A CRITIQUE OF FULL PRETERISM AND A DEFENSE OF HISTORICISTIC
POST-MILLENNIALISM
J. PARNELL MCCARTER
Truths
are often learned in the context of debates with error.
Dedicated
to the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland,
A
good and faithful servant.
©2002 J. Parnell
McCarter. All Rights Reserved.
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The Puritans’ Home School
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PREFACE
I have written this abridged
critique of full preterism, as well as a more expanded critique, as part of my
preparation for a public debate with full preterist Don Preston (minister and
author) scheduled for August 18, 2002 on the nationwide Genesis Radio
Network. Its goal is to present in
summary format an explanation of why full preterism, along with the general
preteristic hermeneutic, should be rejected.
And while it is primarily a critique of full preterism, it is also a
defense of historicistic post-millennialism.
For it is not sufficient simply to reveal the fallacies of preterism; it
is necessary to present the alternative which properly interprets the eschatological
prophecies of scripture. For those who
are interested in the discussion now underway between historicistic (aka
historical) post-millennialists and preterists, I hope this treatment will at
least be a helpful introduction. It is
by no means exhaustive, but hopefully it will prove expansive.
There is another objective,
however, underlying this project, consisting of a public debate as well as this
book responding to full preterism. As
Christians, we are called upon to defend the Christian faith. It is a goal of The Puritans’ Home School Curriculum to equip our children to
understand and defend the doctrines of scripture so excellently summarized in
the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity. Hopefully this book, and the project of
which it is a part, will illustrate to children reading it just one example of
how the reformed faith is being defended.
By reading this book, they should not only learn something about the
issues involved on the particular topic, but also how one may apply knowledge
of the faith in defense of that faith.
As parents, we should be building defenders of the reformed Protestant
faith.
- J. Parnell McCarter
So what is historicistic
post-millennialism anyway and why does it matter?
Historicism interprets the eschatological prophecies in Revelation, II
Thessalonians 2, Matthew 24 and other relevant passages as unfolding over the
whole history of mankind, from the First Advent to the future Second
Advent. This contrasts with futurism
which tends to confine their fulfillment to some future time in a relatively
short time frame, and with preterism which tends to consign their fulfillment
to the distant past. Historicism
identifies that Man of Sin and Beast of Revelation with the Romish Papacy. Post-millennialism interprets the millennium
of Revelation 20 as following the diminution and eradication of spiritual power of the Romish Papacy and her
daughter whores, when reformed Protestantism will enjoy greater
prosperity. Historicistic
post-millennialism has been a standard position of the Protestant Reformation,
exemplified in such historic reformed confessions such as the Westminster
Standards, and held by men like John Calvin, Samuel Rutherford, and Jonathan
Edwards.
I am here then
to defend my Christian hope which is so eloquently expressed in the Westminster
Larger Catechism thus:
“in the second
petition [of the Lord’s Prayer],
(which is, Thy kingdom come) acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by
nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin
and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel
propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fullness of the Gentiles brought in; the church
furnished with all gospel-officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and
maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and
made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the
confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the
time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that he would
be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may
best conduce to these ends.”
There are at least two reasons this issue matters and should be subject
to excommunication if an erroneous heresy is embraced:
·
First, an
error on this issue, whether in the preterist direction or the futurist
direction, is predicated upon a dangerous hermeneutic. If this hermeneutic is logically and
consistently applied, it will affect even doctrines as basic as those found in
the Apostles’ Creed. For instance, **if**
the preteristic hermeneutic were correct and terms like “shortly” necessarily
imply **all** fulfillment of the described event is in 70 A.D., then all of the
events in the book of Revelation must have been ultimately fulfilled in 70
A.D., because the term “shortly” in Revelation 1:1 is descriptive of the whole
of the revelation, and not just some parts.
But if all of its elements were ultimately fulfilled (including the
millennium, Great Day of Judgment in Revelation 20, and the New Heavens and New
Earth in Revelation 21), then it is simply erroneous to adhere to a future
visible, universal Day of Judgment and Advent, because all of such elements
would have been fulfilled in 70 A.D.
Simply put, full preterism is the logical end of the preteristic
hermeneutic. (And, in my opinion, a
rationalistic conception of the new heavens and new earth is its final logical
end. For in the description of the new heavens and new earth of Revelation 21,
heaven comes down to earth and they meet.
