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Commentary Compilations
From Primarily Preterist Authorities

• Annotations on the New Testament: Compiled from the Best Critical Authorities and Designed for Popular Use (1829)

"A Gentleman"

• The Destruction of Jerusalem (1840)  "Before Jerusalem he stands, And down his cheeks roll many a tear;  See how He spreads his sacred hands,  While He predicts its ruin near.   "The days shall come, they're near at hand !!  "When might armies shall surround "This favour'd spot where now I stand,   "And lay your City with the ground.  "Your measure's nearly full ! alas !!    "Your sinful course is almost run ;    "This generation shall not pass*   "Till all the dreadful work is done."

A.L.O.E.

• Stories of the Wars of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity to the Destruction of Jerusalem (1884) "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 !"

American Sunday School Union

• 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 (1827) - "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

• Religious and Secular Events (1578)  "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

• The Fall of Jerusalem and the Roman Conquest of Judea (1870) "It was while gazing on this magnificent city that our Lord delivered his solemn prophecy of its approaching downfall."

Aphrahat the Persian Sage

• Excerpts from Select Demonstrations (A.D.345) “The theology and writings of Aphrahat draw extensively on the Old Testament reflecting a religious milieu of 4th century Mesopotamia in which Christianity was seeking to define itself as separate from Judaism. (Aphrahat) praises Jesus Christ as the divine conqueror of death and fulfillment of all types and prophecies of the Old Law.”

• Introductory Dissertation on the Syrian Church

James Armstrong

• An exposition of the fulfilled prophecies of the Apocalypse from the first seal to the end of chapter xix (1851) "the destruction of Jerusalem is symbolically represented by the man, clothed with linen, taking coals of fire in his hand and scattering them over the city."

Ben Asaph, pseud.

• The Moriad; or, The End of the Jewish State (1857) By 'Ben Asaph, a Christian Jew of the Third Century' - 'Translated from the Syriac Hebrew by Anselm Korlstoff'  - "The wrath Divine, which sunk the Jewish State, and Salem piled in heaps, O muse relate"

Bahnsen and Gentry

• House Divided, The Breakup of Dispensational Theology (1989) - 464 pages "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

• A Dissuasive From the Errors of the Time - The thousand years of Christ his visible Reign upon earth, is against Scripture  (1645) "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 Austin Bastow

• A (Preterist) Bible Dictionary ! (1842) "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. "

Ulrich R. Beeson

• The Revelation (1956 PDF)

Norman Bentwich

• Josephus  (1914) "Yet did they occasion the fulfilment of prophecies relating to their country. For there was an ancient oracle that the city should be taken and the sanctuary burnt when sedition should affect the Jews." Josephus shares the pagan outlook of the Roman historian Tacitus, who is horrified at the Jewish disregard of the omens and portents which betokened the fall of their city, and speaks of them as a people prone to superstition (what we would call faith) and deaf to divine warnings (what we would call superstition). Josephus and his friends were looking for signs and prophecies of the ruin of the people as an excuse for surrender; the Zealots, men of sterner stuff and of fuller faith, were resolved to resist to the end, and would brook no parleying with the enemy."

William Blake

Horatius Bonar (1808-1899)

• The Rent Veil "The temple was not overthrown till about forty years after the Son of God died on the cross. The type was preserved for a season, that the antitype might be more fully understood. The shadow and the substance were thus for forty years exhibited together. "

David Brown

• Commentary Critical and Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible (1871) Matthew | Mark | Luke | John | The Acts

• Commentary on Matthew Excerpt (1871)

Dr. John Brown ("of Edinburgh")

• Discourses and Saying of our Lord (1850) "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" (vol. 1, p. 170)

Sir Thomas Browne

• Vulgar Errors (1646) 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)

A.B. Bruce

• The Training of the Twelve (1871)  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Or, Discourse on the Last Things - Chapter 20

E.W. Bullinger (1837-1913)

• The Witness of the Stars - Symbolism in the Heavens (1893)

• Numbers in Scripture - Its Supernatural Design and Spiritual Significance (1921)

• 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."

