REFERENCE WORKS
Dictionaries
-
1842:
James Austin Bastow
-
A (Preterist) Bible Dictionary ! "Third, the Preterist, which regards the book as having to do with events long since fulfilled. To the Preterist scheme of interpretation we incline, regarding the predictions of the book as having been fully accomplished before the close of the year 135, within less than seventy years from the time when the book was written. The Apocalypse was evidently written to the Asiatic churches during a period of furious persecution, when the Christians greatly needed encouragement, consolation, and admonition. The writer has made a full disclosure of the persecuting powers of the Jews and Romans, and declared that their respective fall and ruin "must shortly come to pass.'" The fearful destruction of these persecuting powers, is, to the faithful, in all times and places, a type of the destruction of anti-christianism, and a pledge of the final and universal triumph of Christianity. "
-
A Dictionary
of the Writers on Prophecy (1835
PDF)
Commentary Compilations
From Primarily Preterist Authorities
Voluminous Commentary
REFERENCE
Firmin
Abauzit (1679-1769)
French Genevan
"Luis Alcazar"
Spanish Jesuit
American Sunday School Union
-
1827:
Destruction of Jerusalem, Abridged from the History of the Jewish Wars, by Josephus - together with Sketches of the History of the Jews, since their dispersion
- "Many learned commentators on the Scriptures have remarked,
regarding the writings of Josephus, that his history is so perfect a
delineation of certain passages of the Bible, and particularly those two
verses in the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew, -- "For there shall
be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world
to this time, no nor ever shall be. And except these days should
be shortened, there should no flesh be saved," &c. -- that they are not
only the exact counterparts of each other, but seem almost as if they
had been written by the same person (Newton). Yet Josephus was not
born till after our Saviour's crucifixion; he was not a Christian, but a Jew, and certainly never meant to give any testimony to the truth of the Christian religion."
Anglican Calendar
English
-
1578: Religious and Secular Events "September 8: Jerusalem was as upon this day,
sacked with fire and sworde, and utterly rased, 73 yeeres after the
birth of Christ: who prophesied the same 40 yeeres before. Matt 24:2,
34; Joseph. lib 7 chap 26 // August 10: Titus soldiours, as on this day,
set the Citie and Temple of Jerusalem on fire, sithens which time
neither of them haue euer bin reedified. Joseph. lib. 6, Chap 26 //
October 23: Also Titus, sonne to Vaspasian, after the destruction of
Jerusalem, slaieth 3000 Jewes on the birth day of his brother Domition.
An. 73 // November 18: Titus as vpon this day, vsed no lesse crueltie
against the Jewes his prisoners, in the citie of Beryte in Syria,
keeping the birth day of his father Vespasian, then he did on the birth
day of his brother Domition. Jospeh. Lib 7, Chap 20
"
Anonymous
English
James Armstrong
St. Thomas Aquinas
Karl August Auberlen
(1824-1864)
German
Bahnsen and
Gentry
American Postmillennialists -
1989:
House Divided, The Breakup of Dispensational Theology "In less than a dozen years, the world will change drastically. Will it be for the better or the worse? Dispensationalists automatically answer: "Worse!" But their system is in deep trouble. The year 1988 marked the beginning of Dispensationalism's "great tribulation": the Rapture did not take place."
Robert Baillie
English -
1645:
A Dissuasive From the Errors of the Time - The thousand years of Christ his visible Reign upon earth, is against Scripture
"AMONG all the Sparkles of new light wherewith our Brethren do entertain their own and the people’s fancy, there is none more pleasant than that of the thousand years; a conceit of the most Ancient and gross Heretic Cerinthus, a little purged by Papias, and by him transmitted to some of the Greek and Latin Fathers, but quickly declared, both by the Greek and Latin Church to be a great errour, if not an heresy. Since the days of Augustine unto our time, it went under no other notion, and was embraced by no Christian we hear of, till some of the Anabaptists did draw it out of its grave"
James Vernon Bartlet
James Austin Bastow
English
-
1842:
A (Preterist) Bible Dictionary "Third, the Preterist, which regards the book as having to do with events long since fulfilled. To the Preterist scheme of interpretation we incline, regarding the predictions of the book as having been fully accomplished before the close of the year 135, within less than seventy years from the time when the book was written. The Apocalypse was evidently written to the Asiatic churches during a period of furious persecution, when the Christians greatly needed encouragement, consolation, and admonition. The writer has made a full disclosure of the persecuting powers of the Jews and Romans, and declared that their respective fall and ruin "must shortly come to pass.'" The fearful destruction of these persecuting powers, is, to the faithful, in all times and places, a type of the destruction of anti-christianism, and a pledge of the final and universal triumph of Christianity. "
Ferdinand Christian Bauer
Ulrich R. Beeson
Joseph Beet
Willibald Beyschlag
William Blake
English
|
 |
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1804:
Jerusalem
"I also hope the reader will be with me Wholly One in
Jesus our Lord, who is the God and Lord to whom the Ancients look'd and saw his day afar off with trembling and
amazement.. These are the destroyers of Jerusalem! these are the
murderers Of Jesus! who deny the Faith and mock at Eternal
Life.. These are the Sexual Garments, the Abomination of
Desolation, Hiding the Human Lineaments, as with an Ark and
Curtains Which Jesus rent, and now shall wholly purge away with
Fire, Till Generation is swallow'd up in Regeneration."
|
Boardman
Horatious Bonar
Wilhelm Bousset
Alexander Brown
Scottish"To
sum the whole into a sentence — with the fall of Jerusalem, the then
existing age was ended, the dead were judged, the saints were raised to
heaven, and a new dispensation of a world-wide order instituted,
of which Christ is everlasting King, and ever present with His people,
whether living here or dead beyond." (p. 257)
David Brown
Dr. John Brown
("of Edinburgh")
Scottish
-
1850:
Discourses and Saying of our Lord
"Heaven and earth passing,' understood literally, is the dissolution of the present system of the universe, and the period when that is to take place, is called the 'end of the world.' But a person at all familiar with the phraseology of the Old Testament Scriptures, knows that the dissolution of the Mosaic economy, and the establishment of the Christian, is often spoken of as the removing of the old earth and heavens, and the creation of a new earth and new heavens"
Sir Thomas Brown
English
-
1646:
Vulgar Errors
Of the Jewes "Againe, they were mistaken in the Emphaticall apprehension, placing the consideration upon the words, If I will, whereas it properly lay in these, when I come: which had they apprehended as some have since, that is, not for his ultimate and last returne, but his comming in judgement and destruction upon the Jewes; or such a comming as it might be said, that that generation should not passe before it was fulfilled: they needed not, much lesse need we suppose such diuturnity; for after the death of Peter, John lived to behold the same fulfilled by Vespasian:7 nor had he then his Nunc dimittis, or went out like unto Simeon;8 but old in accomplisht obscurities, and having seen the expire of Daniels prediction, as some conceive, he accomplished his Revelation." (Chapter 10)
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1825:
The History of the Destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem, and
of the Ruin and Dispersion of the Jewish Nation Thomas Brown,
Joseph Priestley, David Levi
A.B. Bruce
Daniel Buck
-
1856:
Our Lord's Great Prophecy, and
Its Parallels Throughout the Bible
Its Parallels Throughout the Bible, Harmonized and Expounded:
Comprising a Review of the Common Figurative Theories of Interpretation.
With a Particular Examination of the Principal Passages Relating to the
Second Coming of Christ, the End of the World, the New Creation, The
Millennium, The Resurrection, The Judgment, The Conversion and Restoration
of the Jews ; And a Synopsis of Josephus' History of the Jewish War
E.W. Bullinger (1837-1913)
English Ultradispensationalist -
The Apocalypse - "Preterist Expositors differ among themselves as to whether "great Babylon" means the City of Rome, or the Church of Rome: Rome Pagan or Rome Papal. But, if this is all that these solemn chapters mean, we may well say with Dr. Seiss, "If we cannot find more solid ground than that on which the Rome theory rests, we must needs consign the whole subject to the department of doubt and uncertainty; and let all these tremendous foreshadowings pass for nothing." -
1914:
How to Enjoy the Bible
"If this coming be the same as the destruction of Jerusalem (as is generally supposed) then it is perfectly certain that the Twelve could not have gone on proclaiming the kingdom as being "at hand" for nearly forty years after it had been rejected, and the King crucified!"
-
Things to Come
John Bunyan
English Baptist
William Burkitt
John Calvin
French Genevan -
1555:
Commentary on the Harmony
of the Gospels "For God had promised two things seemingly
opposite; that
the throne
of David would
be eternal, (Psalm
89:29, 36,) and that, after it had been destroyed, he would
raise up its ruins, (Amos
9:11;) that the sway of his kingly power would be eternal, and yet
that there should come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, (Isaiah
11:1.) Both must be fulfilled. That supremacy, therefore, which God
had bestowed on the tribe of Judah, was suffered by him to be
broken down for a time, that the attention of the people might be more
strongly directed to the expectation of Christ’s reign. But when the
destruction of the Sanhedrim appeared to have cut off the hope of
believers, suddenly the Lord shone forth."
-
Covenant Enforced (1556) - Studies of Deuteronomy 27 and 28
Alexander Campbell
Restorationist/Church of Christ -
1824:
Essays on the Work of the Holy Spirit "we shall proceed to notice a prophecy of great utility, which respected an event about forty years distant. This prediction was designed for public conviction, and was perfectly adapted to this end. It was of that character of events which must necessarily be notorious and eminently conspicuous. Let us attend to it." -
1829:
Evidences of Christianity: A Debate -
"Alexander Campbell and Robert Owen "beside the predictions uttered by the Savior concerning his own demise, and all the circumstances attendant upon it, he foretold one event of such notoriety and importance as to confirm the faith of one generation and to produce faith in all subsequent generations."
Joseph M. Canfield
American -
The
Incredible Scofield and His
Book - "The Christian Church still awaits a definitive
comprehensive study of the entire subject of the second advent of Christ as it
is revealed in the New Testament, including a careful investigation of the
history of interpretation and the influence of this profound truth in the creeds
and literature of the church.." | BJU faculty member David O. Beale -
"There is a spiteful and inadequately documented attack on Scofield's
character.. Canfield attempts to discredit the pretribulation rapture, concludes
that Scofield possibly was not even a Christian.."
-
Neither Land Nor City Are Holy!
John Carling
Nigel Cawthorne
-
2005: History's Greatest
Battles: Masterstrokes of War
(PDF) Jerusalem, Defending the Temple - AD70 (p. 31-) "By crushing
Jewish resistance in Jerusalem, the Romans consolidated their eastern
empire, driving Jews out of their homeland in a diaspora that has
religious and political consequences to this day."
Lewis Sperry Chafer
-
1947:
The Second Advent of Christ Incarnate
On earlier theology of Wm. Clarke "This
work of fiction which does not even draw its material from the Bible --
though for remote identification it must introduce Christ and His
disciples - is one mass of impossible error in doctrine from its
beginning to its end ; yet this work on theology has had acceptance
with, and commendation from, an unusually large company of ministers and
professors of note. Its fallacies should be noted briefly: (a) The
entire assumption that Christ's coming is fulfilled by a "spiritual and
invisible" program ignores every event connected with His return.
(b) The writer confuses Christ's personal coming with His omnipresence.
He is in the midst when two or three are gathered unto Him, but that
fact does not imply that His promise to come as Bridegroom and Judge has
been, or is now, being fulfilled. " // "How different would have been
the histroy of theology in the past three centuries and its fruits
today, had theologians accepted the chiliasm of the apostles and the
early church instead of the Federal or Covenant theories introduced by
Johannes Cocceius
and the postmillennialism of
Daniel Whitby --
both living a century after the Reformation!" (pp. 280-287)
Walter Chamberlain
-
1854:
The National Restoration and Conversion of the
Twelve Tribes of Israel "The mistake of the
Professor and those who hold his sentiments lies here -- that they are
not careful to remember that the spiritual exposition of certain
prophecies for the edification of the Church is perfectly permissible,
and harmonises with the literal interpretation of the same for
the benefit of Israel." (p. 21) "there
are, probably, many learned Hebrews who will be astonished to hear that
he who propounded them has maintained that all prophecy, extending to
Israel as a nation, has already been fulfilled."
