What is the Blessed Hope of Preterism?

Eugene Shubert

I’m sure it would please his satanic majesty if Christians today were seduced into believing that the most cherished expectations of the apostolic church were fulfilled in 70AD.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). If you go to your favorite online Bible and search for the phrase “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” and try to take in all the glory of what that phrase meant, I believe you will be thrilled as you try to absorb it all and comprehend all of the wondrous, glorious good news. Preterists say, the kingdom of God, redemption and indeed, the blessed hope, arrived with the destruction of apostate Judaism. I must protest and I have protested. The kingdom Jesus directed us to pray for and look forward to is a glorious kingdom. He never asked us to pray for anything less.

What is the blessed hope of preterism today? And what’s the difference between what preterists teach and what Satan wants us to believe?

Eugene Shubert · Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2002 11:49 am Post subject:

Let’s take a careful look at the nature of the kingdom at the end of the age.

The Parable of the Weeds (Mt 13:24-30):

24Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
28" 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
29" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn .' "

The Parable of the Weeds Explained (Mt 13:36-43):

36Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
37He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear."

1. Please note that the extent of this prophecy is the world: “The field is the world.”
2. “The harvest is the end of the age.” The language of allowing wheat and tares to continue to mature and develop until harvest time suggests that the harvest is an event, not a progressive unfolding requiring thousands of years.
3. “The harvesters are angels.” If the harvest is the end of the age, the work required of the harvesters is brief. “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.” Christ’s kingdom is worldwide. Everything that causes sin and all who do evil will be uprooted. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
4. Here it’s the wicked that are harvested. In Mt 24:31 the focus is on the righteous being harvested: “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” There is no reason to suppose that these events don’t occur simultaneously. See Revelation 14:14-20.

Another view of the Harvest and Final Judgment (Luke 13:22-30):

22Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"
24He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'
"But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
26"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'
27"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'
28"There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."

1. For any of the wicked to see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and they themselves being thrown out implies resurrection and final judgment. It also implies a final separation like the sheep/goat separation illustrated in Mt 25:32. “And He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left” (Mt 25:33).
2. Also note the reference to a time when probation closes. This is repeated in Mt 25:10-12.

Matthew 25
10 "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.
11 "Later the other virgins also came, saying, ' Lord, lord, open up for us.'
12 "But he answered, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'
13 "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. "

None of this compares well with the events of 70 AD. The reason preterists misunderstand many of the references in Olivet Discourse is because they refuse to allow Scripture to interpret itself. They close their eyes to all similar phrases elsewhere in the teachings of Jesus.

slaveofOne · scholar Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 6 Location: L.A.

Greetings in Yeshua,

Just by way of introduction, let me say that while I am not a full preterist, I am a partial preterist. I am also Amillennialist. I arrived at these places through several years of study in the Old and New Testaments with little or no influence by “Preterist” or “Amillenniallist” argument or propaganda, but solely through indepth Biblical study and the Spirit of God as my guide. With that said, I would like to respond to some of brother Eguene’s statements and/or arguments.

> I’m sure it would please his satanic majesty if Christians today....

From my understanding of Scripture, I believe that God would be pleased with this understanding…not the satan.

> Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10). If you go to your favorite online Bible and search for the phrase....

Well, I think you’ve oversimplified and reduced full Preterism’s statement and extent by about as great a margin as could be made. Preterists do not believe in a kingdom any less glorious than you—in fact, though I disagree with their interpretation in many respects, I sometimes think Preterism’s viewpoint is the most glorious of any for many reasons which would be too drawn-out to discuss here.

1. Please note that the extent of this prophecy....

1. Perhaps if you were a Hellenistic, Greek speaking, Greek reading person, “world” would mean what we think of as “world” today. However, Yeshua was a Jew who spoke Aramaic to Jews, and so his words must be understood not in a Greek context, but in a Semitic context. In Aramaic, Yeshua’s word that the Greek renders “world” also means “land” and is used throughout that culture and context to refer to Israel. To a Jew in Yeshua’s time, when he spoke of the “world” or “land,” that Jew would have understood Yeshua to be speaking of the land and people of Israel. When Yeshua used the word “sea,” they would have understood him to be speaking of the Gentiles/nations. We can be even more certain of the Aramaic understanding of “Israel” for “world” in the verses you’ve reviewed because it is agreed by almost all scholarship that Matthew was even written in Hebrew originally and our Greek are copies of it. When we look at the old surviving Semitic texts, we see that the idea of the “world” as we understand it today does not exist in this text.

2. “The harvest is the end of the age.” The language of allowing wheat and tares to continue to mature and develop...