• How to Enjoy the Bible (1914) "The words are exactly the same in both passages (in the Greek): "He that endureth to the END the same shall be saved." The command is continued in the next verse (10:23): "But when they persecute you in this city flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man be come." (Greek, elqh (elthe), shall have come.) 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 - Baptist

• The Barren Fig Tree: Doom and Downfall of Fruitless Professors (1688) 

Lord George Gordon Byron

• On the Day of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus (1815)

John Calvin

• Commentary on the Harmony of the Gospels (1555) "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

• Essays on the Work of the Holy Spirit (1824) "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."

• Evidences of Christianity: A Debate - Alexander Campbell and Robert Owen (1829) "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

• 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! - Booklet

Walter Chamberlain

• The National Restoration and Conversion of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (1854) "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." (Perhaps Earliest Book Written Against Modern Preterism)

Robert Chambers

R.H. Charles

• The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (1913) | More Old Testament Psedepigrapha

• A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Revelation of St. John (1920).  "11^1-2 and 6⁹ of the Apocalypse, if taken literally, refer to Jerusalem and the Temple as still standing, and the martyrdoms of Nero (64-68 A.D.). Other sources, though less clearly, postulate a Neronic date. Hence it is not difficult to understand the assignment of the banishment of John to the reign of Nero in the title prefixed to both the Syriac versions of the Apocalypse and by Theophylact (Praef. in Ioann.)." (Settles on Late Date)

Stephen Charnock (Puritan)

• A Discourse of God's being the Author of Reconciliation (1680) "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."

David Chilton - Early Works

• The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (1987)  .PDF | HTML Format  - The book that launched 10,000 Preterists | Días de Retribución - Spanish | Дни на въздаяние - Bulgarian

• La Gran Tribulacion (in Spanish)

• Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion (1985) "...consider a fact which will undoubtedly shock some people: the word 'antichrist' never occurs in the Book of Revelation. Not once." "...antichrist is a description of both the system of apostasy and individual apostates. In other words, antichrist was the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy that a time of great apostasy would come, when 'many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many' (Matt. 24:10-11)."

• Productive Christians In An Age Of Guilt Manipulators (1986)

• Jerusalem Under Siege

Alfred Church

• The Story of the Last Days of Jerusalem (1902)

• The Burning of Rome: A Story of Nero's Days (1912) "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."

• To the Lions: A Tale of the Early Christians (1923) "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. "

Chrysostom (346-407)

• Daniel; or, The apocalypse of the Old Testament (1865) "In unequivocal language, which hardly even the science of hermeneutics can explain away, the Son of Man had announced his speedy advent to destroy Jerusalem." (Daniel, p. 235)

• Analogy between the Apocalypse of the Old Testament and that of the New (1865 PDF)

• The Theophania, or Divine Manifestation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ "Probably Eusebius' Earliest Work"

• Proof of the Gospel  (314) "..how can we deny that the prophecies of long ago have at last been fulfilled?"

• Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History

• 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)."

S. Hassell

• THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM—THE THREE PERIODS OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE—THE BOOK OF REVELATION (1885) - 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."

"Hegesippus"

• On the ruin of the city of Jerusalem (370-375) "About which the Jews themselves bear witness, Josephus a writer of histories saying, that there was in that time a wise man, if it is proper however, he said, to call a man the creator of marvelous works, who appeared living to his disciples after three days of his death in accordance with the writings of the prophets, who prophesied both this and innumerable other things full of miracles about him, from which began the community of Christians and penetrated into every tribe of men nor has any nation of the Roman world remained, which was left without worship of him. If the Jews don't believe us, they should believe their own people."

G.A. Henty

• For The Temple (1888) - This all-time great Fulfilled Eschatology novel was written for all ages, using the events of the Roman-Jewish war as a backdrop for our hero's John of Gamala's coming of age.

Matthew Henry

• Commentary on the Whole Bible (1721)

George Herbert

• A Priest to the Temple (1633) "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."

• GEORGE HERBERT, HENRY VAUGHAN, AND THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS ,  By: Matar, Nabil I., Studies in English Literature (Rice), 00393657, Winter 90, Vol. 30, Issue 1

George Peter Holford

• The Destruction of Jerusalem (1803)

Robert Holmes

• On the prophecies and testimony of John the Baptist, and the parallel prophecies of Jesus Christ (1782)

T.M. Hopkins ; James R. Boyd

• Second Adventism and Jewish History (1872 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

  • George Nielsen: Huchown of the Awle Ryale: The Alliterative Poet (1902 PDF) Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Glasgow Archaeological Society

  • 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."

