Category: Preterism

Irenaeus

Did you know that Revelation was dated incorrectly and has already taken place?

Introduction:

The church father, Irenaeus, wrote in “against heresies” that Jesus was in his 50’s when he was crucified. This is the same man that said John wrote Revelation in the 90’s A.D. during the reign of Trajan. Irenaeus is from the second century and is the main source that Christianity counts on for its dating of eschatological theology. If Irenaeus got it wrong about Jesus then how can he be right about John writing Revelation during the reign of Trajan? That being the case means that Revelation has been misdated (Against Heresies, Book II, Chapter 22).

The Problem

Christian scholars count on the church fathers quite a bit to understand the apostles who came before the church fathers were born. The church fathers are middle men who do not have any direct connection with the apostles. We don’t start hearing about the church fathers until the second century. How much can historic knowledge change in 100 years? One look at our US Constitution will prove that facts get changed and or misunderstood just a few years after a historical event. 

The Solution

Revelation was written before the fall of Jerusalem because it revealed what would happen during the fall of Jerusalem. Revelation is a Jewish book and is replete with Jewish symbolism and spiritualism and eschatology. There are over one hundred of New Testament verses that have Jesus Christ’s return happening soon after he left to go back up to heaven. 

No verses exist that say that Jesus is gonna take thousands of years before he comes back. The false prophets of today keep messing up their predictions on interpretations of the Bible to prove that Jesus is coming back 2000 years after he said he was coming back soon. And Jesus understands what “soon” means, which doesn’t mean 2000 years. 

The angel had John measure the Temple in Revelation. There was no Temple to measure after 70 A.D. when it got destroyed by the Romans. That’s a pretty big clue that Revelation was written before 70 A.D. Irenaeus was as wrong about the dating of Revelation as he was about Christ’s age at his crucifixion. 

Summarize and Call to action

It’s amazing to me that the church relies on one brief statement from a man who can’t get his facts straight. Even though external evidence can be helpful to Bible exposition, the Bible explains the Bible and doesn’t need man’s explanation of it. 

People have the propensity of allowing others to explain the Bible. When we allow others to teach us the Bible we absorb the teachers’ biases as well. When we trust one like Irenaeus for a whole theology who is proven wrong in theology, we become unsteady as that man. That is why it’s a good idea to read scripture without any paradigms guiding us such as pre-millennial dispensationalism. We must take a systematic approach to Scripture and not take it out of context to make it fit our understanding of the Bible. And that’s all there is to it!

The Truth About God’s Kingdom: A Spiritual Perspective

What is the point of this article? Many say that Christ’s kingdom is a physical one. I include the Scripture at the bottom to show you that God’s kingdom is not a physical kingdom like many commentators say that it is. God’s kingdom is not physical, Jesus said.

So why are many Christians trying to assert that Christ is coming back with a physical army to destroy the physical world? The apostle Paul said that we don’t fight against physical things, but against spiritual things. He also said that physical bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 15:50, Ephesians 6:12)

Jesus told Pilate twice the kingdom of God is not a physical kingdom. However, many in the church insist that it is.. I used to be in that camp until I was saved from the physical world of my spiritual future of hopelessness. A hopelessness about the certainty of God destroying the Earth.

Preterism, a.k.a., “covenant eschatology,” provides a certainty about the future by the way of salvation from the unknown world of futuristic eschatology, the study of the end of the world in the future. That does not mean that the world has a certain future, but it does mean that we can be certain God will not destroy the world now or in the future. What humanity does is a different story.

I’m including John 18:33-38 to show you the conversation that went on between Jesus and Pilate. You can read it below:

33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?

34 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?

35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?

36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post. I hope and pray that this has been a blessing to you.

I use the King James Version (KJV) because it is open source and is not subject to copyright laws. It has nothing to do with believing that the KJV is the only proper Bible translation. However, it is not subject to modern interpretational biases that may twist the interpretation to fit a particular doctrine.