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"One of the clearest and most convincing presentations of the Biblical case for the preterist view of Scripture" - Walt Hibbard Founder, Great Christian Books Jesus told the disciples, "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." The writer of Hebrews exclaimed, "For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Jesus concluded the Apocalypse with these words; "Surely I come quickly." Yet the vast majority of professing Christendom says that Jesus Christ has not returned. In fact, as the year 2000 approaches, people all over the world are expecting Christ to come at any time. Did the New Testament writers and Jesus really expect Him to return in His kingdom before their generation passed away? Are we to believe the so-called "prophecy experts" who are constantly setting dates and resetting them after their "prophecies" fail only to bring shame to Christianity and Christ Himself? Or do we take the equally dismal alternative of the skeptic, and question the integrity of Jesus and the apostles? Were Jesus Christ and the apostles mistaken? If so, then Christianity must inevitably be a farce. But there is another alternative-an alternative that upholds the integrity of Jesus Christ. Jesus and the apostles were not mistaken. Jesus Christ did return before some of the disciples died, just as He predicted. He returned to establish an everlasting kingdom-a kingdom without observation, within the believer in Jesus Christ. In this thought-provoking book, Ward Fenley urges both the modern skeptic and professing Christianity to solemnly rethink their positions concerning the kingdom and integrity of Jesus Christ. Once the timing of the return of Jesus Christ is understood, there will be a far greater appreciation for Him, of whom it is said, "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end."
Preface to the Book - Acts 20:26-27 "Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God." Introduction to the Book - 2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Chapter One: The Time is at Hand
Chapter Two: Some Standing Here
Chapter Three: Signs of the Times
Chapter Four: Signs of the Times, Part II
Chapter Five: Signs of the Times, Part III
PREFACE Of course, as a Christian, I cannot help but dedicate this book to the glory and honor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the immutable, omnipotent God. However, I must emphasize those to whom I direct this book: certainly all those who sincerely desire truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6); primarily, though, I direct this book to pastors and teachers of the word of God; for it is these men who are to be delivering the sword of the Spirit to the people of God. It is my prayer that this book would remind pastors throughout the world of their call to preach the truth. Preaching the truth first begins with a severe scrutiny of the heart pertaining to motives. As pastors we must be honest. If we are to be honest preachers we must be honest with the word of God. The fear of God must be our compelling objective in being honest with the word of God and preaching the word of God. More often than not, it means preaching those things which the world hates. Therefore, if the world hates the word of God they will hate us. It is usually the case that in churches where the truth is preached, the congregations are small. Pastors are frequently confronted with the temptation to conform their preaching to the desires of the congregation. This stems from a worldly obsession that the number of members in a congregation determines fruit. This obsession results in the fear of men. Because the fear of men is so powerful, it often can lead to doing whatever is necessary to conform and wrest the word of God to the congregation rather than doing whatever is necessary to conforming and wresting the congregation to the word. This was a constant temptation that confronted the apostles and prophets. Besides the Lord Jesus, Jeremiah is perhaps most well-known for his controversy with the rebellious responses of his contemporaries to the word of God. God prepared Jeremiah for the opposition he would experience from the rebellious Jews of his day:
God gave the words to Jeremiah to give to the people regardless of their hardness against the truth. God essentially spoke the same thing to Ezekiel, i.e. to preach the truth regardless of the response of the congregation:
Those who were the most rebellious were the prophets and priests. God did not hesitate to describe their sin:
Their chief sin was not seeking the Lord. These pastors and prophets claimed the name of the Lord yet refused to preach His word:
Not seeking the word of God is not seeking God. Rather, it is leaning on our own understanding. God’s pronouncement of evil upon the wicked pastors of Jeremiah’s day was primarily because of their idolatry in not seeking God and His word. To seek anything else is idolatry. To not study His word is, simply, idolatry. Jeremiah brought the truth to these wicked men, and they responded with mocking and deriding. Jeremiah, however, remained faithful to his calling because he was ordained to this calling (1:5). Therefore, with certainty, he could declare his devotion to God and His word with a pure conscience:
At first it may seem that the problem of the priests and prophets was that they were not accepting the call to their offices. Jeremiah, however, exposes the real problem. They considered themselves pastors and prophets, but in practice they had, in fact, hastened from being pastors to follow God (17:16). Jeremiah was not concerned with men being a terror unto him; he was concerned with God being a terror unto him (vs.17). The greatest Pastor of all taught this precept:
Jeremiah did have his battle, however. His battle was not prophesying lies to the people, which, unfortunately, is the chief problem in today’s pulpits. Rather, his battle was his discouragement over the rejection of the truth. At one time he fell to this discouragement and ceased preaching altogether:
