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Preterists hold that most, if not all prophecy of Revelation and Daniel and of the end times generally, was fulfilled by AD.70, including the return of Christ. . This is primarily held because of their interpretation of Matthew 24:34, “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place.” They interpret generation to mean 40 years. Some preterists hold that Jesus has not yet returned bodily, but the promises of his return in Matthew 24 etc, are not to be taken literally.

Preterism rises and falls on the dating of Revelation. If John wrote Revelation after AD.70, the entire interprative structure of preterism goes up in smoke. It is strongly, recommended that you read Dating Revelation on this site, before reading this page.

History of preterism

Preterism was developed by Catholic-Jesuit Luis de Alcasar during the Counter-Reformation (1554–1613) in Vestigatio arcani sensus in Apocalypsi. The preterist view served to bolster the Catholic Church’s position against attacks by Protestants, who identified the Pope with the Antichrist. Full preterists believe that all of the Olivette Discourse and Revelation has been fulfilled, including the return of Christ and resurrection of the saints as symbolically fulfilled. It holds that the Church is the true or continued Israel and the promises made to Israel belong to the church.

Among Protestants, preterism was first accepted by Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), a self-styled ecumenical Dutch Protestant eager to establish common ground with the Roman Catholic Church. His first attempt to do this in his “Commentary on Certain Texts Which Deal with Antichrist” (1640) arguing that the texts relating to Antichrist had had their fulfillment in the 1st century AD. Protestants did not welcome these views but Grotius remained undeterred and in his next work, “Commentaries On The New Testament” (1641–50), he expanded his preterist views to include the Olivet discourse and the Book of Revelation.

Protestants have generally regarded full preterism as heretical. 2 Timothy 2:16-18 condemns as heresy a teaching pushed by Hymenaeus & Philetus who claimed that the resurrection had already happened. Preterists argue that Paul’s condemnation was written before the resurrection happened, but now it is past it no longer applies.

Today, most who subscribe to preterism are partial preterists. These are distinct in that they believe the majority of Matthew 24 and Revelation are fulfilled in AD70, but not all; there remains a future judgment, a resurrection of the dead, and a bodily return of Christ.

Early Church

The early church writers, while not authoritative, do bear consideration. Not a single writer suggested that Jesus returned in AD.70.

Literalism vs figurative

Preterism claims (as does all eschatalogical systems) to be faithful in interpreting passages consistently. To that end Preterism makes use of other Scripture parallels and references (as do all other eschatalogical systems).

When it comes to Matthew 24, they do not take all passages literally; just like all other systems, through their “system” they decide which is literal and which is not. For example, they decided that “this generation” is a literal time reference, but not these passages.

• this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come
• then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory
• And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds
• For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
• “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
• And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
• and many other passages

Preterists attempt to argue that “the whole world” and “all nations” is confined to the known world. To give credit, they do cite passages such as Romans 1:8, Romans 16:25-26, Colossians 1:5-6, and Colossians 1:23. However, one can hardly consider Europe to be the known world; they knew much of the Grecian empire, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medes, Indian, Chinese. These were all part of the known world. Preterists particularly mention Acts 2:5-11 and “devout men from every nation under heaven” having heard the gospel, which is clearly hyperbole for it names the sixteen nations. Paul’s use of the aorist passive in Romans 16:26 makes it seem that “the [gospel] has been made known to all the Gentiles” is a completed action. However, Romans was written about AD.58 and Phillipians written about AD.62. We know there was no church in Smyrna in AD.60-61 when Paul wrote to the Phillipians.¹. Therefore, Paul must be using hyperbole or at least a linguisting shortchut. But Jesus said, the gospel will be preached to all nations, and then the end will come. However, if the gospel proclamation was completed before AD.58, why had the end not come? Simple, it didn’t accord with Jesus’ understanding of “the gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations“.

There are two types of signs of his return given by Jesus in Matthew 24: (a) general signs, and (b) specific signs.

General signs

The following is a rough list of things in order of events Jesus said would precede and indicate his return:

1. Temple would be destroyed (v. 1-2)
2. False Messiahs, wars, rumours of wars, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines and earthquakes, not do not fear because the end is not yet. (v. 4-8)
3. Persecution of the saints and hated by ‘all nations’, falling away of the saints, many false prophets, lawlessness will increase, and the good news proclaimed to ‘all nations’ as a witness. (v.9-14)

So the earliest possible return would be after the temple destruction in AD70. But this was the first sign given, and so we should expect there would be many wars, famines and earthquakes, much persecution etc after his return.

