Zone1 Is Jesus God?

[kjw47]

The Bible doesn't say that.

When God inspired the word earth= world war, not a single war.

 

[surada]

JW,s dont teach the rapture. They only teach the remaining little flock get changed in the twinkling of an eye during the trib. The great crowd remain on Earth forever. No man invented anything spiritual. God has 1 truth. God made his truth, not man.

The Christians fled to Pella during the tribulation.

 

[kjw47]

The Christians fled to Pella during the tribulation

The Christians fled to Pella during the tribulation.

The tribulation has not occurred yet-The fall of Babylon the great= worldwide false religions triggers the tribulation here in these last days. Revelation was written in 96 ce, thus the trib did not occur in 70 ce as your teachers are saying. RUN FROM THEM.

 

[Ace Nova]

The tribulation has not occurred yet-The fall of Babylon the great= worldwide false religions triggers the tribulation here in these last days. Revelation was written in 96 ce, thus the trib did not occur in 70 ce as your teachers are saying. RUN FROM THEM.

Last days? For some, maybe.

Did you know teachers are saying to run from you? So who are the children to believe?

Would a God of Justice kill innocents? No, he certainly would not.

For it is written, "For 10 righteous people I will spare the city" - And that was in reference to Sodom and Gomora 3000+ years ago.

If you really want to know the truth - this entire planet could be considered "Babylon The Great" in Biblical terms. The beauty of God - God is God - his ways are higher than your ways and my ways.

Every time you prophesize the Book of Revelation as happening now (or soon) and your statements show to be incorrect, you show yourself to be a false prophet by your own accord. You mislead people of faith. You turn non believers further away.

Stop with the nonsense already!

It is written:

Matthew 24:

"The Day and Hour Unknown.“As for the exact day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father"

 

[surada]

The tribulation has not occurred yet-The fall of Babylon the great= worldwide false religions triggers the tribulation here in these last days. Revelation was written in 96 ce, thus the trib did not occur in 70 ce as your teachers are saying. RUN FROM THEM.

Jesus tells John of Patmos in the Revelation letter. John introduced himself as your brother in tribulation... Josephus wrote about it. It was local and the Christians were spared.

 

[kjw47]

Last days? For some, maybe.

Did you know teachers are saying to run from you? So who are the children to believe?

Would a God of Justice kill innocents? No, he certainly would not.

For it is written, "For 10 righteous people I will spare the city" - And that was in reference to Sodom and Gomora 3000+ years ago.

If you really want to know the truth - this entire planet could be considered "Babylon The Great" in Biblical terms. The beauty of God - God is God - his ways are higher than your ways and my ways.

Every time you prophesize the Book of Revelation as happening now (or soon) and your statements show to be incorrect, you show yourself to be a false prophet by your own accord. You mislead people of faith. You turn non believers further away.

Stop with the nonsense already!

It is written:

Matthew 24:

"The Day and Hour Unknown.“As for the exact day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father"

The signs pointing to the last days are all occurring. Jesus didn't leave his in darkness. He compared these last days to Noahs day( 99.9% mislead) and destroyed. today 99% minimum. God killed all the children, babies in Noahs day. Why?
Yes the son does not know because he is not apart of a godhead. The Father is his God just like ours-John 20:17)

 

[The Duke]

The tribulation has not occurred yet-The fall of Babylon the great= worldwide false religions triggers the tribulation here in these last days. Revelation was written in 96 ce, thus the trib did not occur in 70 ce as your teachers are saying. RUN FROM THEM.

Ayep, you're younger. That should be A.D. as it was for over 1000 and hundreds of years before leftist atheists

got it changed from A.D. (Anno Domini="Year of our Lord") to "C.E." ("Common Era") in their quest to deny God.

 

[surada]

The signs pointing to the last days are all occurring. Jesus didn't leave his in darkness. He compared these last days to Noahs day( 99.9% mislead) and destroyed. today 99% minimum. God killed all the children, babies in Noahs day. Why?
Yes the son does not know because he is not apart of a godhead. The Father is his God just like ours-John 20:17)

You should study first century history. The Jewish civil war was dark days.

Revelation was written in 70 AD, but it doesn't matter. John of Patmos was their brother in tribulation. Your Darby futurism contradicts all of Revelation.