Ultimately this conflict resulted in the fear of men. He was weary of being derided and mocked. The burden of the reproach of the false teachers was heavy upon him. He succumbed to the fear of men and quit preaching...but not finally. Because he was truly called of God to preach, His fear of God and His word prevailed against his fear of men:
The New King James Version states Jeremiah’s rekindled obsession more clearly:
The pastor who is truly called by God cannot and will not hold back the truth. Paul, with a pure conscience, could tell the Ephesian elders he was faithful in preaching the word of God:
Earlier he testified how he had kept back nothing from them:
Paul did not fear men. He taught them the whole counsel of God. He suffered for his adherence to preaching the truth. This truth which he preached brought persecution from the enemies of Christ. Therefore, the question we must ask is, what truth was he preaching that created such contention? Why were his contemporaries so provoked against him? Paul speaks of the message he preached that was the cause of this contention. He declares his infirmities and also, the danger the Ephesian elders would experience as they too preached the truth:
Paul taught true repentance from sin and unbelief and faith toward Jesus Christ (vs.21). He testified of the grace of God (vs.24,32). Finally, he preached the kingdom of God. It was the preaching of true repentance, salvation by grace alone, and the preaching of the unseen kingdom of God that brought rage from the gainsayers. Paul had experienced this, and he knew that as long as the Ephesian elders truly taught these things they too would have to endure the fury of men. Today it is the same. In the eyes of the world the churches seem to be growing bigger and better than ever. In the eyes of God, however, the message of the grace and kingdom of God is utterly gone. The pastors have feared the faces of men rather than the face of Almighty God just like profane priests and prophets of old. As God promised Jeremiah so He promises today:
As pastors, if we do not repent of our fear of men God will confound us before them. Is this not already evident? Many wonder why liberalism has permeated the church. They wonder why atheism is so widespread. It is because the pastors and priests have gone astray. The same was true in Jeremiah’s time:
Their profanity is not even necessarily overt sin as much as it is in subtle indoctrination with heretical principles. Peter spoke of these subtle heresies:
The prophets of the Old Testament and the prophets of Peter’s time had gone a-whoring after other gods. It is still true today. The gods are not only the self-will but also the fearing the faces of other men. To fear men is to worship men. We have become consumed with how men view us as speakers and intelligent philosophers rather than being consumed with how God views us as preachers of His grace and kingdom. For this cause the visible church is withering and emaciated. We cannot expect change until God sovereignly works in the hearts of pastors to fear Him and preach His word. Revival will come when true men of God come forth with boldness and preach the holy word of God. But once again, this must begin with pastors being honest with the word of God in their own studies. There must be honest analysis of the whole counsel of God within its historical and grammatical context. We must not cater our interpretation according to the lustful desires of the congregation; for not all the congregation is holy. As Moses said:
Preaching the truth will inevitably bring the destruction of those who are not holy unto the Lord which will usually result in a drop of attendance. Yet Paul encouraged the true preacher of God’s word:
God does not consider numbers. That which is sweet-smelling in the sight of God is His word not returning void, but, rather, being the savor of death to death and life to life. In either case the true preacher of God is being caused to triumph by God,...in the sight of God. The true preacher of God’s word must not corrupt the word of God but preach the word of God with sincerity, i.e., preaching what we know to be the truth, not what men want to hear. In doing so, we, as pastors, will be blessed with, what church attendance could never accomplish--a clear conscience. I exhort you to faithfully examine the Scriptures set forth in the following chapters. For the Scriptures contain that which Paul considered the grace and kingdom of God. Dear pastors and laypersons, may you be richly blessed!! Much love in Christ, Ward Fenley Introduction 2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, The subject of this book is perhaps the greatest, and certainly the largest of all Biblical topics. Because the Everlasting Covenant involves every aspect of theology, no small work could ever address it adequately. The magnificent plan of the immortal, invisible God regarding the redemption of lost souls from the power of Death is, without a doubt, the entire thrust of Holy Writ. God has laid open the very core of His redemptive work from Genesis to Revelation. The Everlasting Covenant has as its nucleus the absolute sovereignty of God over mankind, salvation from the bondage of sin, and the final glorification of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. The everlasting God is the God of an Everlasting Covenant. Therefore, the realization and understanding of this Everlasting Covenant are an integral part of knowing God. The great Promise of the Bible (2 Corinthians 1:20) could only be executed if an eternal God were the Author. If the Covenant is effective, then it is only because of the integrity and faithfulness of God. The Scriptures continually affirm this unwavering integrity and faithfulness, especially as it pertains to the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants. These are essentially two extensions of the Everlasting Covenant.
