Early views of Preterism

The following quotes are compiled from various online sources as well as my own books. Please read them but understand the quotes are sometimes harder to grasp the older they are. Most all these writers connected he judgment of Jerusalem with the second coming of Christ so this belief is probably the oldest orthodox view of the Church.

Also, after compiling them I noticed I have repeated some quotes. I am in the process of removing duplicate entries.

Here is that statement from historian Photius: “Indeed Stephen Gobarus follows neither Papias nor Ireneaus the holy bishop of Lyons, when they say the kingdom of heaven is the enjoyment of certain material foods”. (9th century, Bibliotheca 232)

And yet another quote from Photius “Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons and Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis…men of apostolic character…but we do not follow them whenever they treated the truth too lightly and were led to speak against the generally accepted ecclesiastical teaching. We do not at all, take anything away from their patristic honor and glory” (Photius, letter to archbishop and metropolitan Aquileias)(when you consider that those men disputed Irenaeus and Papias’ view of the millinneum and physical kingdom, we can confidently assert that these men believed the opposite as the “generally accepted ecclesiastical teaching” among other issues of concern and orthodoxy. Here is the proof that the Church has NOT always believed in an actual 1000 year and an actual visible return.

Irenaeus wrote that Papias was a ‘first hand’ hearer of John, when he wrote “to these things Papias, who had listened to John”. Yet Papias wrote his own account that he never met any of the apostles nor studied under them but rather asked of the presbyters of his own generation what those men had learned from the Apostles. Was Irenaeus recalling incorrect memories? At the least. This same Papias, that Irenaeus looked up to, is the same Papias that Eusebius wrote about in The History of The Church: chapter 39.15 page 103

” The same writer gives also other accounts which he says came to him through unwritten tradition, certain strange parables and teachings of the Savior, and some other more mythical things. To these belong his statement that there will be a period of some thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, and that the kingdom of Christ will be set up in material form on this very earth. I suppose he got these ideas through a misunderstanding of the apostolic accounts, not perceiving that the things said by them were spoken mystically in figures. For he appears to have been of very limited understanding, as one can see from his discourses. But it was due to him that so many of the Church Fathers after him adopted a like opinion, urging in their own support the antiquity of the man; as for instance Irenaeus..”

So here, Eusebius was claiming that Papias was of limited mental understanding to have believed that the millennium would be a literal 1000 years and that it would be a literal physical kingdom Jesus would set up. The fact that Irenaeus agreed with Papias meant Eusebius believed Irenaeus shared this lack of mental ascent to understand the true nature of the millennium and the resurrection.

Another Historian, Philip of Side, agreed and wrote “papias is also in error regarding the millennium, and so is Irenaeus who follows him”. (5th Century Church History).

Vardan Vardapet-in “explanations of Holy Scripture” wrote this against Papias; ”The story of the adulterous woman, which the other Christians have written in their Gospel, was written by a certain Papias, a disciple of John, who was declared and condemned as a heretic. Eusebius said this”. Who knew that Papias had been labeled a heretic? And this man Irenaeus learned from. More reason to question their opinions and writings.

So again, we see that even contemporaries, not 100 years removed from the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 a.d., were already having disagreements about doctrinal issues. Since Papias and Irenaeus believed in a literal 1000 years and literal physical bodily resurrection and other Historians were calling them wrong, and worse, heretics, then the other historians believed in a figurative Rabbinical 1000 years and a spiritual resurrection. (ex; R. Akiva believed the millennium to be 40 years)

Irenaeus also believed the Shepard of Hermes should have been canonized. He was wrong on that opinion.

. Milton Terry said of Irenaeus’ late date comment “It seems to us that no impartial mind can fail to see…that no great stress can be safely laid upon it, for it all turns on the single testimony of Irenaeus”.

Let’s look at a couple of passages from those early Church fathers to get an idea of when they believed this “end of time” was.

Ignatius wrote “having been entrusted with the service of Jesus Christ, who before the ages was with the Father and appeared at the END OF TIME” (the end meaning the end of) the Judaic covenant.

Ignatius adds; “how can we possibly live without him, whom even the prophets, who were His disciples in the spirit, were expecting as their teacher? Because of this He for whom they rightly waited raised them from the dead when He came.” So, Jesus came and raised the Disciples from the dead? How could that have happened if we are still waiting for him? And He could only come for the dead Disciples if they were actually dead.

Dead Sea Scrolls quotes(4Q397 – 399 (200bc-100ad)the ble]ssin[gs that] cam[e upon i]t (Israel) in [his d]ays [and] in the days of Solomon the son of David, as well as the curses (22) [that] came upon it from the d[ays of Jer.]  (23) [For] he may bri[n]g them upon . . . And we recognize that some of the blessings and curses have come, (24) those written in the Bo[ok of Mo]ses; therefore this is the End of Days, when (those) in Isra[e]l are the return (25) to the La[w of God with all their heart,] never to turn bac[k] (again). 

(33) Then you will rejoice at the End Time, when you find some of our words were true.  Thus, 'It will be reckoned to you as Righteousness', your having done what is Upright and Good before Him, for your own

1QpHab 9:4-7: "Peshru about the priests of Jerusalem.  The final (end time) ones who gather up wealth and take a cut from the spoils from the peoples and for the "Last Days" they give their wealth with spoil into the hands of The Roman army. "Good and for that of Israel

Luke 21:20-22 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies.. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written." RSV

Eusebius: "The members of the Jerusalem church by means of an oracle, given by revelation to acceptable persons there, were ordered to leave the city before the war began and settle in a town in Peraea called Pella." Book III, 5:4

"I will stare at his place and he will no longer be there. Its interpretation concerns all the evil at the end of the forty years, for they shall be devoured." (Commentary on Ps 37:10, 4QPsalms Pesher [4Q17, ii, 6-8]).

Damascus Documentxx, 14-15: "..from the day of the gathering in of the unique teacher, until the destruction of all the of all the men of war who turned back with the man of lies, there shall be about forty years. "

Maimonides"Jewish writings stipulate that forty years after the coming of the Messiah there will be a resurrection of the dead, and all who are lying in dust will rise to new life."

H.J. Schoeps (1966)(on the traditional views concerning the length of the intermediate Messianic kingdom) "fix a very short interval for the interim period, namely, forty years (R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus; Bar in Sanh. 99a; R. Aqiba: Midr. Teh. on Ps 90:15; Tanch. Eqeb 7b, Pes. Rabb. 4a). The two Tannaites, commenting on Ps 95:7, derive this time indication from the Messianically understood v.10 (forty years I loathed that generation) and from Deut. 8:2 by a parallelization with the forty years in the desert." (Paul, p. 100)

The Talmud"Our Rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple.. the doors of the Hekal would open by themselves, until R. Johanan b. Zakkai rebuked them, saying: Hekal, Hekal, why wilt thou be the alarmed thyself (Predict thy own destruction) ? I know about thee that thou wilt be destroyed, for Zechariah ben Ido has already prophesied concerning thee: Open

thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars" (The Soncino Talmud, Seder Mo'ed, vol. III Toma, p. 186)

'R. Eliezer [c. 80-120 AD] said, The days of the Messiah will be forty years. [quoted from Everyman's Talmud, by Abraham Cohen, pub. by E.P. Dutton & Co., 1949. Page 356].

