Sunday 14 December 2014

Not a Basis for Preterism

Jesus said that there be some of them standing here who shall not taste of death before they shall see the kingdom coming with power.

Part-preterists say that coming was a different coming to the future coming of the Lord.

Preterists say there is no future coming.

It could mean that the coming of the kingdom would be seen in the first century in the sense of them seeing its inauguration.

Or it might not refer to the first century at all. 

If Jesus had meant that some of his immediate audience would see the coming of the kingdom in their lifetime in the first century, wouldn't He have said:

Some of YOU standing here shall not have tasted of death before YOU shall see the kingdom come with power?

But instead He said:

Some standing here [meaning, who shall at that time be standing here] shall not have tasted of death before THEY [not you] shall see the kingdom come with power.

So Jesus might have been describing the NATURE of His coming - the fact that it would visibly come to this physical world - not the TIMING of His coming.

It will come visibly and powerfully to this physical world - but He didn't say when, perhaps.

The context doesn't require that the statement was a statement about TIME.

The context was a discussion about the physical manifestation of glory which the disciples had seen relative to Jesus, on the mount of transfiguration.

Jesus continued that theme by taking the disciples' awe at the glory they'd seen relative to Jesus, and making it illustrative of the exceeding glory of His future coming before the whole world.

The statement was more about WHO Jesus really was - and about what His coming will be LIKE - it wasn't at all a statement about WHEN.


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