As the faithfulness of God is confirmed in the Scriptures, this should cause one to highly esteem any promises that are recorded, both in their effect and their frame of time. Of course, this is a fundamental element of the Gospel of truth: that is, highly esteeming the promises of God both in their outworking and their timeframe is one of the fruits of a true and saving faith. In light of this, we must pay careful attention to the greatest and most encompassing of all the promises in Scripture-the Everlasting Covenant. The verse, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us,” 2 Corinthians 1:20, is an important verse to analyze, especially as it pertains to a first-century Christian’s mode of thought. Namely, what would first-century Christians in Corinth be thinking upon reception of this letter by the apostle Paul? We must keep in mind the fact that the Bible was never meant to be divided into two totally different sections entitled Old Testament (O.T.) and New Testament (N.T.). This division was merely man’s way of making a clear distinction between the time of Christ and the Old Testament prophets. However, nothing in God’s perfect and holy word ever even suggests that division. Thus, it will be of great help to understand that the group of books entitled The New Testament is simply a continuation of God’s word that has been traditionally called The Old Testament. Who was God addressing in Genesis through Malachi? Was it not the Jews? Should it not be expected that the rest of the Scriptures would be primarily addressed to the same group? Once we start seeing the New Testament in terms of Jewish association, the otherwise confusing statements will be clearer and dispel any tradition that has kept us close-minded. However, because the majority of Christian culture is used to identifying the Greek Testament as the New Testament, this book will address it likewise. Nevertheless, we must always keep in mind the continuity of the Abrahamic Covenant through both the Hebrew and Greek Testaments. If we examine the immensity of the statement “For ALL the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us,” we will see the enormous implications that a statement like this would carry. What were the promises of which Paul was speaking? With what promises were the first-century Jews aquainted? There is only one promise that contains many promises that virtually every Jew understood: the Abrahamic Covenant. In all the prophecies of a time when there would be “peace,” “dwelling safely,” “no more hunger nor thirst,” etc., it is scripturally impossible to separate the promises from the Abrahamic Covenant. Therefore, this book will show that the Abrahamic Covenant is complete in Christ Jesus. It also will prove that the Abrahamic Covenant, the New Covenant, and the Everlasting Covenant are all the same Covenant. One of the major issues that must be addressed is the role that the Gentiles play in the Everlasting or Abrahamic Covenant. The Gentile element is an integral part in the ultimate realization of the Abrahamic Covenant as shown in the seventeenth chapter of Genesis:
Since first-century Jews were very aware of this Covenant, it should be made clear that Paul’s statement of all the promises being fulfilled in Christ would mean far more than it would to an uninformed twentieth-century Gentile. The whole Jewish hope was based upon this initial Abrahamic promise and all the related promises interspersed throughout the prophets. The Jews understood well that the realization of the Abrahamic Covenant being fulfilled would be demonstrated by Abraham’s seed, or Seed becoming his children, hence, “the father of many nations.” This is why Paul, particularly in Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, placed so much emphasis on the Gentiles becoming children of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ. Consequently, any first-century converted Jew would understand Paul’s explicit phraseology confirming the Abrahamic Covenant coming to fulfillment as the Gentiles repented in faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. The Cross of Christ, His Resurrection, and Parousia (presence) are all a part of the fulfillment of the Everlasting Covenant. Every New Testament writer had an eager expectation and realization of the Abrahamic Covenant. If, in fact, they were led in all truth (John 16:13), then we must assume that their every expectation of glory and the fulness of redemption were valid expectations. There was no deluded hope. There were no hopes in physical realities, only a certain hope that every aspect of God’s promises of a spiritual everlasting kingdom was about to be fulfilled. If you are sincerely grieved about the continuous lies of false prophets and deceivers (in some cases unaware) intent on getting your money and mind, and you are diligently studying to “show yourself approved unto God,” and not unto men, then, with your Bibles ready and by the grace of Jesus Christ, you will benefit greatly from the Scriptures laid open in this book. As we affirm the complete establishment of the kingdom of God, the glory of Christ is demonstrated among otherwise bleak systems of a decaying worldview. The full realization of the complete redemption of the believer will bring due honor for the reigning King of the kingdoms of this world. We as Christians are called to humility in view of the clarity of God’s holy word in regard to the establishment of His magnificent City. In this humility, we will both magnify our God by giving Him glory for fulfilling all His promises, and as Christians, we will experience the fulness of joy as we revel in Life more abundantly! Chapter One A key issue in understanding the timing