jesus is the Messiah today (not just in the future) is the claim that Jesus was made "Lord and Christ" in the past. The Latin word for "past" is praeter, and saying a prophecy was fulfilled in the past is called "Preterism."

Rules for Interpreting Scripture:

Applying these simple and universally-agreed upon rules leads to this controversial conclusion:

The Second Coming of Christ happened in the past
and there is no prophecy of a Third Coming of Christ in our Future

The focus of the New Testament is on the generation that rejected Jesus as the Christ, not any generation thousands or millions of years in the future. The "Second Coming" of Christ -- a coming in vengeance against those who murdered Him -- is said to be imminent everywhere in the New Testament. Atheists say Jesus was wrong about His Second Coming, but that's because atheists ignore those rules above. Jesus never predicted the imminent end of planet earth. He predicted the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, the end of the Old Covenant, and the beginning of the New Covenant. This all took place in the past, hence "preterism."

There is not a single verse in the New Testament
which was intended by its author
and understood by its original audience
to be prophesying an event thousands of years in the future.

Preterism vs. Futurism:
Which Theory Brings the Greater Glory to God?

The word "Preterism" comes from the Latin word for "past."

Every Bible-believing Christian is a "preterist" when it comes to interpreting Isaiah 7:14, which predicts the virgin birth of Christ. Matthew 1:23 teaches that this prophecy was fulfilled in our past. There's no evidence in the Bible that there will be a future fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14. A "preterist" interpretation is orthodoxy.

"Full Preterism" or "Consistent Preterism" teaches that there are no events in the Bible which are prophesied to occur after A.D. 70, when the temple was destroyed in Jerusalem and the Old Covenant came to a complete end. The consistent preterist believes there are no prophecies in the Bible that remain to be fulfilled in our future. All were fulfilled in the past. This is decidedly not orthodox.

Some full preterists teach that while all prophecies have been fulfilled, some prophecies predicted the inauguration of on-going conditions. Isaiah 65 predicts a "New Heavens and New Earth." A preterist can hold that this new world was inaugurated in the past, but is also a "world without end" (Isaiah 45:17; Ephesians 3:21, KJV). Similarly, the age predicted in Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 is said to be one which, while inaugurated in our past, continues into our future, "from now on, even forever" (Micah 4:7). The government of Christ was established in our past, but
       "Of the increase of His government and peace
       There will be no end"
       (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Some theologians have come to preterist conclusions, but don't call themselves "full preterists." They put the traditions of the church on a par with Scripture. So they might say that while the New Testament is dominated by prophecies about the coming of Christ in vengeance against the Jews in AD70, and while there are no prophecies about any events in our future, they still believe in a future coming of Christ "because Holy Mother the Church has taught that doctrine for 2,000 years." I call such theologians "ecclesiastical preterists."

The question should always be, "What saith the Lord," and in particular, "What saith Scripture."

Let's suppose that the full preterists make a prima facie case for their view, and futurists make a prima facie case for their perspective. One way to decide between two equally-Scriptural views might be to ask, "Which view gives greater glory to God?

"Christian Reconstruction" is the view that Christians should work to make society more obedient to God's Laws in the Bible.

"Christian Reconstructionists" tend to be preterists. Futurists tend to oppose Christian Reconstruction.

Hal Lindsey is a well-known futurist, and wrote back in 1970:

There used to be a group called "postmillennialists." They believed that the Christians would root out all the evil in the world, abolish godless rulers, and convert the world through ever-increasing evangelism until they brought about the Kingdom of God through their own efforts. Then after 1000 years of the institutional church reigning on earth with peace, equality and righteousness, Christ would return and time would end. These people rejected much of the Scripture as being literal and believed in the inherent goodness of man. World War I greatly disheartened this group and World War II virtually wiped out this viewpoint. No self-respecting scholar who looks at the world conditions and the accelerating decline of Christian influence today is a "postmillennialist."
Hal Lindsey, The Late, Great Planet Earth, 1970, p. 176

The idea that Christians would bring about the Kingdom of God "through their own efforts" is a real red-flag for Christians like Hal Lindsey. They say it reeks of "secular humanism."

"Christian Reconstruction" was not well-known back in 1970. Lindsey was speaking more of liberals and progressives in the early part of the 20th century who promoted "the social gospel." His criticisms miss the point if directed toward Bible-believing inerrantists, 5-point Calvinists, and 6-day creationists like the Christian Reconstructionists.

Futurists tend to be "New Testament Christians," while Christian Reconstructionists put an emphasis on the whole Bible, from cover to cover, including the Old Testament.

