THINGS TO COME

 Have you ever thought about the things to come, the future ?  Jesus told us to watch what is happening in the world and from that combined with his prophetic statements and those of the prophets and Apostles arrive at an understanding of where we are in the great plan of things.  

Matthew 24 ,  Mark 13 and Luke 21 are three accounts of what is called the Olivet prophecy.  In each of these three accounts the destruction of the second temple is mentioned and indeed that event occurred in 70 AD. 

 In his response to the question from his disciples Jesus never brought up the second temple destruction again but rather focused on answering the question the disciples asked him. When shall these things be and the sign of your coming and the end of the age ?  These were NOT  separate questions because the end of the age is the return of Jesus.  

Although this would be a disappointment it was also encouraging and edifying to insure that those who would remain faithful would indeed inherit the kingdom of GOD.   From the beginning of the response Jesus gives to his disciples question Jesus never mentions the second temple again but does explain future events that  would happen.  When our mind’s focus on the second temple, as having to do with the events Jesus spoke about, our thoughts will attempt to make what Jesus said fall in line with that idea.  This is a big mistake.  All through the verses in his answer that Jesus gives are one continuous answer.  There is no break in the middle that goes back to the second temple destruction, it’s not there.  To attempt to include this idea in the prophecy will lead to a misunderstanding of prophecy.  Just as the church and the Apostles misunderstood by thinking Jesus would return in their lifetime. Example of this is, 1 John 2:18 "We know this is the last hour" John truly thought Jesus would return in his life time.  The Apostle Paul describing the return said, "We who are alive and remain" indicating himself and those he was writing to would see the return of Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17  Then Peter in 1 Peter 4:7 said, "Then end of all things is at hand."  James 5:8 “ the coming of the Lord is at hand”. Even these Apostles thought Jesus would return in their lifetimes.  This is because they thought the destruction of the second temple would herald the second advent.

Some go to great lengths to connect the second temple destruction to events that are all yet future saying that certain events were fulfilled in 70 AD  with the destruction of the second temple when the information Jesus gives has nothing to do with the second temple.  The reason for this misconception is that Jesus did mention the second temple’s destruction in passing due to the comments of the disciples when they all were at the temple earlier , but later, on the mount of Olives, the prophetic events Jesus gave are thought by many to be connected with the second temple when they are not.  All the prophecy Jesus gave leads up to the third temple, the true time of his return and the fulfillment of those signs he gave.  Try giving a reading of all three gospel accounts of the Olivet discourse with the third temple in mind rather than the second.  There is no break in the narrative, Jesus relays information to answer the question that his disciples asked, “what is the sign of your coming and the end of the age.” The second temple had nothing to do with what Jesus said but the third temple does.  The comment Jesus made about the second temple was non sequitur, it wasn’t connected to the remarks he made later on the Mount of Olives.  One matter dealt only with the second temple destruction and the other with, “what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age” , two unrelated topics.  The disciples said, “when shall these things be” and immediately people want to connect everything Jesus said to the second temple’s destruction.  In Acts 1:6-7 the disciples asked, “will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel” , because they were thinking the destruction of the second temple would bring the kingdom of GOD.  The answer Jesus gave should put and end to this and all questions about the timing of the arrival of the kingdom and the events leading up to it. “It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the FATHER has put in HIS own authority.”  People come up with all sorts of ideas about what Matthew 24 is saying but they will be wrong because only the FATHER knows and HE reveals HIS secrets only to HIS servants the prophets and today that is the church. Unto you, (or us the church) , it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of GOD, but to others it is not given.  Matthew 13:11

To summarize; the knowledge given in the book of Revelation could not have been known prior to 70 AD because the church at that time believed that Christ would return in their lifetime and they thought the second temple destruction would be the sign of the return of Jesus.  They had no knowledge of a future third temple.  If the church had the knowledge contained in the book of Revelation in 67 AD they would have known that the return of Jesus was far off, along with the events concerning the end of the age.  

In Daniel 9:26 the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans is recorded but in the very next verse, verse 27, the abomination of desolation is set up. 2Thessalonians 2:4  the event described here by Paul, who thought Jesus would return very soon, no doubt thought the man of sin would be in the second temple.  Daniel 9:26-27 shows the desolation happening after the Romans destroyed the second temple thus indicating that there will be a third temple.