Robert Chambers
Edward Chandler
R.H. Charles
Stephen Charnock
Puritan
-
1680:
A Discourse of God's being the Author of Reconciliation "The time of his coming was fixed in Jacob's prophecy about the time of the fall of the Jewish government, Gen. xlix. 10, before the ruin of the second temple, Mall iii.1, after seventy weeks of years from the time of Daniel's prophecy." "You know how he armed the Romans against them, discharged his wrath upon them, gave up the city and temple, which they (and even their enemies) studied to preserve, for the death of his Son, as a prey to the fury and avarice of the enemies."
G.K. Chesterton
The Ballad of the White Horse
|
For
the White Horse knew England When there was none to know; He saw the
first oar break or bend, He saw heaven fall and the world end, O
God, how long ago.
For the end of the world was long ago,
And all we dwell to-day
As children of some second birth,
Like a strange people left on earth
After a judgment day. |
For
the end of the world was long ago,
When the ends of the world waxed free,
When Rome was sunk in a waste of slaves,
And the sun drowned in the sea.
When
Caesar's sun fell out of the sky
And whoso hearkened right
Could only hear the plunging
Of the nations in the night. |
(1911) |
David Chilton
American Postmillennialist
Alfred Church
-
1902:
The Story of the Last
Days of Jerusalem
-
1912:
The Burning of Rome: A Story of Nero's Days "He threw himself
down on the couch and buried his face in the cushions. The Empress and
the Minister watched and waited in serious disquiet. There was no
knowing what wild resolve he might take. That he had set his heart to no
common degree on this new scheme was evident. In all his life he had
never given so much serious thought to any subject as he had to this,
and disappointment would probably result in some dangerous outburst.
After about half an hour had passed, he started up. "I have it,"
he cried; "it shall be done,—the plan, the whole plan." "Sire, will you
deign to tell us what inspiration the gods have given you?" said Tigellinus. "All in good time," said the Emperor. "When I want your help
I will tell you what it is needful for you to know. But now it is time
for my harp practice."
-
1923:
To the Lions: A Tale of the Early Christians "No spoil that
he could have carried off from the sack of Jerusalem could have proved
such a treasure to him as the little Rhoda. She had learnt from her
Christian mother, who, happily for herself, had passed to her rest just
before Jerusalem was finally invested, some Gospel truths, and Manilius
listened with attention which he might not have given to an older
teacher when she told him in her childish prattle the story of the life
and death of Jesus. When the rewards for services in the great siege
were distributed, he received a permanent appointment at Ephesus. Here
he came under the influence of St. John, and here he, his wife, and the
little Rhoda were received into the Christian community. "
Ralph Churton
English
Chrysostom (346-407)
|
Adam Clarke
Methodist
Commentary On
the Whole Bible
(1810)
"He seems here to refer to the coming of the Lord to execute judgment on the Jewish nation, which shortly afterwards took place.
He is already on his way to destroy this wicked people, to raze their city and temple, and to destroy their polity for ever; and this judgment will soon take place."
|
David S. Clark
-
1921:
The Message From Patmos: A Postmillennial Commentary on the Book of
Revelation "This early twentieth-century
Postmillennial commentary on the Book of Revelation, written by the
father of theologian Gordon Clark, offers an easy-to-read alternative to
the popular Pre-millennial/Dispensational views of the best-selling Scofield Reference Bible and a multitude of other dissertations on end-time prophecy that litter the shelves of the average Christian
bookstores. "
William Newton Clarke
|
FROM 1894:
"Intelligent study of the nature of prophecy tends to the
conclusion that there is but little prediction in Scripture
awaiting fulfilment, and that what there is consists in large
outlooks, without minute details."
(Outlines of Christian Theology)
TO 1909:
"It is interesting to note what this interpretation was, for the nature of
it indicates again how far from being even and consistent was the movement
of my mind."
(Sixty years with the Bible) |
Henry Cowles
-
1871:
The Revelation of John :
With Notes
On Revelation 13-19 "At this
stage of the discussion I need only say that, guided by these
limitations of time, by these points of character, and by these special
explanations, it is simply impossible to make any thing else of the
first beast save the Roman Empire--the civil power of the Roman
Emperors; while the second beast (v. II), judging from the description
given of him here, from his influence as sketched here, and also from
the further description of him which appears in chap. 16: 13, 14, and in
19: 20--" the false prophet that wrought miracles before him" [the first
beast] "with which he deceived them that had the mark of the beast,
etc., we must interpret to be the Pagan Priesthood--every-where
ministering to the idolatrous homage paid to the Roman Emperors;
every-where inspiring the animus of Paganism, and by virtue of their
character, naturally active in the persecution of Christians. Beyond all
question this second beast is co-ordinate and co-operative with the
first and therefore contemporaneous, doing its work at the same
time; receiving its final doom in the same fearful hour of judgment"
Homersham Cox
-
1886:
The First Century of Christianity "This removal of
the Christian Jews to a neighbouring town has been sometimes represented
as a base and traitorous desertion of their countrymen in their sorest
need. But the same thing was done by many of those who adhered to the
Jewish faith. A large party among them, altogether opposed to the war,
saw plainly that resistance to the overwhelming Roman power- was futile,
and considered that the best interests of their country would be served
by submission. In large numbers they escaped from the fated city as from
a sinking vessel. Why, then, should the Christians be reproached for
taking the same course ? They simply obeyed the command— And when ye
shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation
thereof draweth nigh. Then let them which are in Judsa flee to the
mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let
not them which are in the countries enter thereinto."
David P. Crews
American -
1994:
Prophecy Fulfilled: God's Perfect Church
"We
have briefly mentioned the prophecy passage that comprises Matthew 24 and its
parallel recordings in Mark 13 and Luke 21. Now we can take a detailed, in–depth
look at this great prophecy, spoken by Jesus Christ himself and see how it fits
into the events of the times. Many people have understood that portions of
this passage refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, but they have
made divisions in the prophecy in order to assign some parts of it to the far
future. Our purpose here is to examine the prophecy in fine detail to see how it
fits the events of the destruction of the Jewish nation, and to see how such
man–made divisions in the text are unjustifiably imposed."
Former Full Preterist
-
My Journey From
Religion to Rationalism
Ephraim Currier
American
-
1841:
The Second
Coming of Christ, and the Resurrection;
Showing by an Appeal to the Bible as
it Reads, Aside From All Human Creeds and Commentaries, the Opinions of all
Sects of Religionists of this Vastly Interesting Subject, to be Merely Human
Opinions, and Wholly Irreconcilable with the Word of God (1841) "If
any thing can be proved by the word of God, I pledge myself to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt, that the resurrection of the Jews and all
Christian believers, was at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem
by the Romans."
Arthur Custance -
1977:
Hidden Things of God's Revelation
III: A Tale of Two Cities "The temple itself -- though Titus actually tried to preserve it against being destroyed -- was nevertheless put to fire. Its vast treasures were plundered, and as much as possible of the gold sheeting which covered the walls and doors and columns was removed by the soldiers. However, the heat of the fire was so intense that much of the gold was melted and ran between the stones of the building, which had been laid without mortar. For the next twenty-five years or more, men continued to pry these stones apart, one by one, to obtain the gold which they knew had run between them. And thus it came about the Lord's words were exactly fulfilled: "There shall not be left here one stone upon another" (Matthew 24:2)."
R.W. Dale
-
1887:
The Past Second Advent: The
Coming of Christ (PDF HERE) "The Unseen King of men is near, and
nearer than we know ; and if we listen to the voice of those that call
us to His feet, the vision of Christ when it suddenly comes at a moment
we look not for it. — Christ, King, and Judge, sitting on the clouds of
heaven with power and with great glory — will occasion no mourning to
us. It will be the fulfilment of all our most passionate hopes and the
beginning of our eternal blessedness. What lies beyond we cannot tell.
There are intimations in Holy Scripture elsewhere that the presence and
glory of Christ in the invisible and eternal world, where He has
ascended His throne as King and Judge of all, will, at last, after He
has gathered through age after age His elect to Himself, break through
even into the material order, and the last generation of mankind will
suddenly pass into His presence."
-
1871:
The
Jewish Temple and the Christian Church - A Series of Discourses on the
Epistle to the Hebrews
(PDF) "The end of all things is at
hand." "His voice then shook the earth, but now hath He promised,
saying, yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven." In
His last revelation to mankind, God's purposes are reaching their
perfect accomplishment. Empires which had overshadowed the whole earth
had decayed and perished. The institutions and laws which God Himself
had originally established, the temple He had consecrated, the priests
He had anointed, were now ready to vanish away."
Steven Davis
-
2005:
Don't Be "Left Behind"
(PDF) "This is my new book which examines the popular doctrine of a pretribulation rapture and shows that it is unbiblical. Rather, this
book takes a partial preterist, amillennial approach to eschatology. The
book is available for free download a. Just download the preview
("Preview the book); the preview is the entire book."
Samuel G. Dawson |
Dead Sea Scrolls
Historical Witness to First Century Preterist View
Christian and Jewish refugees from Jerusalem's impending besiegement stored numerous documents east of the city near Qumran. Key writings discovered immediately prior to the formation of the Jewish State reflect the Palestinian Christianity of James the Just.
These writings are all of utmost significance for first century studies in fulfilled eschatology because:
1) They show a highly developed Preterist view: Daniel and the Habakkuk Commentary specifically identify the Romans (the 'Kittim') as the primary apocalyptic enemy, making them the earliest known "Preterist Commentaries" (This view was in currency prior to the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey in 63 B.C.)
"The new leather fragment now provided a first-century B.C.-A.D. testimony to the accuracy of the text as it has been preserved - Kasidim was clearly in the text used by the copyist. The next line, however, begins, "Its interpretation concerns the Kittim...." The modern theory had already been propounded by interpretation by the ancient community two thousand years earlier!" - John C. Trever,
The Untold Story of Qumran
2) The "Pella Flight Tradition," which explains the deposit of many scrolls, substantiates that the Preterist view was the early Christian interpretation of Christ's Olivet Discourse (Such as found in Matthew 24:16).
3) The eschatology of the DSS reflects the view that their period was the "End of Days" for Israel:
"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" (4Q397 - 399)
"..from the day of the gathering in of the unique teacher, until the destruction of all the men of war who turned back with the man of lies, there shall be about forty years." (Damascus Document, xx, 14-15)
- "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]).
DEAD SEA SCROLLS (DSS) EXCERPTS
|
Thomas Dekker
Philip S.
Desprez
Former Full Preterist
Wilhelm Martin Leberecht De Wette
John Donne
Robert Drummelow
-
1920:
A Commentary on the Holy
Bible "The sketch of the purpose of the book will have
shown that the 'Preterist' view is at the
basis of the present Commentary. The probability of this view
is supported by the analogy of other apocalypses. And it seems natural to
suppose that the book would be meant to be intelligible by those to whom
it the language and the figures of the book
are found to fit the condition of the early days of Christianity, and to
yield, on this system, a consistent and unforced interpretation.
James Drummond
Alfred Edersheim
Jewish Christian
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
-
1776:
The History of Redemption:
From
the Resurrection of Christ to the Destruction of Jerusalem
"That coming
of Christ which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem, was preceded
by a glorious spiritual resurrection of souls in the calling of the
Gentiles, and bringing home multitudes of souls to Christ by the
preaching of the gospel."
Miscellanies
"'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."
George Edmundson
Bart Ehrman
Johann Gottfried Eichhorn
German Student of Michaelis
Robert Eisenman
Charlotte Elizabeth
E.B. Elliott
-
1884:
Hours with the Apocalypse
"Now with regard to the Præterist Scheme, on the review of
which we are first to enter, it may be remembered that I stated it to have
had its origin with the Jesuit Alcasar: and that it was subsequently, and
after Grotius and Hammonds prior adoption of it, adopted and improved by
Bossuet, the great Papal champion, under one form and modification; then
afterwards, under another modification, by Hernnschneider, Eichhorn, and
others of the German critical and generally infidel school of the last
half-century; followed in our own æra by Heinrichs, and by Moses Stuart of
the United States of America."