The Rebbe often quotes the Zohar to the effect that the Resurrection will take place 40 years after the advent of Mashiach. (See Igros Kodesh, Vol. II, p. 75; Sefer HaSichos 5752, Vol. I, p. 274. However, there are also other references in the sichos (e.g., Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXVII, p. 206; Sefer HaSichos 5733, Shabbos Parshas Balak, footnote 3)

 Philip Mauro (1923)"Yet the predicted judgment did not immediately follow; for Christ prayed for His murderers in His dying hour, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Lu. 23:34). In answer to that prayer the full probationary period of forty years (A.D. 30 to A.D. 70) was added to their national existence, during which time repentance and remission of sins was preached to them in the Name of the crucified and risen One, and tens of thousands of Jews were saved. " (Seventy Weeks, ch. 5)

Dr. Stafford North (1998)"Just as Daniel predicted, in 70 A.D., forty years after the anointed one was cut off, the Roman armies marched on Jerusalem.  After a siege of 134 days, designed to weaken resistance, the Roman army broke through the walls, destroyed the city and burned the temple.  Then, they put their ensigns over the eastern gate of the temple and offered sacrifices to them. (Josephus: War VI, vi. 1 [316]). There could not have been a more precise fulfillment of the prophecies of both Daniel and Christ.  The city was destroyed and desecrated.  Even the stones of the temple were cast down and not one remained upon another."  (Armageddon Again? A Reply to Hal Lindsey, Oklahoma City, OK: Author, 1991, p. 47-48

C.H. Spurgeon (1868)"The Kingly Prophet foretold the time of the end: "Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation." It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering out of those who recognized the crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful end, which the Savior foresaw and foretold, and the prospect of which wrung from his lips and heart the sorrowful lament that followed his prophecy of the doom awaiting his guilty capital." (in loc.)

"The King left his followers in no doubt as to when these things should happen: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." It was just about the ordinary limit of a generation when the Roman armies compassed Jerusalem, whose measure of iniquity was then full, and overflowed in misery, agony, distress, and bloodshed such as the world never saw before or since. Jesus was a true Prophet; everything that he foretold was literally fulfilled."

Rudolph Stier (1851)(On Matthew 24:34) "(this refers) to the generation living in that then extant and most important age." (Reden Jesu, in loc.)

(On Matthew 12:43-45) "In the period between the ascension of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem, especially towards the end of it, this nation shows itself, one might say, as if possessed by seven thousand devils.' (Reden Jesu; Matt. xii, 43-45)

John Wesley (1754)"This generation of men now living shall not pass till all these things be done - The expression implies that great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. Just so it was; for the city and temple were destroyed thirty-nine or forty years after." (Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament)

B.F. Westcott (1889)"Jewish teachers distinguished a 'present age' (this age) from 'that age' (the age to come). Between 'the present age' of imperfection and conflict and trial and 'the age to come' of the perfect reign of God they placed 'the days of the Messiah,' which they sometimes reckoned in the former, sometimes in the latter, and sometimes distinct from both. They were, however, commonly agreed that the passage from one age to the other would be through a period of intense sorrow and anguish, 'the travail-pains' of the new birth (Mt. 24:8). The apostolic writers, fully conscious of the spiritual crisis through which they were passing speak of their own time as the 'last days' (Acts 2:17; James 5:3; comp. 2 Tim. 3:1); the 'last hour' (1 Jno. 2:18); the 'end of the times' (1 Peter 1:20; 2 Pet. 3:3); 'the last time' (Jude 18)."

Dispensational premillennialist Tommy Ice: "I would never say that there is no one in the early church who taught preterism. There is early preterism in people like Eusebius. In fact, his work The Proof of the Gospel is full of preterism in relationship to the Olivet Discourse." ("Update on Pre-Darby Rapture Statements and Other Issues": audio tape December 1995).

198: Tertullian - An Answer to the Jews "among us, who have been called out of the nations, -'and they shall join to beat their glaives into ploughs, and their lances into sickles; and nations shall not take up glaive against nation, and they shall no more learn to fight.'  Who else, therefore, are understood but we, who, fully taught by the new law, observe these practices, - the old law being obliterated, the coming of whose abolition the action itself demonstrates?"

250: Origen - Against Celsus | John | Matthew "I challenge anyone to prove my statement untrue if I say that the entire Jewish nation was destroyed less than one whole generation later on account of these sufferings which they inflicted on Jesus. For it was, I believe, forty-two years from the time when they crucified Jesus to the destruction of Jerusalem."

273: Alexander of Alexandia - Epistle on Arianism  "The Father, raising Him to His right hand, hath seated Him upon a throne on high, and hath made Him to be judge of the peoples, the leader

of the angelic host, the charioteer of the cherubim, the Son of the true Jerusalem, the Virgin's spouse, and King for ever and ever. Amen." TJ note: If one tries to deny this statement by Alexander by positing that he may have been correct about the events but was wrong about the timing because Jesus may have been appointed to be the Judge of the peoples but only sometime in the future, then they must be consistent and delay his office of Charioteer of the cherubim, Son of the true Jerusalem, Virgin’s Spouse, leader of the angelic host and sitting on the throne for some future time as well. You can’t pick and choose what to parse out in someone else’s quote”. Alexander never drew a distinction

312: Eusebius - Demonstratio Evangelica "..how can we deny that the prophecies of long ago have at last been fulfilled?"

330: Lactantius "But he also opened to them all things which were about to happen, which Peter and Paul preached at Rome ; and this preaching being written for the sake of remembrance became permanent, in which they both declared other wonderful things, and also said that it was about to come to pass, that after a short time God would send against them a king who would subdue the Jews, and level their cities to the ground, and besiege the people themselves, worn out with hunger and thirst. Then it should come to pass that they should feed on the bodies of their own children, and consume one another. Lastly that they should be taken captive, and come into the hands of their enemies, and should see their wives most cruelly harassed before their eyes, their virgins ravished and polluted, their sons torn in pieces, their little ones dashed to the ground; and lastly, everything laid waste with fire and sword, the captives banished forever from their own lands, because they had exalted over the well-beloved and most approved Son of God."

345: Aphrahat the Persian Sage - Excerpts from Select Demonstrations “The theology and writings of Aphrahat draw extensively on the Old Testament reflecting a religious milieu of 4th century Mesopotamia in which Christianity was seeking to define itself as separate from Judaism. (Aphrahat) praises Jesus Christ as the divine conqueror of death and fulfillment of all types and prophecies of the Old Law.”

367: Athanasius - Festal Letters - "Now, however, that the devil, that tyrant against the whole world, is slain, we do not approach a temporal feast, my beloved, but an eternal and heavenly. Not in shadows do we shew it forth, but we come to it in truth."

386: Chrysostom - Homilies Against the Jews "In the late fourth century Chrysostom, in his apologetic works on Christianity and Hellenism, again uses the Temple's destruction as proof of Judaism's illegitimacy."

387: Chrysostom - Homilies on Matthew 24 "Was their house left desolate? Did all the vengeance come upon that generation? It is quite plain that it was so, and no man gainsays it."

388: Chrysostom - St. Chrysostom's Liturgy "Having in remembrance, therefore, this saving commandment and all those things which have come to pass for us: the Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection on the third day, the Ascension into heaven, the Sitting at the right hand, and the second and glorious Coming"

412: Orosius: Book 7 - Christian History "After (B) the capture and overthrow of Jerusalem, as the prophets had foretold, and after the total destruction of the Jewish nation, Titus, who had been appointed by the decree of God to avenge (A) the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, celebrated with his father Vespasian his victory by a triumph and closed the Temple of Janus." (ref Rev.)

A fragment from the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, dating to the Third century, gives the more mundane 616 as the mark of the AntichristDr. Aitken said, however, that

scholars now believe the number in question has very little to do the devil. It was actually a complicated numerical riddle in Greek, meant to represent someone’s name, she said.

Ellen Aitken, a professor of early Christian history at McGill University, said the discovery appears to spell the end of 666 as the devil’s prime number.

“This is a very nice piece to find,” Dr. Aitken said. “Scholars have argued for a long time over this, and it now seems that 616 was the original number of the beast.”

The tiny fragment of 1,500-year-old papyrus is written in Greek, the original language of the New Testament, and contains a key passage from the Book of Revelation.

Where more conventional versions of the Bible give 666 as the “number of the beast,” or the sign of the anti-Christ whose coming is predicted in the book’s apocalyptic verses, the older version uses the Greek letters signifying 616.