Polycarp, a disciple of the Apostle John, lived from 69 AD to 155 AD . He was an infant when the second temple was destroyed.  To have been taught by the Apostle John Polycarp would had to have been old enough to understand.  Polycarp was only a year old when the second temple was destroyed.  If we estimate Polycarp was 20 when he began to be instructed by John then it would have been about 89 AD and both John and Polycarp would have known about the destruction of the second temple but neither mention it in their writings thus showing its insignificance in events concerning prophecy or doctrine.  The church had no need of a physical temple.

No Emperor prior to Nerva had ever released    prisoners from the isle of Patmos, Nerva is the only one and he reigned from 96 AD to 98 AD .  Therefore the book of Revelation had to have been written sometime between 96 & 98 AD while John was on Patmos. You can verify this information in secular history free from religious bias  on the internet. The following is from a Roman historical web site: 

Following the death of Emperor Domitian in 96 AD, his successor Nerva recalled exiles and released prisoners, an act historically documented to include those banished to Patmos, notably the Apostle John

. This move helped restore order and reversed the tyrannical policies, including treason trials, of the previous administration. 

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The idea of Preterism, both full and partial, began in the Catholic Church as a response to Protestants saying the Pope was the antichrist. Certain Jesuit priests concocted the idea that the book of Revelation was written in 67 AD thus placing the antichrist before the destruction of the second temple thereby disproving the accusation that the Pope is the antichrist. From Wikipedia:

 At the time of the Counter-Reformation, the Jesuit Luis de Alcasar wrote a prominent preterist exposition of prophecy.^{[3][page needed][4]} Moses Stuart noted in 1845 that Alcasar's preterist interpretation advantaged the Roman Catholic Church during its arguments with Protestants,^[5] and Kenneth Newport in an eschatological commentary in 2000 described preterism as a Catholic defense against the Protestant historicist view which identified the Roman Catholic Church as a persecuting apostasy.^[6]   His work, published posthumously in 1614, sought to counter Protestant interpretations that identified the Pope as the Antichrist, proposing instead that prophecies in Revelation were fulfilled in the first century.

 This historical information is also available on the internet.  In addition, two early church members, Irenaeus of Lions and Eusebius of Caesarea, wrote about the Apostle Johns exile to Patmos and place the date during the reign of Domitian in AD 95 and John was later released by emperor Nerva in AD 96.  

Emperor Nerva was known as one of the 5 good Emperors who instituted many reforms including ending banishing people who opposed unfair treatment and freed political prisoners and exiles, restored the Roman senates influence and no longer executed Senators and returned property to prisoners and exiles.  It was during Nerve's reign that the Apostle John was released from Patmos in about 96 AD.  John was sent to Patmos during the reign of Domitian, 81 AD to 96 AD.  Therefore the second temple that was destroyed in 70 AD cannot be the temple John described in the Revelation.  The early church under the leadership of the Apostles believed Jesus would return in their lifetime and based this on the assumption that the second temple destruction would set in motion the Olivet prophecy.  They had no knowledge of a future third temple that is currently planned to be built by groups in Israel.  

The great tribulation is said by Preterists to have occurred in 70 AD with the destruction of the second temple by the Romans.  Jesus described the tribulation as a time unparalleled in human history that if not shortened would kill all humanity.  There are ten nations that come against Jerusalem in the future not just one as in AD 70.  There was no man of sin in the temple declaring himself GOD.  Immediately after the tribulation Christ returns which did not happen in 70 AD.  There are so many things that just don’t add up with the Preterist view of prophecy.  

In other articles on this blog I have proven that Jerusalem is the harlot and Israel is the beast rising up out of the sea, therefore Rome, nor any of its emperor’s can be the beast.

I have spent many hours on the internet looking into the history of the early church and the writings of the post Apostolic church leadership. I have researched the Roman Emperors who reigned during the times of these events in dispute and have concluded that any form of Preterism is not true. 

 This will mean nothing to those who hold to the idea of Preterism. This is similar to the false idea of the immortal soul, the trinity or legalism, that those who hold to these beliefs will not give them up no matter how much evidence exists to disprove them.