Why Preterism: Part 1

So tonight we're going to be going over a topic called Preterism and why

Preterism, well we're going to get into it real quick. Preterism is a term, what is Preterism? Preterism is a term that means things passed.

It holds that the fulfillment of most of Revelation's visions have already occurred in the distant past during the early years of the

Christian Church. Preterists think that these events, the destruction of Jerusalem or the decline of the fall of the

Roman Empire or both, would soon take place from the standpoint of John and the churches of Asia in context.

So Preterism speaks of things that have happened in the past. Certain biblical events that we're going to go through tonight, we see those things and we say okay that's a past event, we're not waiting for it to happen.

There are certain things in Scripture that we are waiting to happen. So we're going to go through what those are, what those aren't, and then next week we're going to talk about Hyperpreterism, which says that everything is in the past.

Okay, so the term Preterism is talking about things that have passed. Full Preterism or Hyperpreterism insists that every prophecy and every promise in the

New Testament, including all of the book of Revelation, was fulfilled in its entirety by 70

AD. In other words, 70 AD was the terminal point. Everything ended at that time.

This is not a legitimate evangelical option, for it denies Jesus's future bodily return, it denies the physical resurrection of believers at the end of history, and it denies the physical renewal or recreation of the present heavens and earth or their replacement by a new heaven and earth.

Preterists who insist wrongly that these events are all completely fulfilled are called

Full or Hyperpreterists. In other words, they think everything's over, and as we go through this you're going to see how dangerous that position is and how unbiblical that position is.

So we get a word from J. Adams. He says, It is a form of Preterism that denies that there are any prophecies yet to be fulfilled, including the second coming of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the body, and the final judgment.

So we have Preterism, we have what's called Full or Hyperpreterists, and then you have what's called

Regular Preterists, but because they hijack the term, Regular Preterists have come to be known as Partial Preterists.

In other words, a Preterist would believe that some things have happened in the past, and some things are still future.

It's similar to the term Hyper -Calvinism. We hold to the doctrines of grace, which is

Calvinism, but then there are certain people who take it far beyond what it means, and you don't have to evangelize, you don't have to proclaim the gospel, because God's chosen everything.

So we call them Hyper -Calvinists. It's the same thing with Preterists. They deem everything in the past, there's no future for the church.

We're going to see this in the book of Revelation, chapter 20. This is a key verse that we're going to have to go through.

And John says, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not declare, deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.

After that, he must be released for a little while. So chapter 20, the binding of Satan becomes the point at which we, as Preterists, are going to examine.

There's several different end times scenarios and positions. You have dispensational premillennialism, premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism.

Then you have full or hyper -preterism. So this is what it would look like on a chart.

So when you look at the book of Revelation, the first three chapters are the letters to the seven churches.

Then the seals are broken, and this is the the covenant witness against the people of God.

Then you have the woman and dragon, that's the church in the wilderness. And those three things we would see as past already.

What we have to look at now is the Millennium. So up to this point, this is what a premillennialist would hold to.

He believes that these, up to chapter 19 in the book of Revelation, is past.

They're still waiting for the Millennium to happen. That would be future. And then the unbinding, or the release of Satan, would be future.

So premillennium, it stops before the Millennium. They would be waiting for Jesus to come back to set up his kingdom on earth.

And then it would be a thousand years, literal thousand years, and then the loosing of Satan, and the final apostasy, and Jesus separating the sheep from the goats.

Amillennialists and postmillennialists find themselves somewhere in the middle of the

Millennium. They believe that while Jesus was on earth, he set up his kingdom. He's ruling and reigning till his enemies have made a footstool for his feet.

So we're somewhere in the Millennium. Some believe that we're early in the

Millennium. Some believe we're at the middle. Some believe Jesus could come back tomorrow. So amillennialists and postmillennialists are all in that that blue box, and we would be waiting for Jesus to come back physically.

A full Preterist believes that all of biblical prophecy has been fulfilled by 70

AD. There is no future fulfillment. All of the book of Revelation, including

Satan being loosed and thrown into hell, the final judgment, where there was a resurrection of the just and the unjust, were both condemned and thrown into hell.

Everything is past. Nothing is future. Everybody good with that so far?

So we know the position. So we have premillennialists who stop before the

Millennium. Amillennialists and postmillennialists are in the middle of that Millennium. That's where they think we are now, and then we're waiting for the future.

The Preterists, the hyper -Preterists, believes everything in the book of Revelation has happened, has no relevance to us whatsoever.