Dr. John Leonard Hug

• Introduction to the Writings of the New Testament | Volume II (Translated into English 1827 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"

David Hume

• The Better Resurrection (2005) "Without the change made within us through the earnest of the Holy Spirit, we cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The rebirth precedes the entry into this Kingdom, for the resurrection is the culmination of the conception of Christ within us. We may proclaim by faith we are born again, but the manifestation of fully-fledged Son of God only occurs at the redemption of our body, which is the great hope of salvation. To those who think they are already manifesting what they in fact hope to be, I say go back and read the context in the book of Romans. I Believe the Lord Christ has fulfilled what he has promised to do. And my Faith in the veracity of my Saviours’ words has been strengthened by this exercise of mine, I hope yours is as well. If we never meet in this life, I hope to see you in the better resurrection clothed in the Glory of the wedding garment at marriage supper of the Lamb."

Rebekah Hyneman

• Jerusalem At the Destruction of the Temple  (1845) "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. "

Irenaeus

• Against Heresies : Book IV, Chapter IV - On Jerusalem's Destruction (Second Century)

John Jahn

• Lectures on the The History of the Hebrew Commonwealth from the earliest times to the destruction of Jerusalem A.D. 72, with a continuation to the time of Adrian (1815)

Marcus Jastrow (1903)

• A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature - Vol 1

• Volume 2

John Jewel

• Scripture (1556) "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."

Jerome (347-420)

• Commentary on Daniel (408) "And so there are many of our viewpoint who think that Domitius Nero was the Antichrist because of his outstanding savagery and depravity."

• Letter to Magnus an Orator of Rome - On the church fathers

Dr. John Jortin

• Remarks on Ecclesiastical History (1805) "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)

• Other Works

• 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."

A. Kuenen

• Introduction to The Religion of Israel to the Fall of the Jewish State   (1874) - "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.'"

Deodat Lawson - Puritan

• Christ's Fidelity: The Only Shield Against Satan's Malignity (1692) "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

• An Inquiry into the Nature, Progress and End of Prophecy (1849) "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."

• The Events and Times of the Visions of Daniel and St John investigated (1851) 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.

• Preliminary Dissertations on Eusebius' Theophany (1843)

• A Brief Memoir of Samuel Lee (1896) - "I was fully aware of the difference in our views on Prophecy. You, I know, are a Preterist"

"Samuel Lee of Boston"

• Eschatology,  Or, The Scripture Doctrine of the Coming of the Lord, the Judgment, and the Resurrection  (1859)  "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)

Dr. Francis Nigel Lee

• Jerusalem; Rome; Revelation - John's Apocalypse Written Before AD70 (1985) "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."

• The Olivet  Discourse and the Destruction of Jerusalem in prophecy (2000) "The beginning of that "abomination" refers to the desecration of the city by the ensigns of the Romaneagles³⁰⁸⁹ (or unclean vultures)³⁰⁹⁰ 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."

• John's Revelation Revealed (1999)- "I much respect many elements in Preterism. Yet I believe the consistent eschatological teaching of the infallible Word of God ¾ is Classic Historicalism. Certainly that is the position of the mainline Christian Church reflected in: the Patristic Fathers; the Mediaeval Scholastics; all of the many Protestant Reformers; the 1561 Belgic Confession (arts. 28 & 29); the Preamble to the 1619 Canons of Dordt; the 1645 Westminster Directory for the Publick Worship of God (in the middle of its Publick Prayer before the Sermon); and the unadulterated Westminster Confession of Faith 23 to all of which documents I myself am a Strict Subscriptionist.

• The Non-Preterist Historicalism of John Calvin and the Calvinistic Standards (1993) - "Historicalists would agree with Preterists that there is indeed a very important sense in which Christ did come (invisibly) to Jerusalem, in punitive judgment, during A.D. 70."

Peter J. Leithart

• The Promise of His Appearing (2004) FULL BOOK at Google Books  '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

• The Siege of Jerusalem by Titus, with the Journal of a Recent Visit to the Holy City (1863) "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."