‘All nations’ and ‘all peoples’

The preterist would not agree that the ‘all nations‘ (v. 9 & 14) or ‘all peoples’ (v.30) are literal. However, even though “all nations” may not be true in an absolute sense, it is difficult to argue that it must not be substantially true. Matthew 28:19 “make disciples of all nations” is directly tied to verse 14 in this passage: “This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

If preterism is true, the great commission – making disciples of ‘all nations’ – was completed by AD70. And if Revelation 12:5 is to be interpreted consistently with that, the number of nations under Christ’s lordship is indeed very small.

If the term “all nations” must be substantially true of the world, this necessitates centuries of missionary work. The early church did not regard Jesus’ as having returned, either physically, or in any other sense in AD70, and joyfully gave their lives in missionary work over the following 2000 years.

Critical Signs

Blessedly, Jesus gives more helpful detail about the timing of this in verses 15-31.

1. When you see the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel, flee Jerusalem and Judea.
2. Then there will be a great Tribulation, not seen since the beginning of the world, or ever after.
3. After the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon not give its light, stars will fall from heaven, powers of heaven will be shaken.
4. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear, they will see the Son of Man coming
5. The saints will be gathered with the sound of a great trumpet, and all the elect are gathered.
6. Some disciples will not taste death until they see Christ return (Matthew 16:23).

‘When you see’ … and ‘they will see’

Jesus tells his disciples very clearly that one of the major signs of his return is one the saints will see with their own eyes. Jesus uses the same sequence (v. 2 &15) as Daniel 9: the temple is destroyed, and after an unspecified period of time the Abomination is set up. Jesus is pointing his disciples to a very specific event they must look for, to correctly identify the time of Jesus’ return. The Abomination of Desolation is crucial to understanding the timing of the Lord’s return, and we will explore it in more detail towards the end of the page.

The temple was destroyed in AD70 approximately 40 years after Jesus’ death Even if the Abomination was set up immediately after the destruction of the temple (something that Daniel 9 & 12 say does not happen immediately afterwards), it only marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation. All the other events Jesus listed, add even more time. Meaning, that the events described by Jesus in Matthew 24 must be longer than 40 years: must be longer than “this generation”. Preterism tacitly acknowledges this, understanding the gathering of the saints with the sound of a great trumpet is the evangelism of the last 2000+ years.

However, this downplays a key component of this prophecy, being the return of Christ, where Jesus says they will see him coming (v. 30) just as the angels will promise them in Acts 1:11: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.” Jesus went to heaven bodily and the saints were told that he will come back in the same way. In fact, Jesus is explicit in his description of the end of the age:

“If anyone tells you then, ‘See, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Over here!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ Take note: I have told you in advance. ²⁶ So if they tell you, ‘See, he’s in the wilderness!’ don’t go out; or, ‘See, he’s in the storerooms!’ do not believe it.

Matthew 24

Preterists know this is a weak spot in their interpretation. As a result, they turn to ‘Sephor Yosippon: A tenth-century history of Ancient Israel‘ (chapter 87), chapter 44 of Pseudo-Hegesippus, Book 5:13 of Tacitus, ‘Histories‘, and Flavius Josephus, ‘War of the Jews‘ (6.5.3), each which have descriptions of amazing events and voices in the heavens during the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. It is difficult to believe that these are in fact descriptions of the return of Christ when no early church writings mention them. More importantly, they contradict what Jesus describes. If Preterists provide the full quote of Tacitus, you will read this critical sentence: “Few interpreted these omens as fearful: the majority firmly believed that their ancient priestly writings contained the prophecy that this was the very time that the East should grow strong, and men starting from Judea should possess the world.” This is not a description of “all the peoples of the earth will mourn.” (v. 30) or of Luke 23:30 “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’“. Thus, we can only conclude that people did not see what Jesus prophesied.

This Generation…

Jesus and Paul use the term “generation” with a degree of regularity, but preterists are inconsistent in how they apply it.

Bear in mind that the disciples wanted to know when (a) all this [destruction of Jerusalem] would happen, and (b) the sign of your coming, and (c) the sign of the end of the age. So while it seems that Jesus’ description of the Abomination should control the understanding of the time and fulfilment of this passage, Preterists instead use Matthew 24:34 – “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place.” They argue that every time that “this generation” is used by Jesus, it always refers to the generation (~40 years) in front of him, and cannot mean anything else.

While it is obvious that Jesus is speaking to the people in front of him, it is not equally clear that Jesus uses ‘generation’ as a substitute for 40 years. God has freely given timeframes in the past prophecies, why did God not do so here?