“This is very early confirmation of that number, earlier than any other text we’ve found of that passage,” Dr. Aitken said. “It’s probably about 100 years before any other version.”

“It’s a number puzzle — the majority opinion seems to be that it refers to [the Roman emperor] Nero.”

500: Andreas "And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became as black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. And the stars from heaven fell upon the earth, as a fig-tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by the wind." [Apocalypse 6:12-13] "There are not wanting those who apply this passage to the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus."

507: Joshua the Stylite - Syriac Chronicle "On the region of Mesopotamia also, in which we dwell, great calamities weighed heavily in this year, so that the things which Christ our Lord decreed in His Gospel against Jerusalem, and actually brought to pass.." (XLIX)

550: St. Remigius - Commentary (On Rev. 7:1) "Here, then, were manifestly shown to the Evangelist what things were to befall the Jews in their war against the Romans, in the way of avenging the sufferings inflicted upon Christ.

725: Irish Book of Questions on the Gospels  "One commentary, an Irish Book of Questions on the Gospels, written about 725, interpreted Christ's coming in Matthew 24 in light of the Judean war, as a coming in judgment through the Roman armies." Quoted in Gary DeMar and Francis X. Gumerlock: The Early Church and the End of the World

On the decline of true interpretation, Terry wrote:

Milton Terry: "During the period extending from Gregory the Great to the time of Luther (A.D. 600 to A.D. 1500), the true exegetical spirit could scarcely be expected to maintain itself, or produce works of great merit. The monasteries became the principle seats of learning, and the treasuries of theological literature

gradually found their way to them as to so many asylums. Superstition and ignorance effectually hindered the progress of critical inquiry." (Biblical Hermeneutics, p.

Gary Demar : "Some of the earliest writers commenting on the Olivet Discourse, most likely writing before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, were referring to the judgment coming of Jesus, an event that the gospel writers tell us Gary DeMar: "Shreds of Preterism" Among First Century Writers (2003) "Much of the debate over preterism comes down to when the document was written.  This is especially true for the book of Revelation.  If a document was written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem which occurred in A.D. 70, then any statement about future prophetic events could be a reference to that event."

was to take place before that first-century generation passed away""Theology Adrift: The Early Church Fathers and Their Views of Eschatology - "In 1962, philosopher-scientist Thomas Kuhn coined the term "paradigm shift" to signal a massive change in the way a community thinks about a particular topic..  With the first destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem as a result of the second Jewish revolt in AD 132-135, the early Christians began to see these defeats as evidence of not only God's displeasure on Judaism, but also God's vindication of Christianity. The early Christians thus abandoned any hope for the restoration of the nation of Israel.. "

It has been a standard feature of Christian preaching through the ages that the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 was really God's decisive punishment of the Jewish people for their rejection of Jesus, who had died around the year 30." Steve Mason in Josephus, pp. 10-16

J. Ligon Duncan, President, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals: Attractions of the New Perspective(s) on Paul -  "I find that Wright's overly realized eschatology is attractive to students today. Preterism is all the rage in some conservative Reformed circles these days. The "already and not yet" is out, and the "been there, done that" is in. NT eschatology, for the preterist, is retrospective and realized. Well, along comes Wright, with his very this worldly eschatology, and provides a high-powered academic justification for the low-rent forms of preterism circulating in some places today. And they love it. So I have found some students who have gotten into Wright via his eschatological approach to New Testament theology. " / Jerry Jenkins on the Second Coming of Christ - "I share the same sort of frustration with people who say, 'If it was supposed to be soon, why hasn't it happened in two thousand years?'" "...surprisingly, their numbers are growing -- not because their arguments for what they are trying to believe are so convincing, but because many of their new followers have only heard one side of the argument." (Tim LaHaye, Has Jesus Already Come?, p. 7)

Jonathan Edwards(1703-1758) "'Tis evident that when Christ speaks of his coming; his being revealed; his coming in his Kingdom; or his Kingdom’s coming; He has respect to his appearing in those great works of his Power Justice and Grace, which should be in the Destruction of Jerusalem and other extraordinary Providences which should attend it." (Miscellany #1199)

Philip Schaff(19th Century) "This being so, then the words relating to a personal return of Jesus are to be taken as pointing to the Destruction of Jerusalem (Mat. x.23; xvi.28)." (Second Advent)

G.S. Faber (1843) "To consider certain vituperative prophecies...as already accomplished in the course of the first and second centuries; whence, to commentators of this School, we may fitly apply the name of Preterists."  (The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy) ; "I was fully aware of the difference in our

views on Prophecy. You, I know, are a Preterist" (G.S. Faber to Samuel Lee in 1846)

"We must remember that Premillennialism too was in almost total eclipse for a thousand years, between the time of Augustine and the Reformation, and that during the Reformation period and for a long time afterward it was held by only a few small sects that were considered quite heretical." (Loraine Boettner, The Millennium, rev, ed, (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, [1957] 1984, 11.)

On the Early History of Christianity - Frederick Engels (1894) "But we have in the New Testament a single book the time of the writing of which can be defined within a few months, which must have been written between June 67 and January or April 68; a book, consequently, which belongs to the very beginning of the Christian era and reflects with the most naive fidelity and in the corresponding idiomatic language the ideas of the beginning of that era. This book is the so-called Revelation of John.. John describes his book at the very beginning as the revelation of "things which must shortly come to pass ; an immediately afterwards, I, 3, he declares "Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy ... for the time is at hand." To the church in Philadelphia Christ sends the message: "Behold, I come quickly." And in the last chapter the angel says he has shown John "things which must shortly be done" and gives him the order: "Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand." And Christ himself says twice (XXII, 12, 20) "I come quickly." The sequel will show us how soon this coming was expected.."

By John Hewlett (1762–1844) "Our Lord, whose second coming was the destruction of Jerusalem"1764 Adam Clark Commentary: "I conclude, therefore, that this prophecy has not the least relation to Judas Maccabeus. It may be asked, to whom, and to what event does it relate? .. to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity; which in the Gospel is called the coming of Christ and the days of vengeance, Matthew 16:28; Luke 21:22." (Isaiah 65, p. 513) Read Clarke’s Commentary on Matt 24;

(On Luke 21:24)"...till the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled, i.e. till the time that the periods which are appointed to the Gentile nations for the completion of the divine judgments (not the period of grace for the Gentiles...) shall have run out. Comp. Rev. xi. 2. Such times of the Gentiles are ended in the case in question by the Parousia (vv. 25 f., 27), which is to occur during the lifetime of the hearers (ver. 28).. hence those.. are in no way to be regarded as of longer duration" (Meyer, pp. 530-531).

Thomas Newton (1754)"Our Saviour proceedeth in the same figurative style, ver. 30 - ' And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.' The plain meaning of it is, that the destruction of Jerusalem will be such a remarkable instance of divine vengeance, such a signal manifestation of Christ's power and glory, that all the Jewish tribes shall mourn, and many will be led from thence to acknowledge Christ and the Christian religion. In the ancient prophets, God is frequently described as coming in the 'clouds' upon any remarkable interposition and manifestation of his power; and the same description is here applied

to Christ. The destruction of Jerusalem will be as ample a manifestation of Christ's power and glory as if he was himself to come visibly in the clouds of heaven." (ibid., p. 408-409)

Thomas Scott (1817)"The language of these verses is suited, and probably was intended, to lead the mind of the reader to the consideration of the end of the world, and the coming of Christ to judgment: yet the expression, 'immediately after the tribulation of those days,' must restrict the primary sense to them, to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the events that were consequent to it." (Scott, Notes, Is xiii, 10; xxxiv, 3-7)

"The darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars, and the shaking of the powers of the heavens, denote the utter extinction of the light of prosperity and privilege to the Jewish nation; the unhinging of their whole constitution in church and state; the violent subversion of the authority of their princes and priests; and the abject miseries to this the people in general, especially their chief persons, would be reduced, and the moral darkness to which they would be consigned. This would be an evident sign and demonstration of the Son of man's exaltation to his throne in heaven; when he would come in his divine providence, as riding upon 'the clouds of heaven with power and great glory', to destroy his enemies, who would 'not have him to reign over them;' at which events all the tribes of the land would mourn and lament, whilst they saw the tokens and felt the weight of his terrible indignation" (Scott, vol. 1)

