Although the events that transpired in the first century do not match the details of the Olivet Discourse exactly, there is enough similarity that the position has gathered many followers. Among the reasons that preterists feel so strongly about this position are the time-frame references such as “at hand” and “this generation.” J. Stuart Russell, one of the most notable the nineteenth century proponents of the preterist view, for example, argues that 99 persons in every 100 would “immediately understand Jesus to mean that the events he was predicting would fall within the limits of the lifetime of an existing generation. This means, not that every person present will necessarily be alive at the time of the fulfillment, but that many or even most will be.” [1]

Firing the preterist movement is the recent and ferocious attacks on the scriptures at the hands of critics, who often use these same time-frame references to disprove the authority of scripture. They claim that Jesus clearly believed that He would set up His earthly kingdom within the lifetime of His hearers, a promise that did not come true. Either Jesus was lying or mistaken, they argue, and either way, this proves that the Bible is not the inspired Word of God. Preterists, on the other hand, believe that the prophecies did come true and desire to prove these skeptics wrong.

Time to Investigate

As readers of this column know, I do not hold to the preterist position. I am among those who see the destruction of Jerusalem as foreshadowing the events of the end and not as a fulfillment of them. While I do believe that the apostles thought that the prophecy likely would be fulfilled in their lifetimes, this is not an explicit statement of scripture. Thus, while a first-century fulfillment might have been the most reasonable interpretation if you were sitting at the foot of Jesus, this is not a good enough reason to  hold to this position now. Particularly since the explicit statements that we do have point to a future, not a past, fulfillment (also see column, "Was Matthew 24 Fulfilled in A.D. 70?"

I am, however, always interested in learning about other rapture positions, so I decided to read a recently published analysis and defense of the preterist position.

I chose R. C. Sproul's The Last Days According to Jesus. Although Sproul, a leading evangelical theologian, appears to hold many — but not all — of the fundamental preterist positions, I found this book to be less a defense of preterism than an analysis of it. Sproul has written many highly respected books on evangelical doctrine and apologetics (including That's A Good Question!) and does indicate his own questions and concerns about the some of the preterist positions, although he leaves them unanswered in the text.

In this column, which will be broken into three parts because of its length, I will discuss the strengths and the weaknesses — indeed, the fundamental errors — of the preterist position discussed by Sproul in his book. In order to do so, however, it is first necessary to outline the preterist position itself. All of the examples will be taken from The Last Days According to Jesus.

Why do preterists see the prophecy of the end given to us by Jesus in Matthew 24 as having been fulfilled? Much of it has to do with time-frame references, which preterists believe require the fulfillment of this prophecy in the first century. Key scriptures include “There are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:28); and “This generation will by no means pass away till all these things be fulfilled” (Matt. 24:34). Other key verses include the many references in Revelation, which preterists see as paralleling the prophecy of Matthew 24, such as Jesus' repeated warnings that He would come “quickly” and that events “must shortly take place.” [2]

Another foundational pillar of the preterist position comes in the first few verses of Matthew 24. In these verses, Jesus' disciples expound to Him the virtues of the temple — how large the stones and how great the buildings. Jesus then surprised them by saying, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (v. 1-2). In verse 3, Jesus' disciples come to Him — you can imagine, almost in a panic — and say, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?”

Jesus responds by telling them the key prophecies of the Olivet Discourse: false christs, nation rising against nation, kingdom rising against kingdom, the abomination of desolation (possibly some type of idol) that will be placed in the temple in Jerusalem, the Great Tribulation, the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, followed by His coming and, many feel, the rapture of the Church.

Key to the preterist argument is that Jesus' prophecy was given in the context of the destruction of the temple. Thus, when the prophecy concerning the temple was fulfilled, the remainder of His prophecy must have been fulfilled, as well.

Were the Prophecies Fulfilled?

How do preterists see these prophecies having been fulfilled? Let's look at the elements of Jesus' prophecy one by one:

False christs — Early historians report that false messiahs were epidemic in the first century. For example, John Calvin wrote, “for shortly after Christ's resurrection, there arose imposters, every one of whom professed to be the Christ...Josephus tells us `the country was full of robbers, magicians, false prophets, false Messiahs, and impostors, who deluded the people with promises of great events.” [3]

Nation rising against nation; kingdom rising against kingdom — There was tremendous ethnic and national strife and war at the time of the first century. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, in itself, is a witness to this. J. Stuart Russell writes, “In Alexandria, in Seleucia, in Syria, in Babylonia, there were violent tumults between the Jews and the Greeks, the Jews and the Syrians, inhabiting the same cities...In the reign of Caligula, great apprehensions were entertained in Judea of war with the Romans...” [4]

Famines, pestilences, and earthquakes — J. Stuart Russell writes, “During the reign of Emperor Claudius (A.D. 41-54), there were four seasons of great scarcity. In the fourth year of his reign, the famine in Judea was so severe that the price of food became enormous and great numbers perished. Earthquakes occurred in each of the reigns of Caligula and Claudius.” [5]

Gospel preached to all nations — Preterists point to verses such as Col. 1:23, in which Paul writes, “...if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven [italics mine], of which I, Paul, became minister.”