 

[BreezeWood]

God is God - his ways are higher than your ways and my ways.

as taught by jesus - all in the heavens are equal ...

you must believe the 4th century christian bible, the religion of servitude and denial. are you a crucifier as well.

"The Day and Hour Unknown.“As for the exact day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father"

this is false, the heavenly religion of antiquity, the triumph of good vs evil clearly answers the above as the parable of noah, when one side or the other is all that is left will be the day of final judgement, all humanity. who remains will be granted admission to the everlasting or made to perish.

 

[BreezeWood]

Ayep, you're younger. That should be A.D. as it was for over 1000 and hundreds of years before leftist atheists

got it changed from A.D. (Anno Domini="Year of our Lord") to "C.E." ("Common Era") in their quest to deny God.

you mean till you were stopped from killing and persecuting the innocent in the name of your false religion of christianity that has no foundation in reality whatsoever than through terror.

- to deny christianity ... not the heavens.

 

[kjw47]

Ayep, you're younger. That should be A.D. as it was for over 1000 and hundreds of years before leftist atheists

got it changed from A.D. (Anno Domini="Year of our Lord") to "C.E." ("Common Era") in their quest to deny God.

either way it means exactly the same.

 

[kjw47]

You should study first century history. The Jewish civil war was dark days.

Revelation was written in 70 AD, but it doesn't matter. John of Patmos was their brother in tribulation. Your Darby futurism contradicts all of Revelation.

History says 96 ad it was written. 70 ad is when Rome was destroying Jerusalem.
Then show us-the new earth and new heavens if it all occurred back then. You can't, satan is still ruling this system.

 

[surada]

History says 96 ad it was written. 70 ad is when Rome was destroying Jerusalem.
Then show us-the new earth and new heavens if it all occurred back then. You can't, satan is still ruling this system.

Scholars disagree. Most think Revelation was written in 75 AD. The futurists say 95 AD.
Isaiah 7:14 isn’t a prophecy. About Jesus or anyone else.”

It is not a prophecy to point to a pregnant woman and say she’s gonna have a kid.

The actual verbiage, translated correctly, says “The young woman HAS CONCEIVED (past tense) and will bear a son..”

The PROPHECY in this passage is Isaiah 7:16

“ before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.”

This took place in 732 BCE.

 

[kjw47]

Scholars disagree. Most think Revelation was written in 75 AD. The futurists say 95 AD.
Isaiah 7:14 isn’t a prophecy. About Jesus or anyone else.”

It is not a prophecy to point to a pregnant woman and say she’s gonna have a kid.

The actual verbiage, translated correctly, says “The young woman HAS CONCEIVED (past tense) and will bear a son..”

The PROPHECY in this passage is Isaiah 7:16

“ before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.”

This took place in 732 BCE.

The blind guides have it all twisted. Isaiah 7:14 is 100% about Jesus.
Show us the new earth and new heaven since your blind guides say it all occurred in 70 ce--Ask your blind guides where they are.

 

[surada]

The blind guides have it all twisted. Isaiah 7:14 is 100% about Jesus.
Show us the new earth and new heaven since your blind guides say it all occurred in 70 ce--Ask your blind guides where they are.

The new heaven and earth are spiritual. Isaiah is writing about Hezekiah. Read it in context.

Isaiah 7:16

16 for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. 17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”

 

[kjw47]

The new heaven and earth are spiritual. Isaiah is writing about Hezekiah. Read it in context.

Isaiah 7:16

16 for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. 17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”

they are literal= Gods kingdom rule in full control--No more mortal govts. No more satan influences. Or did you miss Dan 2:44? Your teachers missed it.

 

[surada]

they are literal= Gods kingdom rule in full control--No more mortal govts. No more satan influences. Or did you miss Dan 2:44? Your teachers missed it.

Daniel 2:44 in the Bible says, "And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever"

 

[surada]

The Four Metals Represent Four Empires that were to Rule over Israel before the coming of the Kingdom of God.

 

[surada]

The four kingdoms that held power over Israel, beginning with the Babylonian exile.

The details attached by the author to the beasts in Daniel 7, the animals in Daniel 8, and the extremely specific series of kings in Daniel 11 help us narrow down which kingdoms and kings the author considered relevant to the book's message:

Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom
Media
Persia
Alexander's unified Greece
Alexander's successors, the Diadochi
Antiochus IV Epiphanes

 

[ninja007]

You should study first century history. The Jewish civil war was dark days.