John Lightfoot (1859)"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man. Then shall the Son of man give a proof of himself, who they would not before acknowledge: a proof, indeed, not in any visible figure, but in vengeance and judgment so visible, that all the tribes of the earth shall be forced to acknowledge him the avenger. The Jews would not know him: now they shall know him, whether they will or no, Isa. xxvi. II. Many times they asked of him a sign: now a sign shall appear, that he is the true Messiah, whom they despised, derided, and crucified, namely, his signal vengeance and fury, such as never any nation felt from the first foundations of the world" (Lightfoot, vol. 2, p. 320)

"This generation shall not pass, &c. Hence it appears plain enough, that the foregoing verses are not to be understood of the last judgment but, as we said, of the destruction of Jerusalem. "

"1. That the destruction of Jerusalem is very frequently expressed in Scripture as if it were the destruction of the whole world, Deuteronomy 32:22; "A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell" (the discourse there is about the wrath of God consuming that people; see verses 20,21), "and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains." Jeremiah 4:23; "I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light," &c. The discourse there also is concerning the destruction of that nation, Isaiah 65:17; "Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered," &c. And more passages of this sort among the prophets. According to this sense, Christ speaks in this place; and Peter speaks in his Second Epistle, third chapter; and John, in the sixth of the Revelation; and Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:17, &c.

2. That Christ's taking vengeance of that exceeding wicked nation is called Christ's "coming in glory," and his "coming in the clouds," Daniel 7. It is also called, "the day of the Lord." See Psalm 1:4; Malachi 3:1,2, &c.; Joel 2:31; Matthew 16:28; Revelation 1:7, &c. See what we have said on chapter 12:20; 19:28.

"The destruction of Jerusalem is phrased in Scripture as the destruction of the whole world; and Christ's coming to her in judgment, as his coming to the last judgment.  Therefore, those dreadful things, spoken of in Matt. 24:29,30 and 31, are but borrowed expressions, to set forth the terms of that judgment the more.. v.30 - "then shall they see" - not any visible appearance of Christ, or of the cross, in the clouds (as some have imagined); but, whereas  Jews would not own Christ before for the Son of Man, or for the Messias, then by the vengeance that he should execute upon them, they and all the world should see an evident sign, and it was so.  This, therefore, is called "his coming," and his coming in his kingdom." [A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, ed. Rev. John Rogers Pitman (London: J.F. Dove, 1825), p.141]

Milton Terry (1898)"Some expositors fall into the error of identifying the coming of the Son of man with the destruction of Jerusalem. These events are rather to be spoken of as coincident, in that the Messianic reign is conceived as following immediately after the tribulation of those days.

"The language of Matt. xxiv, 30, concerning 'the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and much glory," is taken from Daniel's night vision (Daniel vii, 13) in which he saw the Son of man coming to the Ancient of Days and receiving from him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom. That vision was a part of the compost of world-empire, and signified that "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him' (Dan vii,27). The kingdom received from the Ancient of Days is no other than the kingdom symbolized by the stone cut out of the mountain, in chap 22,34,35, which 'became a great mountain and filled all the land.' This is the kingdom of the Messiah, which the Chialists believe to be be yet future, but which is more generally believe to be the Gospel dispensation, a kingdom not of this world, and not inaugurated with phenomenal splendor visible to mortal eyes. Like the stone cut out of the mountain, and the mustard seed, it is small and comparatively unimportant at its beginning, but it grows so as to fill the earth. This kingdom, according to Jesus' own testimony (Luke xvii,20), 'comes not with observation;' that is, says Meyer, 'the coming of the Messiah's kingdom is not so conditioned that this coming could be observed as a visible development, or that it could be said, in consequence of such observation, that here or there is the kingdom.' It may safely be affirmed, therefore, that this language concerning the Son of man in the clouds means no more on the lips of Jesus than in the writings of Daniel. It denotes in both places a sublime and glorious reality, the grandest event in human history, but not a visible display in the heavens of such a nature as to be a matter of scenic observation. The Son of man came in heavenly power to supplant Judaism by a better covenant, and to make the kingdoms of the world his own, and that parousia dates from the fall of Judaism and its temple. The mourning of 'all the tribes of the land' (not all nations of the globe) was coincident with the desolation of Zion, and our Lord appropriately foretold it in language taken from Zech. xii, 11,12" (Biblical Hermeneutis p 446-447)

"'the sign of the Son of man' may mean the ruin of the Jewish temple, considered as a sign or token that the old aeon thereby is ended, and the new Messianic aeon is begun. "Such apocalyptic forms of speech are not to be assumed to convey in the New Testament a meaning different from that which they bear in the Hebrew Scriptures. The ideal of "the Son of man coming in the clouds" is taken from a prophecy of the Messianic kingdom, which kingdom, as depicted in Daniel 7:13,14, is no other than the one symbolized in the same book by a stone cut out of the mountain (Dan. 2:34,35The other citations we have given above show with equal clearness how both Jesus and his disciples were wont to express themselves in language which must have been very familiar to those who from childhood heard the law and the prophets "read in the synagogues every Sabbath" (Acts 13:27; 15:21). A strictly literal interpretation of such pictorial modes of thought leads only to absurdity. Their import must be studied in the light of the numerous parallels in the Old Testament writers, which have been extensively presented in the foregoing part of this volume. But with what show of reason, or on what principle of "interpreting Scripture by Scripture," can it be maintained that the language of Isaiah, Joel, and Daniel, allowed by all the best exegetes to be metaphorical when employed in the Hebrew Scriptures, must be literally understood when appropriated by Jesus or his apostles?

So the Son of man coming on the clouds means here just what it means in Daniel's vision. It is an apocalyptic concept of the Messiah, as King of heaven and earth, executing divine judgment and entering with his people upon the possession and dominion of the kingdoms of the world. It is the same coming of the Son of man in his kingdom which is referred to in Matt. 16:27,28, the inception of which was to occur before some of those who heard these words should taste of death. The mourning of all the tribes of the land is the universal wail and lamentation of Judaism over its national overthrow. In the fall of their city and Temple the priests, scribes, and elders saw "the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power" (Matt. 26:64), and thus it was made manifest to all who read the prophecy aright that "Jesus the Galilean" has conquered. The gathering of Christ's elect from the four winds is the true fulfillment of numerous prophecies which promise the chosen people that they shall be gathered out of all lands and established forever in the mountain of God (comp. Amos 9:14,15; Jer. 23:5-8; 32:37-40; Ezek. 37:21-28). The time and manner of this universal ingathering of the elect ones cannot be determined from the language of any of these prophecies. As well might one presume to determine from Jesus's words in John 12:32, where, when, and in what manner, when the Christ is "lifted up out of the earth," he will draw all men unto himself. The point made emphatic, in the eschatological discourse of Jesus, is that all things contemplated in the apocalyptic symbolism employed to depict his coming and reign would follow "immediately after the tribulation of those days" (Matt. 24:29); or, as Mark has it, "in those days, after that tribulation." That is, the coming of the kingdom of the Son of man is coincident with the overthrow of Judaism and its temple, and follows immediately in those very days. s, p. 446-447)

Tommy Ice 1999: The Destructive View of Preterism "You might be interested to know that in 1843, when

the journal Bibliotheca Sacra was first started, it taught Preterism. You can go back and look at the early articles – Scholars such as Moses Stewart and James Robinson wrote for the journal in those early years. It was not until 1934, when Dallas Seminary took control of Bib Sac, that it became a futurist organ."

