Eschatology from a First Century Viewpoint,
by Tyrone Cropper
To many Christians today, the end of age in our lifetime
is the very mark of Christian orthodoxy. But there was
a period of time well over a "millennium" ago (that the
church fathers held that view).
A close study of the writings of the early church fathers
detects that there were numerous elements of the (end
of the age) in existence at that time. The preterist view
is a very ancient view, not as a system, but in terms of
portions of Scripture being understood within the bounds
of a first century fulfillment.
What did the earliest of the early Christian writers
actually believe about prophetic events? We can only
answer this question by studying what they wrote.
Unfortunately, we do not have a complete record of
the period. Many of their surviving works are only
fragments of larger works no longer available to us.
Did other Christians, long before Martin Luther, John
Calvin, or Luis Alcasar, interpret prophecies of the Bible
as fulfilled in connection with the A.D. 70 destruction
of Jerusalem by the Romans?
There were a number of early writers who made significant
Preterist statements (i.e. Eusebius, Athanasius, Origen,
Melito, and Odes of Solomon etc). One doesn’t have
to look too closely to find some real gems. They have been
there all along. We just didn’t recognize them as Preterist
statements. We just know they weren’t what we have
"traditionally been taught". Here are a few examples
of Preterist statements found in their writings.
Think deeply on these things!
Eusebius records the statement that James (brother of Jesus,
writer of the book of James) made just before (63 A.D.)
he was pushed off the temple to the pavement below when
he was being martyred for his faith in Jerusalem: "Why
do ye ask me respecting Jesus the Son of Man? He is
now sitting in the heavens, on the right hand of great
Power, and "is about to come on the clouds of heaven."
(Eusebius’ Esslesiastical History, Book 2, Ch.23;
cf James 5:8,9)
Eusebius says that the abomination of desolation
(i.e the antichrist, man of sin and beast of Revelation)
occurred at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem
in 70 A.D. "... these facts, as well as the whole tenor
of the war, and each particular of its progress, when
finally "the abomination of desolation, according to
the prophetic declaration, stood in the very temple
of God, so celebrated of old, but which now was
approaching its total downfall and final destruction
by fire; all this, I say, any one that wishes may see
accurately stated in the history written by Josephus."
(Eusebius; Esslesiastical History, Book 3, Ch.5).
After quoting sections of Matt. 24:19-21; Lk. 19:41ff
and Lk. 21:20, 23, 24, Eusebius says this about the
destruction of Jerusalem: "All this occurred" in this
manner, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian
(70 A.D.), according to the predictions of our Christ...
On comparing the declarations of our Saviour which
the other parts of Josephus work, where he describes
the whole war, "how can one fail to acknowledge"
and wonder at the truth divine and extraordinary
foreknowledge and prediction of our Saviour?"
(Eusebius’ Esslesiastical History, Book 3. Ch.7)
Eusebius declares that the Great Commission had been
accomplished by the time Jerusalem was destroyed in
A.D. 70 (cf. Matt. 24:14): "Of who (Christ), indeed
"at this very time, "the sound of the holy apostles went
throughout all the earth, and their words to the ends
of the world.’ " (Eusebius Esslesiastical History, Book 3,
Ch. 8; cf. Rom. 10:18; Col. 1:6,23)
Athanasius declares "For now that "He has come" to our
realm, and taken up his abode in one body among His peers,
henceforth the whole conspiracy of the enemy against mankind
in checked, and "the corruption of death which before was
prevailing against them is done away." For the race of men
had gone to ruin had not the Lord and Saviour of all, the
Son of God, come among us to meet "the end of death."
(Athanasius’ On the Incarnation of the Word, Section 9,
Verse 4; cf. 1 Cor. 15:21-26)
In reference to the Jews’ rejection of Jesus as the Messiah
and their interpretation of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9,
Athanasius has this to say: "Perhaps with regard to the
other "prophecies" they may be able even to find excuses
and to put off what is written to a future time. But what
can they say to this, or can they face it at all? Where not
only is the Christ referred to, but He that is to be
anointed is declared to be not man simply, but Holy
of Holies; and "Jerusalem is to stand till His coming,
and thenceforth, prophet and vision cease in Israel."
(Athanasius; On the Incarnation of the Word,
Section 39 Verse 3; cf. Dan. 9:24ff).
Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 153-193-217), in The Stromata,
or Miscellanies, Book 1 page 329, in The Ante- Nicene
Fathers, vol. 2, placed the abomination of desolation of
Daniel's 70th week prophecy, in the time of Nero. He said:
'in the one week; was He Lord. The half of the week Nero
and in the half of the week he was taken away, and Otho,
and Gaiba, and Vitallus. And Vespasian rose to the supreme
power, and destroyed Jerusalem, and desolated the Holy
place."
Earlier ever that Clement of Alexandria, was Clement of
Rome, who wrote to James and told him what Peter had to the
Jews, thusly: " ' For we; said I, 'have ascertained beyond
doubt that God is much rather displeased with the sacrifices
which you offer the time of sacrifices having now passed
away; and because ye will not acknowledge that the time for
offering victims is now past, therefore the temple shall be
destroyed, and the abomination of desolation shall stand in
the holy place; and then the Gospel shall be preached to the
Gentiles for a testimony against you....; "When I had thus
spoken, the whole multitude of the priests were in a rage,
because I had foretold to them the overthrow of the
temple...;' (Clement, p 94, vol. 8, The Ante-Nicene
Fathers).
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 be come, even on the ground of the times
prescribed, 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.
"In such wise, therefore, did Daniel predict concerning Him,
as to show both when and in what time He was to set the
nations free; and how, after the passion of the Christ, that
city had to be exterminated;, (The Ante-Nicene Fathers,
vol. 3, p. 158).
Tertullian was also a Preterist in his interpretations of
Zechariah 14:4. He said, " 'But at night He went out to
the Mount of Olives; For thus had Zechariah pointed out:
'And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of
Olives; " (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, p. 417).
Eusebius says that the abomination of desolation
(i.e.the antichrist, man of sin and beast of Revelation)
occurred at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in
70 A.D "...(Eusebius' Esslesiastical History, Book 3, Ch5).
Don't be foolish enough to say that nothing is out there
in church history, because you never know. As one
can easily see, the Preterist position was taught by
various writer clear back to the time of the Apostles.
--
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"We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected
the Sermon on the Mount... The world has achieved
brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of
nuclear giants and ethical infants."
- General Omar Bradley
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