In order to maintain the view that A.D. 70 constituted a great eschatological crisis in the history of the world, Preterists have been put to strange shifts regarding the “cloud-coming” passages of the New Testament and Old. The most notable passages they dwell on are Daniel 7: 13-14 and Matthew 24: 30. Preterists tell us that these texts do not speak of Christ coming down to earth, but going up, and receiving His kingdom. This view has been forward by pseudo-Gnostic commentators who have never studied the Bible systematically.
If their view is correct, though, we must wonder why it took Christ forty years to attain to the promised kingdom. The mystery gets deeper if we should accept their thesis that the “kingdom” is only spiritual and heavenly, having nothing to do with dominion in the earth. The fact is, the spiritual reign of Christ was already a present reality long before the destruction of Jerusalem.
The Rev. Alfred Bryant, a Presbyterian pastor, certainly gave the correct view when (in 1852) he wrote: “The spiritual government which Christ exercises over the people of God commenced with the first believer on earth, and has never since been intermitted, and never will be. Over Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and the tens of thousands who died in the faith, and went home to heaven before His first advent, the Great Mediator reigned as effectually by His word and Spirit, and dwelt in them by faith and love, as over Paul, or the millions who have lived since” (Millennarian Views: With Reasons For Receiving Them, pg. 86).
Preterists do not generally recognize that Christ had already been exalted to the highest position in the heavenlies at His ascension in A.D. 30. A look at New Testament terminology confirms this. For example, the term epouranios is used 5 times in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, and in the dative plural (Eph. 1: 3; 1: 20; 2: 6; 3: 10; 6: 12). The preposition ep means above; and so epouranios means “the heavens above” — not the limited heavens which will pass away, but the eternal heavens, where God dwells.
When used in the genitive case, epouranios signifies the origin from which anything proceeds. When used in the dative case, however, it signifies locality; and so these verses tell us that Christ is now seated in the “above heavens,” exalted above the highest aristocracy of glory — not merely angels, but principalities and powers (Eph. 1: 20-22; 1 Peter 3: 22). If we take this exaltation as having been achieved in A.D. 30, then it is clear that upon His ascension there was no place higher for Him to go.
By trying to make the destruction of Jerusalem an eschatological event (and by necessity an invisible one), Preterists must spiritualize the coming of Matthew 24; 30; and so they invent a surplus ascension to deal with the problem. But Matthew 24: 30 is not talking about ascension at all. It is referring to Christ’s arrival (parousia) as the Son of Man.
The phrase Son of Man is used 84 times in the New Testament, and never once in the church epistles. It occurs 80 times in the Gospels, once in the Book of Acts, once in Hebrews (where it appears as a quotation from Psalm 8) and twice in the Book of Revelation. The term always involves Messiah’s connection with the earth; the first and last occurrences in the New Testament confirm this (Matt. 8: 20; Rev. 14: 14).
When Christ came the first time, He had no place on earth where to lay His head. But when He comes the second time, upon His head will be a golden crown, and the harvest of the earth will be reaped (Rev. 14: 15-16). This clinches the matter. Therefore, when we read of Christ’s parousia as the Son of Man, it means His personal arrival to subdue all earthly powers and take to Himself dominion in the earth. That is what the ”golden crown” signifies.
Our view is substantiated in Daniel 7: 27, where it says that the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven (note the preposition) will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, and all dominions will serve and obey Him. This verse is parallel with Revelation 11: 15. The kingdoms of this world (kosmos) become Christ’s when the 7th trumpet sounds. And it is clear that the seventh trumpet never sounded in A.D. 70, for the kingdoms of this world were never given to Christ and His saints.
Now, I realize that it is humanly possible to spiritualize all this language, and insist (in the face of the evidence) that Matthew 24: 30, Daniel 7: 14, Rev. 11: 15, and other passages refer to the destruction of Jerusalem. By the same reasoning, it is possible, I suppose, to spiritualize anything in the Bible — be it the creation account, the parting of the Red Sea, or even the Cross. But is this dealing fairly with Scripture? I think not.
The fact is, that in A.D. 30 Christ ascended “up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things” (Eph. 4: 10). The phrase “all things” is inclusive. Christ’s session at the right Hand of the Father does not allow for any further exaltation than Christ already received when He ascended on High. To claim that there was to be a further grade of glorification after A.D. 30 is to impugn the effects of the Cross, and to place limitations on the power that Christ received upon His resurrection and ascension (Matt. 28: 18; John 17: 1-5).
Our conclusion is that the cloud coming passages of Matthew 24: 30 and Daniel 7: 27 involve the subjugation of earthly enemies, by the personal return of “the Man Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 2: 5) — and not some figurative, allegorical “ascension” which took place when the Jewish temple was destroyed in A.D. 70.
Looks like you are starting to believe it too Brian.This would explain your obsession with partial and full preterists! Do you ever talk about what you believe?
Oh yea, i forget you whole system of belief is wrapped up into the misrepresentaion of Daniel 9:27… The truth that this passage speaks of Christ,steals your ant-ichrist persecuting Israel and sitting in the temple that is yet to be re-built,does it not? What about your pre-trib, post trib or pre-wrath rapture, there is no scriptural support whatsoever…
Especially since you have to go to a Latin bible translation,to find your equivalent for the word rapture,which is not even in the original Greek manuscripts used by the translators of the version that you use.Is it? And of course your seven year tribulation… Does it not henge also or your misrepresentaion of Daniel 9:27 also …Sadly Brian you have no scriptural proof of any of what you believe,do you?Unlike partial Preterist, who have an arsenal full of scriptural proof texts,that is really what troubles you Brian,Matthew 24 is the end of your dream of midnight flight into the Heavens..
Brian, we all have scriptural proof of the fundamentals of our faith… However,your end times or eschatology is found wanting and is in need of the usual semantics and twisting of scripture to be fulfilled…
I suggest you study again what you believe,so that your disappointment will not cause you to rebel,when you do not get your way…I for one only care that i am ready according to his standards, so how ever he comes and how ever we go to be with him,does not matter to me…Can you say the same…IF no,then you should examine yourself Brian,before it is to late…