of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His redemptive work in fulfilling the Everlasting Covenant, is the Bible’s explicit use of time statements. The modern “evangelical” world has insisted upon taking God’s precise time declarations and distorting them to fit a fleshly hope ( “Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” (Philippians 3:19). Most professing Christians are so engrossed in an eschatological outlook that will take them out of their miserable world that they misunderstand the nature of the kingdom of God. They are so consumed with a world that will give them perfect physical peace and health, that they totally disregard not only the abundance of Scripture that explains the nature of the kingdom but also the very clear time references that pertain to the imminence of the kingdom of God. Consequently, for many, their only hope is in a physically realized future kingdom and god and not in the present riches of the glory of Christ. If you have gone through any eschatological battles concerning the kingdom of God, you probably have been confronted with the difficulty of what seem to be very definitive time statements. When I was a premillennial dispensationalist, I was confronted more than once by postmillennial moderate preterists (These are futurists who believe that all or most of the book of Revelation pertained to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, with the exception of the majority of chapter twenty. Many great Reformers, such as John Owen, were moderate preterists). Those who affirmed the verity of the time statements kept bringing me back to the same passages:
I remembered reading those words as a young teenager, when I always thought, “It (the Second Coming) sure seems like it was supposed to take place back then!” Nevertheless, I could not let the moderate preterists know that. Therefore, I always responded, “Oh, but see, 2 Peter 3:8 says ‘But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ ” Then in my pride and tradition, I would interject, “God’s ways are not our ways,” attempting to look like spiritual superman in the eyes of men. As a premillennialist, I always followed the “literalist” interpretation. However, when confronted with the clear time references in Scripture, suddenly I would throw out my literalist hermeneutic. God saw my heart. He alone knew of my neglect and misuse of certain Scriptures. Even the unknown deception that existed in my heart (Jeremiah 17:9) He was always seeing. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.--Hebrews 4:13 cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:4. He shows such incredible mercy toward His children. He has been faithful in abasing and scourging this son whom He has received. If you have gone through the same experience or a similar experience, know that you are not alone. Regardless of our past or our present, we are responsible for giving an answer to every man that asks a reason for the hope that is in us. Moderate preterists are gravely inconsistent. Even in my own ignorance I could see their inconsistency. In spite of this inconsistency, God has called us to accept what is true and discard the rest. In other words, once God shows you His Truth, get the spoil (the Truth) and run for your Life (Romans 16:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 2 Timothy 1:13)!!!
THE COMING OF THE LORD DRAWETH NIGH (Drawing Near) There are several Greek words used in the N.T. for the phrase “at hand.” We will focus on some of these words as they pertain to the nearness of the kingdom of God. However, there are some comparisons that need to be made with other passages that are not related. We first see the phrase at hand in the ministry of John the Baptist. It is very interesting to note that the first proclamation of any warning or salvation message that John preached was, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). The phrase used here for at hand is the Greek word eggiken (hggiken) and has the essential meaning of drawing near. (In the chapters on fulfillment, we will study the person of John the Baptist, his prophetic significance, and why he said the kingdom of God was approaching, or drawing near). The futurist, of course, would argue from 2 Peter 3:8:
That is, God’s timing is not our timing, therefore, it could mean millions of years. Inspite of this, many futurists affirm that we are in the last days. They make this claim based upon their analysis of certain events that are taking place throughout the world. Consequently, predictions are made to convince people that Jesus is about to come. A question that should be asked is: if one interprets the rest of the time statements with the thousand-year-as-a-day hermeneutic, why not use this hermeneutic with the phrase “last days” as it appears in Scripture? The reason: it would take away all the excitement of wild-eyed predictions of men like Hal Linsdey, Harold Camping, and hundreds of other false prophets. Yet, they tell us we are wrong for interpreting the time statements literally. This amounts to picking and choosing when they want to apply a literal hermeneutic with the time statements. Therefore, they neglect Scriptures they are unable to defend, especially when confronted with other Scriptures that support the same idea. There are several examples of the phrase, at hand showing its meaning of obvious approaching nearness. The following Scriptures should make apparent that, if we take the dangerous position of interpreting time statements in Scripture to not mean what they say, the Bible would lose all meaning as it pertains to time and space:
Even pertaining to physical proximity, we see the word eggizo or at hand used in a very transparent manner to show the nearness of the person or object.