So what we currently experience would be the new heavens and new earth,
and there would be no more.) And to
take another example, that of dispensationalist futurism, Patrick Fairbairn is
quite right that the logical end of its hermeneutic is Judaism. **If** prophecies, like concerning the
coming Temple prophesied in the book of Ezekiel, are to be interpreted
literally, then there will be animal
sacrifices required in a literal Temple even after Christ’s First Advent, and
the Apostles were deceptive liars to say otherwise. Furthermore, it would imply Christ and His Apostles were frauds
in the way they applied Old Testament prophecy, saying things like Jesus’ body
is the Temple. It should come as no
surprise that there is even some movement of dispensationalists towards Judaism
in our day. Neither should it be a
surprise that there is a movement of partial preterists to full preterism. Too, it should be remembered that the same
basic methodology by which we identify the Anti-Christ that is the Man of Sin
and Beast of Revelation, must be employed to identify the Christ. The two are not separated with regards to
methodology. So an error in the one
will necessarily affect the other.
·
Second,
the word of God states that as the prophecies are fulfilled, Christ’s elect
church will be able to do things like properly identify the Man of Sin and
support the effort to establish the post-millennium through the instrumentality
of preaching. The Apostle Paul implies
that Christians will be able to identify that Man of Sin described in II
Thessalonians 2:3 when He comes. And
the book of Revelation implies that Christians will promote, and not oppose,
that “the kingdoms of this world…become [the kingdoms] of our Lord”. They will
not oppose the latter because of some false premise that reformed Christian
nations with reformed established churches must wait until after Christ’s
visible Second Advent. (It is the
instrument of the preaching of the gospel, also called the sword out of
Christ’s mouth, which will usher in reformations and the millennium [see
Revelation 14:6, 19:15,21], though finally the new heavens and new earth will
be ushered in by Christ’s Second Advent.)
In these matters, “none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise
shall understand.” (Daniel 12:10) That does not mean every last detail of
prophecy should necessarily be interpreted properly (for then probably none of
us would qualify), but on the chief doctrines of eschatology and the identity
of the Man of Sin which are laid out in the Westminster Standards, there should
be no denial.
Now that I have weighed in on
the issue’s significance, let me now defend the proper position on the issue
itself.
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT USHERING IN
THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH
Preterists assert that the 70 A.D. judgment is the Great Day of
Judgment. But the 70 A.D. judgment is
not the ultimate Great Day of Judgment described in scripture, any more than
the aftermath of 70 A.D. is the ultimate new heavens and new earth. On the ultimate Great Day of Judgment Christ
will visibly come and judge all the living and the dead who have ever
lived- sending the wicked into hell eternally and the righteous to reside
eternally with Him in the New Heavens and New Earth. Sin and suffering will then be done away with in heaven and
earth.
Consider these descriptions of the Great Day of Judgment:
1. In Matthew 25 we read: “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. All
the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the
sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to
those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world....’ Then He will also say to
those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels....’ And these will go away into
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life”
2. II Thes 1 we read: "On “that day” (singular), “when the Lord
Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking
vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in
that day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who
believe”
3. Rev 20: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the
books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life:
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works.”
And consider this description of the new heavens and new earth:
Rev 21: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
The judgment of 70 A.D. was only a type of the Great Day of
Judgment. As the theologian Patrick
Fairbairn wrote, “
“There is a coming spoken of in New
Testament Scripture which may be designated in the proper sense terminal, and
therefore also visible; so that every eye shall see it, and every heart be
filled either with joy or dismay on account of it. And there are comings of a provisional kind, which all point
toward the ultimate manifestation, and differ from it only in being less
palpable in their nature, and less complete and lasting in their results.” (p. 449)
TYPOLOGY IN SCRIPTURAL PROPHECY I
I would like to first resume my discussion of typology in scriptural
prophecy. It is fundamental to the
argument of preterism that typology has ceased in New Testament prophecy, but
this position is wrong.
Just to remind our audience, a
‘type’ is a figure or symbol of something to come, such as an event in
the Old Testament that foreshadows and prophesies of another in the New
Testament. For example, the rest that
the Israelites enjoyed in Canaan when they came out of Egypt is a type of the
promised rest believers will enjoy when
they enter heaven, and King David is a type of King Jesus.