Rev. Heneage Elsley
Fredrick Engels
A Father of Communism -
1894:
On the Early History of Christianity "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.."
Eusebius of Caesarea
John S.
Evans
-
2008:
The Prophecies of Daniel 2 "The position that I hold with regard to Revelation 20 puts me at
odds with full preterism, which associates the "thousand years" with the
forty years from AD 30 to 70. That a thousand years can be equated to a
mere forty even in such to be a great challenge, and it is tempting to
dismiss such an idea as patent nonsense.
. . Nevertheless, it must be recognized at the outset that
equating the "thousand years" to only forty years stretches the
metaphorical elasticity of Revelation beyond limits of credibility
for most serious students of the Bible. Furthermore, the challenge faced
by FPs becomes even greater when it is recognized that their millennium"
is EVEN SHORTER THAN FORTY YEARS because
it begins AFTER AD30 and ENDS BEFORE AD70." (Pages 168-170)
Heinrich Ewald
D. Ragan Ewing
Joseph Eyre
Patrick Fairbairn
-
1856:
Prophecy Viewed in Respect to its Distinctive
Character; its Special Function and its Proper Interpretation
"During the time that the temple and Jerusalem stood, and formed the
centre of the divine kingdom and worship, the predictions, which were of
the nature of promises, received a measure of fulfilment in the case of
the true covenant- people to whom alone they properly referred. But from
the moment that Christ was glorified, as the temple and Jerusalem lost
their original character—as the Jerusalem and the temple, which
thenceforth constituted the real habitation of God and the seat of
worship, rose heavenwards with its Divine Head (Gal. iv. 26, Rev. xxi. 2), it is in connection with that higher region that we are to look
for what yet remains to be fulfilled of the predictions."
-
1854:
The Typology of Scripture - Two Volumes in One
"Thus, the deliverance
accomplished from the yoke of Babylon formed a fitting
stepping-stone to the main subject of the prophecy - the revelation
of God in the person and work in the Son. The certainty
of the one - a certainty soon to be realized - was a pledge of the
ultimate certainty of the other ; and the character also of the
former, as a singular and unexpected manifestation of the Lord's
power to deliver his people and lay their enemies in the dust, was a prefiguration of what was to be accomplished once for all in the
salvation to be wrought out by Jesus Christ. There are few portions
of Old Testament prophecy, which altogether resemble the one we have
been considering. Perhaps that which approaches nearest to it,
in the mode of combining type with prophecy, is the thirty-fourth
chapter of Isaiah, which is not a direct and simple delineation of
the judgments that were destined to alight upon Idumea, but rather
an ideal representation of the judgments preparing to alight on the
enemies generally of God's people, founded upon the approaching
desolations of Edom, which it contemplates as the type of the
destruction which awaits all the adversaries." (pp. 125-126)
William Farmer
|
F.W. Farrar
Anglican | Chaplain to Queen Victoria
1886:
The History
of Interpretation
"He (Irenaeus) makes the highly questionable statement that the Apocalypse was not written till the reign of Domitian."
-
1891:
Darkness and Dawn, or, Scenes in the days of Nero : an historic tale
-
1889:
The Early Days of Christianity
-
1874:
Life of Christ -
"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate!" And has not that denunciation been fearfully fulfilled? Who does not catch an echo of it in the language of Tacitus—"Expassac repente delubri fores, et audita major humana vox excedere Deos." Speaking of the murder of the younger Hanan, and other eminent nobles and hierarchs, Josephus says, "I cannot but think that it was because God had doomed this city to destruction as a polluted city, and was resolved to purge His sanctuary by fire, that He cut off these their great defenders and well-wishers"
-
1891:
Darkness and dawn, or, Scenes in the days of Nero
: an historic tale of the Days of Nero -
Gathering Clouds: A Tale of the Days of St. Chrysostom
|
James Farquharson
-
1838:
Daniel's Last
Vision and Prophecy, respecting which Commentators have greatly differed
from each other, showing its Fulfilment in events recorded in authentic
history "In the conclusion of our
illustration of these last predictions, we present some additional
considerations, which, in our view, compel us to reject any application
of this last chapter of Daniel to the general resurrection, by their
clearly directing us to apply the 11th verse of it to the siege and
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. " // "The most approved commentators of modern times have applied much of the latter
part to events, that have occurred since the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus,
and the last chapter to the general resurrection from the dead ; whereas the
quotation from it, by Christ, obviously directs us to look for the fulfilment of
the whole, in events that occurred at, or antecedently to, that destruction. "
George P. Fischer
Jim Fowler
-
2001:
Jesus -
The Better Everything - An Introductory Commentary of the Epistle to the
Hebrews "The Old Testament
scriptures were lodged in Paul’s memory, and he quotes from them again
to explain the “need for endurance” (36). “FOR YET IN A VERY
LITTLE WHILE, THE ONE COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY.”
Quoting from the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX), as he
does throughout this epistle, Paul allows the words of Habakkuk 2:3 to
speak to the situation of the Jerusalem Christians. The delayed
consummation of Christ’s victory to be revealed in the second advent
created an “enigma of the interim” for the early Christians, but Paul
uses Habakkuk’s words as his words to indicate that “the Coming One,”
Jesus, will come “in a very little while,” very soon, i.e. imminently.
This may refer to the “second coming of the parousia, as in Revelation
2:25, “Hold fast until I come.” More likely, Paul is referring to the
imminent coming of Christ in judgment, when (perhaps within a year after
the receipt of this letter) the Romans came against the residents of
Palestine from 66-70 AD, destroying everything and decimating the
population. This is the same “coming of the Son of Man” (Matt.
24:27,30,37,42) that Jesus referred to in His Mount of Olives discourse
(Matt. 24:3-45). Paul is warning the Hebrew Christians again that
judgment is coming, and everything in the old covenant will “disappear”
(8:13)."
George Fox
-
1656:
A Visitation to the Jews
"Now he that sits on the throne of David, his seed witness him Lord
and king, who is the prince of life, that hath dominion over death,
and through death has destroyed him that hath the power of death;
and repentance is preached, and remission of sins through faith in
him, from whom comes the refreshing into the soul."
-
Margaret Fox: A Call Out of Egypt's Darkness
(1668)
"For the outward law, which was written in tables of Stone, which was to the Jews onely, is changed, and the circumcision which was outward, and the Sabboath which was outward, and the Priests which were outward, and the Temple which was outward; these were figures, tipes, and shadows of him, who was to come; the body, and substance of these is CHRIST JESUS, who comes to fulfil the Law, and is the end of the Law for Righteousness"
John Foxe
Benjamin Franklin -
1869: The Second Coming of Christ and the Destruction of the World "But there is another class of scoffers that this discourse has to do with. They say the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ has long since occurred--that he came the second time at the destruction of Jerusalem; that he there judged the world; separated the righteous from the wicked, and, consequently, argue that the coming of Christ, the judgment, and punishment of the wicked are all long since gone by. This fallacy must now be refuted. It must be shown that the coming of the Lord is yet future." (The Gospel Preacher, Ch. 18) - (Not Benjamin Franklin of 1706-1790)
Jack Fruchtman, Jr.
-
1983:
Apocalyptic Politics: A Study in Late Eighteenth-Century English
Republican Millennialism "In 1706, William Whiston, Boyle
lecturer for 1707, declared in An Essay on the Revelation of Saint
John that the beast would be slain as early as 1716. When his
prediction failed to materialize, he neither despaired nor changed his
mined. In the thiries and forties, he was still convined that the
millennial paradise was imminent, perhaps only some twenty years off."
S.W. Fullom
John Galt
-
1820:
The
Destruction of Jerusalem By the Wandering Jew
"(Titus) then descended; and the Roman
priests who attended the army having provided a
number of oxen, a prodigious sacrifice was
offered to the idolatrous gods of the Romans,
and the remainder was distributed among the
soldiery."
-
1824:
The
Bachelor's Wife The Wandering Jew
& The Destruction of Jerusalem in a later
reprint
Don Garlington
Lloyd Gaston
Hermann Gebhardt
Kenneth L. Gentry
American Postmillennialist
|
Dr. John Gill
(1697- 1771)
Preached at
Spurgeon's Church a Century Earlier
-
1769:
Body of Divinity: On the Everlasting Covenant |
Of the Abrogation of the Old Covenant "But still the carnal Jews continued them, and even sacrifices, until the destruction of Jerusalem, which put an end to them; for according to the law of God, no sacrifice might be offered but at Jerusalem, and upon the altar there; so that when the city, temple, and altar were destroyed, they ceased to offer any sacrifice, and never have offered any since; whereby that prophecy is remarkably fulfilled; "the children of Israel shall abide many days without a sacrifice" (Hosea 3:4).. not even a passover lamb is slain by them, as well as no other sacrifice offered; which yet they would gladly offer, in defiance of Christ, the great Sacrifice, were it not for the above law, which stands in their way, and by which they are awed; and which is no small instance of the wisdom and goodness of God in providence. Now it was a little before the destruction of Jerusalem the apostle wrote the epistle to the Hebrews, and therefore, with great propriety, he says of the old covenant, that it was not only decayed, and waxen old, but was "ready to vanish away" (Heb. 8:13)."
|
William Gilpin
-
1790:
An Exposition of the New Testament, Intended as an Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures, by Pointing Out the Leading Sense and Connection of the Sacred Writers
"Jesus, having thus silenced the chief priests, continued the subject, by setting before them, in the audience of the people, their hardened, impenitent and dangerous state, the ungrateful returns which the Jews had made to God, for all his calls of mercy, and, finally, God's intention of casting them off, and adopting the Gentiles in their room"
James Glasgow
-
1872:
The Apocalypse Translated and Expounded - Early Dating Advocate, Sets at AD 51.
"Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks presents
an irrefragable proof that the whole of the New Testament, the
Apocalypse included, must have been written before the fall of Jerusalem
and the end of the Jewish kingdom." "When did the seventy weeks end ? No date later than that of the fall of Jerusalem (a.d. 70) can with any truth or plausibility be supposed, for these weeks were "determined on the holy city." But many say they ended earlier, — at the death of Christ. Against this, however, in the above, and some other particulars, there lie weighty objections, as Scaliger, Hales, and others have shown. Let us look at the objects which were to be accomplished before these weeks ran out. "
// "Many of the visions and
words of the prophets are still receiving fulfilment ; and not
until the end of the gospel age is all prophecy fulfilled.
Some were fulfilled at the death of Christ, some in the fall
of the city and dispersion of the people, and some in the progressive influx of the Gentiles ; while many regarding Gentiles
and outcast Jews are yet to pass into fulfilment."
Miss Grierson
Dom Prosper Guéranger
Catholic Abbot
-
1841:
The Destruction of Jerusalem "Whilst the abominations of desolation, foretold by Daniel, was
thus standing in the holy place, (St. Matt. xxiv. 15.) John of Grischala
saw that the Zealots were too stupefied by the feastings to cause him
any further alarm. He fell on the city, like a bird of prey, there to
find the necessary provisions; and out of hatred for Simon, he destroyed
by fire all he could not carry away. Simon, instead of quenching the
fire, extended it in every part where John was likely to pass, hoping,
by this means, to deprive the Galileans of all further victualling.
Immense stores of corn and other provisions had been amassed by the
Jewish leaders, as a necessary resource in case of a future siege; but
all were now destroyed by these two men, who were greater enemies to
their country than were the Romans themselves. Thus was spent the year
69 — a year of respite, which Rome, torn as she was by factions of her
own, was compelled to allow, and which might have been of such
incalculable benefit to the Jews."
John Gwynn
-
1897:
The Syriac Version of the Apocalypse "I
have endeavoured to lead to the conclusion that this Apocalypse is a
portion of the original "Philoxenian" New Testament, as translated A.D.
508, for Philoxenus of Mabug, by Polycarpus "the Chorepiscopus." I have
endeavoured to show, farther, that the other version of the Apocalypse,
first printed by De Dieu in 1627, is a revision of this, and belongs
probably to the Syriac New Testament of Thomas of Harkel, of A.D. 616."