Revelation was written in 70 AD, but it doesn't matter. John of Patmos was their brother in tribulation. Your Darby futurism contradicts all of Revelation.

It seems that preterism (which I will shortly define for those of you who have not heard of it) is growing in popularity in Christian circles. In this article, I will lay out six concise reasons I believe preterism should be rejected as unbiblical.
WHAT IS PRETERISM?
Preterism is the belief that the prophecies in Matthew 24 (spoken by Jesus on the Mount of Olives) and the Book of Revelation were largely or completely fulfilled in the past, particularly in the events leading up to and surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70.
Now, for those of you who may be new to Bible study, Matthew 24 and the Book of Revelation have to do largely with the tumultuous events leading up to Christ’s Second Coming to the Earth.
Those who adhere to this view of Bible prophecy known as preterism, refer to themselves as “preterists.” Why? The word preterism is based on the Latin word preter, which means: “past”. And that’s what preterists believe. Preterists believe that many (if not all) of those things that most Christians would consider future events on the prophetic calendar are actually things of the past. According to preterists…
• The Tribulation
• The Antichrist
• The Abomination of Desolation
• Jesus’ Coming (Matthew 24; Revelation 19)
…are all things of the past.
Many preterists believe that these things were fulfilled in the turmoil and political upheaval that ensued when Jerusalem was sacked by Rome and most of its inhabitants were slaughtered in A.D. 70.
Now, preterism is actually very similar to an unbiblical teaching that was making its rounds in the early church.
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:17-18…
2 Timothy 2:17-18
“…Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection [a future event] has already taken place, and thus they upset the faith of some.”
Back in the first century, Paul tells us, there were two men, Hymenaeus and Philetus, who were confusing people in the church because they were talking about a future event as though it already happened. We might call these two men the first preterists.
But they were not the only ones doing this. Paul mentions this kind of problem again to the believers in Thessalonica…
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
“Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord [a reference to the Tribulation, still future] has come. Let no one in any way deceive you.”
So, there were those back in the first century who were speaking of future events (the tribulation, the resurrection and so on) as though they had already taken place.
And this is precisely what preterists are doing today. And the result today is the same as in the first century: “they upset the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:18). Other hearers are having their faith “shaken” or “disturbed” (2 Thessalonians 2:2).
This is one of the reasons I want to talk to you about preterism. It is growing in popularity and it is shaking some peoples’ faith in what they’ve been taught.
Now, there are two main camps within the preterist community. There are…
1. Full (extreme, hyper) preterists
2. Partial (moderate) preterists
What’s the difference between the two camps?
Full (or “Extreme”) preterists believe all Biblical prophecy has been fulfilled, including…
• the great tribulation
• the Second Coming of Jesus
• the bodily resurrection of believers
• and the great white throne judgment
Full preterists (e.g., Max King, John Bray and the late James Stuart Russell) are even so bold as to say that we are living in the new heavens and the new Earth (talked about in Revelation 21-22).
Of course, they have to abandon the plain understanding of the Scriptures to try and explain what John really meant when he said “there shall no longer be any death…mourning, or crying, or pain” in Rev. 21:4.
So, that’s what full preterists believe: All prophecy has been fulfilled. They seem to be the minority within the preterist community. The camp that seems to have more influence today (and the camp that seems to be growing in size) is the group that holds to partial (or moderate) preterism.

Adherents to partial preterism, such as:
• Hank Hanegraaff
• R.C. Sproul
• Gary DeMar
• Kenneth Gentry
…believe that Matthew 24 and the Book of Revelation have only largely been fulfilled.
Partial preterists (in contrast to full preterists) believe that the coming of Jesus spoken of in Matthew 24 and Revelation 19 was fulfilled, but it was fulfilled spiritually (rather than physically).
How was Jesus’ coming in Matthew 24 and Revelation 19 fulfilled spiritually? They say it occurred when the Roman army destroyed the temple in A.D. 70 and killed a multitude of the Jews.
The destruction of the temple is understood by partial preterists to be the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to come again in Matt. 24 and Rev. 19.
Preterists say that Jesus came in an act of judgment against the Jews for their rejection of Him as Messiah. Unlike full preterists, partial preterists do believe there are some verses like Acts 1:9-11 that do require Jesus to come back again in a physical and visible manner.
Could preterists, whether they be full preterists or partial, be right? Could Matthew 24 and the bulk of the Book of Revelation be about past events? No. In this article, I want to share with you…

SIX REASONS TO REJECT PRETERISM
…six reasons you can be confident that preterism is an incorrect view of Bible prophecy. And rather than focus on the problems with full preterism, I want to show you six reasons partial preterism can be rejected. Because if I can show you that partial preterism is unbiblical, then full preterism can be set aside as even more unbiblical.