Similarly, Old Testament Israel
was a type of Jesus Christ. To
understand this, let’s recall the words
of Exodus 4, where God says of Israel: "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, My first-born; and I say unto thee,
Let My son go.” By calling Israel His first-born son, God
was in effect saying that the Old Testament church was a type of His true Son,
Jesus. For example, consider how that
at an early age Jesus went into Egypt before returning to Nazareth, which
Matthew 2:15 indicates fulfilled the experience of Israel, “out of Egypt have I
called my son.”
And we can see how the rest of Jesus’ life also was foreshadowed by the
history of Israel. Thus, Israel was
baptized in crossing the Red Sea according to I Corinthians 10, paralleling how
Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. And
Israel endured a 40 year wilderness experience, as Christ endured 40 days in
the wilderness. And Israel was
destroyed in the Babylonian conquest, as Christ was killed. Following the Babylonian captivity, we learn
in Ezekiel 37 that Israel was resurrected from dry bones, paralleling how Jesus rose from the dead, and the Temple of
Himself was re-built.
As another example, the Old
Testament church was a type of the New Testament church. Just as Israel was baptized in crossing the
Red Sea, the New Testament church was baptized by the Spirit at Pentecost. This
New Testament church came out of the earthly Jerusalem. This earthly Jerusalem
had mis-used its 70 weeks prophesied in Daniel, which is equal to 490 years
according to the day-year principle. In
so doing, the earthly Jerusalem ruled
by Judaists henceforth took on the status of a figurative Egypt, as we read in
Revelation 11:8, which says “…Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified…”. And it was out of this figurative Egypt
that the New Testament church came, just as the Old Testament church came out
of Egypt.
And just as Israel went through the wilderness following its baptism,
so we read in Revelation 12 how the New Testament church had a wilderness
experience of 1,260 years (calculated according to the day-year principle).
Just as Israel came through its wilderness and entered Canaan, and as Christ
had overcome Satan after His wilderness experience, so the Christian church
came out of its wilderness experience in the Protestant Reformation. Just as
Israel went through many trials even after its wilderness experience, so has
the church. And as Old Testament Israel
was subject to Babylonian oppression, so Christ’s church we read in Revelation
17 was subject to a mysterious Babylonian oppression. We read in Revelation 17:9 that this figurative Babylon’s seat of
power was in the city of 7 hills, which is certainly Rome. We read in Revelation 12 and 13 how it
oppresses Christ’s true church, becoming transformed from the Pagan-to-Papal
Roman Empire, the Beast taking on Lamb-like characteristics. It was a mystery, because one would not have
expected that which was within Christendom to oppress its own. But this Beast has the title ‘Son of
Perdition’ – the very same title ascribed in scripture to the traitorous
Christian Judas. Thus what entered the
wilderness years as a virgin church in Rev 12, we find in the wilderness has
played the harlot in Rev 17.
But just as the Babylonian oppression ceased for Israel, so we read it
will cease in the future for the
church. And just as Israel
enjoyed a time of restoration, so we read the church will yet enter an era of
post-millennial restoration, primarily through the instrumentality of the
preaching of the gospel according to Revelation 14:6 and 19:15. Then as Magog was released against Israel,
the figurative Magog will be released upon the New Testament church. But just as Christ came to the rescue of His
Old Testament church in the First Advent, so Christ will come to the rescue of
His church in the coming Second Advent.
And just as the First Advent ushered in a typical new heavens and new earth
according to Isaiah 65, so the Second Advent will usher in the ultimate new
heavens and new earth we find in Revelation 21.
TYPOLOGY IN SCRIPTURAL PROPHECY II
There are a few more points I need to make regarding typology.
Not only are there types which we must recognize in scriptural
prophecy, there are types within types. And each type symbolizes and pictures
the whole. For example, the history of
how Israel endured the wilderness experience and entered the Promised Land under
the leadership of Joshua, we read in Hebrews 4 is not only a type of the whole
history of Old Testament Israel, it is a type of all of human history, in which
Jesus brings His elect church into the eternal Promised Sabbath rest. Similarly, the period described in the
opening of the 7 seals - which seems to describe the era up to the judgment on
the earthly Jerusalem in 70 A.D.– is a type of the history of the New Testament
church up to the post-millennium, as well as a type of the history of the New Testament
church up to the Great Day of Judgment ushering in the new heavens and new
earth.