// "I would remark, in passing, that the number 666 (Rev. xiiu 18) is
represented by Irenaeus (Proleg. v. 30, 1), on the authority of St. John
himself, to have been the name Lateinos (meaning the sixth Roman
Emperor, Nero, who was born in Latium), not Laetinos, as B. H. C. found
it." (T.J. Buckton)
H. Rider Haggard
1901: Pearl-Maiden: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem
"The city went mad beneath the weight of its abominable and obscene misery. Thousands perished every day, and every night thousands more escaped, or attempted to escape, to the Romans, who caught the poor wretches and crucified them beneath the walls, till there was no more wood of which to make the crosses, and no more ground whereon to stand them. All these things and many others Miriam saw from her place of outlook in the gallery of the deserted tower. She saw the people lying dead by hundreds in the streets beneath."
I.M. Haldeman
Joseph Hall
(1574–1656)
English Bishop
Mrs. M.A. Hallock -
1869:
Children's History of the Fall of Jerusalem "Suppose you take the history of some city of country, and study it, and in the evening tell me what you have learned. Would you like that?" "Oh yes," they both said in a breath. "But what shall it be?" "Well, let me see," said Mr. Sherman thoughtfully. "How would you like the Fall of Jerusalem?" "Oh father, I should like that very much," said Charles. "I like to read of those old cities. There was old Troy, which fell through trick of the wooden horse. I wonder if the fall of Jerusalem would be as interesting?" "As interesting! Certainly, my child, far more so. Troy was no more than any other city, while Jerusalem is identified with the church of God in all ages. "
|
Henry Hammond
First Generation Modern Preterist
-
1653:
A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of
the New Testament
"Having gone through all the
other parts of the New Testament, I came to this last of the
Apocalypse, as to a rock that many had miscarried and split upon,
with a full resolution not to venture on the expounding of one word in
it, but onely to perform one office to it, common to the rest, the
review of the Translation: But it pleased God otherwise to
dispose of it ; for before I had read (with the design of translating
only) to the end of the first verse of the book, these words,
which must come to pass presently, had such an impression on my
mind, offering themselves as a key to the whole prophecie, (in like
manner as,
this generation shall not passe till all these things be fulfilled,
Matt. 24.34. have demonstrated infallibly to what coming of Christ the
whole Chapter did belong) that I could not resist the force of them, but
attempted presently a general survey of the whole Book, to see whether
those words might not probably be extended to all the prophecies of it,
and have a literal truth in them,
viz., that the things foretold and represented in the
ensuing vision ; were
presently, speedily, to come to passe, one after another,
after the writing of them."
Daniel Mace:
1649-1660 - Henry Hammond and the Preterist School of
Interpretation "This volume contained a brave but lonely attempt to
introduce the preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation to
English soil. Hammond laid great stress on the opening words of
the Apocalypse in which the book is said to contain 'things which
must shortly come to pass.' .. But those who argued for the
preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation.. were playing to
empty galleries, until at least the fourth decade of the nineteenth
century. Their views were anything but popular and those who
followed them could soon find themselves branded with the infamous mark
of the papal beast." Others who followed: Herbert Thorndike /
"author of an anonymous tract on the Millennium published in 1693 ("Millennianism
: or, Christ's Thousand Years Reign upon Earth, considered, in a
Familiar Letter to a Friend")"
11/9/12:
The History of the Works of the Learned, Or, An Impartial Account of
Books Lately Printed in All A review of
LeClerc's Latin Hammond, from 1699
|
Ernest Hampden-Cook -
1894:
The Christ Has Come - The second advent an event of the past. An appeal from human tradition to the teaching of Jesus and His apostles. (PreteristArchive Addition to Web!)
Not Full Preterist: "In the New Testament, there are also clear and definite announcements of a world-wide resurrection and a world-wide judgment still future.
"The times of the Gentiles" are to run their appointed course and
have an end (Luke xxi. 24; Ephes. i. 10). Christ's Millennial Kingdom in which we are now living is not to last for ever. To Him every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall own that He is Lord (Phil. ii. 10, 11), and then, having put all His enemies under His feet, He will surrender the Kingdom to the Father-that God may be all in all (1.Cor. xv. 28)."
Adolph Harnack
S. Hassell
-
1885:
The
Destruction of Jerusalem - The Book of Revelation History of the Church of God, Chapter 8 "By terrible events an end was at length put to the Mosaic economy; for, with the destruction of their city and temple, the whole Jewish polity and church state were also subverted. From that time the remnant of that once highly favored nation have been dispersed throughout the world; despised and hated by all; subjected, from age to age, to a perpetual succession of persecutions and miseries, yet under all these disadvantages, upheld by Divine Providence as a distinct people. They have ever since remained ‘without a king, without a prince and without a sacrifice; without an altar, without an ephod, and without Divine manifestations;’ as monuments everywhere of the truth of Christianity.” (Hosea 3:4, 5).—W. Jones."
James Hastings,
et al.
-
1915:
Dictionary of the apostolic church (PDF)
"A closer determination of the date depends mainly on the interpretation
of a passage from ch. iv. This chapter contains a warning that ' the
last offence' is at hand ; for the Lord has shortened the times and the
days that His beloved may come quickly. As a proof that the last
offence, i.e. the Antichrist, is at hand, the writer quotes a
prophecy from the Book of Daniel to the effect that ten
kings shall reign, and after them shall arise a little king who shall
subdue three of the kings in one (ii<t> l»). It is evident that
the writer thinks that this prophecy has been, in part at least,
fulfilled; he has seen something in recent history which corresponds
with this vision. Thus much then seems clear; when he wrote this, there
had been ten Ctesars on the Imperial throne. Unless we are to omit some
of the Emperors from the list—a proceeding for which there seems no
justification—the tenth Emperor brings us to the reign of Vespasian. If
the 'little horn' had already appeared when the Epistle was written,
then we must look for three Emperors subdued by the successor of
Vespasian. And this, of course, Titus did not do. Hence it seems better
to interpret the little horn as Antichrist, who has not yet been
revealed, for this gets rid of the difficulty of finding pne Emperor who
had already subdued three. The writer found this reference to three
kings in his text of the prophecy, and meant to leave it to the future
to show who the three were and how they would be overthrown. But no
matter how this point is settled, the tenth horn can scarcely be other
than Vespasian, and this fixes the date of the Epistle at between
A.D. 70 and 79. "
Adolph Hausrath
"The smoke rose up from the ashes of
Jerusalem, but no sign of the Son of Man appeared in heaven. But the faith
of their hearts was not crushed by the signs of the times. The ensuing years
make it equally evident that Christianity continued to look for the advent.
Indeed, immediately after the shock of deepest disillusion caused by the
fall of the temple, within two years of the writing of the Apocalypse, the
strong faith of an Egyptian Christian found it possible to repeat the gist
of the prophecy. When the victorious Vespasian came to Alexandria, a
Christian wrote the oracle which is to be read in the collection of the
Sibyl V. 361—433. "
Matthew Henry
George Herbert -
1633:
A Priest to the Temple "There are two Prophesies in the Gospel, which evidently argue Christs Divinity by their success: the one concerning the woman that spent the oyntment on our Saviour, for which he told, that it should never be forgotten, but with the Gospel it selfe be preached to all ages, Matth. 26. 13. The other concerning the destruction of Jerusalem; of which our Saviour said, that that generation should not passe, till all were fulfilled, Luke 21.32. Which Josephus's History confirmeth, and the continuance of which verdict is yet evident."
John Hewlett
William Hewson
Albert L.A. Hogeterp
George Peter Holford
Robert
Holmes
Francis Bodfield Hooper
T.M. Hopkins
; James R. Boyd
-
1872:
Second Adventism and Jewish History (PDF) "We are
confident, moreover, that it can be proved by the light of history, that
the evils then foretold by our Lord came upon the Jewish nation during
their wars with Hadrian, the Roman Emperor, between the year 130 and
the year 140 of the Christian era; and that this desolating war
was the Second Coming of Christ—an event for which the Second
Adventist is now looking with anxious concern ! .. Universalism, on the
other hand, had found an anodyne for an uneasy conscience, in the theory
that all these predictions referred to the single event of the
destruction of Jerusalem. The gathering of all nations before Jesus
Christ, as related by Matt. 25 : 31, etc., the separation of the wicked
from the righteous, is the assembling of all the tribes of Israel in
Jerusalem, at the time of its destruction."
Huchown
-
The Siege of Jerusalem
(1380-1390) Opinion #1: "it [Siege] mars the reputation of
medieval chivalric literature; viewed another, it stains the good name
of medieval piety. It seems ruined by rank anti-Semitism; since it
transgresses ethically, it also must fail as literature. In short, its
grossness is so palpable that it seems to merit the critical
invisibility that has been its textual fate for most of its
post-medieval existence." -- yet -- Op#2: "the marginalization of
Siege of Jerusalem in this politically correct world says far more
about us as readers, and our own difficulties in coping with such
charged topics, than it does about medieval perspectives on the material
in question." -
Introductory
Essay
-
J.M. Arvidson - The Language of
Titus and Vespasian, or, The Destruction of Jerusalem (1916 PDF)
"Original Provenance Unknown ; Northamptonshire" // Titus And Vespasian, or the Destruction of
Jerusalem. In alliterative verse. Originally containing about 1300
lines, of which 1224 remain. English. // The present poem is headed :—"Hie
Incepit Distruccio Jerrusalem [sic] Quomodo Titus et Vaspasianus
obsederunt et distruxerunt Jerusalem et vi[n]dicarunt mortem domini
Jhesu Christi. The Segge of Jerusalem off Tytus and Vaspasyaue."
BOOK EXCERPTS NOT LISTED ABOVE
|
Dr. John Leonard Hug
-
1827:
Introduction to the
Writings of the New Testament |
Volume II
(Translated into English PDFs) "Wetstein's idea, that the
Apocalypse is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, of the horrors
of the Jewish war, and the civil wars of the Romans, is too forced in
many of its parts to be fully admissible. Hug's idea which
combines those parts of Wetstein's proposition, which seem to be
demonstrated, with the opinions of those, who refer it to the
persecutions of the Christians under the Roman Emperors, to the
subjugation and dismemberment of Rome, and the subsequent happy days of
the Church, is perhaps the most correct. This solution appears
most naturally to arise from the Apostle's circumstances and the
existing state of things ; it was the belief of the primitive Fathers in
general : it is the most critically supported by the scope and contents
of the book. The more commonly received theories of Bishop Newton,
Faber, and others, who have conceived it to have been prophetical of the
Papal power, are too liable to objections"
Rebekah Hyneman
-
1845:
Jerusalem At the Destruction of the Temple "Mourn! mourn! oh, Israel! for your house of prayer, Your sanctuary, lies in ruins now! ’Mid sounds of anguish that now rend the air, There comes a whisper faint, and each doth bow His head in fear and shame, while o’er his soul The bitter waters of repentance roll. "
John Jahn
John Jewel
-
1556:
Scripture
"Their city Jerusalem was sacked, their houses overthrown, their temple razed, and not a stone left upon a stone; their library destroyed, their books burnt, the tabernacle lost, the covenant broken. No vision, no revelation, no comfort for the people left; nor prophet, nor priest, nor any to speak in the name of the Lord."
C. Johnstone
Dr.
John Jortin
-
1805:
Remarks on Ecclesiastical History
"I would not willing be imposed upon, or impose upon the
reader ; but I leave it to be considered whether in all this there
might not be something extraordinary, as both Vespasian and Josephus
were designed and reserved for extraordinary purposes, to assist in
fulfilling and justifying the prophecies of Daniel and of our Lord."
Flavius Josephus
Jewish General & Historian
The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem (74/75) -
The Antiquities of the Jews
-
Josephus by Norman Bentwich (1914) "Josephus hardly merits a place on his own account in a series of Jewish Worthies, since neither as man of action nor as man of letters did he deserve particularly well of his nation."