John Lightfoot - Partially Responsible for Westminster Confession

• John Lightfoot's Works - Volume One - Prefaces and Index (Later Edition of 1684 Works) (1825 PDF) - Finally! Lightfoot's Works is making it to the WWW.  Newly updated, with a more perfectly edited PDF than has been available offline in the past.  All missing pages added, numbering system included, as well as file integration of all maps and pictures. 

• A Commentary of the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica (1658) "That the destruction of Jerusalem and the whole Jewish state is described as if the whole frame of the world were to be dissolved. Nor is it strange, when God destroyed his habitation and city, places once so dear to him, with so direful and sad an overthrow; his own people, whom he accounted of as much or more than the whole world beside, by so dreadful and amazing plagues."

• Commentary on Matthew 24 | Commentary on Mark 13

Robert Lowth  (Bishop of London)

• Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews (1753 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."

Sir David Lyndesay

• Ane Dialog: Of the Most Miserabill and Most Terrabill Distruction of Jerusalem (1555) "For extreme hunger, zald the spreit.  Thare wes the Prophesie compleit, As Christ affore made narration, The day of his grym Pasioun.. This Prophesie it come to pas, That day, with mony lowde Allas!"

Martin Luther - Sparked Protestant Reformation

• On the Jews and Their Lies (1540) "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."

J.R. MacDuff

• Memories of Olivet (1868) - "the most solemn period of responsibility to the Jewish people, was when Jesus was in their midst.  It was "that generation" - the generation who had rejected HIM - who were most guiltily culpable."

Justin Martyr

• Dialogue with Trypho, A Jew (Second Century)

• Trypho Dialogue Excerpts

Mathetes

• Epistle of Mathetes (Second Century)

F.D. Maurice

• Lectures on the Apocalypse: Or, Book of Revelation of St. John the Divine (1861) "The principal historical allusions in these Lectures are to the state of the Roman world during the years preceding the fall of Jerusalem."

Philip Mauro - 20th Century Supreme Court Lawyer | On Carpathia when Titanic Survivors Rescued

• The Hope of Israel, What is it? (1922) - Perhaps the most important book of the 20th Century . (PreteristArchive Addition to Web!)

• Seventy Weeks and the Great Tribulation - Linking Daniel's Prophecy and the First Century | Single PDF File

• The Gospel of the Kingdom - Against the Development of Dispensationalism

• Life in the Word (1909) - From "The Fundamentals"

• God's Pilgrims | God's Pilgrims (.PDF File)

• Which Version? Authorized or Revised

• The Number of Man: The Climax of Civilization

• Evolution at the Bar - Mauro wrote legal briefs for WJB in the Scopes Trial

• Champion of the Kingdom - The Story of Philip Mauro "Although the name of Philip Mauro is not nearly as recognized by Christians today as it was 75 years ago,  his works remain important contributions to the furtherance of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Mr. Gardiner, urged as a young man to study Mauro's books by Mrs. Martha Wing Robinson (the subject of Gardiner's  Radiant Glory), was allowed by God to not only develop a personal friendship with Mr. Mauro later in life but to write the only existent  biography of his life."

Joseph Mede - Historicist

• Clavis Apocalypticae (1627) Keys to the Apocalypse

Melito of Sardis

• Homily of the Pascha (Peri Pascha) "But when that which is the model arises, that which once bore the image of the future thing is itself destroyed as growing useless having yielded to what is truly the real image of it; and what was once precious becomes worthless when what is truly precious has been revealed." (ll 224-44)

• Different Reading of Melito

Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer

• Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Matthew (1858) "This end, the laying waste of the temple and the unparalleled desolation of the land that is to accompany it. "

• 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"

Elizabeth Miller

• The City of Delight: A Love Drama of the Siege and Fall of Jerusalem (1908) "Somewhere in the city a voice that was heard even by the fighting-men on the wall in Akra cried: “The Sacrifice has failed! The Oblation is ceased! There is no Offering for the Altar; none is left to offer it!” The vast gathering heard it, and immediately from the high place of the prophetess came back the words, prompt and effective: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease!”

Henry Milman

• History of the Jews (1830) "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.."

