Preterists, andother well meaning Christians, use the Bible to argue their theological or doctrinal points from Scripture. However, it is my view that preterists gravitate to verses they believe support their points while neglecting verses that undermine the very foundations of their interpretations. It is my goal to point to several Bible verses that preterists neglect when presenting their theology.
The opinions stated in this article should not be taken as a slight towards preterists; for all of us have believed things that were wrong at some time in our Christian journey. But this article does hope to prove preterism an incorrect doctrine.
According to preterism, all prophecy in the Bible is now history. All of the promises in the Bible have been fulfilled. The preterist interpretation of Scripture regards the book of Revelation as a symbolic picture of first-century conflicts, not a description of what will occur in the end times. The term preterism comes from the Latin praeter, meaning “past.” Thus, preterism is the view that the biblical prophecies concerning the “end times” have already been fulfilled—in the past. Preterism is directly opposed to futurism, which sees the end-times prophecies as having a still-future fulfillment.
Preterism is divided into two types: full (or consistent) preterism and partial preterism. This article will confine the discussion to full preterism (or hyper-preterism, as some call it).
Preterism denies the future prophetic quality of the book of Revelation. The preterist movement essentially teaches that all the end-times prophecies of the New Testament were fulfilled in AD 70 when the Romans attacked and destroyed Jerusalem. Preterism teaches that every event normally associated with the end times—Christ’s second coming, the tribulation, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment—has already happened. (In the case of the final judgment, it still is in the process of being fulfilled.) Jesus’ return to earth was a “spiritual” return, not a physical one. (gotquestions.org)
I will use an excerpt from Kurt Simmons’ article “The Dragon, the Beast, and the Restraining Angel of Revelation Twenty” as a jumping off point for my counter arguments as this excerpt has a good summary of what Preterists believe.
Preterists believe that Revelation and all end-time events, including Christ’s second coming and the resurrection of the Hadean dead, are best understood in terms of their contemporary-historical context. Jesus said he would return within the lives of first disciples (Matt. 16:27, 28; Mk. 8:38; 9:1), before they could evangelize all the cities of Israel (Matt. 10:23), and before the generation of those then living passed away (Matt. 24:34; Mk. 13:30; Lk. 21:32). Hebrews says that it was a “very little while” (Gk. mikron ‘oson ‘oson) and Christ would come (Heb. 10:37). James said the “coming of the Lord draweth nigh;” it was “at the door” (James 5:8, 9). Peter said the end was “at hand” (I Pet. 4:7). John said it was the “last hour” (I Jn. 2:18). Revelation attests that the events it describes were “at hand” and would “shortly come to pass” (Rev. 1:2, 3; 22:6, 10, 12).
Preterists claim that the original audience clearly and accurately understood that Jesus taught them that He would (and did) return in their generation.
Preterists also desire to understand what the original audience believed when hearing from the original author. Simmons called this way of viewing the Bible as the “contemporary-historical context” view. This is rightly viewed as one of the most important keys to understanding the Scriptures. While I applaud this basic Bible study method principle, we should also recall a couple of other important caveats less we think that the audiences always perceived what God was communicating.
THINGS TO REMEMBER
God, in writing the Scriptures through men, did not always spell things out for His audiences regarding the exact “when and what” of what He was doing in the world (cf. Daniel 12:8-9).
Furthermore, the audiences of the Bible did not (do not) always pick up on God’s intended meanings in Scriptures–even when it is stated clearly. For example, think about the twelve Disciples and others; did they miss that Jesus must be hung on His cursed “tree” (His Roman cross) to pay for the sins of the world, written about in the OT? Were the Disciples waiting expectantly at Jesus’ tomb for His resurrection after He plainly told them He would rise from the dead? “No” to both. They had missed both the OT prophets’ writings and the direct, clear teaching of Jesus at times because of their humanness (e.g., Matthew 15:16-20, etc.).
Lest we forget, truth was also veiled by God from the listening audience. (e.g., Luke 18:31-34).
I cite just a few examples; however, there are many more instances where the people of faith in the NT were not “getting it.” Preterists maintain that they know what the audience was thinking and that the audience was correct in their thinking. This is a bad basis to start with; for both are simply not true.