-
Maurice A. Williams:
Prophet and Historian: John and Josephus: "I think the Four Winds and Three Woes in the Apocalypse took place long ago. Nero sent Vespasian to subdue Judea. His son, Titus, destroyed the Temple. I quote Josephus, Tacitus, and Suetonius describing this. This destruction fulfills the Four Winds and Two of the three Woes."
Alexander King
-
1889:
The
Cry of Christendom
"As previously, in the days of
His flesh, He explicitly gave the signs of His coming, that the
disciples might know when to flee from Jerusalem, before its fall; so
here again, by the ministry of the disciple whom He loved, and whom He
permitted to tarry till His coming, He emphatically warned the Churches,
of the impending overthrow."
Charles Kingsley
-
1881:
Discipline and Other
Sermons
"And last of all (St. Paul) saw (unless he had died
beforehand) the fall of the Emperor Nero himself - who very
probably set fire to Rome, and then laid the blame on the
Christians, - the man of sin, of whom St. Paul prophesied
that he would be revealed - that is, unveiled, and exposed
for the monster which he was; and that the Lord would
destroy him with the brightness of his coming"
Abraham Kuenen
(1828-1891)
Dutch Protestant -
1874:
Introduction to The Religion of Israel to the Fall of the Jewish State - "we ourselves, as Christians, are so greatly indebted to Israel, we should yet desire to become acquainted with the origin and growth of a religion which has achieved so many conquests. It appears here, if anywhere, how unreasonable it would be to 'despise the day of small things' for here we are reminded of 'the grain of mustard seed, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.'"
Daniel
Lamont
-
1944:
Studies in Johannine Writings "What did our Lord mean by His Parousia, which He foretold was to take place
some forty years from the time when He spoke of it? It was not the
destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. That Jewish catastrophe was
only to be the sign of His Parousia (Matt. 24:3,30). His
Parousia, in its essence, was something which was to happen in the unseen
world. It was to be in the realm of superhistory (Matt. 24:31).
John in the Apocalypse connects the historical event of the destruction of
Jerusalem with the superhistorical event of our Lord's Parousia, as our Lord
Himself did, and brings out the meaning of the connection, thus correcting
current misunderstandings. He does not use the word Parousia, perhaps
because of these misunderstandings." (Not published 'for want of paper' until 1950 ; The real reason seems to have
been the preteristic contents... For, even upon printing, his section on "Parousia"
was suppressed. Read it here)
Nathaniel Lardner
1788: Works, Vol.
6 -
The Apocalypse
(PDF)
1764:
Prophecies Fulfilled
(PDF)
Hugh Latimer
-
1552:
Master Doctor Latimer On Luke 21
"Therefore our Saviour, knowing
what should come upon them, wept over the city, prophesying that it
should so be destroyed ; that one stone should not be left upon another
: and so it came to pass according unto his word. For Titus, the son of
Vespasian, which was emperor at that time, destroyed that same city
Jerusalem utterly, like a forty years after the death of our
Saviour Christ. "
Deodat Lawson
Puritan
Minister of Salem Village
1692:
Christ's Fidelity: The Only Shield Against Satan's Malignity
"He was Contemporary and Colleague with Haggai, beginning to Prophecy but two Months after him, and backing what the other had said, more briefly, with more full and mysterious Testimonies; especially as to the Coming of the Messiah, &c. He warns them of the Amazing Revolutions, were coming upon them, in the Destruction of Jerusalem, and the Second Temple by the Romans, and Foretells the Rejection of the Jews, for their Sins, and especially, for Rejecting of the MESSIAH, who was to be Born among them according to the Flesh."
|
Samuel Lee
Cambridge Super-Genius
-
1830:
Six
Sermons on the Study of the Holy Scriptures
"on the interpretation of
prophecy generally, with an original exposition of the book of
Revelation, shewing that the whole of that remarkable prophecy has
long ago been fulfilled."
-
1849:
An Inquiry into the Nature, Progress and End of Prophecy
"One great and valuable result of the
whole is, that the question of Prophecy is not a
difficult one; and another, that all has been
fulfilled."
-
1851:
The Events and Times of the Visions of Daniel and St John
investigated "It is, I think, impossible
to find any questions wore determinately settled and fixed in the
Scriptures than these are. In the question of Prophecy, declarations the
most plain and positive are so bound up with facts, the occurrence of
which is well known to all, that it is impossible to conceive of any
thing more plain, certain, and determinate, than this question is.
Again, our Lord, His Evangelist John, and His Apostles generally,
connect this, beyond all possibility of doubt, with the generation then existing;
and both these, as well as the Prophet Daniel, affirm, that, when the particular events so pointed out shall have taken place, then
all is fulfilled; the purposes of God are finished, as declared by His Prophets, and the end is come."
-
1843:
Preliminary Dissertations on Eusebius' Theophany
-
1896:
A
Brief Memoir of Samuel Lee Faber
to Lee: "I was fully aware of the difference in our views on
Prophecy. You, I know, are a Preterist"
|
"Samuel Lee of Boston"
American
-
1859:
Eschatology, Or, The Scripture Doctrine of the Coming of the Lord, the
Judgment, and the Resurrection "The
Coming of the Son of Man" is to be interpreted with the same latitude,
and applies to the work of the Messiah from the time of his
resurrection to the overthrow of the Jewish power. Not till
then -- when the seventh angel had sounded -- were there great voices in
heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of
our Lord and of his Christ. Then the transition period
closed.. As instances of the use of the language in application to
Christ down to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the complete
introduction of the Christian Dispensation, see Matt. 24:30, 37-39. Mark
13:24-26. Luke 21:25-27." (p. 13)
Francis Nigel Lee
Australian -
1985:
Jerusalem; Rome;
Revelation - John's Apocalypse Written Before AD70 "For
the wrath had come upon them, to the uttermost, at the end of the 63-70
A.D. Seven Years' 'Great Tribulation.' This was by far quite the
greatest time of trouble or tribulation the World had ever seen, or ever
would see. Not only in Judea, but also internationally."
-
2000:
Revelation Unveiled
"For the wrath had come upon them, to the uttermost, at the end of the
63-70 A.D. Seven Years' 'Great Tribulation.' This was by far quite
the greatest time of trouble or tribulation the World had ever seen, or
ever would see. Not only in Judea, but also internationally."
-
2000:
The Olivet Discourse and the Destruction of Jerusalem in prophecy "The beginning of that "abomination" refers to the desecration of the city by the ensigns of the Roman
eagles (or unclean vultures) which surrounded Jerusalem in 66.5 A.D. So the Dordt Dutch Bible, Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, Albert Barnes, and Marcellus Kik. The "desolation" itself would be engineered three and a half years later at the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 A.D."
Peter J.
Leithart
American
-
2004:
The Promise of His Appearing 'Leithart gives a preterist reading of 2 Peter. He defines
preterism as "the view that prophecies about an imminent "day of
judgement" scattered throughout the New Testament were fulfilled in the
apostolic age by the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, the event that
brought a final end to the structures and orders of the Old Creation or
Old Covenant.”
Thomas Lewin
English
-
1863:
The Siege of Jerusalem by
Titus, with the Journal of a Recent Visit to the Holy City
"Of all the evidences, the one perhaps
entitled to the greatest respect is the testimony of the Jews themselves
by the immemorial custom of assembling at what is called the
Wailing-place, to bemoan the loss of their beloved sanctuary. The
tradition carries value with it, as one accompanied with a ceremony, and
that not attractive from outward gaud, or as ministering to pleasure or
amusement, but it is the outpouring of a broken
spirit, and one which could only have originated in the destruction of
their Temple, and must have been coeval with that event, and thence
transmitted from generation to generation."
David Lord
Robert Lowth
English (Bishop of London)
-
1753:
Lectures on the Sacred
Poetry of the Hebrews (PDF) "Among the mountains of
Palestine, the most remarkable, and consequently the most celebrated in
the sacred poetry, are mount Lebanon and mount Carmel. The one,
remarkable as well for its height as for its extent, magnitude, and the
abundance of the cedars which adorned its summit, exhibiting a striking
and substantial appearance of strength and majesty. The other, rich and
fruitful, abounding with vines, olives, and delicious fruits, in a most
flourishing state both by nature and cultivation, and displaying a
delightful appearance of fertility, beauty, and grace. The different
form and aspect of these two mountains is most accurately defined by
Solomon, when he compares the manly dignity with Lebanon, and the beauty
and delicacy of the female with Carmel la Each of them suggests a
different general image, which the Hebrew poets adopt for different
purposes, expressing that by a metaphor, which more timid writers would
delineate by a direct comparison. Thus Lebanon is used, by a very bold
figure, for the whole people of the Jews, or for the state of the church
; for Jerusalem ; for the temple of Jerusalem ; for the king of Assyria
even, and for his army ; for whatever, in a word, is remarkable, august,
and sublime: and in the same manner whatever possesses much fertility,
wealth, or beauty, is called Carmel."
Gottfried Lücke
Martin Luther
German
-
1525:
A Sermon on the Destruction of Jerusalem "The
Lord, however, saw deeper into the future than they when he said: 0,
Jerusalem! if thou hadst known what I know, thou wouldst seek thy peace.
Peace in the Scriptures means, when all things go well with us. You now
think you have pleasant days, but if you knew how your enemies will
encamp round about you, compass you about and hedge you in on every
side, crush you to the ground and demolish all your beautiful buildings,
and leave not one stone upon another; you would eagerly accept the Word,
which brings to you solid peace and every blessing. [The woeful history
of the destruction of Jerusalem you can read in books, from which those
who wish will easily understand this Gospel.]"
-
1540:
On the Jews and Their Lies "I had made up my mind to write no more either about the Jews or against them. But since I learned that those miserable and accursed people do not cease to lure to themselves even us, that is, the Christians, I have published this little book, so that I might be found among those who opposed such poisonous activities of the Jews and who warned the Christians to be on their guard against them."
Sir David Lyndesay
James
MacDonald
J.R. MacDuff
Benjamin Marshall
English
-
1725:
A Chronological Treatise upon the Seventy Weeks of
Daniel
Wherein is evidently shewn the Accomplishment of the Predicted Events,
As Especially Of the Cutting Off of the Messiah after the Predicted VII
Weeks and LXII Weeks, according to the Express Letter of the Prophecy,
and in most exact Agreement with Ptolemy's Canon ; So Also Of the
Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, in the LXXth, or separate One
Week, in the Litteral, Obvious, and Primary Sense"
William Mason
F.D. Maurice
|
Philip Mauro
20th Century Supreme Court Lawyer
On Carpathia when Titanic Survivors Rescued
|
Chester Charlton McCown
1921:
THE PROMISE OF HIS
COMING: A Historical Interpretation and Revaluation of the Idea of the
Second Advent
"In A.
D. 66 the inevitable happened. Pure repression without constructive
statesmanship worked its customary result. Goaded by a series of
tactless, incompetent, or cruel and rapacious procurators, the people
put their theology to the test. The limit of endurance had been reached;
God must intervene to save his people. Popular sentiment swept even many
of the Pharisees into the great revolt against Rome. It would seem that
the terrible defeat which the nation suffered, the destruction of the
city and Temple and the cessation of the sacrifices, would have
convinced the most bigoted that the political type of messianic hope was
entirely mistaken. No doubt many did learn the lesson. Yet a generation
later the Jews of the Diaspora rose against Rome—and were savagely
punished. Again, after another short generation,
under an adventurer who called himself Bar-Cochba, "son of the star,"
and who was hailed by the great Rabbi Akiba as messiah, there came
another Jewish revolt, as bitter and as severely punished as that of
66-70."
Joseph Mede
Historicist
Heinrich Meyer
German
F.B. Meyer
-
The Way into the Holiest (1951) - "And the climax of all came in the fearful siege of Jerusalem, when, once and forever, the Jewish system was shattered, the Temple burned, the remaining vessels sunk in the Tiber, and the Jews were driven from the city which was absolutely essential for the performance of their religious rites. The whole New Testament is witness to the throes of one of the mightiest spiritual revolutions that ever happened"
J.D. Michaelis
Alvin Miller
-
2010:
God Against Us: Alien Spaceman Jesus, the World Trade Center Attack and
More "I should note that because I
take a preterist perspective, I place less emphasis on seeing the
events that occurred with the First Resurrection exactly duplicated
on Judgment Day. For example, Nero was clearly the Antichrist for
A.D. 70, but I don’t necessarily expect to see a new Antichrist
prior to the Second Coming. If forced to, one could select from many
twentieth century candidates. Similarly, I don’t expect to see the
coming events occurring at the actual Jerusalem this time. I predict
in Chapter Four they will more likely begin in one of the advanced
Western nations."