‘Generation’ is not always bound to time; we don’t use it that way ourselves. We speak freely of this generation, and that generation of computer or other technology, as having specific traits or capabilities. For example, 4G or 5G mobile phone networks. Likewise, Jesus uses the term “this generation” often as a description of character, rather than a 40-year container. Was the generation of Jesus’ time worse than other generations? The time of Noah? Our own generation? Or are there similar traits across all people?

“Generation” is not the only term that depicts this. Jesus has an interesting dialogue with the Pharisees in John 8.

³³ “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵ A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. ³⁷ I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you. ³⁸ I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father; so then, you do what you have heard from your father.”

³⁹ “Our father is Abraham,” they replied.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did. ⁴⁰ But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. ⁴¹ You’re doing what your father does.”

“We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father—God.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on my own, but he sent me. ⁴³ Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to my word. ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8

Jesus uses the term ‘Father’ as a reference to your source of character. It is not a literal reference. The Pharisees eventually got this in verse 41. We know Jesus is using this metaphorically because in verse 39 it appears that Jesus is denying that Abraham is their father, while in verses 37 & 56 he acknowledges Abraham is their earthly father in verse “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” So just as Jesus uses Father in a non-literal sense, he also uses “generation” and “this generation” in a non-literal sense (see appendix for multiple examples).

Before we look at the particular usage, there is a very important context. In Matthew 23 Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, saying:

³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors’ sins!…³⁵ So all the righteous blood shed on the earth will be charged to you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all these things will come on this generation.” ³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

Matthew 23

What was coming on “this generation”? That they are charged with someone else’s sins (cf Ezekiel 18:20)? There was no time-connected prophecy (unlike Matthew 24). The Pharisees are not more guilty of the blood of the prophets than their ancestors who actually killed the prophets – to the point that Jesus told them to “fill up to the measure of their ancestors’ sins”. Despite the claim of Jesus, the Pharisees did not actually murder Zechariah; Jesus was speaking of the evil that the wicked generations/people will be charged with and included the Pharisees in with the type of people who make up wicked generations.

Let’s look at a specific verse that uses “this generation”.

¹² Sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

Mark 8

Taking “this generation” literally, it is simply untrue that “this generation” received no sign of Jesus’ Messiahship. Jesus did many miracles and other signs (John 11:47; 12:37; 20:30), so how can this claim be true?

The answer lies in Jesus’ repeated statements that it was an evil and perverse generation (Matthew 13:39; 16:4). Jesus spoke in parables to prevent people from understanding (Mark 4:10-12). To those whom the secret of the kingdom of God is being given, understanding would be given. This is also true of signs. If you see and recognise a sign, then it is for you. If you do not recognise a sign, it is just as if there were no sign, it is just background noise. Just as the parables were for those who were being given the secret of the kingdom of God, so too were signs for those people being given the kingdom. This is essentially Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 14:22.

The generation that Jesus was speaking to was not more wicked than previous generations who killed the prophets, nor more wicked than our own generation. Jesus was saying that the generation of the wicked will not be given a sign, and the generation of those being given the kingdom of heaven (the generation of the righteous) will have a sign. This is not an issue of Gen X, or Gen Y, but of a type of people. This is clear from many uses of ‘generation’ throughout the New Testament.

Such is the generation of those who inquire of him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Psalm 24:6

This is the immediate context of Matthew 24’s “this generation”. In chapter 23, Jesus was talking about an evil generation. Until now in Matthew 24, Jesus has been saying how bad the persecution of believers would be, how they would be killed and betrayed etc., and how only those who persevere to the end will be saved and that except that the days are shortened, no one would be left alive. Jesus is saying that these terrible things are going to come on believers and then he states, “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place.” Jesus was contrasting the saints as the righteous generation with the Pharisees as a wicked generation, he was not providing a key to understanding prophetic fulfilment, but a guarantee that the saints would not be wiped out from the persecution he had just mentioned:  “Unless those days were cut short, no one would be saved. But those days will be cut short because of the elect.“

The only reasonable understanding for all things considered in this chapter, is that (a) it will take longer than 40 years, (b) understanding the timing of the Abomination is critical, (c) ‘this generation’ is a reference to righteous saints, not a block of 40 years.

The Abomination of Desolation key

As mentioned above, Jesus’ reference to the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel is the key interpretive clue. Preterists often downplay the significance of the Abomination of Desolation, essentially arguing that it must have occurred in AD70 because “this generation will not pass away”.

