What is your opinion of preterist eschatology?
Preterist eschatology, more than anything else, is the belief that the events which are commonly regarded to be of “the end-times,” occurred in and around 66-70 C.E. They would have thus involved the period of the Jewish revolt against Rome, the destruction of the Second Temple, and the rise of Roman persecution against the Christians. Preterists argue for a very early composition of the Book of Revelation, and widely tend to believe that Nero Caesar was the antichrist. Preterists frequently conclude that the Abomination of Desolation occurred in 70 C.E. with the destruction of the Second Temple. Most important to recognize, however, is how preterism widely espouses supersessionism or replacement theology. God’s covenant and plans with Israel or the Jewish people are concluded to have ceased with the destruction of the Temple. The central locus of all salvation activity is now the Christian Church, perhaps as a New Israel.
Outreach Israel Ministries and Messianic Apologetics do not adhere to preterist eschatology, and virtually no one in the Messianic community believes in it either. Much of our rejection of preterist eschatology is based in the problems which arise when asserting that “the end-times” have taken place, without the physical return of Yeshua the Messiah. Is the Kingdom of God to be regarded as fully present via the Church somehow ruling and reigning on Earth, without the specific presence of the Messiah Himself? While elements of God’s Kingdom can be surely captured on Earth among His people at present, the redeemed still await the complete manifestation of the Kingdom at the Lord’s appearing and future resurrection of the dead, among other things.
Perhaps more than anything else, Messianics should reject preterism, because many preterists do not see a Scriptural basis for the existence of the State of Israel. In America, some preterists may be seen to support Israel because it is the only democracy in the Middle East and is an ally of the United States, but not for any Biblically-based reason. Preterists would argue that any microchip implant system, which could be implemented to identify people, could never be “the mark of the beast.”
The only way the Messianic community can avoid the problems with preterist eschatology, is to continue to develop its own post-tribulational, pre-millennial eschatology. This theology should be firmly based in the premise that the redeemed still await the completion of the Seventieth Week of Israel, that “the Church” replacing Israel via supersessionism is invalid, that God’s promises to Israel are still valid, and that all Believers—as a part of the Commonwealth of Israel no less—will experience the difficulties Israel will experience in the Last Days. These are the things which we should be discussing in our distinct Messianic examinations of the end-times.