Jesus often taught spiritual truths by using everyday common stories for His illustrations (such as in the parables). Often the audience, including the twelve Disciples, missed the spiritual teachings of Jesus. So we should not conclude that the original audience fully understood things. The crowd didn’t. And neither did the Disciples.
A cursory look at preterists’ books, articles, websites, podcasts, etc. reveal that their main argument is based on “timing” related phrases such as “the time is near” and “the time is short.” Preterists claim that these statements in the New Testament prove that Jesus’ return was imminent in the first century. Unfortunately, preterists are consistently looking at “time” from a human or earthly perspective.
Therefore, preterists claim that their interpretations of “the time is short” statements (et al.) are based on what a people of faith in Jesus’ day would think about time. That is, preterists think that the audience would accurately think about time statements as a human lifetime–a short time.
So let us turn our attention to what a couple of the Disciples wrote to guide our thinking on the time is short. (These important proof texts are consistently overlooked by preterists.) The Disciple John wrote an important passage about what he and the brothers were thinking regarding the Lord’s return which directly refutes preterists’ assumptions.
John 21:20-23
"Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”
If preterism is true, why did the saying “John would not die” spread among the brothers? John brings this event up at the end of his letter to quell the misunderstanding about what Jesus said. But also, John plainly recorded and understood that he, himself, could not die a natural death if he were to be still alive when Jesus returned. John is clear that the Lord made a hypothetical statement. However, the reaction of some of the brothers was both right and wrong. They were wrong because Jesus didn’t say John would not die a natural death. But they were correct about the fact that a natural death for John was impossible if he were to witness Jesus’ return in his lifetime. John could not both witness Jesus’ return and be alive in his physical state barring a miracle from the Lord. These events were mutually exclusive.
It is evident that John knew Jesus’ return would not happen “soon” as preterists interpret “soon”. The Disciples clearly knew that Jesus would not return in their lifetimes. It is clear that the disciples already knew–before Jesus’ ascension–that they would all die a physical death before Jesus returned. Preterists say that the original audience would have understood the time statements regarding Jesus’ return as happening in their lifetimes. The fact that John’s passage includes “the brothers” proves that the large group of Believers also knew that Jesus would have to keep John from dying a natural death for him to witness Jesus’ return.
We find the strongest evidence regarding time in Peter’s writings. Peter wrote in his second letter partly to arm the saints against the scoffers of his day who were harassing Believers regarding the delay of Jesus’ return. Thus far, I haven’t seen any preterist cite these ten key verses in 2 Peter. These verses dismiss the preterists’ time arguments outright.
2 Peter 3:1-10
1 “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. ¶ 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
Peter explained to the early church to “not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” This is Peter’s most important truth regarding Christ’s return. Keeping this statement in mind, we know that it has not even been two “days” (on God’s “timetable”) since the Lord’s death and resurrection.
Peter illustrates this truth with two events to draw similarities of these events to Jesus’ return: 1) the creation of the world (about 4000 years previous to the time of Peter’s letter), and 2) the flood after the creation (about 1500 years after creation). Peter instructed the Church to remind the scoffers in the first century what happened 4000 years before and 2500 years before their lives to prove that things will not go on as they had always been. Peter implied that Jesus will return but it will be in the distant future.
Plainly, Peter knew the Lord would not return soon from a human perspective and certainly not in his generation. Peter understood that the lengthy time before the return of Christ (humanly speaking) would become a scoffers’ question of, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” Peter reminds the Church that Christ’s imminent return is based on God’s view of “soon” not man’s idea of “soon”.
The word “soon” spoken by Jesus and the apostles must be placed on God’s timetable also. What the early church thought about Jesus’ return does not matter if they did not heed Peter’s most important point regarding Jesus’ return. We cannot put Peter’s argument on the shelf and ignore it when we are interpreting other passages of Scripture. Peter’s passage is extremely clear.
The points previously stated in this article prove that we need to stop trying to understand the Scriptures through the eyes of the natural man. Instead we should remember to look at what God has proclaimed in Scripture to help us interpret accurately—spiritually. Didn’t Jesus often teach and rebuke the Disciples for thinking in the perspective of man and not spiritually?