Eusebius: "When, then, we see what was of old foretold for the nations fulfilled in our day, and when the lamentation and wailing that was predicted for the Jews, and the burning of the Temple and its utter desolation, can also be seen even now to have occurred according to the prediction, surely we must also agree that the King who was prophesied, the Christ of God, has come, since the signs of His coming have been shewn in each instance I have treated to have been clearly fulfilled

Eusebius: The Holy Scriptures foretell that there will be unmistakable signs of the Coming of Christ. Now there were among the Hebrews three outstanding offices of dignity, which made the nation famous, firstly the kingship, secondly that of prophet, and lastly the high priesthood. The prophecies said that the abolition and complete destruction of all these three together would be the sign of the presence of the Christ. And that the proofs that the times had come, would lie in the ceasing of the Mosaic worship, the desolation of Jerusalem and its Temple, and the subjection of the whole Jewish race to its enemies...The holy oracles foretold that all these changes, which had not been made in the days of the prophets of old, would take place at the coming of the Christ, which I will presently shew to have been fulfilled as never before in accordance with the predictions." (Demonstratio Evangelica VIII)

You have then in this prophecy of the Descent of the Lord among men from heaven, many other things foretold at the same time, the rejection of the Jews, the judgment on their impiety, the destruction of their royal city, the abolition of the worship practised by

them of old according to the Law of Moses; and on the other hand, promises of good for the nations, the knowledge of God, a new ideal of holiness, a new law and teaching

coming forth from the land of the Jews. I leave you to see, how wonderful a fulfilment, how wonderful a completion, the prophecy has reached after the Coming of our Saviour

Jesus Christ." (Demonstratio Evangelica; Book VI - Chapter 13)

"I have already considered this prophecy among the passages. And I have pointed out that only from the date of our Saviour Jesus Christ's Coming among men have the

objects of Jewish reverence, the hill called Zion and Jerusalem, the buildings there, that is to say, the Temple, the Holy of Holies, the Altar, and whatever else was there

dedicated to the glory of God, been utterly removed or shaken, in fulfilment of the Word which said: "Behold the Lord, the Lord comes forth from his place, and he shall descend

on the high places of the earth, and the mountains shall be shaken under him." (Demonstratio Evangelica ; Book VIII - Chapter 3)

"When, then, we see what was of old foretold for the nations fulfilled in our own day, and when the lamentation and wailing that was predicted for the Jews, and the burning of

the Temple and its utter desolation, can also be seen even now to have occurred according to the prediction, surely we must also agree that the King who was

prophesied, the Christ of God, has come, since the signs of His coming have been shewn in each instance I have treated to have been clearly fulfilled." (Demonstratio

Evangelica; Book VIII)

"But if, on the other hand, we can see the people of Egypt far more patently in actual fact than in mere description, some of them acknowledging the God of the prophets, and for His sake renouncing their ancestral gods, some of them raising political dissension against the converts, some of them even now calling upon their gods and images and them that speak from the ground, who no longer can effect aught, and some throughout all Egypt raising an altar to the Lord of the prophets for each local Church, calling no (d) longer in their troubles and persecutions on beasts or reptiles as their gods, nor on wild animals and unreasoning brutes as their fathers did, but on the Supreme God, retaining Him only and the fear of Him in their minds, praying to Him, and not to the daemons, and promising what men should promise God—how can we deny that the prophecies of long ago have at last been fulfilled? And these foretold that the Lord would come to Egypt not in an unembodied state, but in a light cloud, or better "in light thickness," for such is the meaning of the Hebrew, shewing figuratively His Incarnate state. Therefore the prophecy goes on to call Him a man that is a Saviour, saying, "And (415) the Lord shall send to them a man that is a Saviour." Here again the Hebrew is, "And He shall send to them a Saviour, who shall save them." As the proof is now so clear from this, I consider that there is no question of the time at which the

prophecies foretold the Lord's Coming."

(On the Significance of A.D.70)"If any one compares the words of our Saviour with the other accounts of the historian (Josephus) concerning the whole war, how can one fail to wonder, and to admit that the foreknowledge and the prophecy of our Saviour were truly divine and marvelously strange." (Book III, Ch. VII)

"The lamentation and wailing was predicted for the Jews, and the burning of the Temple and its utter desolation, can also be seen even now to have occurred according to the prediction." (The Proof of the Gospel, Bk. VIII, Ch.4, sect.412.)

"It is fitting to add to these accounts the true prediction of our Saviour in which he foretold these very events. His words are as follows: "Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day; For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." The historian, reckoning the whole number of the slain, says that eleven hundred thousand persons perished by famine and sword, and that the rest of the rioters and robbers, being betrayed by each other after the taking of the city, were slain. But the tallest of the youths and those that were distinguished for beauty were preserved for the triumph. Of the rest of the multitude, those that were over seventeen years of age were sent as prisoners to labor in the works of Egypt, while still more were scattered through the provinces to meet their death in the theaters by the sword and by beasts. Those under seventeen years of age were carried away to be sold as slaves, and of these alone the number reached ninety thousand. These things took place in this manner in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, in accordance with the prophecies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who by divine power saw them beforehand as if they were already

present, and wept and mourned according to the statement of the holy evangelists, who give the very words which be uttered, when, as if addressing Jerusalem herself, he said: "If thou hadst known, even thou, in this day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a rampart about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee and thy children even with the ground." And then, as if speaking concerning the people, he says, "For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." And again: "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." (Book III, Ch. VII)

(On Matthew 24:7)"Caius had held the power not quite four years,[1] when he was succeeded by the emperor Claudius. Under him the world was visited with a famine,[2] which writers that are entire strangers to our religion have recorded in their histories.[3] And thus the prediction of Agabus recorded in the Acts of the Apostles,[4] according to which the whole world was to be visited by a famine, received its fulfillment. And Luke, in the Acts, after mentioning the famine in the time of Claudius, and stating that the brethren of Antioch, each according to his ability, sent to the brethren of Judea by the hands of Paul and Barnabas,[5] adds the following account." (Book II, Ch. VIII)

(On Matthew 24:14)"THUS, under the influence of heavenly power, and with the divine co-operation, the doctrine of the Saviour, like the rays of the sun, quickly illumined the whole world;[1] and straightway, in accordance with the divine Scriptures,[2] the voice of the inspired evangelists and apostles went forth through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Book II, Ch.III.)

"The same historian records another fact still more wonderful than this. He says that a certain oracle was found in their sacred writings which declared that at that time a certain person should go forth from their country to rule the world. He himself understood that this was fulfilled in Vespasian. But Vespasian did not rule the whole world, but only that part of it which was subject to the Romans. With better right could it be applied to Christ; to whom it was said by the Father, "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession." At that very time, indeed, the voice of his holy apostles "went throughout all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." (Book III, Ch. 8)

(On Matthew 24:15)"--all these things, as well as the many great sieges which were carried on against the cities of Judea, and the excessive. sufferings endured by those that fled to Jerusalem itself, as to a city of perfect safety, and finally the general course of the whole war, as well as its particular occurrences in detail, and how at last the abomination of desolation, proclaimed by the prophets, stood in the very temple of God, so celebrated of old, the temple which was now awaiting its total and final destruction by

fire,-- all these things any one that wishes may find accurately described in the history written by Josephus." (Book III, Ch. 5)

(On Matthew 24:21 | Pella Flight Tradition)"But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella." (Book III, Ch. 5)

(On Matthew 24:34)"And when those that believed in Christ had come thither from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men." (Book III, Ch. 5)

(On Nero and Domition)"Tertullian also has mentioned Domition in the following words: 'Domition also, who possessed a share of Nero's cruelty, attempted once to do the same thing that the latter did. But because he had, I suppose, some intelligence, he very soon ceased, and even recalled those whom he had banished" (vol. 1, pp. 148-149)

"Having in remembrance, therefore, this saving commandment and all those things which have come to pass for us: the Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection on the third day, the Ascension into heaven, the Sitting at the right hand, and the second and glorious Coming" (St. Chrysostom's Liturgy)

Irish Book of Questions(AD 725) "One commentary, an Irish Book of Questions on the Gospels, written about 725, interpreted Christ's coming in Matthew 24 in light of the Judean war, as a coming in judgment through the Roman armies."