Okay, so let's talk about, as a Preterist, what has happened already.

What do we read in the Scriptures and see and say, yes, that is past? Well, we see that Jesus predicts that He'll return during the lifespan of this generation, and we've gone over this several times.

Immediately after the Tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all of the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the

Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather

His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to another. So Jesus is saying they're going to see the

Son of Man coming on the clouds. From the fig tree, learn its lesson, as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

So also, when you see all these things, you know that He is near at the very gates. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

Now, if you're a Preterist, you believe that this generation was the generation that Jesus was speaking to.

He was speaking to His Apostles, His disciples, and He was speaking to the Pharisees, saying, what

I just told you is going to happen in this generation. All these things. So a

Preterist would hold that Matthew chapter 24 has been completed already.

Jesus came back in judgment. The only legitimate understanding of the term this generation in Matthew 24 is that it means the people who were alive when

Jesus said these things. When we read the Scriptures, we have to read them in context. So we have to see who is speaking, who

He's speaking, who the person is speaking to, and what are the time phrases.

So Jesus is saying these things are going to take place in this generation. Now, if you go up on the

Reform Rookie YouTube channel, I have a whole playlist called Eschatology. We have

Pastor's series on hermeneutics. He does two sessions that are in that particular playlist about Matthew 24.

I've done about three videos on it, and one that shows the end time views in Eschatology.

So this really should be a refresher. We've gone through this many times before. So Jesus, we believe that Jesus did come back in judgment upon Israel.

He did so invisibly when the Roman armies destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in AD 70.

This event fulfilled Jesus' predictions of His return to earth and other end -time predictions. Although Jesus did not return to earth visibly in His resurrection body,

He returned invisibly by bringing judgment on the Jewish temple and with its

Jewish religious system. This fulfills Jesus' words about this generation. So when we look at the

Scriptures, when Jesus says, see that temple? No stone on that temple is going to be left unturned, right?

They're all going to be knocked down. We see that that happened already. We see what

Jesus' prophecy came true, okay? Now, what is in dispute between some

Christians, people who are pre -millennial, who don't believe that this has happened already, they'll see what

Jesus said and say, well, He said He was coming back. He didn't come back physically. And they're right. He didn't come back physically.

He came back spiritually in judgment, and that's what we're going to take a look at. According to the

Preterist view, the prediction of Christ coming on the clouds of heaven, that's an important phrase, does not mean a literal physical return of Christ.

But it's a common metaphor borrowed from Old Testament portrayals of God descending from heaven and coming in power and glory to execute judgment on a people or a nation.

Several verses to support that idea that coming on the clouds of heaven is a metaphor for God coming in judgment are

Isaiah 19, Jeremiah 4, Ezekiel 30, Psalm 68, and so on. So I put up a couple for us to look at.

Isaiah 19 .1, an oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, and the heart of the

Egyptians will melt within them. So now, if we take this literally, literalistically,

I should say, do we think that Jesus was riding on a cloud? I hope you say no.

Okay, good. No, we don't believe Jesus was riding on a cloud. Clouds indicate judgment.

So this particular verse in Isaiah is talking about when the Lord visited Egypt in judgment upon them, right?

He came down, He brought the waters on all the soldiers that were following the

Israelites into the desert, He brought judgment upon them. Jeremiah 4 .13,

Behold, He comes up like clouds, His chariots like the whirlwind, His horses are swifter than eagles.

Woe to us, for we are ruined. Okay, see, we see that term, clouds. His chariots are like the whirlwind.

Now, chariots are a weapon, right? Those are used for war, and that term whirlwind is the same term that is referred to in Genesis when it says

Jesus came to them in the cool of the day. Jesus didn't come to them in the cool of the day to, oh, let's walk before sunset so it's nice and cool.

He came because they sinned and they were under judgment. Okay, so that term whirlwind doesn't mean let's take a stroll.

You don't want to hear whirlwind. Ezekiel 30, For the day is near, the day of the

Lord is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. A sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Cush.

When the slain fall in Egypt and her wealth is carried away, and her foundations are torn down.

Again, this is judgment language, and you want to take a look at the phrase, the day of the

Lord. Okay, there are many, many days of the Lord. The day of the

Lord is when he decides he's going to come back and judge whoever it is he decides to judge. Okay, then we have something called the last day, and the last day is the last day.

There's not going to be any more judgment after that day, but there are many times when it said that the scriptures talk about the day of the

Lord, the day of the Lord is when he visits in judgment upon whoever it is who's getting judged.