1. Preterists’ proof texts fail to support their own view.
Turn with me to Matthew 24. The verse we will be looking at here in Matthew 24 is the chief cornerstone in the preterists’ defense of their view. Here in this chapter, Jesus talks about the signs that will take place in the days leading up to His Second Coming to the Earth. He mentions, if you’ll notice…
…in v. 15, the “Abomination of Desolation” (that time when the Antichrist will set himself up in the temple of God and declare himself to be God, 2 Thess. 2)
…in v. 21, He mentions the time of the “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.”
…in v. 29, He mentions the sun and moon being darkened and that “the stars will fall from the sky.”
…and then in v. 30, He mentions “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky.”
MATTHEW 24:34
And then notice v. 34. This is the most popular proof text preterists point to. Notice what Jesus says…
Matthew 24:34
“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”
And so our preterist friend says…
PRETERIST: “Ahh, you see! Jesus promised that “this generation” (v. 34)—the generation that was alive at His time—would by no means pass away until all of these things took place (the Abomination of Desolation, the great tribulation, the coming of the Son of Man). Therefore, these things must have taken place. Jesus must have come back or He would be a false prophet!”
Because of this verse (Matt. 24:34) and a couple of others that we’ll look at, preterists insist that all of the things spoken about in this chapter, including…
• the Tribulation events (spoken of in Revelation)
• and the coming of Christ
…had to have occurred before the generation of people living at the time of Jesus, died off.
Well, I disagree that this is what Jesus meant. “Then, what ‘generation’ was Jesus talking about in Matthew 24:34?” He was talking about the generation that would see “all” (v. 34) the things He just mentioned.
The key to understanding this verse (Matthew 24:34) is found by backing up a verse. Notice verse 33. Jesus said…
Matthew 24:33-34
33 “Even so you too, when you see these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I say to you, this generation [What generation? the generation who, in v. 33, sees “all” those things] will not pass away until all these things take place.”
So, Jesus says “when you see all these things” (v. 33).
What things?
• The “Abomination of Desolation” (v.15)
• The time of “great tribulation” (v. 21) “such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever shall.”
• The stars falling from the skies (v. 29)
That generation (the Tribulation generation) will not pass away without also seeing the coming of the Son of Man to the Earth (mentioned in v. 30).
Jesus was talking about the generation of people who would be alive during the events leading up to His Second Coming, that is, during the time of tribulation.
PRETERIST: “Well Charlie, I hear what you’re saying, but it just seems odd to me that Jesus would talk about events that were so far off. Why would Jesus speak to His disciples about events that He knew weren’t going to happen for at least two thousand years?”
Actually, Jesus told His disciples that He didn’t know the day or the hour these events would take place in Matthew 24:36.
Why would Jesus speak of events that were so far off? Because He was answering the question His disciples asked Him a few minutes earlier about the “end of the age” (v. 3).
Notice what they asked Him in Matthew 24:3…
Matthew 24:3
“What will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?”
That’s why Jesus spoke to them about events so far off. They asked! If what Jesus said in Matthew 24 was about events that would transpire in A.D. 70 (as preterists believe), then Jesus failed to answer their question. They asked about events regarding the “end of the age” (v. 3) and that’s what Jesus told them about—events that are still in the future. So, Matthew 24:34 fails to support the preterists’ view.