Josephus (A.D. 75) - Jewish Historian"Besides these [signs], a few days after that feast, on the one- and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius, a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence" (Jewish Wars, VI-V-3).

“A supernatural apparition was seen, too amazing to be believed. What I am now to relate would, I imagine, be dismissed as imaginary, had this not been vouched for by eyewitnesses, then followed by subsequent disasters that deserved to be thus signalized. For before sunset chariots were seen in the air over the whole country, and

armed battalions speeding through the clouds and encircling the cities.”  (rendered in Chilton)

Tacitus (A.D. 115) - Roman historian"13. Prodigies had occurred, but their expiation by the offering of victims or solemn vows is held to be unlawful by a nation which is the slave of superstition and the enemy of true beliefs. In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armour. A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure. Few people placed a sinister interpretation upon this. The majority were convinced that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the present as the very time when the Orient would triumph and from Judaea would go forth men destined to rule the world." (Histories, Book 5, v. 13).

Jonathan Edwards 1736 “‘Tis evident that when Christ speaks of HIS COMING; his being revealed; his COMING IN HIS KINGDOM; or his KINGDOM’S COMING; He has respect to HIS APPEARING in those great works of his Power, Justice and Grace, which should be in the Destruction of Jerusalem and other extraordinary Providences which should attend it.” (Miscellany #1199)

“Thus there was a FINAL END to the Old Covenant world: ALL was FINISHED with a kind of Day of Judgment, in which the people of God were saved, and His enemies terribly destroyed.” (vol. i. p. 445)

Tertullian ~200 AD “The Founder of Western Theology”CHAP. VIII.– OF JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION: “Accordingly the times must be inquired into of the predicted and future nativity of the Christ, and of His passion, and of the extermination of the city of Jerusalem, that is, its devastation. For Daniel says, that “both the Holy City and the Holy Place are exterminated together with the coming Leader, and that the pinnacle is destroyed unto ruin” And so the times of the coming Christ, the Leader,must be inquired into, which we shall trace in Daniel; and, after computing them, SHALL PROVE HIM TO HAVE COME, even on the ground of the TIMES PRESCRIBED, and of competent signs and operations of His. Which matters we prove, again, on the ground of the consequences which were ever announced as to follow HIS ADVENT; in order that we may BELIEVE ALL TO HAVE BEEN as well FULFILLED AS FORESEEN.

B.F. Dunelm 1896 “It is no exaggeration to say that the Fall of Jerusalem is the MOST significant national event in the history of the world.” 

Athanasius 345 AD “It is, in fact, a sign and notable PROOF of the COMING OF THE WORD that Jerusalem no longer stands.”

Chrysostom 380 AD “For I will ask them, Did He send the prophets and wise men? Did they slay them in their synagogue? Was their house left desolate? Did ALL the VENGEANCE

COME UPON THAT GENERATION? It is QUITE PLAIN THAT IT WAS SO, and NO MAN NO MAN GAINSAYS IT.”  i

“Do you see that His discourse is addressed to the Jews, and that He is speaking of the ills that should overtake them?…And let not any man suppose this to have been spoken hyperbolically; but let him study the writings of Josephus, and LEARN THE TRUTH of the sayings.” Commentary on Matthew 24:21

“Remembering this saving commandment and all those things which CAME TO PASS for us: the cross, the grave, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the sitting down at the right hand, THE SECOND AND GLORIOUS COMING AGAIN.” – St Chrysostom’s Divine Liturgy

Attend, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, from thy holy dwelling place and from the glorious throne of thy kingdom, and come to sanctify us, O thou that sits with the Father above, and that are invisibly PRESENT HERE WITH US . – St Chrysostom’s Divine Liturgy

You brought us forth from non-existence into being, and RAISED US UP AGAIN when we had fallen, and left nothing undone until you had brought us to heaven and bestowed upon us your future kingdom.” Prayerof the Anaphora – Eucharistic Prayer

Eusebius 314 AD “The Father of Church History” “And ALL THIS PROPHECY of what would result from their insolence against the Christ has been CLEARLY PROVED TO HAVE TAKEN PLACE … afterwards from that day to this that God turned their feasts into mourning, despoiled them of their famous Mother-City, and destroyed the holy Temple therein when Titus and Vespasian were Emperors of Rome, so that they could no longer go up to keep their feasts and sacred meetings… in return for their rejection of the Word of God; since with one voice they refused Him, so He refuses them.” – Demonstratio Evangelica, BOOK X

“When we see WHAT WAS of old FORETOLD for the nations FULFILLED in our own day, and when the lamentation and wailing that was predicted for the Jews, and the burning of the Temple and its utter desolation, can also be seen even now to HAVE OCCURRED ACCORDING TO PREDICTION, surely we must also agree that the King who was prophesied, the Christ of God, HAS COME, since THE SIGNS OF HIS COMING have been shown in each instance I have treated to HAVE BEEN CLEARLY FULFILLED.” Demonstratio Evangelica (Proof of the Gospel); BOOK VIII

Hippolytus of Rome ~200 ADCome, then, O blessed Isaiah; arise, tell us clearly what did you prophesy with respect to the mighty Babylon? For thou didst speak also of Jerusalem, and YOUR WORD IS ACCOMPLISHED. For you spoke boldly and openly: “Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by many strangers. The daughter of Zion shall be left as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.”

What then? HAVE NOT THESE THINGS COME TO PASS? ARE NOT THE THINGS ANNOUNCED BY YOU FULFILLED? Is not their country, Judea, desolate? Is not the holy place burned with fire? Are not their walls cast down? Are not their cities destroyed? Their land, do not strangers devour it? Do not the Romans rule the country? And …Thou art dead in the world, but YOU LIVE IN CHRIST.” (resurrection!) – Fragmentsof Dogmatic and Historical Works

Irenaeus ~174 AD Early Church FatherCHAP. IV.– THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM  WAS PUT IN EXECUTION BY THE MOST WISE COUNSEL OF GOD. 1. Further, also, concerning Jerusalem and the Lord, they venture to assert that, if it had been “the City of the Great King,” it would not have been deserted. This is just as if any one should say, that if straw were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat;…so also [was it with] Jerusalem, which had in herself borne the yoke of bondage under which man was reduced, who in former times was not subject to God when death was reigning … 2. Since, then, THE LAW originated with Moses, it TERMINATED WITH JOHN as a necessary consequence. Christ had come to FULFILL it: wherefore “the law and the prophets were” with them “until John. “And therefore Jerusalem, taking its commencement from David, and fulfilling its own times, must have an End of legislation when the New Covenant was revealed.”

(Riley’s note: The New Jerusalem, the New Heavens and Earth ARE the New Covenant that was revealed from Heaven by God, given to US and is where he dwells with US NOW! The “End” that was spoken of in Scripture was Covenantal and fulfilled in the past. What great news for us!)

Origen ~ 100’s “I challenge anyone to prove my statement untrue if I say that the entire Jewish nation was destroyed less than one whole generation later on account of these sufferings which they inflicted on Jesus. For it was, I believe, forty-two years from the time when they crucified Jesus to the destruction of Jerusalem.” Contra Celsum, 198-199

(Riley’s note: This quote below supports the idea of Revelation’s main theme as a story about God giving his Old Covenant wife, Israel, a bill of divorcement, i.e. the scrolls that are read of her misgivings in court, before the Judge. And of his taking his New Covenant Bride, New Jerusalem, New Heavens and Earth, or all who are in the body of Christ, spiritually ‘married’ to God. For more on this, see The Book of Revelation Made Easy by Dr. Kenneth Gentry, who did his dissertation on this).