However, if the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel can be shown to not have occurred on or about AD70, then whatever “this generation” means, it cannot be a time-limited reference. A more in-depth exploration of the events of AD70 can be found here. However to summarise the key components:

Daniel’s events are sequenced in chapter 9:

1. Messiah is cut off – Daniel 9:26
2. Temple is destroyed – Daniel 9:26
3. “Treaty” for 1 week – Daniel 9:27
4. Ceasing of sacrifices – in the middle of the week – Daniel 9:27
5. Abomination of Desolation (1290 “days”) after the ceasing of sacrifices – Daniel 12:11
6. then Great Tribulation (Matt 24) – so bad it had never happened and will never happen again.

The following questions may be helpful:

• Was the destruction of the temple as described by Daniel, fulfilled in AD70? Yes.
• Was there a “treaty” with the Romans for 7 years? No.
• Did the sacrifices cease 3.5 years later? No.
• Was the act of General Titus an abomination 1290 days after the ceasing of sacrifices? No.
• Did the sacrifice cause Desolation? No. The altar survived the Roman destruction and the sacrifices continued afterwards, and Jews continued to live in Israel as a majority until about AD688.
• Did the Great Tribulation follow? No. While about 100,000 Jews (out of many millions) were deported and scattered, and there was terrible persecution, it did not match the level of Nero and paled into insignificance to the slaughter and persecution under Islamic rule.

A literal rendering of Daniel’s time frame requires a minimum of 10.5 years after the destruction of the temple, which makes fulfilment impossible within 40 years, requiring a minimum of 50.5 years.

Simply put, the timeline of events of AD70 does not support the Abomination of Desolation. There are better inflection points in history that match the criteria. Further in-depth analysis can be found in the series: The Abomination of Desolation: What Jesus and Daniel say.

Some of you will not taste death…until they see

Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 16:23 that “some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom“.

Preterists hold the following beliefs about this statement:

1. Death is the literal physical death of the disciples to whom he is speaking.
2. The coming of the Son of Man in his kingdom, is a spiritual, not a physical return – it is a spiritual judgement executed physically.
3. The physical presence of disciples present in in the physical destruction of Jerusalem in AD.70 is necessary for them to spiritually discern (see) Christ’s return.

This hinges on Revelation being dated before AD.70, and some disciples being present in AD.70 to ‘see’ Christ return and judge Jerusalem. We have addressed the issue of the dating of Revelation elsewhere; here we examine whether their understanding of Jesus’ claim is true. What we won’t address on this page is that Christ made many other statements about his return, that it is difficult to suggest that Christ’s return is spiritual and not physical.

Preterists claim the correct understanding of the fulfillment is that a physical presense of a disciple was required to be present in the physical descrutction/judgement of Jerusalem in AD.70 in order to see Jesus spiritual return in his Kingdom. Take a moment to process that.

Despite the silence of Scripture regarding AD.70 as the fulfillment of prophecy, Preterists claim that since the ‘death’ of the disciple, and the ‘seeing’ by the disciple must occur in their lifetime, and because Jesus is not a liar, therefore we must accept their claim of AD.70 as the fulfillment of Christ’s return.

However in light of 1 John 4:1 we shall test this claim. Which of his disciples were alive and/or present in Jerusalem who could have seen Jesus come in his kingdom in AD.70? Below is a table of the apostles, and their accepted death dates.

Apostle	Tradition or Likely Date of Death
Judas Iscariot	AD.33 Suicide (Hanged himself, according to the Gospel of Matthew)
James, son of Zebedee	AD.44–47 (Beheaded in Jerusalem)
Andrew	AD.60 (Crucified in Patras, Greece)
James, son of Alphaeus	AD.62 (Stoned to death in Jerusalem)
Simon Peter	AD.64–67 (Crucified upside down in Rome)
Matthew (Levi)	AD.60–70 (Martyred in Ethiopia or Persia, possibly by sword, axe, or spear)
Bartholomew (Nathanael)	AD.70 (Flayed alive and then crucified in Armenia or India)
Thomas	AD.70 (Stabbed with a spear in India or Mylapore)
Philip	AD.80 (Martyred, possibly by crucifixion, in Hierapolis, Phrygia), although an earlier date of AD.54 is also considered
John	AD.95–100 (Died of natural causes in Ephesus – after being released from Patmos)
Thaddaeus (Lebbaeus)	Tradition says he was in Edessa and Armenia; tradition suggests martyrdom – year unknown
Simon the Zealot	Persia or Armenia – not well documented; tradition suggests martyrdom – year unknown

Remember Preterists teach that the judgement of Jerusalem marks the (spiritual) return of Christ. However, no known apostles who could have physically seen the ‘spiritual’ return of Jesus in Jerusalem. possible candidates who saw Christ return as Preterists claim. None. Therefore, either Christ’s claim is false, or he meant something else. Some preterists then argue that lack of evidence of the physical presence of a disciple in Jerusalem in AD.70 is an argument outside of Scripture, and is therefore rejected. However, as we saw above, 1 John 4:10 says we are to not believe every spirit, but test. Deuteronomy 18:20-22 and Jeremiah 28:9 show that it is expected that there will be evidence to test the prophecy. In this instance, there is no evidence beyond that Jerusalem was destroyed, and no evidence that Christ came in his kingdom, and no evidence that any apostles saw Christ come in his kingdom, and no early church writer taught this.

