Prophecy - The End Times

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Ohio

When we typically speak of “The End Times, ” we speak of major events prophesied in scripture. Many of these center on Israel. Just read thru the whole Bible, and see if you agree with me.

For approximately 1900 years, the status of the nation of Israel was “deceased.” Many, many had predicted the end of the world before that, yet there will be no end until certain realities about Israel happened. For example, 2 Thess 2, Matt 24, and Daniel 9 all correspond and point to “someone” exalting himself in the temple of God, and desecrating it. Jesus Himself mentions this major event will occur in the future, so it could not have happened already. Neither did Vespasian nor his son Titus fit the description.

How could this happen without the nation of Israel (1948), and without the city of Jerusalem (1967) recognized as their capital (2018)? Yet these events, against all odds, have already occurred!

And how can this happen without their Temple rebuilt with the Ark of the Covenant?

Recently I came across an old friend who now believes that the prophecies in Revelation, in their entirety, occurred already in the 1st Century. This is called Preterism or Preterist Theology. There are also some modified Preterist viewpoints.

Even the great church historian Philip Schaff espoused this view. Beginning in the 17th century, when Israel was uninhabitable desert, preterism seemed to be a reasonable explanation for all the prophecies in the NT. As such, all these major end-time events occurred before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

Since we now see Israel and Jerusalem come back to life, and so many other Biblical prophecies on the verge of fulfillment, it's difficult to explain how anyone could seriously embrace this view any more.