Berean Bible Church: Introduction to Preterism

We looked last week at the time statements in the Bible as to the coming of the Lord. We saw that he said he would come -- while some that were standing there were still living; in that generation; soon; quickly; at hand; he said his coming was near. Everywhere that the Bible talks about the Lord's coming it gives us a time statement. The NT saints fully expected the Lord to return in their lifetime. How could we possibly miss this? Yet the majority of believers today, some two thousand years later are still saying that the Lord will return soon. Can the same event be imminent at two different periods of time separated by two thousand years? Someone said to me that they felt that the Lord said he was coming soon because he wanted every generation to be watching for Him. Think about that. What that means is that when he told the first century believers that he was coming back soon, he really didn't mean it, he was giving them false information to keep them looking for Him. Can you live with that? If that was the case what else did he tell them that wasn't true? Do we have a God who intentionally deceives men? Isn't it much easier to simply believe what Jesus said and believe that he came back in the first century? What is at stake here is the inspiration of Scripture. If Jesus was mistaken or if he lied to us then what good is the rest of the Bible? There are those opponents who say that if you believe that Jesus came back in the first century then you don't need to read your Bible any more. I don't understand that argument, but if Jesus didn't come back in the first century, when he said that he would then you might as well throw your Bible out because if it isn't inspired, it isn't any good. I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and therefore without errors.

Have you ever wondered why it is that two men can read the same passage of scripture and come up with two totally different interpretations? Or why two men can read the same Bible and yet see things so differently? Two men who love God and yet see the same scripture in two different ways. Is it that one of them is stubborn or unreasonable? No, it is because each of us has within us paradigms of what life is really all about. The word paradigm means a model or a map. We look at life through our paradigms. Inside each of us is a map or model of what life ought to be like. Our paradigms are representations of life. We all have them, and we all have paradigms of eschatology. Eschatology is a word that frightens people, they don't understand it so they are afraid of it. When I talk about eschatology, I am not talking about the end of time, but the time of the end. There is a very large difference between those two ideas. Eschatology is the doctrine of last things but it is the last things of God's plan to redeem us, not the last things of planet earth.

Does the Bible speak of the end of the world? Everyone seems to think so, but could they be wrong?

While most assume Revelation is about the end of planet Earth, it actually never speaks on such a topic. So what does it teach?

For a book that was written to reveal, much of the plain language seems to confuse so many so easily.

What is Scripture telling us when it speaks of the sun being darkened and the stars falling from the sky? Most people seem to be confused on this topic.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 (NKJV) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Most Christians today view this verse as describing an escape from the troubles of this world. They believe that one day soon, (it is always soon, it was "soon" when Jesus spoke it to the Thessalonians and it is still soon today) Jesus is going to physically appear in the sky, and immediately all the dead are going to be resurrected and rise to meet Him, and the living Christians will be caught up in the clouds with them to be with Christ. They believe that Christians will physically be "raptured" off of this planet. I'm sure you've seen the pictures of the unmanned cars crashing and bodies coming out of the graves with everyone going up into the sky. Are you aware that this "rapture of the church" idea is not a historical teaching of the church but something that was started around 1830 by the Plymouth Brethren? It was popularized in America by the Scofield Reference Bible and by elaborate End Time event charts published by Clarence Larkin. During the twentieth century, the "physical rapture" of the Church became a dominant eschatological view. Berean Bible Church provides this material free of charge for the edification of the Body of Christ. You can help further this work by your prayer and by sending a contribution to: Berean Bible Church 2000 Centerville Turnpike Chesapeake, VA 23322

Matthew is filled with time text indicators of the events to occur in the "last days" but many do not take a serious consideration of them, or seek to explain them away if they do not fit with their expectations.

Matthew is filled with time text indicators of the events to occur in the "last days" but many do not take a serious consideration of them, or seek to explain them away if they do not fit with their expectations.

The resurrection of mankind is not a New Testament prophecy, but comes from a promise to Israel in the Old Covenant. It had been laid out hundreds of years earlier, and both Jesus and Paul came preaching that resurrection hope. That hope was to happen at a certain time, and Daniel 12 holds many keys to knowing the time.

The resurrection of mankind is not a New Testament prophecy, but comes from a promise to Israel in the Old Covenant. It had been laid out hundreds of years earlier, and both Jesus and Paul came preaching that resurrection hope. That hope was to happen at a certain time, and Daniel 12 holds many keys to knowing the time.