These verses support the plain use of the term at hand or drawing near. To assume otherwise or impose vain twisting upon these words of God as they pertain to the coming of Christ is very dangerous and affects the continuity and integrity of Scripture. The phrase at hand (eggizo) concerning the Day of the Lord should stand very clear in terms of intention and meaning as we see in these next passages.
A very important aspect of these passages of imminence is the use of words like, “ye,” “your,” and “our.” Who were the apostles addressing? How would the audience on the receiving end of these letters interpret these time statements? According to the faulty interpretation of modern “evangelicals,” the response of a first-century believer might be something like, “Well, Paul does not really mean what he says, or Peter for that matter. ‘At hand’ does not really mean ‘at hand’. Peter, Paul, and James were just trying to keep them on their toes.” If this is true, as many evangelicals affirm, would this not be lying against God and the first-century churches? There is one of three possibilities: Either Paul was mislead thus, the Holy Spirit lied and did not lead him and the rest of the apostles in all truth; the apostles were liars and deceived thousands of church members; or they were telling the truth and Jesus Christ did return when He and the apostles said He would. Using the thousand-years-as-a-day argument to interpret time statements in Scripture is vanity and makes God out to be a liar. God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar! We also must consider the fact that the apostles were promised of God that He would lead them into all truth. Yet many professing Christians claim that the apostles really thought Jesus Christ was going to return in their generation, but that the apostles were mistaken. Would this not mean that Jesus lied to them?:
Was the apostle Paul incorrect in assuming that the Day of the Lord was at hand or drawing near? If, in fact, he was led in all truth, why would he write a letter to poor, unsuspecting Christians building their hopes only to realize, “Oh, you mean ‘at hand’ really meant a thousand years? I sure wish somebody would have told me that thirty years ago.” Neither Paul nor the rest of the apostles nor the churches to whom they were writing were mistaken. Not only were the apostles certain that the Lord was returning in their generation, but they also were obeying a strict command of our Lord:
Even the Lord Jesus preached His first gospel message with the identical words of John the Baptist.
Very clearly, first-century believers knew that the Lord’s coming was drawing near. Our Lord Jesus and His apostles knew that the Day of the Lord was approaching and would come upon their generation. The word of God abundantly supports this. THE TIME IS AT HAND If the apostles were correct in saying that the coming of the Lord Jesus was drawing near, they were also correct in saying that the coming of the Lord was ready. The phrase at hand is used in a more urgent sense than that of the word eggizo or drawing near. The word eggus is used to mean ready or up to the point. Interestingly, Jesus first used the term as it pertained to His coming:
We must first cast down imaginations that would try to twist the meaning of this term. Other passages use the same term confirming the vanity of twisting the term when it pertains to the coming of the Lord.
It is clear that the phrase at hand in these verses cannot be interpreted to mean two thousand years. Was Jesus speaking in vague terms which no one could undertand? Was He just an unknown guru for whom time meant nothing? Are His statements concerning time to be interpreted as exclusively transcendent to finite humans? If so, then we must interpret the apostles’ use of time statements the same way. Some argue that, whenever time statements are used in reference to the coming of the Lord, God’s time is not our time. Where do we find this hermeneutic in Scripture? It simply is not there. In fact, from the verses just cited, we see that God’s time (Jesus’ time) is our time. In light of the clear interpretation of these passages, the verses dealing with the coming of the Lord will come to life, especially as we ponder what a first-century Christian would think. Modern day evangelical prophecy experts argue the transcendent nature of God’s time. However, when they see what they call a “sign of the times” they immediately conclude that we are definitely in the last days. Why do we not apply this same hermeneutic with their definition of last days. If at hand is God’s transcendent timing, and the apostles were not really saying that Jesus was returning in their generation, then why not say that the last days are God’s timing as well? Why not say that Jesus may not return for another two thousand years? Many futurists comfortably interpret time statements depending on whether the statements apply to the return of Jesus Christ: i.e. if the time statements are not referring to the coming of the Lord, then interpret them literally. If they are referring to the coming of the Lord, then God’s time is not our time. We believe that Christ’s use of time statements during His physical ministry on earth are to be interpreted the same way the apostles interpreted them: God’s time is our time. This is true especially as we consider not only the everyday use of time statements by Jesus Christ, but also the urgency in the N.T. Scriptures concerning warnings that the return of Jesus Christ was imminent during the writing of the N.T. One thing we can know for certain, and that is, we could never know that the time was near or ready until the signs in Matthew 24 came to pass. Once again, we must remember what Christ said immediately after He described the signs that would come to pass just before His return:
These sobering words of Jesus should convince us that it would be a lie for any of the apostles to say that the coming of the Lord was near or ready unless the signs had already taken place. But what saith the Scripture?