Henry Milman
-
1830:
History of the Jews
"We
are called back, indeed, for a short time to Palestine, to relate new
scenes of revolt, ruin, and persecution. Not long after the dissolution
of the Jewish state it revived again in appearance, under the form of
two separate communities--one under a sovereignty purely spiritual, the
other partly spiritual and partly temporal.."
James Moffatt
A.L. Moore
Marion Morris
American
-
1917:
Christ's Second
Coming Fulfilled "Not many years
intervened between the great outpouring of the spirit and
the great declension that followed. Finally "the last
days" with the spiritual night came to an end, and we are
now living in God's eternal day. "The night is far
spent," said Paul, "and the day is at hand."
Mosheim (1694-1755)
Lawrence A. Murray
-
1990:
The Book of Jude the Essene: Herod's Temple Demolished "It is time for the borthers to leave Jerusalem once more.
The times are worse than when Yaqov ben Zebedee was begeaded by the
first Agrippa, worse than during the rebellion led by the false Egyptian
prophet, and worse than when Yaqov the Righteous was beaten to death by
the fuller after being thrown off the cliff. In those times, we
asked only our leaders to flee from the region to preserve their lives
from our people's unrighteous hatred."
Alan Nairne
American
-
Essays On The Book
Of Revelation Providing A Key To Its Understanding With Commentary - A Preterist
Interpretation "Behold, He is
coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who
pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. - Even
so. Amen. - (v.7). This verse has been recognised by many expositors as
setting the theme of the Apocalypse. It is the repeated warning or
encouragement throughout both the letters to the churches, and the
chapters that follow, of impending events that will affect the Churches
and the apostate nation of Israel. But futurist expositors would have
difficulty in seeing this, for, in immediately relegating any passage
coupling “Christ” with “coming” and “clouds” into the end times, they
have had to interpret the Book speculatively of events far off in the
future. We ask our futurist friends, if the theme of the Book is the
“end times”, why does the Author set out letters to seven existing
churches, warning them of immediately pending persecution? “Behold, I
come quickly” is the repeated thought throughout the Book. Do I believe,
then, that the Second Coming took place in 70AD? To set your minds at
rest, be assured that I believe Christ’s Second Coming to final
judgement and the resurrection and reward of His people will take place
in the future “end times”. I am a futurist to that extent! "
Thomas Nashe
English
-
1593:
"Christ's Tears over Jerusalem"
"It is not unknown by how many & sundry ways God spake by
visions, dreams, prophecies and wonders to his chosen Jerusalem, only to
move his chosen Jerusalem wholly to cleave unto him. Visions, dreams,
prophecies and wonders were in vain; this gorgeous strumpet Jerusalem,
too too much presuming of the promises of old, went awhoring after her
own inventions; she thought the Lord unseparately tied to his temple, &
that he could never be divorced from the ark of his covenant, that,
having bound himself with an oath to Abraham, he could not (though he
would) removed the law out of Judah, or his judgment-seat from Mount
Shiloh. They erred most temptingly & contemptuously"
Ovid Need, Jr.
American Baptist
William Newcombe
Anglican Bishop
Sir Isaac Newton
English
Bishop Thomas Newton
English
Benjamin Wills Newton
Nehemiah Nisbett
-
1812:
Letters Illustrative of the Gospel History "Upon the Interesting Subjects of the Coming of Christ, of the Man of Sin, of Antichrist, of Election and Reprobation, and of the New Heavens and New Earth. In Reply to Mr. Gibbon, Mr. Faber, and Other."
//
"it has been
boldly asserted, in the Theological Repository, under the direction of
the late Dr. Priestley, and never, that I know of, attempted to be
contradicted, in any part of his numerous works, that our Lord is
recorded by his historians Matthew, Mark and Luke, to have declared that
his second earning was one of those events which would happen during the
lives of some of his contemporaries. "
-
1787:
An Attempt to Illustrate Various Important Passages in the Epistles of the New Testament, from Our Lord's Prophecies of the Destruction of Jerusalem "But an impartial attention to the
language of Scripture will, I am persuaded, remove all doubt upon the
subject, and convince us that the Evangelists have their eye upon the
destruction of Jerusalem, and upon that only."
-
1802:
The Coming of the Messiah
The Whole being intended as an Illustration of the Necessity and
Importance of Considering the Gospels as Histories, and Particularly
as Histories of the great Controversy between our Lord and the Jews,
Concerning the True Nature of the Messiah's Character.
Dr. Gary North
American Postmillennialist
W.O.E. Oesterly
-
The Doctrine of Last Things
"This is an analysis of Judeo-Christian eschatology that delves into the Jewish roots of the Christian concept of the end of the world. He begins in the Jewish writings of antiquity, particularly the Tanach and the non-deuterocanonical apocrypha such as
The Book of
Enoch and
The Book of Jubilees. Traces the development from a 'Particularist' apocalypse in the Jewish Bible and Apocrypha (limited to Jewish people), to a 'Universalist' apocalypse in Christian belief, in which everyone is judged equally.
"
Dr. Hermann Olshausen
Thomas Paine
William Paley
-
1851:
Evidences of
Christianity "The general agreement of
the description with the event, viz. with the ruin of the Jewish nation,
and the capture of Jerusalem under Vespasian, thirty-six years after
Christ’s death, is most evident; and the accordancy in various articles
of detail and circumstances has been shown by many learned writers. This
part of the case is perfectly free from doubt."
David Pareus
Blaise Pascal
Roman Catholic -
1660:
Pensees
"Here am I, and this is the time. That which the prophets have said was to come in the fullness of time, I tell you my apostles will do. The Jews shall be cast out. Jerusalem shall be soon destroyed. And the heathen shall enter into the knowledge of God. My apostles shall do this after you have slain the heir of the vineyard."
Rev. William Patton
American Congregational Abolitionist
Isaac
Penington
Quaker
-
1659:
Some Questions And
Answers For The Opening Of The Eyes Of The Jews Natural. That They
May See The Hope Of Israel
"I HAVE been treating of the inward work, as it is wrought in the heart by the power, and brought to the sensible experimental knowledge of the creature; yet would not be so understood as if I made void what was done without by Christ in his own person, or any of those ends and purposes for which it was wrought, and appointed so to be done by the Father: though this I know, that the knowledge of those things, with the belief therein, or any practices and observations therefrom,
without the life, can no more profit now, than the Jews literal
knowledge of the law could profit them, when they were rejected
therewith."
Donald James Perry
American Idealist
-
2001:
Redirectionalism: Idealism and
the Revelation of Jesus Christ "When Christians are tempted to abandon the apostolic hope
for a fulfilled apostolic eschatological hope, the Church is faced with
dangers. Where man is accountable to know what the second coming means
in the Bible, Preterism can move men to question its relevancy. Many
questions therefore confront the believer, who abandon the apostolic
hope. First, men ask themselves: Shall we speak those same words today?
Are we still allowed to do so? Were those of days gone by of another
age, a different time from ours that is now fulfilled? To what extent
are we now in the new Jerusalem? To what extent did Christ accomplish
the end of some redemptive age in A.D. 70? Does God Himself or does His
way and salvation change?" (Preterist Idealism)
Robert L. Pierce
-
The
Rapture Cult: Religious Zeal and Political Conspiracy "If we are to conclude that the book of Revelation was
indeed written as an urgent coded warning to the Christians of the first
century, what then was the message? It warned of two things. One was the
impending destruction of the City of Jerusalem and the Jewish theocratic
state; the other was the impending persecution of Christians by the
Roman Empire."
Arthur T. Pierson
-
1886:
Many Infallible Proofs
"In this prophecy, there is no vague general
prediction; but a startling array of minute particulars. Our Lord draws the portrait of the
coming event in detail; time, place, persons,
marked circumstances, all introducing peculiar
features which leave no doubt as to our power to
recognize the event, if it shall look like its portrait. We find some twenty-five distinct predictions, here, and, on the law of compound probability, the chance of their all meeting in one
event, is as one in nearly twenty millions i. e.
the fraction that represents the chance of probability is one-half raised to its twenty-fourth
power or about one twenty millionth chance!"
Arthur W. Pink
Ex-Dispensationalist
Bishop Bielby Porteus
Anglican Bishop
1823:
Works of Porteus
(PDF)
E. De Pressence
-
1870:
The
Early Years of Christianity "Every feature of this siege [of
Jerusalem by the Romans] attests it to be a judgment of God. It is not an
ordinary event of history; all the attendant circumstances are marked by an
aggravation of suffering and woe; men appear to be led by a mysterious hand,
which urges them on to commit acts not within their original intention."
Ernest Renan (1823-1892)
- French Freethinker -
1861:
The Life of Jesus
-
1873:
L'Antechrist The Period from the Arrival of Paul in Rome to the End of
the Jewish Revolution
"The triumph of Rome was therefore legitimate in some measure.
Jerusalem had become an impossibility; left to themselves the Jews would
have demolished it. But a great lacuna was to render this victory of
Titus unfruitful. Our Western races, in spite of their superiority, have
always shown a deplorable religious nullity. To draw from the Roman or
Gallic religion anything analogous to the church was impossible. Now
every advantage gained over a religion is useless if it be not replaced
by another, satisfying, at least as well as it can, the needs of the
heart. Jerusalem will be avenged for her defeat. She shall conquer Rome
by Christianity, Persia by Islamism, shall destroy the old fatherland,
and shall become for all higher minds the city of the heart." (pp.
271,272)
-
1890:
History of
Christianity in Seven Volumes
"Never was a people so sadly
undeceived as was the Jewish race on the morrow of the day when,
contrary to the most formal assurances of the Divine oracles, the Temple
which they had supposed to be indestructible collapsed before the
assault of the soldiers of Titus. To have been near the realisation of
the grandest of visions and to be forced to renounce them, at the very
moment when the destroying angel had already partially withdrawn the
cloud, to see everything vanish into space; to be committed through
having prophesied the Divine apparition, and to receive from the
harshness of facts the most cruel contradiction—were not these reasons
for doubting the Temple, nay, for doubting God himself?"
Robert Roberts
Christadelphian -
1855:
The Signs of the Son of Man's Presence at the Destruction of Jerusalem "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." -
1879:
Anglo-Israelism Refuted A lecture delivered February 20th, 1879 by Robert Roberts of Birmingham in reply to a lecture given the previous evening by Mr. Edward Hine. -
1881:
The Ways of Providence.. The Overthrow of the Jewish Commonwealth by the Romans and the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus "The survey of the ways of providence would be incomplete without something more than a glance at the events attending the overthrow of Jerusalem and disruption of the Jewish polity over thirty-five years after Christ left the earth. At first sight, it might seem as if this were outside the scope of the work which aims at the illustration of the subject from Biblical narrative alone. On a further consideration, however, the matter must appear otherwise. Although we have no scriptural narrative of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, yet we have much scriptural forecast of that terrible event, and therefore the particulars of the event are the particulars of a divine work."
Frederick Robertson
-
1850:
Sermons Preached at Brighton
AD70 as template:
"He was then
on the Mount of Olives ; beneath Him there lay the metropolis of Judea, with
the Temple in full sight; the towers and the walls of Jerusalem flashing
back the brightness of an Oriental sky. The Redeemer knew that she was
doomed, and therefore with tears He pronounced her coming fate : "The days
shall come that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and shall not
leave in thee one stone upon another." These words, which rang the funeral
knell of Jerusalem, tell out in our ears this day a solemn lesson ; they
tell us that in the history of nations, and also, it may be, in the personal
history of individuals, there are three times—a time of grace, a time of
blindness, and a time of judgment .