Most Futurists today believe Jesus came to give us a ticket to heaven when we die. In the meantime, Satan rules the planet. Their story of the Bible goes like this:

  • God created planet earth;
  • God put human beings on earth to be good stewards, and transform the Garden of Eden into the City of God;
  • Satan tempted man;
  • Man rebelled against God, choosing to be his own god instead;
  • Satan now controls the world;
  • Jesus came to de-throne Satan and reign as the Messiah, but the Jews rejected Him;
  • He promises to come back and try again
  • In the meantime, things are going to get worse and worse;
  • Satan has successfully ruled this planet for the last 6,000 years, including 2,000 years since the first coming of Jesus;
  • At His second coming, Jesus sits on a throne in Jerusalem, reigning as Messiah.
  • But His reign only lasts 1,000 years when Satan leads a rebellion.
  • Jesus can tell that Satan and man are not playing God's game by God's rules, and Satan is going to win the game, so Jesus decides to take his cosmic football and go home. History ends.

In other words, Satan wins.

Pretty dismal story, isn't it?

Not much of a "gospel" ("good news") is it?

Sure, God sent His Son, who died on the cross, so that some of the players can be forgiven for their rebellion and go home with God, but God's original purposes for man and the creation were thwarted by Satan, the ultimate victor.

Didn't God know that His plan of giving human beings dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28) was doomed to failure?

Didn't God know that His plan of sending His Son to establish a Kingdom of Peace would be defeated by Satan and the human beings that Satan won to his false gospel?

The popular Christian writer Dave Hunt has written:

In fact, dominion – taking dominion and setting up the kingdom of Christ – is an impossibility, even for God. The millennial reign of Christ, far from being the kingdom, is actually the final proof of the incorrigible nature of the human heart, because Christ Himself can’t do it.[1]

"Impossible even for God." Wow.

The Creator's idea of creating man in His Own Image and telling man to exercise dominion over the earth, converting the earth to God's Temple, building the City of God, was a mistake. Progress is not possible. Only regress. Earth is a failure. Jesus' prayer ("Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven") is just tilting at Satanic windmills. As Hal Lindsey put it, "Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth." And always will be. Poor God.

In contrast to a "futurism" (which really has no future), is a radical preterism. It looks like this:

  • Christians follow Christ's "Great Commission" and continue to evangelize, disciple converts, and reconstruct society along Biblical lines.
  • B.B. Warfield, a towering figure among Reformed theologians, came to the conclusion that before Christ's Second Coming (in our future; Warfield was a "partial preterist," not a "full preterist") Christ's church would discharge the Great Commission and the Holy Spirit would convert every human being on planet earth, so that
         the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
         As the waters cover the sea.
         Habakkuk 2:14
  • Warfield was an opponent of "perfectionism," but let us suppose that an obedient church not only preaches the gospel and sees the world converted, but makes disciples of the converts, teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded, and just as the church saw fruit in perfect evangelism/justification, the church's work is blessed by the Holy Spirit and the world experiences perfect discipleship/sanctification, and a universally converted world is also a perfectly obedient sanctified world.
  • The Bible says that obedience to God's Commands brings blessings (Leviticus 26), while disobedience brings curses (Deuteronomy 28). Perfect sanctified obedience then brings unparalleled and unimaginable blessings on earth, including long life-spans (Isaiah 65), and the eradication of thorns, thistles, sweat, and pain in childbirth. And
  • God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven (Mathew 6:10). That is to say, perfectly.
  • A “Vine & Fig Tree” world is the result (see below).
  • Again, the full expansion of God's Blessings under these circumstances is literally nothing less than "unimaginable." We can't even imagine it, just as the prophet Micah, living 700 years before the birth of Christ, could not have imagined the standard of living we enjoy 2,000 years after Christ.
  • The "Last Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:45) completely triumphs over and reverses the effects of the First Adam.
  • James Jordan writes,
    • The Bible pictures the earth as a house, as in Job 38:4-6. Just as the earth is pictured as a house, so is heaven. Heaven is a separate house from earth, and is the model home that earth is to imitate. We pray, therefore, "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as in heaven." The goal of history is for heaven to impress itself on earth, so that eventually heaven and earth are one, and there is one house."
  • Jordan does not deny the unbridgeable gap between the Creator and the Creation (Romans 1:25), however, some theologians have written about the "divinization of man," and perhaps also of the entire creation.

Many futurists -- even those who acknowledge that there may not be any verses of Scripture which were intended to predict an event thousands or millions of years after the closing of the canon -- believe there must be a radical, discontinuous event in our future in order to reverse the curse that was brought about by the First Adam. But this is not a claim made by the Bible itself. There's no Biblical reason why universal sanctification cannot reverse the curse.

Childbirth is an interesting case in point. When God announces that Satan's temptation has resulted in pain for women in bearing children, it is clear that this is a change from the way things originally would have been: joyful, pain-free childbirth. Futurists believe that "in the resurrection" (Matthew 22:30) there is no marriage, no sex, no childbirth. (While futurists do not take literally Paul's claim that "there is neither male nor female" [Galatians 3:28], they generally take Jesus literally on this point.) That means that during all of human history, Satan triumphs over God's original plan of joyful pain-free childbirth. Women will never experience God's original vision, not in history, nor even in eternity. Never. Satan wins.