2. Your point about the harvest being an event and not a progressive thing stretching over thousands of years is exactly why Full Preterism makes so much sense, it is the only belief I am aware of that gives a short terminus for this harvest in a span of time that doesn’t stretch out into the infinite. Also, you made a point that this harvest happens “at the end of the age,” but you made no effort to speak of what the Bible says the “age” is or when it would end. Shouldn’t one’s understanding of the “age” determine one’s judgment of the harvest and not vice versa? For, after all, the Bible speaks of the age and gives concrete examples of its time, whereas the “harvest” at the end is only mentioned via metaphor, symbolism, and parable.

3. “The harvesters are angels.” If the harvest is the end of the age...

3. Your point is well made…from the perspective of a person sitting in the 21st century. You come to your interpretation of events and accounts in the Bible through modern eyes and understanding instead of coming to the text as it was intended to be known-- by its audience, the 1st century Jew. From your perspective, you would look for a time when evil and redemption was defined by all the existing nations and peoples of today…but the redemption that Israel would have known and understood was different. The gentiles and nations would indeed be drawn into the kingdom, but not before Israel had been “brought back from exile.” Israel needed to be redeemed so it could fulfill it’s purpose, which included the whole gentile world. But the harvest and judgment and redemption that Christ or any other Jew would have spoken of and understood would be one focused on Israel and then extending out afterwards to the others in result (first to the Jew, then to the Gentile).

4. Here it’s the wicked that are harvested. In Mt 24:31 the focus is on the righteous being harvested: “And he will send his angels...

4. I think that the full Preterist actually believes that these things DO occur at the same time. Don’t they see the harvest being the 3 and a half years of the Roman Jewish War, during which time both the apostate were judged and the righteous were vindicated? Praise be to God who fulfills his promises to Israel!

> Another view of the Harvest and Final Judgment (Luke 13:22-30)...

Yeshua is speaking of the same thing that Rabbi Paul spoke of, the cutting off of the dead branches and grafting of the other. Once the dead branches are cut off, how can they then partake of the vine? This parable concerns the ingathering of the nations as a warning to the then present “people of God.” Yeshua is saying, don’t think you’re so special because you’re a child of Abrahm, because Abrahm will be with me, and others from every nation of the earth, but you won’t.

> None of this compares well with the events of 70 AD.

I’m not sure if Preterists would say that necessarily refers to 70 AD…I, being a Partial Preterist, see this as having it’s fulfillment during the time of Yeshua and shortly after…not in 70 AD.

It’s funny you bring this up, because any other viewpoint than Preterism couldn’t apply to these verses. Why? Yeshua and all his apostles spoke of this as the “day” and “hour,” using specific timeframe contexts that would be betrayed beyond 70 AD. What is the point of being alert for something that is not going to be happening at any point of time that might influence you in any way whatsoever? For the one who believes that these verses haven’t had their fulfillment yet, mankind has been waiting for the day and hour for thousands of years already, each generation thinking “this is the end times”…and who knows how many thousand more years will pass with people saying and thinking this? Yeshua and his apostles used the terms “day” and “hour” instead of “year,” “future,”or other such words because the words “day” and “hour” have an immediate content and context. “It is at hand,” “the day is near,” and all the various forms point to an immediacy that requires steadfast vigilance, otherwise the warning is pointless. If I am told to study hard because there will be a test soon…what is the most obvious way to understand this? That I should study hard because the test may never come and I should know the stuff anyway…or that there really is going to be a test coming up and I need to know the stuff in order to pass it? I don’t know any student who would think the first, they would prepare knowing that a test was coming. And if the Professor told them later, oh, I was just saying that to make sure you did your work, the students would unanimously feel (although relieved) led astray and betrayed. Was it Yeshua’s and his apostles’ objective to led astray and to betray or was it truly to get them ready for something that was truly going to occur? And this doesn’t even mention the fact that Yeshua spoke these things to specific people for their benefit—this is going to happen to “you”—and not to some generalized person existed outside time and place.

> The reason preterists misunderstand many of the references...

Perhaps this conclusion takes the cake and eats it too. Not only is it a generalized judgment through ignorance, but it’s silly 8O . You would think that Preterists weren’t concerned with proper and true understanding of Scripture or something ridiculous like that. And, it is interesting to note, that some Preterists have said the same thing about you…so the question is: who’s right? You because you say you are…or them because they say they are? This kind of attitude is pitiful among both groups. No one is closing their eyes. Perhaps someone’s eyes happen to be closed, but can you fault them for seeing wrong if they can’t see to begin with? Let us seek truth together in mutual edification. To Eloah be the glory, forever and ever Exclamation