Assuming death here is the disciples’ literal deaths, the particular wording of Jesus is that they would not taste death until they had seen him come in his kingdom, suggests that they would taste death after that, which is the opposite of Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 15 – where believers are transformed, ‘mortal puts on immortality‘. Therefore, in order to be consistent with other Scripture, we must consider that “see” may not be a literal event. The preterist already accepts that the “seeing” Christ return in AD.70 is a spiritual ‘seeing‘, since Christ did not bodily return, but they take the physical presense in AD.70 Jerusalem is necessary to see that spiritual return. However, it is possible to understand this differently.

All other systems understand there are other two possible ways to understand this:

1. Christ was referring to the people who would witness this, rather than the disciples in front of him; and
2. The understanding of ‘see’ should be understood differently.

We won’t address the first option, mostly because it is dismissed out of hand by preterists, regardless of the merits of the view. Instead we examine the second option.

‘See’ should be understood non-literally. And there is Scripture that teaches this. There are numerous passages demonstrating the OT saints saw Christ. Here are just a few:

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.

John 8:56

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”

Hebrews 11:13-16

²³ And turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, ²⁴ for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.”

Luke 10:23-24

But Enoch…prophesied…, “Look, the Lord comes with many thousands of His saints…”

Jude 1:14

Luke’s reference is a particularly interesting passage for it shows that the prophets did not always see things, while other passages state that they did see things. We can only conclude that they did not see everything, while the disciples did see some of these.

Finally, in testing, we have no evidence that any disciple was physically alive and in Jerusalem to see Christ spiritually come in his kingdom in AD.70. Without evidence, the preterist claim of fulfillment of Christ’s return in AD.70 must be rejected. Instead, we see that John and Paul did see Christ come in his kingdom (through their visions recorded for us) just like the Old Testament saints. They did not see this in AD.70.

In the same way…

In Acts 1:11, the angels told the disciples that “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Preterists of course refer to the varied ways of Christ’s return described in Matthew 24:27, like lightning; 1 Thess 4:16; shout and trump of God; 2 Thess1:7-8 with flaming fire; and Rev 19:11 on a white horse flaming fire and judgement, arguing that none of these are “in the same way” as promised in Acts 1:11, and therefore must not be considered as literal.

However, Peterists ignore that the things mentioned in those passage are not the manner but rather accompanying events or signs. The manner, was visible and phsyical. Jesus also says that “all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming…“. The great difficulty is that the all tribes of the earth did not mourn, or mourn as for an only son, or see Christ come. AD70 was nothing to most of the nations of the world, just another destroyed city among hundreds.

Summary:

Preterism teaches that Jesus returned spiritually in AD70 with the destruction of the temple and that almost all eschatological prophecies should be understood in this light.

It is inconsistent with its use of literalism and symbolism of key phrases.

• this generation
• all nations & all peoples of earth
• they will see

While priding itself on a literal understanding of Jesus’ words, it does not recognise that the events described in Matthew 24 (and Revelation which has never been touched here), will actually take considerably longer than 40 years.

It dismisses the key events Jesus gives to correctly identify the time of his return, such as the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel.

APPENDIX

The below verses are just a sampling of uses of this particular word γενεὰ – genea (G1074). There are other related words in Scripture such as γένος – genos (G1085).

Mark 8:12 – Sighing deeply in his spirit, he said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” (see detailed explanation)

Mark 8:38 – For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Acts 2:40 – And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Matthew 11:16 – “To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children…

Matthew 12:39 – He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah…

Matthew 12:45 – Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first. That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.

Matthew 16:4 – An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”

Matthew 17:17 – Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.”

Mark 9:19 – He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you?

Luke 9:41 – Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

Luke 11:29 – As the crowds were increasing, he began saying, “This generation is an evil generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

Luke 11:50 – so that this generation may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world

Luke 16:8 –  And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

Acts 2:40 – And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Acts 8:33- In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

Acts 14:16- Who in times (γενεὰ – genea) past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.

Philippians 2:15 – so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world,

1 Peter 2:9 – But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1. Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, Chapter 11