At the 2008 Prewrath Conference in Orlando, Charles Cooper explicated Matthew’s purpose in his account of the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 24, distinguishing it from Mark and Luke’s account and purpose.
Matthew 24 is applicable to the Church, contra Preterism and Pretribulationism. Preterists commit a fundamental fallacy of assuming that the question and purpose in Mark and Luke’s version of the Olivet Discourse is the same as that in Matthew’s, thus flattening the respective purposes for each. But Matthew is not concerned with the question asked in Mark and Luke’s account, but rather he takes the teaching of Jesus and expands on it to serve a larger (eschatological) purpose — this important point is repeatedly missed by preterists. With any discussion or debate with a preterist, this point is fundamental and primary to all other subsequent discussions.
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Preterism
There are different reasons why many individuals change their view to either preterism or amillennialism, and in most cases, both. In their mind, it is just easier to regulate the events in Matthew 24 or Revelation to the 1st century and be done with it and move onto something else. Or, for many, they feel more pious to view Revelation as mostly teaching spiritual truths (e.g. the Antichrist is not a literal future historical figure but is symbolic and represents “the principle of evil.”)
And lest we forget, in my opinion, one of the key reasons why individuals embrace these views. Their favorite theologians are right on when it comes to the nature of God, humanity, and salvation–so “they must be right when it comes to eschatology.”
And given that it is demonstrable that amillennialism is a human creation that developed out of the nascent Roman Catholic church, the premiller has the confidence to know that the early church in a singular voice affirmed a premill position. And that same level of confidence can be displayed in the Biblical arguments as well.
The reason I want to start this continuous nugget series on premillennialism is so I can equip many of you with the best arguments for premillennialism against their best arguments.
I do not want you to be intimidated by their arguments, and certainly not intimidated by their terms they invoke. You will often hear an amill brother or sister say, “We use a ‘God-centered’ hermeneutic when interpreting the Bible.” Or “Christ-centered” hermeneutic. The suggestion is that you are not God-centered–and who wants to be against that!
Another term they use is “Biblical-Theology” hermeneutic. As if premillennialism is not based on a Biblical-Theological hermeneutic.
In reality, when it comes to key texts such as Revelation 20, Acts 15, Romans 11, Matthew 24, Luke 21, and various O.T. passages, their hermeneutic is inconsistent in practice.
Though for the rest of the year I will be working on the Thessalonian series, I will punctuate blog posts with this ongoing series defending premillennialism and equipping you with solid arguments against amillennialism.
As far as the preterist view and interacting with that position, after I am finished with the Thessalonian series, I will commence with an Olivet Discourse series that will indeed last for at least two years. This is where I will interact with the best that the preterist view has to offer, not merely giving asides, but full-length discussions and critiques against the preterist position.
Though you may never meet a hyper-preterist in your lifetime…trust me, they are out there. The following is a brief critique by Phil Johnson of a hyper-preterist site.
The Preterist Archive. Preterism suggests that the Tribulation prophecies of Matthew 24 were fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. But what you’ll find here is not mere preterism; it’s hyper-preterism (though the people who run this Web site prefer the term “consistent preterism”). Call it what you will; this view is heresy. It echoes the error of Hymenaeus and Philetus, who taught that the Second Coming was already past, thus overthrowing the faith of some (2 Tim. 2:17-18). Hyper-preterists teach that all New Testament prophecy is now fulfilled; the Lord has returned; and we now live in the New Heavens and New Earth. Sound bizarre? It is. Modern preterism is largely a reactionary movement against the fanaticism of premillennial end-times extremists. Hyper-preterists react to the end-of-the-world doom-and-gloomers by running to an opposite extreme, but their fanaticism is actually driven by a similar spirit. Here’s a rule of thumb: when you encounter someone whose whole view of theology is shaped and driven by any eschatalogical theory (be it pre- post- or a-millennial), so that eschatology becomes their primary concern, you’ve found a candidate for the “really bad theology” category.