Why I am Not a Preterist

Some might be asking, “What is Preterism?” Preterist means “gone by” or “past.” Preterists believe that that Jesus’ prophecies in Matthew 24 were all fulfilled before AD 70 in the destruction of Jerusalem. They would also take that Revelation was written in AD 68 to AD 70 instead of the traditional AD 95 that even early church fathers point to. My post will not exhaustively take on this widely debated subject but I just want to give you some of my problems with this way of interpretation.

The very first thing that I notice with Preterism is the way of commingled hermeneutics that make the reader decide when he wants to take a passage, or even different words, as literal or figurative instead of letting the passage really speak for itself.

In Donald Green’s article “A Critique of Preterism” he states the following:

One of the standard authors on biblical interpretation, Bernard Ramm, says, “The interpreter should take the literal meaning of a prophetic passage as his limiting or controlling guide.” Without denying the presence of figures of speech or symbols, Ramm emphasizes that the literal meaning of words cannot be abandoned simply because the interpreter is handling prophetic literature.

So what am I, Donald Green and Bernard Ramm pointing out? In Matthew 24:34, the Olivet Discourse, Jesus Christ says that, “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” The Preterist would say that means that according to Jewish generations, which is 40 years, that all these things will come to pass before 40 years has ended. Here is where I have problem with this interpretation. If they take this part literally then they must take all of the prophecies that were spoken of before being literally fulfilled as well. So they should take that there would have been a great falling away from Christianity (24:10); there will be many false prophets (24:11); there will be a great tribulation, like never seen before (24:21); the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky (24:29); the Son of Man will appear in the sky, then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory (24:30). All happening on or before AD 70!

So does the Preterist believe that all these things have literally been fulfilled? No. They believe they have been fulfilled but all of them figurative instead of literal. The main point, the very point they rest everything on, is because Christ says, “this generation will not pass away.” They force all other things to fit into this one statement. Full Preterists are forced to even say that Christ’s parousia, His second coming, has already happened as well. This is plain and utter horrific hermeneutics.

If you look in the very next verse, Matthew 24:35, Christ says that “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” Christ uses the very same phrase, pass away, for the end of the age that He just used with “this generation.” Could it be that He meant that the generation He is speaking of is a more loose term speaking of those followers that are living at the time all these things take place? It seems more likely that this would be the case. When you take “generation” to mean just that, you can now let Scripture speak for itself instead of having to take all these things figuratively.

Think of it: Has the sun been darkened? Was there a great falling away? Was the destruction of Jerusalem a great tribulation like never seen before? Has Christ returned on the clouds with His angels? The answer to all these is, no. Many Preterists claim that Christ is on His throne now and it is, of course, a figurative throne and not a literal physical throne. Quickly take a look at this verse:

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
Matthew 25:31

Did you notice it? When Christ comes again, THEN He will sit on His throne. Christ doesn’t reign on the promised throne at this time. But at His second coming then He will reign forever like the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:8-16) promised.

Many early Christians were told to look for the second coming, to have hope in Christ’s return. Where is our hope if Christ has already come again and the Devil is bound? And how can you say that the devil is bound when it is obvious that he is still so rampant in this world and Peter actually says that he is still prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

There are so many points of Preterism that I don’t agree with but just wanted to give a short summary of them here to start a discussion or start us all on thinking of these things. Let Scripture speak for itself and know that it is best to start on the literal and then let Scripture tell us when it is supposed to be taken as figurative.

I look forward to the parousia and can’t wait to see my Saviour come on the literal clouds with His literal angels to call all the literal elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.