Another popular proof text for the preterist position is found in Matthew 10:23.
MATTHEW 10:23
Jesus said to His disciples…
Matthew 10:23
“When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
PRETERIST: “Ahhh, you see! Jesus promised that He would come again before His disciples would finish evangelizing the cities of Israel. So He must have come in the first century.”
Is that what Jesus meant there? I don’t think so. Let’s carefully reread the second half of the verse. Jesus said…
Matthew 10:23
“When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
Now, there are a few different views regarding what Jesus may have meant here, so I don’t want to be dogmatic here with an interpretation. But I believe, along with a good number of Bible commentators, that Jesus was simply telling His disciples that there was so much work to be done (so many cities to reach with the gospel) that they would not finish taking the gospel to their own country before His Second Coming.
And if we’re right—that this is what Jesus meant—Jesus’ prediction certainly came to pass. The disciples never did complete taking the gospel to all of the cities of Israel. Why?
Because Israel, to a large degree, would not receive their message. Jesus, even alludes to the coming Jewish unreceptivity to the gospel in the first part of the verse. Notice again there, v. 23.
Matthew 10:23
“When [not if] they persecute you in this city, flee to another. [That was going to be a common response. Then Jesus says…] For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel [that is, you will not finish the task of taking the gospel to the Jewish people] before the Son of Man comes.”
Persecution (e.g., Acts 8:1) and a prevailing Jewish unreceptivity to the gospel prevented the disciples from going through all the cities of Israel. And to this day the job of taking the gospel to all the Jews has not been completed.
Another possible interpretation, one that Dr. Norman Geisler mentions in his Systematic Theology (Vol. 4, p. 637), is that Jesus may not have even been talking about his Second Coming at the end of the age, but just coming to them again, as in days or weeks later, perhaps reuniting with them near the end of their outreach efforts.
For preterists to insist that Matthew 10:23 requires a first century return of Jesus, fails to keep in mind that there are other possible, and I believe more plausible, interpretations of this passage.
Other Scriptures that preterists appeal to in support of their position are found in…
The Book of Revelation
There are four verses in particular.
Revelation 1:1
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place.”
Revelation 2:16
“…I am coming to you quickly.”
Revelation 11:14
“The third woe is coming quickly.”
Revelation 22:12
“Behold, I am coming quickly.”
PRETERIST: “See! Jesus said, ‘I am coming to you quickly.’ Surely, He could not have had in mind events that were two thousand years later. The events spoken about here in the Book of Revelation had to have been fulfilled quickly—shortly after He lived.”
Well, I disagree.
The Greek word translated “shortly,” or “quickly,” here in these passages in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 1:1, etc.) is the Greek word “tachús.”
This word does not refer to a soon event but a swift event.
• The Arndt and Gingrich Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (p. 814) says this word means: “quick, swift,” or “speedy.”
• Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (p. 616) agrees, saying that the word tachu means: “quickly, speedily.”
• Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the New Testament Words (p. 913) also agrees, saying this word means: “swift, quick…quickly.”
Jesus was not describing when the events will occur, but rather the manner in which they will take place when they do occur. He was saying that when these events take place, they are going to unfold suddenly, quickly, with great swiftness.
So, these verses in the Book of Revelation do not support the preterist position. And that is the first reason to reject preterism…
1. Preterists’ proof texts fail to support their own view.

