Exploring the Bible

When the topic of biblical prophecy arises, the modern imagination often drifts toward images of future global conflicts, apocalyptic scenarios, and the "End Times." This perspective, largely popularized in the last century, anticipates that the majority of prophetic scripture is waiting to be fulfilled in our future. However, there is an alternative theological framework that has existed within church history for centuries—one that looks backward rather than forward to understand the fulfillment of scripture. This view is known as Preterism . Derived from the Latin word praeter , meaning "past," Preterism posits that many of the prophecies found in the New Testament, specifically in Matthew 24 and the Book of Revelation, were fulfilled in the first century AD. Rather than a roadmap for the 21st century, Preterists view these texts as a divine commentary on the events leading up to and including the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD. What Does Preteris...

 Understanding Preterism One of the most common attacks from skeptics against the Bible goes something like this: "Jesus promised he would come back 'soon.' He told his disciples that 'this generation' would not pass away before the end came. Well, it’s been 2,000 years. That generation is long dead. Jesus was wrong." Even some famous Christian thinkers, like C.S. Lewis, admitted that Matthew 24:34 (where Jesus predicts these things) was "the most embarrassing verse in the Bible." But what if Jesus wasn't wrong? What if the problem isn't with Jesus' timeline, but with our interpretation? This brings us to a theological view known as Preterism. The word comes from the Latin praeter , meaning "past." In short, Preterism is the view that many of the prophecies in the New Testament—specifically those about the "end of the age," the "Great Tribulation," and the "coming on the clouds"—were fulfi...