Matthew 24, This is concerning the temple. But he, Jesus, answered them, You see all these, do you not?

Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

Now that's an incredible statement by Jesus. Forty years later, it happened.

Not one stone was left there. That's why the Jews stand before the wailing wall and pray, because the temple was knocked down and was never built back, and people are starting to try to do that right now.

That's important, right? Jesus's prophecy came true. He let them know, that temple, you see it with your own eyes, that's going to be knocked down in this generation.

Got it? Okay, so that would be past, right? We're not waiting for the temple to be knocked down.

He said it would be knocked down, and it was. Okay, so every

Christian is a preterist with regards to the advent of Messiah. We all believe

Messiah came into the world, correct? All right, Jesus is Lord. He came into the world. The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.

That's Jesus. He came. We all believe in the virgin birth. That's past, right?

You're a preterist when it comes to the virgin birth. You're a preterist when it comes to the crucifixion. We're not waiting for that to happen, are we?

You better not be. You'll be most pitied above all people instilling your sins if there was no crucifixion.

The resurrection. Jesus was crucified, died, buried, and guess what? Three days later, was resurrected from the dead.

We're not waiting for that to happen. That's a past fulfilled event. Pentecost.

The pouring out of the Spirit upon God's people to empower them to take the gospel to the four corners of the earth.

That's a past event, and it's not duplicatable. None of these are duplicatable.

The temple being destroyed. The temple being destroyed is a past event. All Christians are preterists when it comes to the temple being destroyed.

Here's where some Christians differ. Some Christians are not preterists regarding Matthew 24.

Some people, some Christians believe that that's a future event, okay? That would be a pre -millennial, the pre -millennial position where they're not up to the book of Revelation.

They think that hasn't quite started yet, and it's going to happen, and they're waiting for the

Armageddon and these wild end time scenarios. They're waiting for Jesus to come back to set up his kingdom.

And Revelation chapter 1 through 20. Some Christians are not preterists with regards to that.

They believe that Matthew 24 is future. Jesus is coming back, and they say this generation.

They kind of have to twist the word of generation to make it say race. This race of people will still be here when

I come back, and they say he's talking about the Israelite race. But when you look up that term generation, every time

Matthew uses that term, this generation, it meant this generation. It meant the people who were there at that time.

Again, if you pull up on that Playlist Pastors series on hermeneutics, he spells that out so clearly.

Very, very easy to see. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. And then when you start reading

Matthew 24, you're like, my goodness, this happened to this generation. And everything that Jesus predicted would happen, happened, including the destruction of the temple.

Okay? Any questions yet? We're good. Okay. So what is future?

Once a month we read the Apostles Creed, and here's why. I believe in God the

Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the

Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and buried. He descended into hell, or Hades, and on the third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Amen. Here's the problem.

From thence, he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the

Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, not the Roman Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.

Amen. So what Christians, all Christians, hold to is the future coming of Jesus back to the earth, physically, in his resurrected body, and then us being resurrected.

Depends. If Jesus comes tomorrow, we might still be alive. We're if you're buried and dead, you'll be raised in a new body, a glorious body, and we're going to see that in a second.

So all Christians are, they'll call us, the preterists, the hyper -preterists call us futurists.

Oh, they're futurists. They're waiting for these things to happen, but they've already happened. But I don't know about you,

I don't see anybody walking around in a glorified body. And if you're in your glorified body, God help you.

That's horrible, right? He's coming to judge the living and the dead.

Like, if I was a full preterist and this is my glorified body, oh man, not happy. Not really. Okay, so we're awaiting the resurrection of the dead, and we're awaiting the physical appearance of Jesus coming back.

We even see this in our confession. At the last day. Is there a day after the last day for judgment?

No. It's the last day. Such of the saints are found alive, shall not sleep, but be changed.

And all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever.

So what that's saying is that the body we died in is going to be resurrected, not resuscitated, not reconstituted.

It's going to be our body, okay, with our souls in it, and it's going to have different qualities than the body we had before.

We're going to be imperishable. This body is perishable. This body needs to die because it was born from the earth.

Our spirits were born from above. Now we need a body to go along with that, an imperishable body to match our imperishable soul, okay?

Again in Confession paragraph 3 of chapter 31, the bodies of the unjust shall also by the power of Christ be raised to dishonor the bodies of the just by his

Spirit unto honor and be made conformable to his own glorious body. So now, at the resurrection, the saints are going to be raised and the unbelievers are going to be raised.

Both are going to be raised. Everyone is coming back to life on the last day, right?