In order for the apostles and Jesus to be telling the truth, and in order for the Bible to be fully inspired by God, the signs in Matthew 24 would have had to have taken place for the integrity of the apostles and Scripture to be upheld. When an apostle uses the same word (eggus) that our Lord used in the Olivet discourse in proclaiming the readiness of Christ’s coming, it must have an impact on our view of Biblical eschatology. The gainsayers might argue that the apostles were not aware that they were using the same word. This argumentation ultimately attacks the authority and inspiration of Scripture. Every jot and tittle of the holy Scriptures is fully harmonized and cohesive, always relating to itself (Psalms 19:7,8 “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.”). With the word of God being perfect, sure, right, and pure, it is very presumptuous to assume the apostles were not thinking about what they were writing. The apostles did not write the words of God without carefully considering every other word of God; after all, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:20-21). All the apostles knew and understood the Olivet discourse, and they would never write anything that would contradict the words of Jesus or mislead the people of God. THINGS WHICH MUST SHORTLY COME TO PASS The same interpretive principle must be implemented with the terms “shortly” and “quickly.” The primary verses we are considering with the word translated “shortly” are found in Romans 16:20; Revelation 1:1; 22:6:
Strong’s first definition for the Greek word used in these passages (tachos) is “a brief space of time.” Notice the appropriateness of this definition as it is used in these other passages.
It is very doubtful that Paul would have waited until September of 1994 before he left Jerusalem. With these verses using the exact same word, we can only conclude that the apostle John was initiating the Apocalypse with the URGENT warning that Christ was returning in a brief space of time. The N.T. Scriptures support that Satan was about to be crushed (Romans 16:20), and Christ was returning shortly.
There are many views regarding those whom John was addressing when he identified the seven churches and their various problems. When I was a dispensationalist (or dispensensationalist), I was always told that the seven churches represented the different time periods throughout church history. Of course, the dispensationalist would always identify the twentieth-century church as Laodicea. Some even have the audacity to identify the beginning of the Plymouth Brethren movement as the church of Philadelphia (I would caution those who speak well of themselves [Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:] ). I will confess that John Nelson Darby’s hyper-dispensational teaching is very popular today and is widely approved by many modern “churches.” However, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” Luke 6:26. As we examine the apostle John’s addressees in Revelation 2,3, we see time statements of urgency that could only be referring to those living at that time. To the church of Ephesus he writes:
To the church of Pergamos he writes:
To the church of Thyatira he mentions Jezebel, the false prophetess. He warns: Revelation 2:22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. (Does this not tell us about the timing of the great tribulation?) He also counsels Thyatira:
To the church of Sardis he writes:
To the church of Philadelphia he writes: Revelation 3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. We see that at least five of the seven churches were admonished because of the urgency of Christ’s coming. The other two received admonishments that are clearly referring to a near judgment. John used the word quickly, not only because he had direct revelation from God, but also because he understood the Lord Jesus Christ and the Olivet discourse. John had seen the signs and, therefore, knew that his generation were the ones who would be alive at the Lord’s coming. This brings us to an important phrase concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. YET A LITTLE WHILE Jesus said in John 7:33 “Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me,”; and in John 13:33, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” Christ obviously did not wait two thousand years to ascend to the Father to take the throne; nor was Jesus physically on the earth for two thousand years. John 12:35 reads “Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.” John 14:19 also says, “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.” The Greek word mikron is used in these verses which clearly speak of “a small space of time or degree” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance). In Hebrews, a phrase is used that is employed nowhere else in the N.T., yet it contains the same word used in the above passages:
The Greek phrase “a little while” is eti gar mikron oson oson. Translation: “For yet A VERY LITTLE WHILE.” There is not a Greek scholar who can contend with this phrase. The promise remains certain: “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” How many times have we heard people say, “If the Lord tarries we will do this or that?” The passage says He “will NOT tarry.” Once again, “He that shall come WILL come.” He did not fail. Not only did He come, but He came when He said He was going to come: “in a little while.” We must also consider the audience addressed here. Verse 36 says, “For YE have need of patience, that, after YE have done the will of God, YE might receive the promise.” Here we see the guarantee that they would receive the Promise, and that in a little while. Were they disappointed? Did Christ or the writer of Hebrews fool them? Did Christ lie? God Forbid! “For it is impossible for God to lie.” God was holding true to the promise He gave on Mt. Olivet. He told His disciples that their generation would “not pass away until all things be fulfilled.” This brings us to a very crucial word concerning the coming of Christ and His kingdom. ALL THESE THINGS SHALL COME UPON THIS GENERATION The word generation was one of the first words that truly made me think that Christ said He was returning in the lifetime of the apostles. I was about thirteen or fourteen years old at the time. I went to my dispensationalist pastor to find the answer. (After all, pastors have all the answers...don’t they?) He graduated with a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary with honors in Hebrew and Greek. The answer I received from him regarding the definition of the word generation was, “It means race.” He said this with authority. Back then, I was not familiar with using the Strong’s concordance so I just took his word for it. That was my problem. I took his word for it. I did not find out until years later when confronted by an inconsistent preterist that the word generationdoes not mean “race.” This inconsistent preterist told me it meant exactly what it said and that I should check it with Strong’s. I did. He was right! There is a word in the Bible that does mean “race.” It is the Greek word genos. (1085. genos, ghen'-os; from G1096; "kin" (abstr. or concr., lit. or fig., indiv. or coll.):--born, country (-man), diversity, generation, kind (-red), nation, offspring, stock). Unfortunately for me, so I thought, the word for generation is genea. (1074. genea, ghen-eh-ah'; from (a presumed der. of) G1085; a generation; by impl. an age (the period or the persons):--age, generation, nation, time.) Strongs’s Nevertheless, the inconsistency of this “preterist” in separating the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem from the glorification of saints became very apparent. Needless to say, the great and sovereign God changed my stubborn heart. He even changed my will. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth” (Psalms 110:3). For this I praise the reigning King!!! Back to generation: First, it is imperative to understand the Bible’s explicit definition of the word generation. This can be found in the book of Hebrews:
Another passage that defines the word generation is found in Acts 8 where the Ethiopian eunuch is approached by Philip while reading Isaiah 53:
Jesus probably did not live more than thirty three years. “His generation” and “His life” are terms that correlate with each other, signifying the timing of His life and ministry. Also, in Acts, is the sermon of Paul regarding Christ and His fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant:
What happened after David “served his own generation?” He died. His serving his own generation was the period of time that he was king of Israel. How long did David serve his generation, i.e. how long was he king? We find an indisputable passage that defines the generation of which Paul spoke:
In light of these clear definitions of generation, let us look at the other passages containing the same word.
Jesus was referring to the Pharisees of His day. This is proven by vs.18, in which He mentions the name of John the Baptist, and vs.19, where He mentions Himself. It was particularly their generation that came into contact with John and Jesus, and the Pharisees rejected them both; thus, the words: “But whereunto shall I liken THIS generation?”
Clearly, the Pharisees wanted proof that Jesus was truly the Messiah and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant. Therefore, they wanted to OBSERVE the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear. It is because of this that Jesus said, “An evil and adulterous GENERATION seeketh after a sign.” Jesus was addressing them. Even beyond that, He told them that the Gentiles would rise in the judgment with their generation. Yet another passage that identifies the specific generation to whom Jesus was referring is found in Matthew 17:
The generation that had the privilege of seeing the miracles of Christ was continually being reproved for its lack of faith. They actually were able to SEE the miracles and still doubted the power of God. Christ, accordingly, designated THEM as a faithless and perverted generation. The question of Christ in regard to their faithlessness is certainly proof of the identity of their generation: “how long shall I be WITH YOU?” It is unmistakably clear in this passage that Christ exactly defined his audience. Peter told the people in his day to “save yourselves from this untoward generation” (Acts 2:40). The whole theme of the epistles was urgently preparing the professing Christians for the Day of the Lord. The Jews of the first-century were warned to not draw back unto the perdition of the condemned Pharisees. Peter compelled the Jews to repent from the dead works of the Pharisees. In Luke 17, we find a passage pertaining to the second coming that also uses genea:
It is obvious which generation crucified the Lord of glory: i.e. the generation by whom He suffered many things. Interestingly, Jesus said, “He must first suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.” This definitely gives strong implication that the timing of the two events (Christ’s suffering and His coming: cf. 1 Peter 1:11) is within the same generation, or forty-year period. Perhaps the strongest passage (besides Hebrews 3:7-10) that classifies the limit of scope pertaining to those who would be alive at the second coming is found in Matthew chapter twenty-three:
Seven times Jesus identifies His audience as “scribes and Pharisees.” He labels them as hypocrites, fools, blind guides, full of extortion and excess, whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness, and lastly, generation of vipers. The Greek word used in vs.33 for generation is different from that in vs.36 It is the word gennema which Strong’s defines as offspring. If Jesus wanted to clarify that He was referring to the race or offspring in vs.36, He certainly would have used gennema. However, this is not the case. Jesus was ever so explicit in declaring to the scribes and the Pharisees that upon them “would come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”; in other words, “upon those living now.” Do not begin to think the attributes Jesus used to describe the Pharisees do not apply to the false teachers of our generation. They most definitely do. However, we are not to interpret the Bible based upon our experience but, rather, base our experience upon the Bible. That is, the apostates of our day are not the Pharisees of Christ’s day. They may do the same things and end up in the same lake of fire, but they are not the same people. In fact, if we carefully analyze our experiences and compare them with Scripture, we will find that what we previously thought were fulfillments of prophecy in our day were actually fulfilled during the lifetime of the apostles. An extremely lucid passage that unequivocally associates the timing of the first-century generation is in the Gospel of Mark:
Finally, we see the word generation used in the Olivet discourse. After describing the signs that would take place before the destruction of the Temple, Jesus uses the same word generation to let the hearers know that He would do “all these things” before their forty-year generation would “pass away.”
We have already examined the use of the word eggizo (drawing near) and eggus (at hand), and that the epistles clearly teach that the coming of the Lord was drawing near and at hand. Eggus is the same word used in Matthew 24:32,33. Therefore, Jesus was teaching that the generation to whom He was speaking would experience His parousia. As we have seen, the very clear time statements of Scripture conveyed with certainty that the coming of the Lord was going to take place during their lifetime. We noted that a first-century recipient of one of the epistles would never assume that an inspired writer of the Bible would be trying to fool his audience. When Paul said “at hand,” or James said “draweth nigh,” the audience knew what the writers were communicating. There are numerous other passages that would positively lead the hearers to believe that Jesus was coming back during their generation. These passages will not contain such explicit time statements as those we have previously studied. Rather, these passages will expose the grammatically natural assumptions of the audience as they understood the Lord and the inspired apostles. Chapter Two SOME STANDING HERE
Toward the conclusion of the last chapter, Mark 8:38-9:1 was used to show how Jesus associated His coming in glory alongside His reproval of “this adulterous and sinful generation.” If the clear use of the word “generation” (as well as words and phrases like “at hand,” “a little while,” and “quickly,”) was not enough to convince the gainsayers of the truth, Jesus clarified the implication of His timing by saying that there would be some who would not taste death until they had seen Jesus come in His kingdom. A most important question should be asked: how would the audience of Jesus have interpreted His words? Even beyond that, how would the churches to whom the apostles wrote interpret the letters and admonitions warning them of the nearness of the return of Christ? This brings us to a critical place in our observation of Scriptures dealing with the return of Christ, i.e. the analysis of the inferences of the audiences addressed by Jesus and the apostles. THE AUDIENCE OF JESUS In Matthew 10, Jesus Christ commissioned the twelve disciples. Jesus directed His commission specifically to the disciples as we see in vs.1:
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Warning: "Full
Preterist" material is being archived for balanced representation of all
Christian Preterist views, but its premise is deemed by the opinion of
the curator (a
former full preterist) to be "toxic theology." Due to its
brash and "letter-based" appeal to the flesh and "things seen," it very
subtly draws people away from the truth of the Spirit and His "unseen things"
(core components of the system being extra-biblical history and logic -- because there is
not one full preterist verse which looks back to
fulfillment in ad70,
it is based entirely upon deductive reasoning). If you have already
adopted this viewpoint, please seriously consider that according to full
preterism, AD70 was not only the end of Old Testament Judaism, but it was also
the end of the revelation of Christianity as seen in the New Testament.
This is done by teaching that AD70 was a "dispensational line"
regarding resurrection and the like which makes the Christianity of the New Testament
fundamentally different from that of today. Please also note that the earliest
known adherents of full preterism later abandoned it, as have many contemporary
former full preterists, including the curator of this archive (after a
decade of promotion). The article
which follows is deemed "hyper preterist" in nature
-- so please proceed with extreme caution. If this article is not "full
preterist," please notify me and I will have it reclassified.
