Jesus said His Second Coming and judgment against those who killed Him would occur within the lifetime of those who were alive at His first coming.
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We begin with sinful Israel: |
Whosoever
therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this
adulterous and sinful generation; of him shall the Son of man be ashamed,
when He shall come in His own glory, and
in His Father's, and of the holy angels; and
then He shall reward every man according to his works.
Verily I say unto you, There be some
standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming
in His kingdom with power.
When the Son of man shall come in His
glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His
glory: |
We end with sinful Israel. |
| Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, 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.” | Mark 8:38-9:1 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” 9:1 And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” | Luke 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.” | Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. | Matthew 19:28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. | Revelation 1:7 Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, even they which have pierced Him, and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of Him. Yea. Amen. |
This event -- the "coming" and "judgment" -- is arguably one of the top three themes of the New Testament (behind the doctrine of Christ Himself, and the doctrine of Justification by imputation).
Here are 101 "Any Moment" Verses.
The consistent "preterist" says that all these prophesies of these key
events (parousia and judgment) had already taken place by the end of the year
A.D. 70.
The consistent preterist says that there are no verses in Scripture which
cannot be interpreted to have been speaking of first-century events, and there are no
verses for which the only rational and Biblical interpretation is that they were
speaking of events at least two millennia in the future. (See my
comments on Doug Wilson's blog.)
1 Corinthians 15 speaks of a resurrection.
It is a matter of standard eschatology that the resurrection precedes the judgment.
(I'm
not going to try to prove this point from Scripture; I simply take it as an axiom of
mainstream eschatology.)
The consistent preterist reasons from Matthew 16:27-28 and the passages above that if "the judgment" took place before His hearers died out (the end of A.D. 70), then the resurrection must have taken place before the end of A.D. 70 as well, since the Judgment could not take place without a prior resurrection (see axiom above).
This is strange thinking for 99.99% of Christians. "The resurrection already took place?"
Take an hour out to read all those "any moment" verses. Read the entire paragraph in which each of those verses is found. Get a feeling for the mindset of "imminent expectation" which characterized these New Testament writers.
Then read 1 Corinthians 15.
Warning: You Must Read All Those Verses First.
Here is the real issue concerning preterism:
Which person is more likely to not be exhibiting the Spirit of Christ:
I believe asking questions is permitted.
Can Individuals Judge the Creeds by Scripture?
Gary North says church pastors should not debate with preterists. (See Section K of Appendix A in his commentary on 1 Corinthians. Excerpt.) I understand this position and respect it. I think it violates the implied command in Acts 17:11.
The real issue regarding Preterism is ecclesiastical, not eschatological.
The real issue (according to those who would excommunicate preterists) is whether you believe what Popes, Cardinals, and Bishops wrote in creeds, and not whether you believe what the real fathers of the faith wrote in Scripture.