Remember what John chapter 6 says? All that the Father gives me will come to me and I will raise them up on the last day, okay?

That's the final day when Jesus raises everybody up and then separates the sheep from the goats, right?

Those on his right, the sheep, come with me, enter into the heaven which was prepared for you.

You go into the lake of fire. So here's Philippians.

This is an important verse that you need to just jot down if you're going to be talking to a hyper -preterist.

Paul says our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

So now, Jesus is the first fruits. He's the first one resurrected from the dead in his glorified body.

Our bodies are going to be made like his body. Jesus is in a body right now.

Now, what a hyper -preterist is going to say, because they hold that everything was past, so the just and the unjust, in their view, have been resurrected already.

So when we read, it'll transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, they have to change the meaning of what that glorious body means.

They have to change the meaning of what resurrection means. So our bodies are going to be like Jesus' body, but Jesus' body,

Jesus shed his body as he ascended into heaven and he was absorbed back into the

Trinity. That's an actual belief they hold. That's heretical. Jesus is in a physical body.

If Jesus is not in a physical body, well then he's not the first fruits and he's not the

God -man. Got it? Okay. 1 Corinthians 15, there's another chapter we're gonna have to hone in on.

Paul says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable. Everybody know what imperishable means?

Can't perish, can't perish, right? Can't be killed again, you're alive forever.

And we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on a mortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your stain? So on the last day when

Jesus comes back, the dead are going to be raised in imperishable bodies. Nothing, no person, after that point in time will die.

Death will be over completely. Praise God, if you have your faith and trust in Jesus.

Not so much praise God if you haven't, if you've rejected Christ. Acts 111, and he said,

Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

Did Jesus rise into heaven in his glorified body? Yeah, yeah, yes, right?

His resurrected body, right? So he's going to come back the same way.

Follow? Okay, Hebrews 9, And just as it is appointed for a man once to die and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

So he's coming back a second time. Appearance, he's going to appear a second time.

When he came back in judgment upon Israel in 70 AD, he didn't appear. There was judgment, like Egypt.

Egypt didn't see Jesus riding on a cloud. They saw the judgment that God brought. In the same way,

Jerusalem saw the judgment that God brought. They saw the sign of the Son of Man. He told them that this was going to happen, okay?

So this, we're waiting for the second appearance, physical appearance of Jesus who's going to come back in an imperishable body.

You got a question? Oh, you look confused. No, I was over your shoulder.

That's okay. No, one more. Okay, it's all good.

Okay, good. Just make it sure. First Corinthians 11, in the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying,

This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the

Lord's death until he comes. That's talking about communion, right?

This is the last, this is Jesus's last supper. This is the blood of the new covenant.

This is my body, right? So we celebrate. The church historically has celebrated communion, waiting for the coming of Jesus.

So now, a hyper -preterist thinks Jesus came already. The question would be, why would you celebrate communion?

Some don't. They recognize, yeah, Jesus came already. We don't need to celebrate communion. We're not celebrating communion until he comes.

He came. Others are inconsistent. They want to take communion. Why? Why would you want to take communion if Jesus came already?

It's an inconsistency in their position. The church historically has celebrated communion.

It's without debate. Revelation 21, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their

God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away.

Now, I don't know about you. Unfortunately, in the past couple years, I've been to a lot of wakes. Death is still here.

If Jesus came back and raised the dead, okay, and is ruling and reigning from heaven right now, and he dwells with us, why are people dying?

This verse that says, Death shall be no more, wouldn't apply to that position.

How could they hold that consistently? They're going to hold to it consistently by consistently redefining everything that Christianity has previously defined.

They're going to say, Well, that's spiritual death, and even still, the people, well, before, on that earlier slide

I showed you, there's no more hell in a hyper -preterist view, because people who die, the judgment's over.

People don't go to hell. There's no Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit isn't active in the world today.

There's no more devil, because he's been cast into the second death, the lake of fire, and he doesn't prowl around like a lion, waiting to pounce on people.

There is no judgment, okay? That's a serious error.

1 Corinthians 15, we're going to continue, so it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable.

What is raised is imperishable. We have to get that in our heads. Our new bodies that we're waiting for are imperishable.

They're not going to die. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness.

It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, and it is raised a spiritual body.

There's a natural body. There's also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being.

The last Adam became a life -giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.

So we see that we have natural bodies now, and we're waiting for a spiritual body later. Now they're going to twist this, and they're going to say, well, your natural body is your physical body, and when you're born again, born of God's Spirit, that's the spiritual body.