Now let’s return to our consideration of the prophetic type we find in
Haggai 2:6, speaking of the shaking of heaven and earth. The type itself concerns the restoration in
Jerusalem and specifically the re-building of the Old Testament Temple then,
following the Babylonian captivity.
When just this prophetic type is considered, it is certainly true that
it was fulfilled in a very short time.
The prophet Haggai was part of the generation which returned to
Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, and Haggai’s prophecies prompted the
re-building of the Temple within a short time span, to great effect. Hence we read in Haggai 2:6, “Yet once, it
[is] a little while, and I will shake the heavens…” Now this re-building of the Temple in Haggai’s day was a type of
Christ’s passion and resurrection on the third day, for Christ described that
event too as a building of the Temple (which was Christ Himself), according to
John 2:19. This rebuilding of the
Temple of Christ’s body in His First Advent shook heaven and earth in
typological fulfillment of the Haggai 2:6 prophecy, as we read in Hebrews
12:26-28 (“…Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this
[word], Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken,
as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may
remain. Wherefore we receiving a
kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace…”) So Haggai 2:6 not only prophesied the re-building of the Temple
in Haggai’s day, but also the work and resurrection associated with Christ’s
First Advent, which was centuries later.
And as previously noted, it has typologically prophesied as well the yet
future Second Advent, when the heavens and earth will again be shaken, and the
Temple of Christ’s body will dwell with man in the New Earth. Finally, as previously noted as well, we
learn an important lesson from the Haggai 2:6 prophecy about prophetic
interpretation. A scriptural prophecy
can employ language of imminence because the prophesied type itself is to occur
shortly, even if the anti-type which it also prophesies occurs centuries
later. While I do not believe this is the
only reason why we find language of imminence used in prophecy of the Day of
Judgment and in the book of Revelation’s prophecies (and I have previously
provided other reasons that this language of imminence was used), I think it
goes a long way in explaining it.
The Apostles wrote of an Advent
that was in their past (speaking of the first advent, they said things like
“Jesus *came* to save sinners”) as well as one in their future (speaking of the second advent, they would warn the
disciples to be prepared). That the
Apostles spoke of an imminent coming of Christ that was typical of a yet future
ultimate coming, this would follow the pattern of the Haggai 2:6 prophecy to
the T.
And how do the books of Daniel and
Revelation prophesy the Protestant Reformation, following a church wilderness experience? According to Daniel 12:11, “from the time
that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh
desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.” The abomination that maketh desolate refers
to the destruction of the earthly Jerusalem and Temple in 70 A.D. In 70 A.D. the church definitively left the
figurative Egypt of earthly Jerusalem, and earthly Jerusalem ruled by Judaists
was destroyed like Pharoah and his armies.
This was followed by the church’s wilderness experience according to
Revelation 12. Revelation 12 describes
it as lasting 1,260 years (according to the day-year principle), while Daniel
12 describes it as lasting 1,290 years.
The difference is 30 years. Now
30 years was the time from Christ’s birth to His public ministry, and it
symbolizes the time of birth to public ministry in His prophets. If we add 1,260 years to 70 A.D., we get
1330 A.D. And 30 years later is 1360
A.D. So who was born in 1330 A.D. and
began his public ministry in 1360 A.D.?
John Wycliffe, the Morningstar of the Reformation. Daniel 12:12 goes on to speak of the
blessing of those who will make it to 1,335 years, which is 1405 A.D. By 1405, the Reformation was firmly planted
in the British Isles with the Lollards, and it had been planted in continental
Europe with Huss. But just as in
Israel’s history, there remained and remains a long saga even after coming out
of the wilderness.
REBUTTALS
Preterists
assert there are no types in the New Covenant era.
But our first day of the week Christian Sabbath, called the Lord’s Day,
which is a type of the Promised Eternal Sabbath rest, is testimony against any
such notion.
Let me supply
some reasons we know the Babylon described in Revelation is not the earthly
Jerusalem.
First, Jerusalem is not based in the city of 7 hills.
Second, Jerusalem did not come out of the pagan Roman Empire, as the
Little Horn of Daniel 7 (aka the transformed Beast of Revelation) did.
Third, the earthly Jerusalem is not a transformed and corrupted version
of what had been the virgin Christian church in the wilderness, as described in
Revelation 12.