“Therefore he, also, having separated from her [Old Covenant Israel], married, so to speak, another [New Covenant Israel], having given into the hands of the former the bill of divorcement; wherefore they can no longer do the things enjoined on them by the law, because of the bill of divorcement. And a sign that she has received the bill of divorcement is this, that Jerusalem was destroyed along with what they called the sanctuary of the things in it which were believed to be holy, and with the altar of burnt offerings, and all the worship associated with it…Jerusalem was compassed with armies, and its desolation was near, and their house was taken away from it… And, about the same time, I think, the husband wrote out a bill of divorcement to his former wife, and gave it into her hands, and sent her away from his own house…COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW, Book 2., sec. 19.

R.C. Sproul 2006 “No matter what view of eschatology we embrace, we must take seriously the redemptive-historical importance of Jerusalem’s destruction in A.D.70.” The Last Days According to Jesus, 26

“THE COMING OF CHRIST in A.D.70 was a COMING IN JUDGMENT on the Jewish nation, indicating THE END of the Jewish AGE and the FULFILLMENT of a Day of the Lord. JESUS REALLY DID COME IN JUDGMENT at this time, FULFILLING his prophecy in the Olivet Discourse.” The Last Days According to Jesus, p. 158

Henry Alford 1868 ‘We may observe that our Lord makes “when the LORD COMES” coincide with the destruction of Jerusalem, which is incontestably the overthrow of the wicked husbandmen. THIS PASSAGE therefore forms an important KEY TO OUR LORD’S PROPHECIES, and a decisive justification for those who, like myself, firmly hold that the ‘COMING OF THE LORD’ IS, in many places, to be IDENTIFIED, primarily, with THAT OVERTHROW.” On Matt. 21:33-46

David Brown 1858 “Those who have not directed their attention to prophetic language will be startled if I answer, ‘The COMING OF THE LORD’ here announced is his COMING IN JUDGMENT AGAINST JERUSALEM – to destroy itself and its temple..”

John Calvin “At the end of the 9th chapter [of Daniel]… For he then said, Christ ‘shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and shall cause the sacrifices and oblation to cease’. Afterwards, the abomination that stupifies shall be added, and desolation or stupor, and then death will distill, says he, upon the astonished or stupefied one. The angel, therefore, there treats of the perpetual devastation of the Temple. So in this passage, without doubt; he treats of the period after the destruction of the Temple; there could be no hope of restoration, as the law with all its ceremonies would then arrive at its termination. With this view Christ quotes this passage in Matthew 24, while he admonishes his hearers diligently to attend to it. Let him who reads, understand, says he…God then deserted his Temple, because it was only founded for a time, and was but A SHADOW… that profanation of the Temple which happened after THE MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST , when sacrifices ceased, and THE SHADOWS OF THE LAW WERE ABOLISHED. From the time, therefore, at which the sacrifice really ceased to be offered; this refers to the period at which CHRIST BY HIS ADVENT should ABOLISH the shadows of THE LAW, thus making all offering of sacrifices to God totally valueless. From that time, therefore. Next, from the time at which the stupefying abomination shallhave been set up. God’s wrath followed the profanation of the Temple…Hence Jerusalem and their Temple were exposed to the vengeance of the Gentiles. This, therefore, was the setting up of this stupefying abomination; it was a clear testimony to the wrath of God, exhorting the Jews in their confusion to boast no longer in their Temple and its holiness.” (Commentary)

Robert Roberts (1855) “The PAROUSIA, or proximity, of the Son of Man TO JERUSALEM in the crisis of its overthrow WAS TO BE IN THE LIFETIME OF THAT GENERATION, according to the words of Jesus, who said, “This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” (The Signs of the Son of Man’s Presence at the Destruction of Jerusalem)

R.C. Sproul (1998)“The most significant, redemptive, historical action that takes place outside the New Testament, is the judgment that falls on Jerusalem, and by which judgment the Christian Church now emerges as The Body of Christ.” (R.C.Sproul, Dust to Glory video series, 1997)

“Russell’s book has forced me to take the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem far more seriously than before, to open my eyes to the radical significance of this event in redemptive history. It vindicates the apostolic hope and prediction of our Lord’s close-at-hand coming in judgment. My view on these matters remains in transition, as I have spelled out in The Last Days According to Jesus. But for me one thing is certain: I can never read the New Testament again the same way I read it before reading The Parousia. I hope better scholars than I will continue to analyze and evaluate the content of J. Stuart Russell’s important work.” (“Forword,” in The Parousia, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999)

Kenneth Gentry “The A.D. 70 catastrophe results from Christ’s prophetic word, corroborating His Messianic authority in a dramatic way. AD. 70 proves His prophecy to be not only a true word from God (Deut. 18:22) but a judgment word against God’s people. The disciples’ request for a “sign” marking out “the end of the age” (Matt. 24:3) sparks the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and 25… Too many Christians MISS THE MEANING of Jesus’ cloud-coming in Matthew 24:30 for two reasons. First, they are unfamiliar with Old Testament apocalyptic passages wherein divine judgments appear as cloud-comings (Isa. 19:1). Second, they overlook the interpretive clues in Matthew 24: mention of the temple’s destruction (v. 2), the Judean focus (v. 16), and the temporal proximity of all the events between verses 4 and 34 (v. 34). Indeed, Jesus warns the very men who sit in judgment over Him:

“‘Here after YOU will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of thePower, and coming on the clouds of heaven”‘ (Matt. 26:64b). This is certainly how the ancient church read Matthew 24. Referring to A.D. 70, Eusebius highlights “the infallible forecast of our Saviour in which He prophetically expounded these very things” (Ecclesiastical History, 3:7:1).” Tabletalk Mag., December 2001

“The final collapse of Jerusalem and the Temple… Through these events the Jews were to “see” the Son of Man in His judgment-coming in terrifying cloud-glory: clouds are symbols of divine majesty often entailing stormy destruction. The members of the Sanhedrin and others would experience such in their life times (Matt. 26:64; Mark 9:1; cf. Rev 1:7 with Rev 1:1,3).” (ibid. 348)

“The nature of the event has to do with a ‘Cloud-Coming’ of Christ. It is necessary here to understand the Old Testament backdrop for a proper comprehension of the matter. The Old Testament frequently uses clouds as indicators of divine judgment.” Before Jerusalem Fell; Bethesda, MD: Christian University Press, 1997; p. 121

F.W. Farrar (1882) “the Fall of Jerusalem and all the events which accompanied and followed it in the Roman world and in the Christian world, had a significance which it is hardly possible to overestimate. They were the

FINAL END of the Old Dispensation. They were the FULL INAUGURATION of the NEW COVENANT. They were God’s own overwhelming judgment on that form of Judaic Christianity which threatened to crush the work of St. Paul, to lay on the Gentiles the yoke of abrogated Mosaism, to establish itself by threats and anathemas as the only orthodoxy… Nothing but God’s own unmistakable interposition -nothing but the MANIFEST COMING OF CHRIST – could have persuaded Jewish Christians that the Law of the Wilderness was annulled.” (The Early Days of Christianity, p. 489, 490)

“It was to this event, the most awful in history – ‘one of the most awful eras in God’s economy of grace, and the most awful revolution in all God’s religious dispensations’ – that we must APPLY THOSE PROPHECIES OF CHRIST’S COMING in which every one of the Apostles and Evangelists fixed these three most definite limitations – the

1. one, that BEFORE THAT GENERATION PASSED AWAY all these things would be fulfilled;(Mt 24:34)

2. another, that SOME STANDING THERE should not taste death till they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom;(Mt 16:28)

3. and third, that the Apostles should NOT HAVE GONE OVER THE CITIES OF ISRAEL TILL the Son of Man be COME.(Mt 10:23)

It is strange that these distinct limitations should not be regarded as a decisive proof that the Fall of Jerusalem was, IN THE FULLEST SENSE, THE SECOND ADVENT of the Son of Man which was primarily contemplated by the earliest voices of prophecy” ibid., Vol. 2, p. 489

Bishop Jacques Benigne Bossuet (1670) “They have their book which they name Talmud, that is, doctrine, which they regard no less than the Scripture itself. It is a collection of tracts and sentences of their doctors; …And first, it is certain from the admission of the Jews, that the Divine vengeance did never more terribly nor more manifestly declare itself than in their last desolation [of Jerusalem].”