Marion Morris

• Christ's Second Coming Fulfilled (1917) "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." (p. 48)

John Laurence von Mosheim (1694-1755)

• The commentaries on the affairs of the Christians before the time of Constantine the Great

Andrew Murray

• The Two Covenants and the Second Blessing

Lawrence A. Murray

• The Book of Jude the Essene: Herod's Temple Demolished (1990 - Drama) "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

• 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

• "Christ's Tears over Jerusalem" (1593) - "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"

August Neander (1789-1850)

• General history of the Christian Religion and Church

Ovid Need, Jr.

• Matthew 24, Fact and Fiction (2000)

• Tongues: A Biblical View (1994)

William Newcombe

• The New Testament in an Improved Version, Upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcombe's New Translation with a Corrected Text and Notes Critical and Explanatory (1808 PDF) With Notes From Modern Preterists Michaelis, Pearce, Newcombe, Le Clerc, Grotius, Wetstein, Clarke

Sir Isaac Newton

• Observations on the Prophecies (1733)

Bishop Thomas Newton

• The Prophecy of Matthew 24 (1754)

Nehemiah Nisbett

• Letters Illustrative of the Gospel History (1812) "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."

• An Attempt to Illustrate Various Important Passages in the Epistles of the New Testament, from Our Lord's Prophecies of the Destruction of Jerusalem (1787) "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."

• The Coming of the Messiah (1802) 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 - Postmillennialist

• Rapture Fever: Why Dispensationalism is Paralyzed

John Humphrey Noyes (1811-1886)

• Religious Experience Of John Humphrey Noyes (1922)

• The Putney Community (1931)

• The Berean

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. John Owen (1616-1683) - Puritan

• The Death of Death in the Death of Christ

• 'The New Heavens and Earth' (2 Pet. 3:7) (1721)

Thomas Paine - Atheist

• An Examination of the Prophecies - Attempts "Non-occurrence of Prophecy" tactics which only a fulfilled view can answer

William Paley

• Evidences of Christianity (1851) "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."

Blaise Pascal - Roman Catholic

• Pensees (1660) "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 - Congregational, Abolitionist

• The Judgment of Jerusalem (1877)

• Is the Doctrine of the Final Restoration of Man Scriptural? The New Englander, vol. 29, issue 111 (April 1870).

• Exegesis of I. Peter, III. 18-20; or Christ's Preaching to the Spirits-in-Prison

• Archive of Other Works

Isaac Penington

• Some Questions And Answers For The Opening Of The Eyes Of The Jews Natural. That They May See The Hope Of Israel (1659) "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."

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 W. Pink (1886-1952)

• The Application of the Scriptures: A Biblical Refutation of Dispensationalism (1952) "Arthur Pink wrote these series of 5 articles just before his death on July 15, 1952. They were published in Mr. Pink's Studies in the Scriptures for the June through (posthumously) October, 1952 issues. A number of contemporary Dispensationalists have been republishing some of Mr. Pink's writings from his dispensational days, this is unfortunate, but as these articles show Mr. Pink's position was against the dispensational school of thought up till the very month of his death."

• The Prophetic Scope of Matthew 24

• Prophetic Parables of Matthew 13

Edgar Allen Poe

• Tale of Jerusalem (1850)

Philostratus

• "As to Titus, he accepted more and more the idea that he was fulfilling a mission in providence. He was pleased to hear them quote the prophecies which they said referred to him. Josephus claims that he connected this victory with God, and recognised that he had been the object of a supernatural power. What is striking is that Philostratus, 120 years after, admits clearly these data and makes them the basis of an apocryphal correspondence between Titus and Apollonius (Book VI). To believe him, Titus would have refused the crowns which were offered him, alleging that it was not he who had taken Jerusalem—that he had done nothing but lend his services to an irritated God. It is scarcely to be admitted that Philostratus had known the passage in Josephus. He drew the legend, which had become common, from the moderation of Titus. " (Renan)

E. De Pressence

• The Early Years of Christianity (1870) "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

• The Life of Jesus (1861)

• L'Antechrist The Period from the Arrival of Paul in Rome to the End of the Jewish Revolution  (1873)  "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)

• History of Christianity in Seven Volumes (1890) "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

• The Signs of the Son of Man's Presence at the Destruction of Jerusalem. (1855) - "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."