Fourth, descriptions like spiritual fornication, harlotry, and whoredom
**within** the context of Revelation are uniformly used of corrupted
Christians, as we see in Revelation Rev 2:14, 20, 22, and 14:8. They are not
used with reference to Judaists.
Don Preston has
argued that Genesis 49 teaches that the Last Days ended in the Apostolic era,
because the scepter departed from Judah then.
But he is wrong to say the scepter ever departed from Judah. Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8 say that God
made a “new covenant with the house of Israel and with the
house of Judah”, and Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. So Judah hardly ceased then, any more than
Jesus and the New Covenant ceased then.
In fact, the Last Days could not have ceased in the Apostolic era,
because what Isaiah 2 says will happen in the Last Days has not yet ultimately
occurred. It says the people “shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” This is a description of the post-millennium
which has yet to occur.
Let me now
address how we should understand Matthew 16:27-28.
Regarding Mt 16:27, it is certainly referring to the future Great Day
of Judgment, for only then will Christ “reward every man” that has ever lived
“according to his works.”
And John Calvin got it right when he said of Matthew 16:28: “As the
disciples might still hesitate and inquire when that day would be, our Lord
animates them by the immediate assurance, that he will presently give them a
proof of his future glory. By the coming of the kingdom of God we are to
understand the manifestation of heavenly glory, which Christ began to make at
his resurrection, and which he afterwards made more fully by sending the Holy
Spirit, and by the performance of miracles; for by those beginnings he gave his
people a taste of the newness of the heavenly life, when they perceived, by
certain and undoubted proofs, that he was sitting at the right hand of the
Father.”
TIME INDICATORS
There are
abundant clues provided in scripture that the Great Day of Judgment would come
long after the Apostolic era:
·
According
to Revelation 20, the Day of Judgment accompanying Christ’s advent was to occur
after a “thousand years”. Now the term
“thousand years” certainly suggests a long duration of time. Even full preterists like James Stuart
Russell have acknowledged that the millennium symbolizes a great expanse of
time.
·
According
to Revelation, the Day of Judgment was to occur after many events which could
not have occurred in a short span of time.
Rather, they are events which consist of the rise and fall of earthly
kingdoms (aka “beasts), pestilences, famines, numerous wars, widespread
deception within the church and apostasy, the nations and their governments
becoming Christian, etc.
·
II Peter 3
warns us that we should consider time indicators relating to the Second Advent
in relation to divine time and not human time, and especially that what seem
long times for man are short times for God.
This at least hints that the Second Advent would be “soon” with respect
to divine time, and not human time.
·
II
Thessalonians 2:2 suggests that the Second Advent was not then imminent. It reads: “That ye be not soon shaken in
mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us,
as that the day of Christ is at hand.”
The Authorized Version properly translates ‘enestaken’ as ‘at hand’ in
this context.
·
II
Thessalonians 2:3-8 indicates there would have to be widespread apostasy
associated with the Man of Sin (aka the Beast of Revelation) before the Second
Advent.
·
Matthew 24
contrasts the timing of the destruction of Jerusalem which was to occur in the
Apostolic generation with “that day” of judgment.
·
According
to II Corinthians 4:17, the Apostle Paul describes our current sufferings
before Christ’s Advent as being “but for a moment”, but he explains in the next
verse what he means by this. He says it
is because this is temporal and bounded by time, but the future state will be
eternal. This implies language of
imminence must be considered relative to eternity.
·
According
to Psalm 90:3-4, our judgments will come swiftly in divine time, even if in
normal human reckoning they seem to come slowly
·
Luke
21:24, in combination with Romans 11, suggests that after Jerusalem is trodden
down by the Gentiles (in 70 A.D.), that there will be a long duration “until
the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”, and then many Jews will be converted,
which shall usher in an era of great gospel prosperity on earth. All of this is suggestive of a great amount
of time before the millennial reign.
·
The New
Testament, and especially the book of Revelation, suggests many typological and
provisional comings of the Lord before the coming of the Lord on the Great Day
of Judgment. This suggests an expanse
of time to accomplish.
·
The book
of Revelation describes the coming experience of the Christian church to be in
many notable respects a repetition of the experience of the Old Testament
church, yet played out upon the world stage.
So the book of Revelation describes a wilderness experience the church
must endure, apostacy and deception, a Babylonian oppression, and
redemption. The experience of the Old
Testament church lasted for centuries, so we should not imagine the New
Testament church would be any shorter.
