To Henry Hammond (1605-1660):

 "there are many complaine of your secret vain-glory, in seeking to disclaime the direction from H. Grotius in reference to your comment on the Revelation." (Packer, The Transformation of Anglicanism, p. 96)

A Proponent of Double Fulfillment.  Note his commentary on Matthew 24:

"Our Lord now proceeds to point out some of the more immediate signs of his coming to destroy Jerusalem, and put an end to the Jewish state and dispensation. Even Olshausen, who blends in such inseparable union the proximate and remote comings of our Lord, admils that vs. 15-21 'contain a very minute representation of the destruction of Jerusalem, without any pause being observed, or any intimation being given, that what follows is to be separated from what has preceded.' It is precisely for this reason, viewing the Saviour's reply to his disciples as designed to be intelligible, that in this portion of the prediction, I can find no direct reference to the day of judgment, only as the whole event of the coming to destroy Jerusalem is symbolical of that great and final coming to take vengeance on the ungodly." (P. 312).

"That the language is similar to that in which Christ's final coming is described, cannot be denied. But that is not strange, when we consider, as has been remarked, that the one event is typical of the other ; that his coming to destroy Jerusalem is a representation, faint indeed but real, of his glorious and awful coming to take vengeance upon the finally impenitent, and that language therefore is used of it, which seems appropriately to belong to the final judgment." (P. 319.)

"the one event is typical of the other; his coming to destroy Jerusalem in representation, faint, indeed, but real, of his glorious and awful coming to take vengeance upon the finally impenitent ; and that language, therefore, is used of it which seems appropriately to belong to the final judgment." — Pp. 318, 319.

See David N. Lord: Christ's Prophecy (Matt. xxiv) of the Destruction of Jerusalem, and of His Second Coming (1858)

"It is not such a day, such a motive, as is always common to all, but only unto those who are in some measure in the same circumstances with them....Wherefore this day was no other but that fearful and tremendous day, a season for the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, city, and nation of the Jews, which our Saviour had forewarned His disciples of, and which they had in continual expectation" (Commentary on Hebrews, Hebrews 10:25)

(On the New Heavens and Earth)
'It is evident, then, that in the prophetical idiom and manner of speech, by heavens and earth, the civil and religious state and combination of men in the world, and the men of them, were often understood. So were the heavens and earth that world which then was destroyed by the flood.

' 4. On this foundation I affirm that the heavens and earth here intended in this prophecy of Peter, the coming of the Lord, the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, mentioned in the destruction of that heaven and earth, do all of them relate, not to the last and final judgment of the world, but to that utter desolation and destruction that was to be made of the Judaical church and state

'First, There is the foundation of the apostle's inference and exhortation, seeing that all these things, however precious they seem, or what value soever any put upon them, shall be dissolved, that is, destroyed; and that in that dreadful and fearful manner before mentioned, in a day of judgment, wrath, and vengeance, by fire and sword; let others mock at the threats of Christ's coming: He will come- He will not tarry; and then the heavens and earth that God Himself planted, -the sun, moon, and stars of the Judaical polity and church, -the whole old world of worship and worshippers, that stand out in their obstinancy against the Lord Christ, shall be sensibly dissolved and destroyed: this we know shall be the end of these things, and that shortly." (Sermon on 2 Peter iii. 11, Works, folio, 1721.).

"It is evident, from sundry places in the New Testament, what extreme oppositions the believing Jews met withal, all the world over, from their own countrymen, with and among whom they lived. They in the meantime, no doubt, warned them of the wrath of Christ against them for their cursed unbelief and persecutions; particularly letting them know, that Christ would come in vengeance ere long, according as he had threatened, to the ruin of his enemies. And because the persecuting Jews, all the world over, upbraided the believers with the temple and the holy city, Jerusalem, their worship and service instituted of God, which they had defiled; they were given to know, that even all these things also should be destroyed, for their rejection of the Son of God. After some continuance of time, the threatening denounced being not yet accomplished,--as is the manner of profane persons and hardened sinners, Eccles. viii. 11,--they began to mock and scoff, as if they were all but the vain pretences, or loose, causeless fears of the Christians. That this was the state with them, or shortly would be, the apostle declares in this chapter, verses 3, 4. Because things continued in the old state, without alteration, and judgment was not speedily executed, they scoffed at all the threats about the coming of the Lord that had been denounced against them." (“Providential Changes, An Argument for Universal Holiness,” in The Works of John Owen: Sermons to the Church, 23 vols. (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Banner of Truth, [1850-1853], 1998), 9:132. )
 

