Did I miss the second coming?
Jun 11th, 2007 by TheStraitGate
I’ve been a keen student of end times teachings for a number of years now and, until yesterday, I thought that I was familiar with all the different possible interpretations of what the Bible says about the end times.
Yesterday I learned that there are some people who believe that everything prophesied in the Bible has come to pass, including the second coming of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Such people apparently are called Radical or Complete Preterists.
Now I know that much Biblical prophecy is about as clear as mud and open to different interpretation - or misinterpretation - but I must admit I really do not see how anybody could think the second coming has been fulfilled.
The key passages lie in the Olivet Discourse and Christ’s words in Matthew 24 and 25.
At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus is telling his followers that “there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” which leads them to ask two questions - or more accurately a two part question - “when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age”
The answer Christ gave which takes up the rest of Matthew 24 and 25 has been the subject of much discussion for 2000 years.
There are two main schools of thought: Some people (futurists) believe that the entire Olivet Discourse is a prediction of things that are yet to happen in the future immediately preceding the second coming of Jesus.
The other school of thought held by classical or partial Preterists is that Christ is describing two separate events - the destruction of the temple in AD 70 and His return at some stage in the distant future.
The Radical Preterists I mentioned earlier believe everything happened in AD 70, in other words the temple was destroyed and Christ returned.
I wonder why nobody noticed?
The early fathers certainly didn’t think He had returned, neither did historians like Josephus.
Jesus made it crystal clear that everybody will know when He returns and I’m sure that there will be no mistaking that glorious day.
The reason they are wrong is because the anti-christ is just now rearing his head.
It’s either Barack Obama or Vladimir Putin.
Not a view I would subscribe to myself I must say, for various reasons. One being that I think we’ve already had the antichrist spoken of in John’s revelation.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not! Behold, your house shall be left unto you desolate. Revelation 16:6; 17:1-6; 18:20, 24 tell us that Babylon was drunk with the blood of the prophets. What city persecuted the Old Testament prophets and filled the Cup of her Sin by so doing? In Matthew 23:31 Jesus said it was Jerusalem that had killed the prophets; in Revelation it is Babylon. In Matthew 23:32 Jesus said the Jews were about to fill the cup of their sin by continuing to persecute those sent to her; in Revelation 17 Babylon has filled her cup by persecuting not only the prophets of old but the followers of Jesus as well, 17:6. In Matthew 23:35 Jesus said Jerusalem was guilty of “all the blood shed on the earth,” 23:35; in Revelation 18:24 Babylon bears the guilt for “all the blood shed on the earth.” In Matthew 23:36 Jesus said judgment on Jerusalem for killing the prophets would come in his generation; in Revelation Jesus said “Behold, I come quickly” 22:6, 10, 12, 20. Such parallels are not accidental!
the Great City Babylon is “spiritually called Sodom,” Rev. 11:8; and the only city in the Bible–other than historical Sodom–that is ever called Sodom is Jerusalem, Isaiah 1:10; Jer. 23:14, Ezek. 16:44f. Babylon is also “where the Lord was crucified” Rev. 11:8. Jesus was not crucified in Rome, or by the Catholic church; Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem!
If Babylon was Jerusalem of the first century as suggested then the modern ideas of a coming Armaggedon, a millennium, and “end of time” judgment are false concepts. What more evidence is there that Babylon was Jerusalem of the first century? In Revelation 14:6f John’s vision revealed an angel with the gospel to preach to all the world with the message of the soon coming judgment on Babylon. When the gospel had been preached to all the world we find the coming of the Lord in judgment because the sin of the land was full, vs. 14ff. The elements of concern here are 1.] the preaching of the gospel into all the world; 2.] the filling of the measure of sin; 3.] the soon coming of the Lord.
In Romans 10:18; 16:25-26 the apostle said, about 60 A.D., that the gospel had been preached to all the nations in all the world. In Colossians 1:5-7, 23, about 63-64 A.D., he said the gospel had been preached “to every creature under heaven.” In Titus 2:11 he said the gospel had appeared to all men. If we are going to accept scripture the Bible says the gospel was preached in all the world before the fall of Jerusalem!
It was Jerusalem that was to fill the measure of her sin by killing the prophets; Jerusalem that Jesus said the gospel would be preached world-wide before her fall; Jerusalem that was to see his coming in his generation. Babylon was first century Jerusalem.