But you just flip back a couple chapters to 1st Corinthians 2. It says, the natural person, same word, the natural person does not accept the things of the

Spirit of God. We all understand that's an unbeliever, for they have folly to him, and he is not able to understand that because they are spiritually discerned.

The spiritual person judges all things, but he himself, but is himself to be judged by no one.

So the spiritual person is someone who's alive right now with a body. Anybody in here who's born again, born of God's Spirit, we'd be a spiritual person.

So they try to separate these two things and redefine them. You have spiritual body, you have natural body, and spiritual body.

We're waiting for our spiritual body, glorified body, to come. That's what

Jesus is going to raise on the last day when he comes back. Acts 24, but this

I confess to you, that according to the way which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the law written in the prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. So if hyper -preterism is true, there was a resurrection in 70

AD of the just and the unjust. Now according to what 1st

Corinthians says, those righteous people who were raised should still be alive in their glorified bodies because they're imperishable, right?

They should still be walking the earth, but they're not, okay? Remember the final judgment when

Jesus comes back, it's not just the believers that are going to be raised.

It's going to be unbelievers as well, the just and the unjust. Daniel talks about it, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall be awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

John 6, all that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out, for I've come down from heaven not to do my will but the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.

They say the last day happened already, okay? So what would they be looking forward to?

They can't be looking forward to a resurrection. In fact, their position holds that the earth will continue on forever and ever and ever and people will be born and people will die.

Death ultimately never gets dealt with on the hyper -preterist view. Sin goes on forever and ever on earth in a hyper -preterist view.

Hyper - So, as Reformed believers, we hold to justification, sanctification, and then glorification.

The hyper -preterist goes from justification to glorification. He's instantly sanctified.

There's no need for sanctification because everything's been judged already. They are in their glorified bodies now but the question you want to ask them is, do you still sin?

If they say no, what verse would you quote to them? First John, if you say that you have not sinned, you're a liar and the truth isn't in you.

If you say that you have sinned, you're sinning in your glorified body. Is that good?

No. So what's the potentiality for that? When that person dies, their spiritual glorified body that goes into heaven, if they were able to sin on earth, where else might they be able to sin?

In heaven. It's a devastating position. Acts 17, the times of ignorance

God overlooked but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he himself has fixed a day which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

Alright, this is talking again about Jesus being the judge coming back. There's a day appointed in which he's going to judge the entire world.

I must have missed it and so did many other Christians. We're waiting for it to happen. This is very important, this one

Romans chapter 2. For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law unto themselves even though they do not have the law.

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when according to my gospel

God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. If you're preaching a gospel that has no judgment, what gospel are you preaching?

If the final judgment is passed, what are you telling people? What is the gospel?

You're not telling them, oh your sins will be forgiven, you won't be judged, right?

What are you telling them? If there is no judgment, you don't need a gospel.

Many of the hyper -preterists end up moving into universalism or another position called

Israel only. They say that the law and the judgment was only for Israel, right?

As Gentiles you're not under the law so you don't need to be redeemed from the law because where there is no law there is no sin, right?

But that's not what the Scripture says. It says all have sin and fall short of the glory of God, right? We have the law written on our hearts.

So they try to, some of them, it's a very fractured and splintered group, so you get varying views even in the midst of their own position.

Yes, Jack? Actually, I didn't have a question but since you called on me I did have one before if you don't mind.

Are there any particular denominations where you see this cropping up the most hyper -preterism?

No, I don't think there's any bonafide denomination that holds this position. They're splinter groups.

They're a very, very small minority but a crafty minority. They try to creep in.

They use creative ways to bring the power of preterism into churches.

They put up little slogans is your pastor a preterist? If not, why not? You know,

I know someone who asked a question like that. Did God really say? You know, it's that tactic that they're trying to cast doubt on the leaders, the elders that God has set up above his church.

That's what the serpent said, right? Did God really say? That's what they're doing.

They're casting seeds of discord among brothers. That's something that Proverbs 6 says

God hates. To sow seeds of discord among brothers. So rather than bring people to the power of the gospel, we have to bring them to the power of preterism.

You do see it somewhat more prevalent in new covenant churches. Churches that would deny the law being applicable.

As soon as you start doing away with law and everything else, it opens the way for this type of thinking.

And it seems that it all comes down to the proper interpretation of Matthew 24, because if you interpret

Matthew 24 as meaning that all things will be fulfilled to this generation, then logically the hyper -preterist view makes perfect sense.