"Therefore, let us know the day of our visitation. It is
not the day of refinement, nor of political liberty, nor of advancing
intellect. We must go again in the old, old way; we must return to
simpler manners and to a purer life. We want more faith, more love. The
life of Christ and the death of Christ must be made the law of our life.
Reject that, and we reject our own salvation ; and, in rejecting that,
we bring on in" rapid steps, for the nation and for ourselves, the day
of judgment and of ruin."
Edward Robinson
(Editor, Bibliotheca Sacra)
John A.T.
Robinson
-
1976:
Redating
the New Testament "Hort, together with
Lightfoot
and Westcott, none of whom can be accused of sitting light to ancient
tradition,
still rejected a Domitianic date in favour of one between
the death of Nero in 68 and the fall of Jerusalem in 70.
It is indeed a little known fact that this was what Hort
calls [Apocalypse, x.]
'the general tendency of criticism' for most of the
nineteenth century, and Peake cites the remarkable consensus
of 'both advanced and conservative scholars' who backed it."
James Stuart Russell
English
(Revelation
20:5-10 Still Unfulfilled) "We
must consequently regard this prediction of the loosing of Satan,
and the events that follow, as still future, and therefore
unfulfilled." (p. 523) (Full Preterist Millennium "violent and unnatural") "Some interpreters
indeed attempt to get over the difficulty by supposing that the
thousand years, being a symbolic number, may represent a period of
very short duration, and so bring the whole within the prescribed
apocalyptic limits; but this method of interpretation appears to us so violent and unnatural that we cannot hesitate to reject it.
" (p. 514)
Johann Philip Schabalie
Philip Schaff (1819-1893)
Lutheran Evangelical al
Revision Commentary on the New Testament
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1951), ed. by Samuel Macauley
1882:
History of the Christian Church
(Chapter 6: The Great Tribulation - The Roman Conflagration and Neronian Persecution) "The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees, therefore, placed
James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and cried out to him: "O thou just man, whom we ought all to believe, since the people are led astray after Jesus that was crucified, declare to us what is the door of Jesus that was crucified." And he answered with a loud voice: "Why do ye ask me respecting Jesus the Son of Man?
He is now sitting in the heavens, on the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come on the clouds of heaven." And as many were confirmed, and gloried in this testimony of James, and said:, "Hosanna to the Son of David," these same priests and Pharisees said to one another: "We have done badly in affording such testimony to Jesus, but let us go up and cast him down, that they may dread to believe in him." And they cried out: "Ho, ho, the Just himself is deceived." And they fulfilled that which is written in Isaiah, "Let us take away the Just, because he is offensive to us; wherefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings." [Comp.
Is. 3:10.]"
History of the Christian Church
Cyril of Jerusalem
"The next incident recorded in the life of S. Cyril is his alleged prediction of the failure of Julian’s attempt to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. “The vain and ambitious mind of Julian,” says Gibbon, “might aspire to restore the ancient glory of the Temple of Jerusalem. As the Christians were firmly persuaded that a sentence of everlasting destruction had been pronounced against the whole fabric of the Mosaic law, the Imperial sophist would have converted the success of his undertaking into a specious argument against the faith of prophecy and the truth of revelation.” |
Julian the Apostate, and the Reaction of Paganism - "His object in the rebuilding of the temple was rather, in the first place, to enhance the splendor of his reign, and thus gratify his personal vanity; and then most probably to put to shame the prophecy of Jesus respecting the destruction of the temple (which, however, was actually fulfilled three hundred years before once for all), to deprive the Christians of their most popular argument against the Jews, and to break the power of the new religion in Jerusalem."
Samuel M. Schmucker
Albert Schweitzer
-
1910:
The Quest: Progress
Report (PDF)
-
1914:
The Mystery of the
Kingdom of God (PDF)
-
1906:
Quest for the Historical Jesus
"The apocalyptic discourses in Mark xiii., Matt. xxiv., and Luke xxi. are interpolated. A Jewish-Christian apocalypse of the first century, probably composed before the destruction of Jerusalem, has been interwoven with a short exhortation which Jesus gave on the occasion when He predicted the destruction of the temple.. His construction rests upon two main points of support; upon his view of the sources and his conception of the eschatology of the time of Jesus. In his view the sole source for the Life of Jesus is the Gospel of Mark, which was "probably written exactly in the year 73," five years after the Johannine apocalypse."
Thomas Scott
-
1869:
Predictions Respecting the Second
Advent of Jesus
"The first attempt to assign all to the
destruction of Jerusalem
until we reach Matt. xxv. 31, is utterly untenable and
indeed absurd. No words can be plainer than those of Matt.
xxiv. 29, 30, 31. If they do not denote the visible coming
of the Son of man in heaven to exercise judgment over all
the tribes of earth, no words whatever suffice to enunciate
this doctrine. Nothing but the extreme stress of the
difficulty, extreme reluctance to admit the ignominious
failure of prophecy, could ever drive a sensible man to
pretend that these three verses mean nothing but the
overthrow of one city—the dissolution of one nation."
-
The visions of the Apocalypse and their lessons (Donnellan
lectures for 1891-92) "The Praeterists—who think that the
events with which the visions were concerned are altogether fulfilled,
having taken place in the first centuries of Church history—are very
numerous. And at present one section of the School—those who think that
the book is concerned almost entirely with contemporaneous history—is
very vigorously supported by
Archdeacon Farrar."
Henry Burton Sharman
Gregory Sharpe
English Chaplain to King George III
"This great
event is foretold by almost all the prophets. The destruction of
Jerusalem is expressed by The GREAT DAY OF THE LORD"
William Shepard
J.C. Simmons
Simpson
Daniel Smith
-
1840:
The
Destruction of Jerusalem - The Whole Being Intended to Illustrate
the Fulfillment of the Predictions of Moses and the Messiah
"The
history of Jerusalem, viewed as the fulfilment of prophecy,
furnishes evidence of the truth of Christianity which neither Jew
nor infidel can reject without positive infatuation. At the same
time, it also reveals to us the awful depravity of human nature. Let
nations look upon Judea, let cities look upon Jerusalem, let
individuals look upon the personal calamities of the Jews, and let
all fear God and fly from transgression. If, indeed, we would
escape a destruction, of which that of Jerusalem was but a faint
emblem, let us embrace proffered mercy, and “know the things that
belong to our peace, before they are hid” FOREVER “from our eyes.”
Larry
T. Smith
Robert Southey
-
1824: Sir Thomas More, or Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society
"Sir Thomas More.--Remember that the Evangelists, in predicting that kingdom, announce a dreadful advent! And that, according to the received opinion of the Church, wars, persecutions, and calamities of every kind, the triumph of evil, and the coming of Antichrist are to be looked for, before the promises made by the prophets shall be fulfilled. Montesinos.--To this I must reply, that the fulfilment of those calamitous events predicted in the Gospels may safely be referred, as it usually is, and by the best Biblical scholars, to the destruction of Jerusalem. "
Rev. Joseph Spillman
C.H. Spurgeon
English Calvinist -
1885:
Israel and Britain: A Note of Warning "They went so far as to crucify him, and cried as they did so, "His blood be on us, and our children," words so sadly verified when Jerusalem was destroyed, and her children slaughtered, sold as slaves, or scattered to the four corners of the earth. It was indeed, a terrible blindness which happened unto Israel. But although this blindness was a punishment for former sin, it was itself a sin. They willfully rejected the testimony of God against themselves; they refused the self-evident Christ who would so greatly have blessed them. This wilful rejection was carried out so effectually that it became impossible to convert and heal them; they could not be instructed, or reformed, and therefore they were given over to destruction. Nothing remained but to allow the Romans to burn the temple and plough the site of the city. It was a dreadful thing that they should deliberately choose destruction, and obstinately involve themselves in the most tremendous of woes. Poor Israel, we pity thee! It was sad indeed to fall from so great a height! Yet we are bound to admit that God dealt with thee justly, for thou didst choose thine own delusions. The Lord cries, "Oh that my people had harkened unto me."
-
1890: Commenting on Commentaries
George Stanhope
1705:
A
Paraphrase and Comment on the Epistles and Gospels "For this
ambiguous manner our Lord's expressing himself, some of the Disciples
imagined, that St. John should never die, but he found among those that
shall be alive at Christ's Second Coming. Whereas, in Truth, those words of
Jesus imply no such matter foretel, that that Disciple should survive the
Destruction of Jerusalem ; which is probably believed to be called our
Lord's Coming (as a most eminent Judgment, and instance of his Truth and
Power) in sundry places of the New Testament." (A paraphrase and comment
upon the Epistle and Gospels, vol. 1., p. 262)
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley
David Friedrich Strauss -
1835: Life of Jesus Critically Examined "Thus in these discourses Jesus announces that
shortly
(XXIV. 29), after that calamity, which (especially according to the representation in Luke’s gospel) we must identify with the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, and within the term of the cotemporary generation (h genea auth, V. 34), he would visibly make his second advent in the clouds, and terminate the existing dispensation. "
|
Moses Stuart
(1780-1852)
Considered the
First American Scholar of Repute
Mentored by Timothy Dwight while student at
Yale
were published in the
Universalist Magazine, in the years 1820, and 1821, and signed ' An
Inquirer after truth They were
addressed to
Moses Stuart,
associate Professor of Sacred
Literature, in the Theological Seminary at Andover. In presenting them
to the public, now in a small book, and with my real name affixed to
them, a brief statement of the circumstances which gave rise to them,
seems to be necessary. Without this, some might suppose, they were
written since I became a Universalist, whereas they were expressly
written to avoid becoming one." (Pastoral partner of the
earliest known FP author,
Robert
Townley, who converted to
Preterist Universalism
shortly after the publication of his book in 1845. (PDF
File)
1842:
Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy "The destruction of
Jerusalem put an end of course to the Jewish persecuting
power in Judea. Consequently the period in which
Christianity becomes triumphant over persecution there,
is contemporaneous with the destruction of Jerusalem.
Nothing can be more clear, than that the period of the
two witnesses is the same as that of "treading the holy
city under foot by the Gentiles," Rev. 11:2,3. Two
witnesses, and but two, are specified, as we may very
naturally suppose, because "by the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word is established. The sum
of Rev. xi. is, then, that the Romans would invade and
tread down Palestine for 3 1/2 years, and that
Christians, during that period, would be bitterly
persecuted and slain ; but still, that, after the same
period, the persecution would cease there, and the
religion of Jesus become triumphant. The words of
the Saviour in Matt. xxiv. compared with the tenor of
Rev. xi., seem to lead us plainly and safely to these
conclusions." (p. 113)
1843: George Duffield:
Millenarianism Defended: Reply to Prof. Stuart's
"Strictures on the Rev. G. Duffield's Recent Work on the Second Coming
of Christ" (PDF) "Now, after all this, what
shall we think of those who will tell us UNFULFILLED PROPHECY needs not
to be studied—is of no use, but dangerous--— till the events have
fulfilled them ? Assuredly such instructors deserve reproof, and to be
sent back to their Bibles, themselves to study, more carefully, lest
they should mislead others. They have reason to fear that the charge,
and censure of the Saviour, for hypocrisy may be applicable ;" and in
proof of this statement, I have shown that it was the very circumstances
of the Pharisees' neglecting prophecy, on which the Saviour founded his
charge of hypocrisy against them."
1845:
A Commentary on the Apocalypse
“The manner of the declaration here seems to decide, beyond all reasonable appeal, against a later period than about A.D.67 or 68, for the composition of the Apocalypse.”
1850:
A Commentary on the Book of Daniel
" Now
in what part of the Roman invasion did all this happen ? When did they
suspend the temple services ? And where shall we find the three and a
half years of suspension ? And above all, where, after the suspension,
are we to find the restoration of the temple-services ? for this
is implied in Daniel. The Roman suspension remains from that day to
this. Last, but not least, the desolator in this case is given
over to a decreed destruction, to take place soon after the three and a
half years were ended. Was this true, now, of either Vespasian or Titus
? Not at all. Both died a natural death, and in peaceful circumstances,
Vespasian A. D. 79 and Titus in 82. Both were greatly beloved and
honored as princes. What resemblance did either of them bear to the
abhorred tyrant in Dan. 9: 26, 27?