A second reason to reject preterism is…
2. None of the church fathers mentioned Christ’s Second Coming as having already occurred.
By “church fathers” I am referring to those leaders in the church of the first three centuries A.D. following the original disciples (e.g., Justin Martyr, Eusebius, Tertullian, Polycarp).
Many people don’t realize this, but many of their writings survive to this day. You can go to Amazon.com and buy an encyclopedic size set of the writings of the church fathers (38 volumes) and see with your own eyes what they had to say on a wealth of theological issues.
And as far as the church fathers and preterism are concerned, there is zero indication from known writings of the church fathers that anyone understood the New Testament prophecies from a preterist perspective.
There are no early church writings that teach that Jesus returned (physically or spiritually) in the first century.
None!
If we, as God’s people, are supposed to understand the prophecies of the New Testament according to the preteristic view, you would think God would have left at least one written record of this.
The idea that Jesus came back in A.D. 70 was a foreign idea during the first 5 centuries of the church and then only mentioned sporadically after that until about 400 years ago.
Norman Geisler points out that it wasn’t until the early 17th century–when preterist thinking was applied by the Jesuit Catholic scholar Luiz de Alcazar (1554-1613) to the Book of Revelation–that it was given very serious consideration.
So, that’s a second reason to reject preterism: None of the church fathers mentioned Christ’s Second Coming as having already occurred.
3. The Christians alive during A.D. 70, as well as the church fathers, believed the Second Coming was a future event.
In other words, not only did the early church not refer to the Second Coming as a past event, over and over they refer to it as a future event.
The oldest extra-Biblical Christian document known to exist is a document called The Didache. It is a simple collection of early church doctrine. Most scholars believe it was written near the close of the first century, most likely around A.D. 80. It was used and cited by many of the church fathers, as well as by the Christian historian Eusebius (see his Ecclesiastical Church History 3:25). So its early existence is well documented.
The full text of The Didache had been lost for centuries. Amazingly, it was rediscovered in Constantinople in 1873. The interesting thing that this document proves is that those who lived through the events of A.D. 70 regarded the events spoken of in Matthew 24-25 as yet to be fulfilled prophecy.
This early church document mentions the Antichrist, the great tribulation and the Second Coming of Christ as events that were yet to come. So the Didache is a good piece of evidence from the very believers who lived through the events surrounding A.D. 70 that the preterist view is incorrect.
In addition to the Didache, early church fathers like…
• Papias
• Clement of Rome
• Ignatius
• Polycarp
• Justin Martyr
…wrote of a future Second Coming.
Well, this raises a question. Who would know better as to whether Jesus came back in A.D. 70? Those who were alive in A.D. 70 and the years immediately following? Or modern day preterists writing 2,000 years later? I’ll side with those who lived closer to the events.
So, that is a third reason to reject preterism: The Christians alive during A.D. 70, as well as the church fathers, believed the Second Coming was a future event.
4. A strong case can be made that the Book of Revelation was written in approximately A.D. 95, long after the events of A.D. 70.
This poses a big problem for the preteristic view. Preterists believe the Book of Revelation was a prophecy written by the apostle John describing events that would shortly come upon Jerusalem and the Jewish people as their city would be destroyed by the Romans.
For the preterist view to work, the Book of Revelation has to have been written sometime prior to A.D. 70. But there is compelling evidence in the writings of the church fathers that the Book of Revelation was written approximately 25 years after the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
For example, consider Irenaeus. He lived from A.D. 120–202. He was the bishop in the city of Lyons in modern day France. He grew up in Smyrna, one of the cities where the Book of Revelation was first circulated (Rev. 2:8). He was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of the apostle John (the author of Revelation).
So get this in your mind . . . Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John (the author of the Book of Revelation), and Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp. If anyone knew when the Book of Revelation was penned, it would have been Polycarp or Irenaeus. Well, in Irenaeus’s work titled, Against Heresies (13:18), he tells us when John had his apocalyptic vision. He says…
We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist; for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him [the apostle John] who beheld the apocalyptic vision.
Hold on. Stop there for a second. That’s interesting. Note that Irenaeus (AD 120–202) believed that the “Antichrist” had still not been revealed. That throws a wrench in the preteristic viewpoint. Why? Preterists, including Hank Hanegraaff, believe that the first century Caesar, Nero, was the Antichrist.
That’s not what Irenaeus thought. We’ll talk more about why Nero can’t be the Antichrist shortly. But let’s continue with Irenaeus’s quote. I want you to notice when he says John the apostle had his apocalyptic vision…
“…For that was seen not very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian’s reign.”
Irenaeus says John had his “apocalyptic vision (the things he writes about in the Book of Revelation) towards the end of Domitian’s reign.”
Who was Domitian? Domitian was a Roman Emperor near the end of the first century.
Here’s what is so fascinating about Irenaeus’s statement. Domitian’s reign did not even begin until A.D. 81. His reign ended with his assassination on September 18th, A.D. 96.
Irenaeus places the date of the authorship of the Book of Revelation sometime around A.D. 95 (“towards the END of Domitian’s reign”), long after the events of A.D. 70 and the destruction of Jerusalem. This statement by Irenaeus is devastating to the preterist position.
But, let’s suppose for preterists’ sake that Irenaeus was a sloppy historian and that the Book of Revelation was written near the beginning of Domitian’s reign (A.D. 81). That would still place its writing after the destruction of Jerusalem.
And if the Book of Revelation was written anytime after the destruction of Jerusalem, it can not be a collection of prophecies about events that found their fulfillment before and in A.D. 70 as preterists claim.
PRETERIST: “Hold on here a second Charlie. You shouldn’t base the date of the authorship of the Book of Revelation on the writings of one person.”
Okay. Here are some others who affirmed the very same thing…
Clement of Alexandria, (who lived from about A.D. 150 to 215) also testified to a post A.D. 70 date for the writing of the Book of Revelation. He mentions that John was exiled to the isle of Patmos until “after the death of the tyrant” (another reference to Domitian who died in A.D. 96).
Another source for a post A.D. 70 completion date for the Book of Revelation is Victorinus.
Victorinus was an early church bishop who suffered martyrdom around A.D. 304. He said in his commentary on the Book of Revelation, that John had his vision of the apocalypse while “he was in the island of Patmos, condemned to the mines by Caesar Domitian.”
Another early church source is Eusebius…
Eusebius lived from A.D. 260 – 340. He is known as “the father of church history,” due to his classic work Ecclesiastical History. Several times in his writings he also dates the Book of Revelation to the reign of Domitian.
In addition to these men, there was Jerome.
Jerome, the one who translated the Scriptures into Latin (The Vulgate), lived from 340 to 419. He states clearly in two places that John was banished under Domitian and that is when he wrote the Book of Revelation.
These statements from some of the greatest, most reliable names in early church history, build a compelling case that the Book of Revelation was written many years after A.D. 70 and the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem.
And if these men were telling us the truth about this matter, the whole preteristic view goes up in smoke.