An important rule for interpreting Scripture is “Scriptures interpret the Scriptures.” (The technique is known as correlation in hermeneutics.) Just as applying this hermeneutical rule to the time statements above proved helpful so using this approach of using “Scripture to interpret Scripture” will also prove helpful in countering the preterists’ arguments regarding how they think the audience of Jesus’ day viewed certain verses related to location compared to the way God views these location verses.
Preterists point to Matthew 10:23, “When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
As we know, God inspired the writing of the entire Bible as he used men to accomplish His end. Paul gave the Church spiritual insight into the way God sees the people of Israel.
Roman 9:6-8
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
Paul enlists Hebrew poetry parallelism in this passage. I will plainly state his point: spiritual Israel is not equal to biological Israel; this is parallel to spiritual children of Abraham are not equal to biological children of Abraham. “Spiritual Israel” is made up of people of faith. Paul plainly teaches this spiritual truth throughout the Book of Romans. Therefore, with this theological truth in hand, we can understand that in the previous verse in Matthew 10:23 that “all the towns of Israel” are towns that have spiritual Jews in them. In other words, Paul meant towns in the entire world.
This interpretation compliments the Great Commission and especially assists the interpretation of Matthew 24:14, And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. While the Disciples may have thought that the western world ended in Spain, Jesus surely didn’t think that. Did He? Preterists would answer, “No. But He meant that to His original audience.” Their answer is incorrect, which the Pauline theology makes clear above.
NOTES: Before continuing let’s refresh ourselves on a few Bible study practices and how they relate to specific people and to a promise from the Lord in the three synoptics.
An important rule in interpreting the Bible is often stated as "The three most important, fundamental elements in Bible study are “context, context, context.”.
When one studies the accounts of the gospel to make theological arguments regarding something Jesus spoke to His disciples, one must, at a very minimum, consider all of the gospel accounts of the teaching.
( will use the three synoptic accounts of the gospel to prove the next point.) Matthew’s gospel has a chapter break in the context. We must always remember that paragraph breaks were added later and may mistakenly influence interruption. In the earliest Greek manuscripts, there were no periods, commas, semi-colons; colons, question marks, etc.1 There were not even spaces between words. Punctuation was not invented until centuries later.
Another important hermeneutical rule that is often forgotten is to study the clear passages of the Bible before the difficult ones. Matthew’s account, by itself, would line up better with a preterist’s view if his account were the only account we have recorded. Matthew’s account of the gospel does not have as much information as Mark’s account of the gospel. Mark’s account gives more information. So we go to the clearest verses first.
Preterists often point to Luke 9:27 as evidence of their views, "But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
The other two synoptic accounts of the gospel record what Jesus said here in the Luke account. So we will certainly want to look at the broader contexts in all available gospel accounts in which it is recorded while also noting that the clearest teaching is from Mark’s account of the gospel.
Mark 9:1-2
“And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them.”
Matthew 16:28-17:1
“Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.”
Luke 9:27-31
But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
The transfiguration fulfilled the promise that some would “not taste death until they see the kingdom of God” in the synoptics. Mark also recorded the helpful phrase, “after it has come with power.” This promise was fulfilled according to Matthew and Mark after six days. Luke, the historian, presented an estimate of “about eight days”, based on the testimony he received from others.
Preterists claim that the “kingdom coming in power” happened in 70 AD; When, in fact, the Scriptures testify that this was fulfilled six days after Jesus said it.
The transfiguration is what Jesus meant when He said, “until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” Peter, James and John saw what Jesus said they would see. They saw OT saints (Moses and Elijah), Jesus illuminating light,2 and people still in the flesh (Peter, James and John). This is exactly what the millennial kingdom will look like “after it has come with power.” (Note: preterists usually deny the millennial kingdom as a future thousand year reign of Jesus.)
Preterists see Matthew 24:33-34 in the Olivet Discourse as pointing to Jesus’ imminent return as compared to his audience’s physical life.
Matthew 24:33-34
“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.”
With the above verses proving so much so far in mind, “this generation” must be the generation that will face the—still future—great tribulation due to the context of the Olivet Discourse. Jesus said,
Matthew 24:21-22
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”
Here again, ironically, preterists limit what Jesus said will have no equal in all of human history to one generation—that of the listening audience. They hold the view that this tribulation is to be taken locally and culminated in 70AD, from the listening audience’s perspective.