1831:
Moses Stuart on
Jewish Conversion
(PDF)
1847:
A Response to
Stuart
(PDF)
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Charles Taylor
Primitive Baptist
-
1996:
A Commentary
on Revelation "The author moves forward from the foundational position
that John was inspired to write the Revelation prior to the destruction of
Jerusalem by Roman legions in 70 A.D. This is an equally tenable position as
that held by most people who place John’s writing after 90 A.D. In fact, in
many aspects it is a more tenable position. (Refer to the article, "Tenable
dates of John’s writing Revelation," page vii). Based upon that interpretive
foundation, the mystery of the figurative language opens up like a flower
after a refreshing Spring rain. "
G.F. Taylor -
1912:
The Second Coming of Jesus "Others think that all the Scriptures about the coming of the Lord refer to the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus in A. D. 70. Such teachers substitute Titus for the Lord. However, if this is probable, what shall we do with Rev. 22: 12: “Behold, I come quickly”? Jesus spoke these words twenty-six years after the destruction of Jerusalem. So we are driven to look elsewhere for the coming of the Lord." |
The Jerusalem Tribulation not the Great One
Milton S. Terry -
1898:
Biblical Apocalyptics - Focuses on the Prophetic portions of Scripture
-
1883:
Biblical Hermeneutics
"My purpose is to write a comprehensive and readable book, adapted to
serve as a suggestive help toward the proper understanding of those
scriptures which are regarded as peculiarly obscure"
-
1898:
Apocalypse of the Gospels - Making the connection between the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Revelation -
Biblical Dogmatics - The Doctrine of the Resurrection
/ Adam Clarke thus comments: "I do not think that he refers to the resurrection of the body, but to the resurrection of the soul in this life; to the regaining of the image which Adam lost." (1907)
-
Sibylline Oracles - Translated by Milton S. Terry
"As the translator notes, this collection should more properly titled 'the Pseudo-Sibylline Oracles'. The original Sibylline Books were closely-guarded oracular scrolls written by prophetic priestesses (the Sibylls) in the Etruscan and early Roman Era as far back as the 6th Century B.C.E. These books were destroyed, partially in a fire in 83 B.C.E., and finally burned by order of the Roman General Flavius Stilicho (365-408 C.E.)."
Dr. John Thomas
1861:
John Samuel Thompson
Herbert Thorndike
ENTIRE SERIES
- PDF FILES
Alexander Tilloch
Matthew Tindal
-
1730:
Christianity is as Old as the Creation
"If most of the Apostles, upon what Motives soever, were mistaken
in a Matter of this Consequence, how can we be certain, that any One of
them may not be mistaken in any other Matter ? If they were not inspir'd
in what they faid in their Writings concerning the then Coming of
Christ; how cou'd they be inspir'd in those Arguments they build on a
Foundation far from being so ?" (p. 262)
Lewis C. Todd
Dom Touttee
Robert Travers
-
1917:
The effect of the fall of Jerusalem upon the character of
the Pharisees "I mean that those who wrote the Apocalyptic books which have come down
to us, held some such view of the function of Israel as I have
suggested, and might be expected to take up arms rather than allow the
sanctuary to be defiled. I do not know whether any actual Apocalyptic
writer was amongst those who fought in the last struggle of Jerusalem. I
only mean that those of the Pharisees who did so, being in sympathy with
the war party, were of the same circle or group or way of thinking as
that to which the Apocalyptists belonged." (PDF
File HERE)
Charlotte M. Tucker
English
-
1884:
Stories
of the Wars of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity to the Destruction
of Jerusalem
"The Lord had foretold that false prophets should
arise and deceive many, and that fearful sights
and great signs should be from heaven; and these
words were literally fulfilled. The miserable Jews
desperately grasped at the hope of a coming Messiah, and eagerly listened to deceivers, who only
lured them to ruin. A wonder in the sky, resembling a fiery sword, hung over the devoted
city ; appearances as of chariots and assembling
armies in the clouds terrified the astonished beholders ; and one night the priests in the temple
were alarmed by a quaking of the earth, accompanied by a strange sound, and a voice which
uttered the mysterious words, "Let us depart !"
David B. Updegraff
-
1892:
Old Corn: Or, Sermons and Addresses on the Spiritual
Life "THE effort to make people believe that the
promised parousia [coming] of our Lord took place at
the "destruction of Jerusalem" tends to mislead
souls, blot out the Christian's hope, and destroy
the value of Scripture as a definite testimony to
anything."
Urantia
-
1925:
The
Urantia Book (1925-55) "Jesus paused while he looked down upon the city. The Master realized that the
rejection of the spiritual concept of the Messiah, the determination to cling
persistently and blindly to the material mission of the expected deliverer,
would presently bring the Jews in direct conflict with the powerful Roman
armies, and that such a contest could only result in the final and complete
overthrow of the Jewish nation. When his people rejected his spiritual bestowal
and refused to receive the light of heaven as it so mercifully shone upon them,
they thereby sealed their doom as an independent people with a special spiritual
mission on earth. Even the Jewish leaders subsequently recognized that it was
this secular idea of the Messiah which directly led to the
turbulence which eventually brought about their destruction. "
William S. Urmy
James Ussher
Gilbert Wakefield
Robert Walker
-
1834:
The truth of Christianity proved from ancient prophecies
CHAPTER IV.
ANCIENT PROPHECIES FORETELLING THE
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. "In treating of the prophecies which relate to the final
destruction of Jerusalem, I would first draw the reader's
attention to the 28th chapter of the hook of Deuteronomy, in
which is an eminent instance of God's merciful kindness, when
the prophets are commanded to declare God's judgments against
the rebellious, in providing them with previous gracious
promises towards the obedient, and with compassionate offers of favour and pardon to those who, although they have strayed, are
willing to repent and return.
Foy
Wallace
Dr. William Warburton
Dr. Israel P. Warren
-
1885:
The
Book of Revelation: an exposition based on the principles of
Professor Stuart's Commentary, and designed to familiarize
those principles to the minds of non-professional readers
"If
a book we had never before seen, and of whose contents we were
ignorant, were placed in our hands, we should turn at once to
the title- page to ascertain its subject. If we found
that subject distinctly stated there, we should deem it
conclusive as to the import of the book. We should not regard
ourselves at liberty to assume that it was designed to refer to
something else without clear and positive evidence to that
effect. If, for instance, the title-page declared it to be a
history of the American Revolution, we should not think it
reasonable to expect in it the history of the late Rebellion, or
the life of Napoleon III. The language of the title-page we
should inevitably regard as the key to the. book.
Now the title-page of the Book of Revelation gives us such
a key. We marvel that it should ever have been misapprehended: "The
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his
servants
THINGS WHICH MUST SHORTLY COME TO PASS."
-
1879:
The Parousia,
A Critical Study of the
Scripture Doctrines of Christ's Second Coming, His Reign as King ; The
Resurrection of the Dead ; and the General Judgment
"Of the doctrine thus
presented, I desire to remark in review: 1. That it is to be
regarded neither as a praeterist nor a futurist
view ; rather does it include both. If it be
affirmed that the Parousia began at the ascension, it is not
meant that it is not also a fact of all time coming ages. I ask especially that I may not be
represented as saying that the resurrection is "past
already," or that the day of judgment occurred at the
destruction of Jerusalem. The Parousia, including
under it Christ's reign as King, Life-giver, and Judge, is
not an event, but a dispensation.. The past, present,
and future meet in one grand whole."
-
Rev. Josiah
Litch (Millerite)
Christ Yet to Come: A Review of I.P. Warren's Parousia
(1880) "There is " the end of the age " which came at the destruction of
Jerusalem — the termination of the Jewish economy ; and there is "the
end of the age " which is the harvest, when " the Son of man shall send
forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend," etc. — the termination of the Christian economy. It seems
to us that these are so clearly distinguished and so distinctly
separated, that it is utterly impossible to confound them. All our
ordinances, all our commissions, all our endowments as the Church of
Christ, are timed and terminated by the end of the age and the return of
our Lord. If the end of the age has come, and if Christ's advent has
really taken place, then these commissions have run out, and these
endowments are outlawed."
Bernard Weiss
Daniel
Whitby
-
1710:
Additional Annotations to the New Testament
With Seven Discourses; and an
Appendix Entituled Examen Variantium Lectionum Johannis Millii, S.T.P.
in Novum Testamentum
The Treatifes added to this Addition
are these:
-
A Differtation concerning
the Baptism of Infants, on Matth. xxviii. 19. p. 15.
-
An Answer to Mr. Whifton's
Difcourfe, on Matth. xxiv. p. 25.
-
An Examination of his
Difcourfe concerning Abiathar the High Priest, on Mark ii. 36.
-
A Difcourfe concerning the
Imputation of Chrift's perfect Righteoufnefs to us for Righteoufness
or Juftification, p. 68
-
A Defence of a Paffage in
the Preface to the Epiflle to the Galatians.
-
A Difcourfe enquiring
whether the Apoftles, in their Writings, spake as conceiving that
the Day of Judgment might be in their Days, p. 113.
-
A Parallel betwixt
the Apoftacy of the Jewifh and the Papal Antichrift, p. 119.
James Edison White
George Wilkins
Isaac Williams
-
1852:
The Apocalypse: with notes
and reflections "But the presence of the Lamb has
rendered that easy which before was difficult." The six Seals appear to
be fulfilled in the forty years in which the Spirit pleaded with
Jerusalem before its destruction; this may be the writing "without," as
understood by all: but every Seal seems also to have an ulterior fulfilment, which is the hidden sense "written within".
-
Thomas Scott: "The Praeterists—who
think that the events with which the visions were concerned are
altogether fulfilled, having taken place in the first centuries of
Church history—are very numerous. And at present one section of the
School—those who think that the book is concerned almost entirely
with contemporaneous history—is very vigorously supported by
Archdeacon Farrar.
He thinks that the crash, and the coming of the Lord, to which the
visions all point, refer to the Lord's coming at the destruction of
Jerusalem, and the breaking up of the entire Jewish polity. Others
of this School allow a more extended scope for the visions, and
refer the predicted crash to the breaking down of heathenism before
Christianity, or to the breaking up of the Roman empire. But many of
the most thoughtful of the Praeterists admit (or strongly advocate)
that the visions and these events have lessons for all ages, and
look forward as well as back. Thus there are commentators—such as Isaac Williams,
Maurice,
Hengstenberg,
Boussett,
Vaughan, and others—who may be classed among the interpreters of
both the Spiritual and Praeterist Schools; and all of the Spiritual
School can recognize in the events to which both the Historic and
Praeterist Schools point, illustrations of the principles which we
think the Apostle depicted in these visions." (1891)
Maurice Williams
-
Prophet and Historian: John and Josephus: "I think the Four Winds and Three Woes in the Apocalypse took place long ago. Nero sent Vespasian to subdue Judea. His son, Titus, destroyed the Temple. I quote Josephus, Tacitus, and Suetonius describing this. This destruction fulfills the Four Winds and Two of the three Woes."
Dwight Wilson
-
2008:
Heaven Misplaced: Christ's Kingdom on Earth
-
1991:
Armageddon Now!
"For years premillennial dispensational authors have been predicting that Armageddon is just around the corner - and for years their false prophecies have failed to come true. In this update of his 1977 book, Armageddon Now!, Dwight Wilson examines these predictions concerning Armageddon, particularly as they apply to Russia from the time of the Russian revolution unto today."
Herman Wits (Witsius)
E.P. Woodward
-
1898:
Christ's Last Prophecy Concerning the Destruction of
Jerusalem and His Own Second Advent
"But the fact that they believed the "coming" of Christ to be in a measure identical with the end of the
Jewish
Age, does not prove that such was his teaching. This prophecy itself proves
that he did not thus teach. We therefore may regard the prophecy as an
answer to
two questions,—one regarding the Destruction of the Temple, one
respecting the Second Coming of Christ. Hence, in studying this prophecy, we
must carefully discriminate between that which is designed to answer the
first query and that which has sole reference to the second. And we shall
find that there is generally a very plain line of demarcation between the
two."
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