• Anglo-Israelism Refuted (1879) - A lecture delivered February 20th, 1879 by Robert Roberts of Birmingham in reply to a lecture given the previous evening by Mr. Edward Hine.

• The Ways of Providence.. The Overthrow of the Jewish Commonwealth by the Romans and the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus (1881) "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. "

• The Law of Moses - The Enigmatical Enunciation of Divine Principles and Purposes

• 13 Historicist Lectures on the Apocalypse

Edward Robinson (Editor)

• Bibliotheca Sacra: The Jewish War Under Hadrian and Trajan, With Essays on Prophecies of Christ's Second Coming (1843)

John A.T. Robinson

• Redating the New Testament (1976) "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."

• The Parousia (1878) (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)

• Pdb (Isilo PC) | Text | PalmReader | Clie | Online Bible | Spanish: La Parusía - A Careful Look at the New Testament Doctrine of our Lord's Second Coming.

Philip Schaff (1819-1893) - Lutheran

• The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1951), ed. by Samuel Macauley

• History of the Christian Church (1882) 3rd cd., vol. 1: Apostolic Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans])  (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

• A History of the Modern Jews; or, Annals of the Hebrew Race From the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Present Time (1867)

Albert Schweitzer

• Quest for the Historical Jesus (1906) "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."

William Shepard

• Our Young Folks' Josephus (1884 PDF) A simplified retelling of Josephus' great history of Israel. Covers from the time of Abraham until the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

J.C. Simmons

• The Kingdom and Comings of Christ, The Prophecies of Daniel, The Predictions of Jesus with Reference to the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Book of Revealtion (1891) "The revelation was not given that men might change their relation to God, for all had had the gospel preached unto them. It was given that his people might prepare for the coming calamities and seek a place of safety; which, as we have learned, they did, fleeing to Pella when Jerusalem was overthrown. They were also warned to come out of the devoted city of Rome when the judgments of Almighty God were about to fall upon it. " (PDF File Here)

"Solomon" Author

• Odes of Solomon (First Century) - "Because He is my Sun and His rays have lifted me up and His light hath dispelled all darkness from my face. In Him I have acquired eyes and have seen His holy day:  The way of error I have left, and have walked towards Him and have received salvation from Him, without grudging. I have put on incorruption through His name: and have put off corruption by His grace. 9 Death hath been destroyed before my face: and Sheol bath been abolished by my word"

Sozomen

• Ecclesiastical History (443-450) - PDF - Ms-Reader | Acrobat | Rocket eBook | Zipped format | iSilo | Mobipocket | EasyRead "The Jews entered upon the undertaking (of rebuilding the temple) without reflecting that, according to the predictions of the holy prophets, it could not be accomplished"

Daniel Smith

• The Destruction of Jerusalem - The Whole Being Intended to Illustrate the Fulfillment of the Predictions of Moses and the Messiah (1840) "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

• The Coming of the Lord, The Last Days, and The End of the World - As Taught by Jesus and His Apostles  (2000) - 49-Page Partial Preterist Book

Robert Southey

• Sir Thomas More, or Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society (1824) "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

• Lucius Flavius (1900) "An historical tale of the time immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem"

C.H. Spurgeon

• Israel and Britain: A Note of Warning (1844) "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."

• Commenting on Commentaries (1890)

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley

• Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church The North American Review, vol. 124, issue 254 (January 1877).

•  Part II. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. The New Englander, vol. 25, issue 97 (October 1866).

David Friedrich Strauss

•  Life of Jesus Critically Examined (1835) "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)

• A Commentary on the Book of Daniel

• Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy (1842) "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)

• A Commentary on the Apocalypse (1845) “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.”

  • George Duffield: Millenarianism Defended: Reply to Prof. Stuart's "Strictures on the Rev. G. Duffield's Recent Work on the Second Coming of Christ"  (1843 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."

G.F. Taylor

• The Second Coming of Jesus (1912) "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

• Biblical Hermeneutics (1883) "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"

• Apocalypse of the Gospels - Making the connection between the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Revelation (1898)

• BIBLICAL APOCALYPTICS | Preface | Introduction  - Focuses on the Prophetic portions of Scripture (1898)

• BIBLICAL DOGMATICS - The Doctrine of the Resurrection (Pages 212 – 251) 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.)."

