Observations Gleaned From Reading Partial Preterism
After reading over some of the comments and teachings of the individuals that profess belief in a “partial preterism” theory I sense they have created a dilemma in their teachings. I see no other way around the fact that even though they claim that only the first 19 chapters of revelation are “history” and the remaining following chapters are “future,” this simply won’t fly! Because Partial Preterist "timing" interpretation would require an A.D. 70 fulfillment of the entire book of Revelation! I may be missing something here (or there) but I cannot, in being honest with scripture, dismiss this error in their teachings.
Revelation 22:6, "And he said to me, ’These words are faithful and true’; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must shortly (táchos) take place." This is a passage of "time indicators" for Revelation as noted above as stated in the Preterist teachings. However, Revelation 20:7-9 as a reference to the yet future second coming. This creates a contradiction within preterism. Since Revelation 22:6 is a statement referring to the whole book of Revelation, it would be impossible to take táchos as a reference to A.D. 70 and at the same time hold that Revelation 20:7-9 teaches the second coming. Partial Preterist must either adopt a view similar to futurism or shift to the extreme preterist view that understands the entire book of Revelation as past history and thus eliminating any future second coming and resurrection.
"The overwhelming majority of the eschatological events prophesied in the Book of Revelation have already been fulfilled," declares preterist teachers. Since subjects relating to prophecy dominate virtually every page of the New Testament this would logically mean, for the preterist, that most of the NT does not refer directly to the Church today. Since so much of the NT is written to tell believers how to live since the birth of the church to the coming of the Lord, it makes a huge difference if one interprets the events as a past or future event. If preterism is true, then the NT refers to believers who lived during the forty-year period between the death of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Therefore, virtually no part of the NT applies to believers today according to preterist logic. There is no scripture, therefore, that applies directly to believers during the church age.
This is another area where large sections of the NT, especially the Epistles and Revelation, would have to be adjusted away from the meaning Christians have historically seen in those passages. An example of this is seen in how the different approaches would handle Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy 3. Paul begins by saying that "in the last days difficult times will come" (3:1). The "last days" likely refers to the whole of the current Church age, or perhaps it is a general reference to the final portion of the current Church age. Either way, it is a reference to the period of time before the final phase of history which preterists say we are not in. Paul goes on to describe how these times will be characterized by men who "will be lovers of self," . . . (3:2) "rather than lovers of God" (3:4). The general course of "the last days" are described as a time when "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived" (3:12-13). Therefore, if "the last days" have already come and gone, we should expect that the persecution of the godly should be absent and "evil men and impostors" should not "proceed from bad to worse." According to preterism, this would directly apply to the events before A.D. 70, but not after that time.
Deuteronomy provides a prophetic road map covering the whole of history before Israel started down the road about 3400 years ago. As the nation of Israel sat perched on the banks of the Jordan River, before she ever set one foot upon the Promised Land, the Lord gave an outline of her entire history through His mouthpiece Moses. Deuteronomy is this revelation and it is like a road map for where history is headed before the trip got underway. While different segments of the historical journey have been updated with more details being added along the way, not a single adjustment from the earlier course has ever been made.
In the process of Moses’ exhortation to the nation of Israel, he provides in Deuteronomy 4:25-31 an outline of what will happen to this elect nation once they cross over the Jordan River and settle the promised land. A summary of these events would be as follows:
1) Israel and her descendants would remain long in the land.
2) Israel would act corruptly and slip into idolatry.
3) Israel would be kicked out of the land.
4) The LORD will scatter them among the nations.
5) Israel would be given over to idolatry during their wanderings.
6) While dispersed among the nations, Israel would seek and find the LORD when they search for Him will all their heart.
7) There would come a time of tribulation, said to occur in the latter days, during which time they would turn to the LORD
8) "For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them" (Deuteronomy 4:31).
If the first five events have happened to Israel (and they did) then it is clear from the text that the final events will also occur to the same people in the same way as the earlier events. This is most clear from the context. The Bible does not "change horses in midstream" so that suddenly Israel, who has received the curses, is dropped out of the picture and the church takes over and receives the blessings. Despite various systems of the theology, the Bible nowhere teaches that God has forsaken Israel ( Rom. 11:1). Any reader of the text will have to admit that the same identity is referred to throughout the whole of the text under examination. If it is true that the same Israel is meant throughout the text, then the last three events have yet to be fulfilled for Israel in the same historical way in which the first five events are recognized by all to have taken place. Thus, a fulfillment of the final three events in the life of Israel will have to happen in the future. This passage in Deuteronomy 4 pictures a return to the Lord after Tribulation, not judgment. This means that a futurist view of prophecy is supported from this early passage and throughout the rest of Scripture.
The preterist view applies the judgment on Jerusalem as solely for rebellious Israel. If the Great Tribulation were only for the Jews, it does not make sense that Paul and Peter would repeatedly talk about this time period as to inform the Church of its severity and the events that would take place during that time if it had nothing to do with anyone except the Jews.
Again, what I sense in reading partial preterists teachings is that when all is said and done—the New Testament has little relevance to us today. I cannot accept such a theory! “These were written for our ensamples.” “Be instant in season and out of season, preach the Word.” I refuse to allow my Bible to become only a history book!
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