Adam Clarke (1837) “I conclude, therefore, that this prophecy has not the least relation to Judas Maccabeus. It may be asked, to whom, and to what event does it relate? .. to the destruction ofJerusalem and the Jewish polity; which IN THE GOSPEL IS CALLED THE COMING OF CHRIST and the days of vengeance, Matthew 16:28; Luke 21:22.” (Isaiah 65, p. 513)

P.S. Desprez (1854) “THE LORD CAME, AS HE SAID, to destroy Jerusalem, and toclose the dispensation.” The Apocalypse Fulfilled Preface, p. vi.

“NO scriptural statement is capable of more decided proof than that theCOMING OF CHRIST IS the destruction of Jerusalem, and the close of the Jewishdispensation.” The Apocalypse Fulfilled, p.9

Gary DeMar (1999) “ALL THE SIGNS listed in Matthew 24 have reference tothe Destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.70.”(Last Days Madness, GA: AmericanVision, p., 124)

John Wesley (1754) “Josephus’ History of the Jewish War is the bestcommentary on this chapter (Matt. 24). It is a wonderful instance of God’sprovidence, that he, an eyewitness, and one who lived and died a Jew,should, especially in so extraordinary a manner, be preserved, to transmitto us a collection of important facts, which so EXACTLY ILLUSTRATE THIS GLORIOUS PROPHECY, in almost every circumstance.” (Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament)

Philip Mauro 1921 “It is greatly to be regretted that those who, in our day, give themselves to the study and exposition of prophecy, SEEM NOT TO BE AWARE  of the IMMENSE SIGNIFICANCE of the Destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70…The failure to recognize the significance of that event, and the vast amount of prophecy which it fulfilled, has been the cause of great confusion, for the necessary consequence of MISSING THE PAST FULFILLMENT OF PREDICTED EVENTS is to leave on our hands a mass of prophecies for which we must needs CONTRIVE FULLFILMENTS IN THE FUTURE . The harmful results are two fold; for first, we are thus deprived of the evidential value, and the support to the faith, of those remarkable fulfillments of prophecy which are so clearly presented to us in authentic contemporary histories; and second, our vision of things to come is greatly obscured and confused by the transference to the future of predicted events which, in fact, have already happened, and whereof complete records have been preserved for our information.” “Yet, in the face of all this, we have today a widely held scheme of prophetic interpretation, which has for its very cornerstone the idea that, when God’s time to remember His promised mercies to Israel shall at last have come, He will gather them into their ancient land again, only to pour upon them calamities and distresses far exceeding even the horrors which attended the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This is, we are convinced, an error of such magnitude as to derange the whole program of unfulfilled prophecy.” -Seventy Weeks and the Great Tribulation

F.W. Farrar (1882) Chaplain to Queen Victoria, 1871-1876, Archdeacon of Westminster, Dean of Canterbury

“all the earliest Christian writers on the Apocalypse, from Irenaeus down to Victorious of Pettau and Commodian in the fourth, and Andreas in the fifth, and St. Beatus in the eighth century, connect Nero, or some Roman emperor, with the Apocalyptic Beast.” (Early Days of Christianity, p.541)“the Fall of Jerusalem was, in the fullest sense, the Second Advent of the Son of Man which was primarily contemplated by the earliest voices of prophecy” – F.W. Farrar,

    F.W. Farrar (1886)

“there can be no reasonable doubt respecting the (early) date of the Apocalypse.” (The Early Days of Christianity; NY, NY: A.L. Burt, 1884; p. 387)“We cannot accept a dubious expression of the Bishop of Lyons as adequate to set aside an overwhelming weight of evidence, alike external and internal, in proof of the fact that the Apocalypse was written, at the latest, soon after the death of Nero.” (The Early Days of Christianity; NY, NY: A.L. Burt, 1884; p. 408)

The reason why the early date and mainly contemporary explanation of the book is daily winning fresh adherents among unbiased thinkers of every Church and school, is partly because it rests on so simple and secure a basis, and partly because no other can compete with it. It is indeed the only system which is built on the plain and repeated statements and indications of the Seer himself and the corresponding events are so closely accordant with the symbols as to make it certain that this scheme of interpretation is the only one that can survive. (The Early Days of Christianity; NY, NY: A.L. Burt, 1884; p. 434)

    William Hurte (1884)

“That John saw these visions in the reign of Nero, and that they were written by him during his banishment by that emperor, is confirmed by Theophylact, Andreas, Arethas, and others. We judge, therefore, that this book was written about A.D. 68, and this agrees with other facts of history.. There are also several statements in this book which can only be understood on the ground that the judgment upon Jerusalem was then future.” (Catechetical Commentary: Edinburgh, Scotland, 1884)

    Arthur Cushman McGiffert (1890)

“Internal evidence has driven most modern scholars to the conclusion that the Apocalypse must have been written before the destruction of Jerusalem, the banishment therefore taking place under Nero instead of Domitian.” (Eusebius, Church History, Book III, ch.5. Eusebius notes, 148, footnote 1.)

    Ernest Hampden Cook–The Christ Has Come (1891)(On the Significance of A.D.70)

“In 70 A.D. the heavenly Kingdom was fully established over the earth. For it was then that the ringleader of evil was cast into the abyss, and the saints began to reign with Christ.” “But if, as we confidently believe, the Second Advent really took place within the narrow limits of time assigned to it by Christ Himself, then, in 70 A.D., the Old Testament saints and the saints of the primitive Church entered into the joy of their Lord and shared to the utmost in the twofold victory which He, as man and on man’s behalf, bad, at His resurrection, gained over the grave and over all the powers of evil.” (On The Fulfillment of Prophecy) The most ancient faith of the Christian church associated together the destruction of Jerusalem, the winding up of the Jewish dispensation, and a personal return of Christ to the earth , as events which were certain to happen at one and the same time . Jesus and His apostles believed and taught that the Second Advent would take place in the lifetime of some who had been His earthly contemporaries. Confident that the founders of Christianity were neither deceived nor mistaken we joyfully accept on their authority the fact that the Christ has already come the second time.”

    Jay E. Adams (1966)

“[the temple still standing in Revelation 11:1 is] unmistakable proof that Revelation was written before 70 A.D.” (The Time is at Hand, p. 68).“The Revelation was written to a persecuted church about to face the most tremendous onslaught it had ever known. It would be absurd (not to say cruel) for John to write a letter to persons in such circumstances which not only ignores their difficulties, but reveals numerous details about events supposed to transpire hundreds of years in the future during a seven year tribulation period at the end of the church age.” (The Time is at Hand, p. 49)

“It is to remain unsealed because ‘the time is at hand.’ That is, its prophecies are about to be fulfilled. The events which it predicts do not pertain to the far distant future , but they are soon to happen. The message is for this generation, not for some future one.” (The Time is at Hand, p. 51)

    C. H. Spurgeon (1865) Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. xxxvii, p. 354

“Did you ever regret the absence of the burnt-offering, or the red heifer, of any one of the sacrifices and rites of the Jews? Did you ever pine for the feast of tabernacle, or the dedication? No, because, though these were like the old heavens and earth to the Jewish believers, they have passed away, and we now live under a new heavens and a new earth, so far as the dispensation of divine teaching is concerned. The substance is come, and the shadow has gone: and we do not remember it.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

  “Tis evident that when Christ speaks of his coming : his being revealed : his coming in his Kingdom ; or his Kingdom’s coming; He has respect to his appearing in those great works of his Power Justice and Grace, which should be in the Destruction of Jerusalem and other extraordinary Providences which should attend it.” (Miscellany #1199)