Tertullian

• An Answer to the Jews (210) "IT happened very recently a dispute was held between a Christian and a Jewish proselyte. Alternately with contentious cable they each spun out the day until evening. By the opposing din, moreover, of some partisans of the individuals, truth began to be overcast by a sort of cloud. It was therefore our pleasure that that which, owing to the confused noise of disputation, could be less fully elucidated point by point, should be more carefully looked into, and that the pen should determine, for reading purposes, the questions handled."

• Against Marcion

Dr. John Thomas

• When was the Apocalypse Written? - An Exposition on the Apocalypse (1861) "But it really matters not whether it be assumed to be written before, or after that event. The interpretation is in no way affected. The destruction of Jerusalem with its times and circumstances cannot be accommodated so as to interpret what is written in the Apocalypse about a "holy city," a "temple" and "altar," a "court," a "Jerusalem," and so forth. These are symbols, and represent something else than what the words stand for in common, or historical discourse."

Thomas, Gospel of

• The Gospel of Thomas (Pre-AD70?) His disciples said to him, "When will the rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?" He said to them, "What you are looking forward to has come, but you don't know it." "Another proof of the earlier dating of the Thomas Gospel, according to Barnstone: He says it doesn't mention the destruction of Jerusalem at all, which happened in 70 A.D. Had the Thomas Gospel been written after the destruction of Jerusalem, he believes it would have recounted the cataclysmic event. Barnstone thinks the Thomas Gospel was written about 55 A.D."

Dom Touttee

• St. Cyril (1790) From the church historians, and his works collected by Dom Touttee in his edition of them at Paris

Robert Travers

• The effect of the fall of Jerusalem upon the character of the Pharisees (1917) "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)

David B. Updegraff

• Old Corn: Or, Sermons and Addresses on the Spiritual Life (1892 - 383 pages) "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."  (p. 278)

Veronica, Legend of

• The Avenging of the Saviour (7th Century) "(God) commanded Titus and Vespasian, whom I knew in that place where thy throne is. And it pleased God Almighty that they went into Judaea and Jerusalem, and seized thy subjects, and put them under that sentence, as it were, in the same manner as they did when thy subjects seized Jesus and bound him. "

Victorinus

• Commentary on the Apocalypse (260) "Alcasar, a Spanish Jesuit, taking a hint from Victorinus, seems to have been the first (AD 1614) to have suggested that the Apocalyptic prophecies did not extend further than to the overthrow of Paganism by Constantine."  (J. Murray, A Dictionary of the Bible, 1863)

Henry Wace

• A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography (1911)

Dr. Israel P. Warren

• 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 (1879) "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."

Max Weremchuk

• Weil ihr aber Sohne seid (2004 - Deutsche) - "But because ye are sons" Gal. 4:6 "I tackle the problem of Israel and the Church and go into the important concept of being "in Christ" and what that implies. In a nutshell my effort is show from Scripture that the Church has not replaced Israel, or that the Church is a parenthesis, but rather that the Church is Israel "grown up"

George Wilkins

• The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem as Related to the Scripture Prophecies (1816) "The prophecies of the Old Testament referring to the former destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, were most of them fulfilled a second time by Titus; indeed, they appear to bear a particular reference to this latter siege."

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

• Armageddon Now! (1991) "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." - 305 pages

Marcius Willson

• Excerpt from Outlines of History (1864)

Daniel Whitby

• Additional Annotations to the New Testament (1710)  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:

  1. A Differtation concerning the Baptism of Infants, on Matth. xxviii. 19. p. 15.

  2. An Answer to Mr. Whifton's Difcourfe, on Matth. xxiv. p. 25.

  3. An Examination of his Difcourfe concerning Abiathar the High Priest, on Mark ii. 36.

  4. A Difcourfe concerning the Imputation of Chrift's perfect Righteoufnefs to us for Righteoufness or Juftification, p. 68

  5. A Defence of a Paffage in the Preface to the Epiflle to the Galatians.

  6. A Difcourfe enquiring whether the Apoftles, in their Writings, spake as conceiving that the Day of Judgment might be in their Days, p. 113.