No, because we have 1 Corinthians 15, talking about the raised body, right?

The body that's sown perishable, raised imperishable. You got John 6, that Jesus says, I will raise them all on the last day.

That hasn't happened yet. You have Paul talking about his gospel, which includes judgment. Hyper -preterists don't include judgment in their view.

You're not to be judged. The law is over. So there's Acts 1, verse 11, the way you saw him leave is the way he's going to come back.

Hebrews, he's going to appear a second time. There's numerous verses that talk about Jesus coming back again, right?

On the last day. The last day hasn't happened yet, right? Death will be no more, right?

So if death is still happening, and in their system is going to continue on forever, then death never gets dealt with.

And what God said about dwelling with man and death will be no more is not true.

So we believe that the dwelling of God will be with man. It's important that we understand that the dwelling of man will not be with God, right?

He comes down to us. Like in John chapter 1, the word became flesh and tabernacle.

That's dwell. He dwelled among us. The first Adam came, alright?

Failed in the mission, the great commission. Jesus comes, he fulfills the great commission, and what's he going to do?

He's going to take dominion over the entire earth. And in a physical body, he's going to come back and reign here.

He's not going to reign from a distance. He's going to reign with us. The dwelling of God will be with man.

Make sense? Yes. So it's like the concept that God will always condescend because we can never ascend.

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. And so, and I'm sorry because I missed a good portion of this, is preterism like that kind of ascension or attempted?

David, they would say they would probably say that they're saved by by grace alone. But what happens to the earth?

The curse on the earth never gets dealt with. Right. The creation groans and moans until the sons of God are revealed.

The curse on the earth never gets dealt with. So God created the earth, not as as a place for us to take dominion, but just like a terrarium, a testing ground that he's just going to leave forever because all his people are going to be in spirit, in spirit bodies with him.

He's not going to be here physically, even though Jesus has a physical body right now. And if they say

Jesus doesn't have a physical body, remember, Peter's quoting one of the

Psalms of David saying he will not let his body see decay. So what is death in a

Hebraic understanding? Separation. Right.

So if Jesus is not in his body right now, he's separated from it means

Jesus died twice. He will not let his holy one see decay.

Jesus is in his physical body right now. He's the God man still and forevermore.

Makes sense. Leviticus 26.

I will make my dwelling among you and my soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and I will be your

God and you shall be my people. I will walk among you. I mean, you can try to spiritualize that and say, well,

Jesus is walking beside me right now. It's not what he's saying. Ezekiel, I will make a covenant of peace with them and she shall be an everlasting covenant with them.

I will set them in their land and multiply them and will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place shall be with them.

I will be their God and they shall be my people. Revelation. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them. Not in them. He's going to be in us by the power of his spirit.

But there's a difference between the Holy Spirit being in you and Jesus being with you. And they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their

God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain for the former things have passed away.

I don't know about you, but I still see death. I still see mourning. I still see pain.

I still see crying and we don't see Jesus on the earth with mankind.

He's he has not come back yet physically. That's future. No Christian, no

Christian is a preterist with regards to the resurrection of the just and the unjust. That's not a past event.

That's future. No Christian is a preterist with regards to Jesus's second physical return.

That's future. No Christian is a preterist when it comes to the glorified body. No one's in their glorified body right now except for Jesus.

No one's a preterist when it comes to death ending. That hasn't happened yet. That's a future event we're looking forward to.

No one's a preterist about the last day. Because if it was the last day, we would be here, right?

We need to be in our glorified bodies dwelling with God or in the lake of fire.

No Christian is a preterist with regards to the consummation of all things. We're awaiting the complete reconciliation of everything by Jesus.

Right. He's reconciling everything to himself so that there's no outstanding debt for the for the believer or the unbeliever.

The unbeliever is going to be paying off his debt. The believer's debt has been paid off already. The books are clear.

They're reconciled. Holding the above events as having taken place already is heretical.

These are things we're looking forward to in the future. They haven't happened already.

It's clear from the scriptures. It's clear just from our everyday lives that this hasn't happened.

We see death over and over and over, unfortunately. So with that, everybody understand the preterist position.

OK, preterist position holds that we're somewhere in the millennium and that Jesus came back in judgment upon Jerusalem.

All right. The future last second physical coming of Jesus is future.

When he comes back, it will be the last day he will raise the just and the unjust in imperishable bodies and issue the final judgment.

Those on my right come with me to the into the kingdom prepared by your father in heaven. The rest are going to pay their debt, be cast into the lake of fire.

that's the second death. Good. OK.