5. The Roman emperor Nero could not possibly have been the Antichrist or “the Beast” as preterists suggest.
As I have said, preterists believe the Book of Revelation is now an account about things that have already been fulfilled.
In an attempt to justify their position preterists have searched high and low through historical records of the first century (primarily Josephus’s writings) in an attempt to find historical details that could possibly discuss the fulfillment of the prophecies contained in the Book of Revelation.
One of their widely held beliefs is that the Antichrist, or “the beast” as he’s called in the Book of Revelation, was actually the cruel Roman Emperor Nero.
Could this be? Could those passages about the Antichrist, the beast, the lawless one (2 Thess. 2:9), be references, not to a coming world ruler but references to the now dead Roman Emperor Nero?
Preterists think so. How do they arrive at this conclusion?
Preterists like to point out that when you apply gematria (pronounced: Juh May Tree uh)—a Jewish way of assigning numerical value to letters—to Nero’s name, you actually end up with the number 666 (Rev. 13:18).
And that can sound pretty compelling to people who don’t bother to do any research on the issue. Well, there are numerous problems with this conclusion but I’ll briefly just point out that…
Number crunching Nero’s name doesn’t work in Greek, the language John wrote the Book of Revelation in and the language his initial audience in Asia Minor spoke. So preterists take Nero’s name and convert it to Hebrew. But it still doesn’t add up to 666! So, preterists add one of Nero’s titles (Caesar) to his name. But it still doesn’t quite add up, so they rely on an abnormal spelling of the word Caesar that drops a Hebrew letter from the normal spelling. And then, what do you know! The letters add up to 666!
Well, you can get just about any name to equal 666 if you tinker with it like that (changing the language, adding titles, misspelling words).
But even if Nero’s name did add up to 666, no one in the early church seemed to be able to figure this out. None of the church fathers or early commentators identify Nero as the antichrist or associate him with the number 666. None! In fact the earliest mention of Nero being the antichrist doesn’t appear to have occurred until about 1831.
And there’s plenty of reasons why the early church didn’t think Nero was the antichrist. The facts surrounding his life don’t comport with the Bible.
Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians 2.
2 Thessalonians 2:8
“And then the lawless one [that is one of the titles given to the coming world leader] will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
How does the Bible say this “lawless one,” the Antichrist, will be brought to an end? By “the Lord.” When will that happen? Notice the verse again. At “His coming.”
The Bible teaches that this “lawless one,” the Antichrist, will be brought to an end by “the Lord” Himself at “His coming” (2 Thess. 2:8, Rev. 19:19-20). Well, this verse is problematic for the preterist viewpoint. How so?
A. This was not how Nero died. Suetonius (a first century Roman historian) tells us that Nero committed suicide at the age of 31, when “he drove a dagger into his throat.” [Source: Suetonius (c.69 – c.140) The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, “he drove a dagger into his throat”]. Far from being consumed by the breath of Christ at His coming, Nero actually took his own life.
B. Nero committed suicide two years before preterists say Jesus came back. Preterists believe Jesus’ prophecy about coming back in Matthew 24 was fulfilled in A.D. 70. But Nero committed suicide in June of 68, two years before A.D. 70! Obviously this could not have been a fulfillment of what 2 Thessalonians 2:8 says will happen to the Antichrist.
C. Daniel 9:27 says that this coming world leader will make a seven year covenant relating to Israel. Nero never made any such covenant.
D. The Bible says this coming world leader will take “his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Thess. 2:4). That never happened. Nero never stepped foot in the temple in Jerusalem. In fact, Nero never stepped foot in the city of Jerusalem.
E. Revelation 13:16-17 says that under the Antichrist’s coming government, people will be given a mark on their hand or forehead that will permit them to buy and sell. Nothing of the sort ever occurred under Nero, nor ever has to this date. These facts of history, relating to Nero, are another blow to the preterist position. None of these things ever happened.
So, that is the fifth reason to reject preterism: The Roman emperor Nero could not possibly have been the Antichrist or “the Beast” as preterists suggest.