  7.  A Parallel betwixt the Apoftacy of the Jewifh and the Papal Antichrift, p. 119.

   

• Henry Burton Sharman - The Teaching of Jesus About the Future (1908 PDF)

• Rev. D.D. Buck - Our Lord's Great Prophecy and its Parallels Throughout the Bible (1856 PDF) Providing a Harmony of the Bible's Olivet Discourses

• James Drummond - The Jewish Messiah: A Critical History of the Messianic Idea Among the Jews from the Rise of the Maccabees to the Closing of the Talmud (1877 PDF)

• Bart Ehrman - Jesus, Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (2000 PDF)

Bible Studies: Apocalypse

• John Gwynn - The Syriac Version of the Apocalypse (1897) "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)

• William Hewson - The Oblation and Temple of Ezekiel's Prophetic Visions ; and, a Brief and Practical Exposition of The Apocalypse, or Revelation of St. John (An interesting book... perhaps Idealist, perhaps Hyper Preterist... haven't read in entirety to determine with certainty.  If anyone would like to read and offer an explanation of Hewson's doctrine, it would be much appreciated.)

• Francis Bodfield Hooper - The Revelation of Jesus Christ By John | Volume Two (1861 PDFs) Seems like an important preteristic commentary on the Apocalypse of John.  If you think so, please send an email of explanation.

Foreign Works

Digital Archives of Neo-Latin Texts | Biblioteca Andalucia

• Firmin Abauzit: Discours Historique Sur L' Apocalypse (1770 French PDF) "Abauzit left behind him some writings, chiefly theological. Of these the principal was, an "Essay upon the Apocalypse," written to show that the canonical authority of the book of Revelation was doubtful, and to apply the predictions to the destruction of Jerusalem. This work was sent by the author to Dr. Twells, in London, who translated it from French into English, and added a refutation, - with which Abauzit was so well satisfied, that he desired his friend in Holland to stop an intended impression." (Lange)

• Johann Gottfried von Herder - Mara-natha, das Buch von der Zukunft des Herrn, des Neuen Testaments Siegel [Maran-atha; the Book of the Coming of the Lord: the Seal of the New Testament.] (1799 German PDF) "The historical perspective of this book is, like that of Abauzit, barren and contracted in the extreme: it consists of Jerusalem and the Jewish war. The formal treatment of the Apocalyptic theme, on the contrary, is enthusiastic, full of idealization, and appreciation of the figurative language of the Orient (see Lucke's commendation). Herder called the Apocalypse : "A picture-book, setting forth the rise, the visible existence, and the future of Christ's Kingdom in figures and similitudes of His first Coming, to terrify and to console."  (Lange)

History of AD70

• John Carling - The Doomed City (1910 PDF)

• Nigel Cawthorne - History's Greatest Battles: Masterstrokes of War (2005 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."

Reference Works

• Albert L.A. Hogeterp - Paul and God's Temple - A Historical Interpretation of Cultic Imagery in the Corinthian Correspondence (2003 PDF) - Great Reference Materials

Spurious Works

• Book of Adam and Eve | Second Book of Adam and Eve

• Essene Book of Revelation

• Essene Books Translated | Links

• Essene Gospels and Apocalypse (A.D. 66 or 1923)

| Found in the "Secret Vatican Library" in 1930 - Most likely Forgery : "Another amazing discovery was made in 1923. Edmond Bordeaux Szekely was able to discover Essene documents in the secret archives of the Vatican. In his book The Discovery of the Essene Gospel of Peace, he tells the story of how two chess players helped him meet the renowned Msgr. Angelo Mercati, Prefect of the Vatican Archives. He told the Prefect of his desire to learn all he could of the Saint called Francis. He was allowed to research the vast 25 miles of bookshelves containing scrolls, parchments, paper manuscripts and codices. Within the labarinth he found an aramaic translation of The Essene Gospel of Peace as well as the The Essene Book of Revelation. His research led him to seek out the Benedictine monastary of Monte Cassino. He was allowed, because of a letter of Msgr. had written granting access to the large vitrines in the Scriptorium. There he found the original Hebrew codices of The Essene Gospel of Peace, the source for the Aramaic version found at the secret Vatican Archives."

• Ignatian Epistles Entirely Spurious (1886) - W.D. Killen

• Lost Years of Jesus