Israel had been destroyed earlierby the Assyrians at around 722 BC (the ten northern tribes) and by the Babylonians around 586 BC (the two southern tribes). Preterists ignore the fact that the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD was much like the destruction it had suffered before in 586 BC. Obviously, these tribulations were tremendous, but Jesus spoke of a future tribulation in terms of it being the greatest tribulation in human history. In Matthew 24:21-22 Jesus stated that the tribulation had no equal in the past by saying “has not been from the beginning of the world until now.” He also said, it would have no equal in the future by saying, “and never will be”. Jesus said what will happen in Jerusalem would be a “world record” type of tribulation. Although one could compare the 586 BC tribulation to the 70 AD tribulation, neither of these events was a world record tribulation event. 70 AD cannot even compare to what happened in WWI or WWII. And the tribulation yet to come will be much worse. Jesus goes on to say that the tribulation of Matthew 24 would be so bad “that no human being would be saved” if it were not cut short by God.
Therefore, the argument that Jesus would have only intended His message to be exclusively for the first century, Jewish audience is blunted. Jesus pointed back to the beginning of the world and to the end of the world as He spoke of the future as having no comparison. Jesus was aware of past world history and future world history. Therefore “this generation” is the generation in which the world record tribulation events occur. “This generation” is pointing to the generation living when the events of the record tribulation starts. Using the term “this” in this way, to identify a group of people in the future, would also not be completely uncommon today.
Here is what has been proven beyond argument from the Scriptures thus far:
John knew he would not see the return of the Lord in his physical lifetime.
Peter’s most important point when commenting about Jesus’ return was that “a day is like 1000 years to God”. (“We are on God’s timetable.” is implied in the text).
The degree of tribulation in Matthew 24 had never happened in the past history of the world and would also be the greatest of all future events.
Preterists cite,
Revelation 1:7
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
They see “those” who pierced Jesus as needing to be physically alive in the first century to be fulfilled. But since truth builds on truth, we will not go backwards and deny what has already been clearly taught.
With the truths covered, we cannot conclude that Jesus’ return would happen in the first century. So how do we counter the preterists’ belief that “those who pierced" Jesus must be alive to see his return?
Let me address this with some questions.
Will all of heaven see Jesus’ second coming? Who would answer “No” to this? Surely, all of heaven will be watching this most important event.
Could God allow all those in hell to see Jesus’ return? I think it is unwise for one to speak for God here and say, “God is able to allow people in hell to see Jesus’ return, yet He would not allow it.” In remembering the important rules and principles for correctly interpreting the Bible and the verses discussed, I truly believe that the Father will allow every creature in the universe to watch Jesus’ second coming. This interpretation does not violate the other passages and is reasonable.
Preterists generally believe that the New Testament’s teachings were intended exclusively for the NT’s first century listeners. This way of viewing the Bible’s audience shows up again and again in their writings. This is a fundamental mistake.
While “the original author to the original audience” rule is a staple in Bible study methods, and one should seek to start strictly with this rule in mind, one must remember that the Bible was not just written for the benefit of the original audience but also for future generations.
Here is my two part argument. First, it is obvious that Peter knew that Paul was writing Scripture to the Church, when he was writing his letters to the churches.
2 Peter 3:14-16
Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
Second, Paul understood that the OT Scriptures served God’s people in the first century even though the OT was completed 400 years earlier. Paul wrote, Romans 15:4, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Obviously, both Peter and Paul knew that all Scripture was the word of God. They knew that Scripture endures throughout the generations. The Scriptures have always been for God’s people in the future just as much as for God’s people in the past. Likewise, the NT is now a benefit to God’s people today.
Preterists maintain the idea of “original author to the original audience” to a fault.
Still searching for truth,
Monte Robinson
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Martin, Brian L. Fulfilled Eschatology: A Brief Introduction. BMD Printing and Business Services, 2018.
Simmons, Kurt. “The Dragon, the Beast, and the Restraining Angel of Revelation Twenty.” Accessed April 4, 2024, preteristcentral.com.
1 See an excellent video regarding Bible manuscripts titled “Manuscript Evidence for the Bible” on the “Christian Video Vault” channel on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDoW3ffd3xk.
2 We will later illuminate light as well (cf. Daniel 12:3, 1 Corinthians 15).