Download - Calvary Chapel of OKC

Three types of Millennialism:
• Premillennialism:
Amillennialism: Belief
Postmillennialism:
Belief
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• Adherents:
Most
modern
Reformed
Church
of Christ,
Church of
theologians,
“Christian
• Adherents:
Most
modern
evangelicals
God
(Anderson,
IN),
many Reformed
following
the
Reconstructionists”
theologians, Roman Catholic Church
service
Preterism: From Latin word meaning past
“A Christian belief system in which
some or all of the end-time events
specified in the New Testament
are believed to have already been
fulfilled. They were accomplished
in the past, particularly during the
Roman-Jewish war of AD 66 to
AD73”
Four possible ways to relate to time:
Reformed,
Past: Preterism
Presbyterian
Present: Historicism
Future: Futurism
Timeless: Idealism
Some Reformers, SDA,
Lutheran
Most Modern
Evangelicals
RCC, Some
Reformed, Liberal Theology
The Preterist believes that most, if not all
prophecy has already been fulfilled.
The Historicist believes that prophecy has
been and will be fulfilled during the
current church age.
The Futurist believes that prophetic
events will be fulfilled in the future.
The Idealist does not believe that the
Bible indicates the timing of events.
Therefore, idealists see prophetic
passages as teaching great truths about
God to be applied to our present lives.
Three kinds of Preterism:
• “Soft” or “Mild” Preterism teaches the
Book of Revelation was fulfilled in the first
3 centuries of the Church age (from the
fall of Jerusalem to the Edict of Milan – AD
313)
• “Partial” or “Moderate” Preterism
teaches most prophecy was fulfilled by AD
70. All that is left is Jesus’ 2nd Coming
• “Full” or “Extreme” Preterism teaches
that even Christ’s 2nd Coming was fulfilled
by AD 70
Jesus’ prophecies in the Olivet Discourse:
• Wars, famines, pestilences,
earthquakes
• Persecutions, betrayals, tribulations
• False messiahs, lawlessness,
“abomination of desolation”
• Matt. 24:34 ~ Assuredly, I say to you,
this generation will by no means pass
away till all these things take place. (also
10:23 and 16:28)
Matt. 23:33- 36 ~ 34 Therefore, indeed, I
send you prophets, wise men, and
scribes: some of them you will kill and
crucify, and some of them you will
scourge in your synagogues and
persecute from city to city, 35 that on you
may come all the righteous blood shed on
the earth, from the blood of righteous
Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of
Berechiah, whom you murdered between
the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I
say to you, all these things will come upon
this generation.
Rev. 1:1 ~ The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave Him to show His servants –
things which must shortly take place.
Rev. 22:12 ~ “And behold, I am
coming quickly, and My reward is
with Me, to give to every one
according to his work.”
Some of the conclusions held by most Preterists:
• The “Great Tribulation” = Fall of
Jerusalem in AD 70
• The “Last Days” = “last days of Israel”
• The “Antichrist” = any apostate teacher
• The “Beast” = Nero
• The “False Prophet” = the Jewish
leadership
• The “Great Harlot” = Jerusalem
• “Israel” = Church
When was the Book of Revelation written?
• It is crucial to the Preterist position for
it to have been written prior to AD 70
• Irenaeus says it was at the end of
Domitian’s reign (AD 81-96)
• So do Clement of Alexandria and
Tertullian
• Laodicea was destroyed in AD 61
• Polycarp states in his letter to the
Philippians (chapter 11) that his city of
Smyrna had not even heard the Gospel
in Paul's day (d. AD 64)
2 Thess. 2:8 ~ And then the lawless one will be
revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the
breath of His mouth and destroy with the
brightness of His coming.
• How could Nero be the Antichrist
when he committed suicide in AD
68 – two years before the Fall of
Jerusalem?
Matt. 24:34 ~ Assuredly, I say to you, this
generation will by no means pass away till all
these things take place
• “All these things” did not take place
in AD 70
• No “abomination of desolation”
(24:15)
• Son of Man didn't appear (24:27)
• Sun wasn't darkened (24:29)
• The Jews were not rescued (24:31)
Matt. 24:32-33 ~ 32 Now learn this
parable from the fig tree: When its
branch has already become tender
and puts forth leaves, you know that
summer is near. 33 So you also,
when you see all these things, know
that it is near—at the doors!
Problems stemming from Preterism:
• No warning of apostasy
• Tends to arbitrary allegorizing of other
Scriptures
• Blurs the “Blessed Hope” of Christ's
appearing
• Obscures the exhortation to “watch
therefore”
• Can even affects our view of salvation
• Affects our view of God's plan for
Israel today