Indeed, the wilderness experience alone of the New Testament church is
to last a prophetic 1,260 years (according to the day-year principle) and the
redemption period is described in terms of a millennium, according to the
Revelation account.
The day-year principle for interpreting prophetic time is well founded in scripture. It is taught
in Leviticus 25:8, Ezekiel 4:6, and
Numbers 14:34 explicitly. It is the
basis for knowing that the 70 weeks prophesied in Daniel 9 would be 490
years. It is an important principle for
interpreting the “1,260 days” (or “42 months”) in the book of Revelation, and
is but one other reason we must reject the preterist interpretation of this
Apocalyptic book., which would seek to compress its prophetic events into the
first century.
CROSS EXAMINATION QUESTIONS
·
In Daniel
we read of events taking place 70 weeks (in other words, 490 days) later, 1290
days later, and 2300 days later, after certain specified events. Should we interpret these according to the
day-year principle? If it took sometime
after Daniel wrote this to the Apostolic era for the event which is to occur
after the 70 weeks to be fulfilled, does it not stand to reason that the events
which are to occur after 1290 days and even 2300 days will be significantly after
the Apostolic era?
·
Were the
‘beasts’ of Daniel merely particular kings, or were they kingdoms? And should
we not assign them similar signification in the book of Revelation, which is
the New Testament sequel of Daniel?
·
According
to Revelation 13, the Beast (which was the Roman Empire) was transformed into a
deceptive Lamb-like Beast. How does
that fit with Nero or with any Judaistic High Priest in Jerusalem?
·
The
‘kings’ referenced in Daniel 7:17 are kingdoms. Why should we not understand the
8 successive ‘kings’ referenced in Revelation 17:10-11 to be kingdoms as
well?
·
If you
insist ‘beast’ means a mere king in prophetic revelation, then why does Daniel
7:23 read: "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth".
·
Most
preterists like Gentry say Nero was the sixth "king" of Revelation
17:10, which would imply Caesar Augustus was the second. Did Caesar
Augustus really **fall**, or did he die after a long and prosperous
reign? Did the Babylonian, Persian, and Greek kingdoms fall?
·
Luke 21:24 says “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” So “the times of the Gentiles” is placed
chronologically after Jerusalem is trodden down in 70 A.D., and Romans 11:25
indicates many Jews will no longer be blinded to the gospel when the times of
the Gentiles comes to an end, which it says will issue in a great gospel
prosperity. Since you do not believe
this refers to the future post-millennium, when do you reference it?
·
There are many comings of
Christ described, even in the course of the opening of the 7 seals of
Revelation. Why should we not associate
these with provisional typological comings of the ultimate coming Great Day of
Judgment of Revelation 20?
·
Should we identify the
judgment described in Revelation 20:11-15 with the judgment and destruction of
Babylon described in Revelation 17-18, or is the latter typical of the judgment
described in Revelation 20:11-15?
·
How can we consider the
millennium described in Revelation 20 as synchronous with the era outlined in
Revelation 4-19, when the era described in Revelation 4-19 was a period
characterized by widespread deception, yet the millennium is characterized by
its absence? Specifically within the
context of Revelation, does it make sense to say Satan was bound in the
bottomless pit throughout the period covered in Revelation 4-19?
CLOSING
STATEMENT
Just to summarize then, there is abundant evidence that:
·
There is a
coming final and ultimate Great Day of Judgment in which all men will be
judged.
·
There
would be a significant expanse of time until this Great Day of Judgment.
·
There
would be apostacy from within Christendom, led by a wicked church based in
Rome, yet daughtering whores outside herself.
·
There will
be a post-millennium after this whore and other wicked ones fall through the
instrumentality of gospel preaching.
And with regards to the language of imminence found in New Testament
prophecy, we have demonstrated that:
·
The Greek
language, unlike the English language, uses language of imminence as a means to
express certainty, so that it was a way of expressing the certainty of the
Great Day of Judgment.
·
It was
used to stir our constant preparation for judgment.
·
It drives
us to be more like God in our perspective of time.
·
It was
employed because various typical comings of Christ were to be fulfilled near
term, even though the ultimate fulfillment was long term, following the pattern
of the Haggai 2:6 prophecy.
Historicistic post-millennialism is vindicated, and full preterism is
refuted.