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Those that choose NOT to believe the 'Bible interprets
itself' and don't believe that the 'longsuffering of God is because He is unwilling that any should perish, and don't believe
that, 'blindness in part is happened to Israel, UNTIL the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.', are the ones that opt for
an inconsistent method of interpretation which literally believes that Christ is coming soon but will not believe in his literal
and physical coming.
For example, in the first chapter of Revelation it
says, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
therein: FOR THE TIME IS AT HAND. ... 7 BEHOLD, HE COMETH WITH CLOUDS; AND EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM, and they also which pierced
him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty"
Now since the Preterist believes that Christ's coming
was 'at hand' and that meant ad 70, then why don't they believe how he is to come?
They believe Christ came in a.d. 70, and believe the
account of Josephus, but there is no recording of ANYONE seeing Jesus coming in the clouds. Yet the scripture in this same
passage says, 'every eye shall see him.'
They will make figurative his coming but insist on
'at hand' being by a.d. 70.
Two things God did not want us ignorant of are:
1) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be IGNORANT
OF THIS MYSTERY, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, UNTIL the fulness
of the Gentiles be come in. (Romans 11:25)
2) But, beloved, BE NOT IGNORANT OF THIS ONE THING,
that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as
some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance. (2 Peter 3)
Actually, this is really two aspects of the one thing
that God does not want us ignorant of, because both deal with God's delay.
Still, this is precisely what the Preterist is
willingly ignorant of.
8. THE FIGURATIVE FALLACY:
Either (1) mistaking literal language for figurative
language or
(2) mistaking figurative language for literal language.
Example of
(1): Mary Baker Eddy interprets EVENING as "mistiness
of mortal thought; weariness of mortal mind; obscured views; peace and rest."
Example of (2): The Mormon theologian james Talmage
interprets the prophesy that "thou shalt be brought down and speak out of the ground" to mean that God's Word would come to
people from the Book of Mormon which was taken out of the ground at the hill of Cumorah. (Scripture Twisting, Sire)
Take the following two passages and tell me if it
is figurative or
literal.
"But this is that which was spoken by the prophet
Joel; 'And it
shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of
my Spirit upon all flesh: and
your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour
of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord
come" (Acts 2)
The Preterist believes that there were signs on the
earth as
mentioned above but the signs in the heaven were figurative because it wasn't recorded that anyone saw the signs
in the heaven and a.d. 70 has already come and gone, so it must be figurative. So they have a literal interpretation on the
first half of this fulfillment and a figurative one on the second.
Here is the next passage:
"Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those
nations, as
when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in
that day upon the mount of Olives, which
is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the
west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward
the south." (Zechariah 14)
The Preterists believe that Christ literally and physically
left
from the mount of Olives (Acts 1), but they believe when he comes back as mentioned above it will not be physical.
In other words, His feet, mount of Olives, Jerusalem,
the dividing
of the mountain, etc., are all figurative.
If they let the bible interpret itself (another hermeneutic)they
would
see that Jesus would come the way he left.
"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld,
he was TAKEN UP; and a CLOUD received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went
up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
THIS SAME JESUS , which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come IN LIKE MANNER as ye have seen him go into heaven.
12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the MOUNT
CALLED OLIVET, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey."
(Acts 1)
Is it any wonder that the Liberals take these kind
of arguments that Preterist's use and make the whole bible figurative?
BJ Maxwell
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