This morning we want to talk about "How to share the Preterist view." It's not the easiest or smartest thing to just say to someone: "I believe that Jesus returned." Although I did that very thing not long ago. So how do you introduce this subject? How can we introduce this without causing people to tear their clothes and throw dust into the air? I have come up with a handout that I use to share Preterism, and I thought I'd share it with you this morning. But before I share with you how to share Preterism, a question we should first answer is: Why share Preterism? People always says to me, "Why is this important? What does it matter if He has returned or not?" My answer is always the same, "Does truth matter? If it doesn't, than we don't need to study the Bible at all. But if truth does matter, then Preterism matters.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 (NKJV) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Most Christians today view this verse as describing an escape from the troubles of this world. They believe that one day soon, (it is always soon, it was "soon" when Jesus spoke it to the Thessalonians and it is still soon today) Jesus is going to physically appear in the sky, and immediately all the dead are going to be resurrected and rise to meet Him, and the living Christians will be caught up in the clouds with them to be with Christ. They believe that Christians will physically be "raptured" off of this planet. I'm sure you've seen the pictures of the unmanned cars crashing and bodies coming out of the graves with everyone going up into the sky. Are you aware that this "rapture of the church" idea is not a historical teaching of the church but something that was started around 1830 by the Plymouth Brethren? It was popularized in America by the Scofield Reference Bible and by elaborate End Time event charts published by Clarence Larkin. During the twentieth century, the "physical rapture" of the Church became a dominant eschatological view. Berean Bible Church provides this material free of charge for the edification of the Body of Christ. You can help further this work by your prayer and by sending a contribution to: Berean Bible Church 2000 Centerville Turnpike Chesapeake, VA 23322

We began last week to introduce the book of Revelation. We discussed two basic issues that are keys to this book: When was it written? What is the proper approach? We explored the question of the date that Revelation was written. The interpretation of Revelation hinges on whether it was written before or after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Strong internal evidence points to an early date view: Revelation was written in AD 65-66. According to the early date view, Revelation speaks of the birth pangs of the Kingdom, the end of Old Covenant Israel, and the beginning of Church history.

The vivid imagery and dramatic message of Revelation have long captivated the attention of Christendom although most of the interest is based on a radical misunderstanding of the very nature and purpose of the book. As church historian Philip Schaff noted over eighty years ago, "The literature of the Apocalypse, especially in English, is immense, but mostly impository rather than expository, and hence worthless or even mischievous, because confounding and misleading." The publication by Edgar C. Whisenant is an example of the misleading nature of literature on the Apocalypse . Six million copies of his work caused quite a stir among evangelicals in the summer and fall of 1988. Mr. Whisenant laboriously demonstrated why Christ would return to the earth in September, 1988. Regional news reports noted that a number of Christians took his message so seriously that they quit their jobs in anticipation of Christ's imminent return. I called to order a book from a major Christian book outlet only to be told by a recording that the employees had the day off to spend with their families before the Lord returned. Needless to say they all came back to work disappointed that the Lord didn't show. The "end of the world" frenzy of the 19th century has spawned many groups such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons), the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Christadelphians, and countless other "last days" groups. In recent times, the "frenzy" has continued with the teachings of interpreters like Marshall Applewhite (Heaven's Gate cult leader). This "frenzy" continues to survive today because of modern misconceptions about the purpose of the prophetic events in Revelation and the time frame for their occurrence, which was the first century.

We looked last week at the time statements in the Bible as to the coming of the Lord. We saw that he said he would come -- while some that were standing there were still living; in that generation; soon; quickly; at hand; he said his coming was near. Everywhere that the Bible talks about the Lord's coming it gives us a time statement. The NT saints fully expected the Lord to return in their lifetime. How could we possibly miss this? Yet the majority of believers today, some two thousand years later are still saying that the Lord will return soon. Can the same event be imminent at two different periods of time separated by two thousand years? Someone said to me that they felt that the Lord said he was coming soon because he wanted every generation to be watching for Him. Think about that. What that means is that when he told the first century believers that he was coming back soon, he really didn't mean it, he was giving them false information to keep them looking for Him. Can you live with that? If that was the case what else did he tell them that wasn't true? Do we have a God who intentionally deceives men? Isn't it much easier to simply believe what Jesus said and believe that he came back in the first century? What is at stake here is the inspiration of Scripture. If Jesus was mistaken or if he lied to us then what good is the rest of the Bible? There are those opponents who say that if you believe that Jesus came back in the first century then you don't need to read your Bible any more. I don't understand that argument, but if Jesus didn't come back in the first century, when he said that he would then you might as well throw your Bible out because if it isn't inspired, it isn't any good. I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and therefore without errors.