So here's the question:

Which perspective gives more glory to God:

  • A creation that was surrendered by the First Adam to be ruled by Satan, and has to be completely destroyed, in a discontinuous transition from failure in history to glory only in eternity
     or
  • A creation that is re-made by the Last Adam, in history, so that the knowledge (and glory) of God covers the earth and continues to increase for an innumerable billions of years

Audio

        

The Christmas Conspiracy FAQ

       

The "Last Days"

Q.11: I've looked at some of the pages on your site and you never once say "we are in the last days," and "Jesus is coming soon." Why are you unclear on this?
A. Let me be perfectly clear: Jesus is not coming soon. We are not in "the last days."

Q.12: But doesn't the Bible say we are in "the last days?"
A. The Apostles were living in the last days of the Old Covenant and the first days of the New Covenant. That's why they wrote "We (the Apostles and their readers) are in the last days."

Q.13: But didn't Jesus say He was coming soon?
A. Yes, He did. He did not say that there would be a 2000 year wait for His coming. In fact, He said "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom." (Matthew 16:28) What does He mean by that?

Q.14: I'm asking the questions here.
A. Sorry.

Q.15: What did He mean by that?
A. I think He meant that "this wicked generation" -- or as one popular writer phrased it, "the terminal generation" -- was about to be terminated. The Israel of Jesus' day oppressed the poor, they misled people, they were unloving hypocrites, and they executed the Messiah. Jesus said they were the most unGodly generation in history (Matthew 23), and for this they would be destroyed by Roman armies (Luke 21:20). They saw the Son of Man exercising His Kingdom Sovereignty in A.D. 70, and then they tasted death.

Click here if you don't know the difference between "pre-millennial" and "post-millennial"

Q.16: So you don't believe in "the premillennial return of Christ."

A. The Old Testament Prophets were "pre-millennial." They said the Messiah must come before ("pre") the world could experience radical "shalom" (the Age of Peace called "the millennium" because of a symbolic reference to a "thousand years" in the Book of Revelation). The New Testament is clear: Jesus is the Messiah, and at His Resurrection and Ascension He was seated on the "throne of David" at the Right Hand of God. As priests and kings in His Kingdom, our task is to extend His Kingdom.
For this reason, a growing number of Christians are "post-millennial," and anticipate the return of Christ after ("post") this "millennial" age.
indent.gif (90 bytes)Jesus came two centuries ago to inaugurate a New Covenant. Micah is talking about the "last days" of the Old Covenant. The Apostles unmistakably and repeatedly assert that they were then living in the "last days" of the Old Covenant.[3] What was necessary to begin fulfilling Micah's Vine & Fig Tree vision was not a 2,000-year wait for nuclear war and the "great tribulation," but the end of Old Covenant blood sacrifices and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. It happened in the "last days" of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New. Progress is possible.

Q.17: Don't the majority of theologians believe that the Bible teaches that Jesus can come at any moment?
A. In the last century there were two theological movements which are still having an impact. One was German liberalism. Liberal scholars said that the Apostles taught that Jesus would return at any moment to set up a hierarchical kingdom in Jerusalem, militarily overthrowing the Roman Empire. Clearly (the liberals taught), the Apostles were wrong, Jesus did not come again, and the Bible cannot be trusted.
indent.gif (90 bytes)Another movement was the so-called Darbyites, who popularized the "premillennial" return preceded by the "pretribulational rapture of the church." This view gained widespread acceptance through The Scofield Bible.
indent.gif (90 bytes)Both the liberals and the pre-mills are mistaken. The Bible does not teach the imminent coming of a physical, military, hierarchical kingdom. (At one time the Apostles may have believed that Christ was to be a military king, not a Suffering Servant, but they also at one time believed that the execution of Christ was a disruption of God's plan. They simply didn't get it.) The Bible as a whole sets before us the vision of a decentralized Kingdom in which government stems from self-sacrificing service, not a police state, and the Messiah-King rules not with a physical rod of iron, but through the Holy Spirit, Who changes people's hearts.

Q.18: But if Jesus is isn't coming "any moment now," what incentive is there for holy living?
A. Millions of "Christians" believe that we are in "the last days" of planetary history, that things are prophesied (predestined?) in the Book of Revelation to get worse and worse, until Jesus returns again (after a nuclear war) to rule the world for a thousand years from a throne in Jerusalem. Has this belief made Christians more holy?
indent.gif (90 bytes)Not even close. It makes them lazy. Everyone is waiting, not working, passive, not active. This belief strips the salt of its savor (Mt. 5:13). These Christians believe He could come "at any moment," and they are culturally and socially useless. Why work for peace or justice and long-term healing if war and "tribulation" are the keys to bringing Jesus back?
indent.gif (90 bytes) Such a belief should be "thrown out and trodden under foot by men." (Matthew 5:13)

Study the end of "the last days" and the glorious predestined future of Christ's Kingdom, all taking place before any future Second Coming.  [Back to Micah 4.]

        

Wayback Machine: The Fiction Behind Left Behind by Gary DeMar