The abomination of desolation — Eagles were seen as objects of religious worship by the Romans and were prominent parts of their standards. Preterists see the prophecy of the abomination of desolation as being fulfilled when Roman General Vitellius, in the reign of Tiberius, tried to march his troops through Judea, “a move that was resisted by the Jewish authorities on the grounds that these idolatrous images on their ensigns would be a profanation of the law.” [6]

The Great Tribulation — As the Romans marched through Jerusalem, burning the city and destroying the temple, they slaughtered 1.1 million Jews in and around the city.

The triple sign of the sun turning dark, the moon into blood, and the stars falling from the sky — The Jewish historian Josephus reports seeing a star resembling a sword during the destruction of Jerusalem, an event he says was foreshadowed by a comet sometime earlier. Historians suggest that this was likely Halley's Comet, which appeared in A.D. 66. [7]

The sign of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory — The evidence of this is largely speculative. The only practical evidence comes from Josephus, who reports that, during the destruction of Jerusalem, there was a quaking on the earth, a great noise, and a bright light shining around the altar and the temple. Furthermore, he saw a vision of chariots and solders running around among the clouds and surrounding cities, much like the vision seen by Ezekiel in Ezek. 1:22-28.

The angels gathering together the elect from one end of earth to the other — Preterists see this gathering [the rapture] as spiritual and unseen. The only somewhat tangible evidence of this fulfillment comes from the vision of Josephus, in which he heard the sound of a great multitude saying, “Let us remove hence.” [8]

Does Preterism Work?

Does preterism work? Is the fulfillment close enough that we can say that the beginning of sorrows, the rise of the Antichrist, the abomination of desolation, the Great Tribulation, the Second Coming of Christ, and the rapture of the Church have passed? Certainly, some of the events in A.D. 70 are similar to the prophecy given by Jesus, and if the vision of Josephus is true, some are supernatural. However, remarkable as they may be, as my mother would say, “they are close, but no banana.” They are not perfect enough to be the fulfillment of a prophecy given to us in the inerrant Word of God.

In brief:

While there were famines, pestilences, and earthquakes during this time, Revelation says that they will take the lives of up to one-quarter of the earth's population. This did not occur in A. D. 70.

The gospel was not preached to all nations at the time Jerusalem was destroyed. It had been preached only to the known world.

When we compare the actions of the Antichrist described in Matthew 24 with the other descriptions of him in the prophecies of Daniel (notably Daniel 9), we see that the abomination of desolation is a very specific event that requires a human being to stand in the temple and declare himself to be God, or as God; to stop the daily sacrifices; and defile the sanctuary temple. Rome marching eagle-decorated standards doesn't count.

The slaughter of Jews and Christians, as terrible as it was in the first century, does not meet the standard given by Jesus as being worse than any other in history — past or future.

The triple cosmic sign in the sky did not occur.

Jesus did not coming as conquering King.

The rapture did not take place.

One of the defenses preterists give for the imprecise A.D. 70 fulfillment is that Matthew 24 is apocalyptic imagery, and as apocalyptic imagery, it does not need to be fulfilled precisely. I do not agree. Unlike apocalyptic literature, this prophecy is clear, chronological, and highly detailed. It was meant to be clearly understood by those reading or listening to it because it would have practical (both near and far-term) consequences that would require them to act upon it in very specific ways...

“When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place...then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” (Matt. 24:15-16);

“If anyone says to you, here is the Christ, or there...do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand” (Matt. 24:23).

“When these things begin to occur, look up, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

If this were apocalyptic imagery, these warnings and exhortations would be useless. It makes more sense to see this prophecy as a future event that will fulfill the law and the prophets rather than as an apocalyptic metaphor fulfilled in times past.

For this and other reasons, I see the preterist view as well meaning but fatally flawed. I also believe that it results in logical scriptural consequences that are unacceptable. It is often said that errors in a position can best be seen when that position is taken to extremes. This is the case with preterism. When only Matthew 24 is in view, a somewhat plausible case can be made, but when its logical consequences are multiplied out in the rest of the gospels, the epistles, and Revelation, the results are unacceptable.

In Part II of this column, I will begin to outline the specific scriptural problems with the preterist position as taken from the examples in Sproul's book.

Recommended reading on the rapture debate

Footnotes

[1] The Last Days According to Jesus, by R. C. Sproul, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Mich., 2000, p. 44.

[2] In his book, R. C. Sproul compiles these references on p. 139.

[3] Ibid., p. 34.

[4] Ibid., p. 36.

[5] Ibid., p. 36.

[6] Ibid., pp. 38-40

[7] Ibid. p. 125.

[8] Ibid., p. 125.