6. The Tribulation events in the Book of Revelation are too global and cataclysmic to be attributed to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
The Book of Revelation tells us that in the coming Tribulation, when God’s wrath is poured out upon a God-rejecting world, the Earth will experience three waves of judgment, with each wave containing seven judgments.
The Book of Revelation tells us of:
• 7 Seal judgments
• 7 Trumpet judgments
• 7 Bowl judgments
…judgments that will devastate the Earth.
Jesus said in Matthew 24:21 that it will be a time of…
Matthew 24:21
“…great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Listen to some of these judgments described in the Book of Revelation…
Revelation 8:8-9
8 “Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.”
When did that ever happen in the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem? Nothing like that has ever happened in recorded history.
Revelation 16:18-19
18 “…there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the Earth. 19 Now the great city [a reference to Jerusalem, see Rev. 11:8] was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations [plural] fell.”
When in the first century (or any other time for that matter) was there an earthquake that not only split Jerusalem into three parts but caused “the cities of the nations” (Rev. 16:19) to fall?
Well of course, that never happened. That earthquake is still to come.
The Book of Revelation also prophesies about an event that will wipe out 25% of the Earth’s population. Notice…
Revelation 6:8
“And power was given to them over a fourth of the Earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the Earth.”
When was “a fourth of the Earth” (Rev. 6:8) killed? Not in the first century.
In another prophecy (Rev. 9:18), John sees into the future and describes three plagues that will wipe out one third of the remaining population. Notice…
Revelation 9:18
“By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed.”
Was “a third of mankind” (9:18) killed by three plagues in the first century? No.
Revelation 11:5-6 prophesies of “two witnesses…[who] will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth” in Jerusalem, who will be able to destroy their enemies with fire (11:5) and who will be able “to smite the Earth with every plague, as often as they desire.” (11:6)
John goes on to say that these two witnesses will be killed, only to be resurrected and carried up to Heaven in the sight of their enemies (Revelation 11:12).
There is no record that anything like that happened in the first century. Where is there mention of any of these things being literally fulfilled in the annals of history, secular or Christian? There isn’t. And for good reason: none of the events mentioned in Revelation 6-22, have happened. It is only by abandoning the plain literal meaning of the words used in Scripture and spiritualizing or allegorizing the Scriptures that preterists can make these prophecies fit into a pre-A.D. 70 scenario.
We reject that method of Bible interpretation. When these prophecies are fulfilled, they are going to be fulfilled literally, just like the prophecies surrounding God’s past judgments were fulfilled in:
• The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
• The judgments against Pharaoh and Egypt shortly before the Exodus
• The destruction of the world in the Genesis flood

CONCLUSION
So, as we have seen this brief article, there are very good reasons why the preteristic view of Bible prophecy should be rejected.
1. Preterists’ proof texts fail to support their own view.
2. None of the church fathers mentioned Christ’s Second Coming as having already occurred.
3. The Christians alive during A.D. 70, as well as the church fathers, believed the Second Coming was a future event.
4. A strong case can be made that the Book of Revelation was written in approximately A.D. 95, long after the events of A.D. 70.
5. The Roman emperor Nero could not possibly have been the Antichrist or “the Beast” as preterists suggest.
6. The Tribulation events in the Book of Revelation are too global and cataclysmic to be attributed to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
Any one of these reasons alone is great reason to doubt the preterist position. All six of these reasons taken together are reason to reject this view of Bible prophecy outright.