(On the downfall of Rome, and the heavens and earth)
"(the empire) was shivered to pieces by many barbarous nations; who, settling themselves in the fruitful soils of Europe, began to plant their heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, growing up into a civil state," (vol 8, p. 265)

(On Matthew 24:29)
"Not to hold you too long upon what is so plain and evident, you may take it for a rule, that, in the denunciations of the judgments of God, through all the prophets, heaven, sun, moon, stars, and the like appearing beauties and glories of the aspectable heavens, are taken for governments, governors, dominions in political states, as Isa. 14:12-15; Jer 15:9, 51:25. Isaiah 13:13; Ps. 68:6; Joel 2:10; Rev. 8:12; Matt. 24:29; Luke 21:25; Isa 60:20; Obad. 4; Rev 8:13; 11:12; 20:11." (vol. 8, p. 255, in a sermon entitled Shaking and Translating of Heaven and Earth, preached on April 19, 1649)

(On Matthew 24:30)
"So upon or in the destruction of Jerusalem, Luke 21:27, the Son of man is said to 'come in a cloud, with power and great glory' - and they that escape in that desolation are said to 'stand before the Son of man, ver. 36." (vol. 9, p. 139)

(On Hebrews 10:25)
"It is not such a day, such a motive, as is always common to all, but only unto those who are in some measure in the same circumstances with them....Wherefore this day was no other but that fearful and tremendous day, a season for the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, city, and nation of the Jews, which our Saviour had forewarned His disciples of, and which they had in continual expectation" (Commentary on Hebrews , in loc.)

"See in the meantime that your faith bringeth forth obedience, and God in due time will cause it to bring forth peace."

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID

C. Jonathan Seraiah
"It is true that the "eschatology" of the New Testament is predominantly preterist. For those unfamiliar with the preterist perspective, it is the ancient view that many of the eschatological passages of the New Testament were fulfilled (completely) in the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. This view may sound novel, but in reality there have been orthodox adherents to it throughout church history (e.g., Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, John Lightfoot, John Owen, Milton Terry, Jay Adams). This interpretation does not deny the Final Coming of Christ; it merely finds that not all "coming" passages refer to that event. The preterist interpretation is actually the most faithful to the biblical text because it recognizes that Old Testament prophetic terminology was used by the New Testament authors. This recognition is helpful in distinguishing the prophecies of Christ's coming that were near, in the first century (Matt. 10:23; 16:28; 24:30; 26:64; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 1:7; James 5:7-9; 1 Pet. 4:7; Rev. 1:3, 7; etc.) and thus fulfilled in a.d. 70, from those that were far (John 5:28-29; Acts 1:11; 17:31; 1 Cor. 15:23-24; 1 Thess. 4:16; 1 Jn. 3:2; etc.) and thus not yet fulfilled even in our day. It also helps to distinguish between a spiritual "coming" (invisible for temporal judgment, as in a.d. 70) and a physical coming (visible for eternal judgment)." (End of All Things)

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Date: 28 Aug 2007
Time: 11:27:48

Comments:

So we are to believe that the kings of East with their army of 200 million hyave already moved down to Megiddo, and that the mark of the beast has been imposed by the new world order, and that the Islamic nations along with the king of north (Ez.38-39), and that the Messiah (Prince) has already burst through the sealed gate ajacent to the mount of Olive, etc.,etc., has already occurred. When! How! Which! Who! Whatever! - B.G.Drake