“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.” ~Matthew 24:21

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is very specific that events of the last days, just before He returns for His church, will be unprecedented. Never during the entire history of the world, Jesus states, have these events taken place.

The assertion of Preterism is that events described in the Book of Revelation have already taken place. When we examine the 21 judgments of Revelation, it is impossible to apply all of these to any historical events of past history.

The preterist idea that the events of Revelation have already taken place is quite foolish, in my opinion. The events described by Revelation require specificity that has never been recorded in past history. Many preterists say that all of the events described in Daniel and Revelation for the Last Days took place during the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD.

Jesus predicted the encirclement of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, in 32 AD. He said that these events would happen within one generation of those who heard this prophecy. Just 38 years later, in 70 AD, these events did take place, just as Jesus said. The problem is that Jesus was not saying that all the events of the Last Days were bound up in the prophetic fulfillments that would take place in just one generation. This misunderstanding of what Jesus said has led to much of the error in preterism.

Jesus told the Jews of that generation in 32 AD:

“For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” ~Luke 19:43-44

“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” ~Matthew 24:34

The context of Jesus’ revelation of Jerusalem’s destruction to the disciples, in Luke 19:29-21:24, is spoken directly after Palm Sunday, 32 AD. Jesus is describing the judgment that will come upon Israel for her rejection of Him as the Messiah. The fulfillment of this prophecy occurred within one 40-year generation, in 70 AD.⁠1 Titus brought his army against Jerusalem, sacked the city, and destroyed the Temple, burning it to the ground. Literally, not one stone was left upon another, just as Jesus had predicted.

Matthew Chapter 24 is essentially the same account that Luke records, as Jesus is seen at the Temple with the disciples when He tells them that not one stone shall be left upon another. This occurred during Titus’ siege of Jerusalem, just as Jesus had predicted.

“Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” ~Matthew 24:1-2

The siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple will be covered in great detail in the chapter: “Not One Stone Upon Another.”

If all of the events described in Daniel and Revelation had taken place in 70 AD, or any time prior to today, we would know this, because the things described by the text of Revelation are quite extraordinary:

Have you ever read in the news that a mountain burning like fire fell from the sky and caused every island to sink and every mountain to be diminished? Was there ever a time when demon locusts stung men with their tails for five months and men could not die? When did hail fall from the skies that weighed 70 pounds? I don’t recall all the waters of the earth being turned to blood, or that two-thirds of the people on earth were killed by twenty-one plagues.

There are two schools of preterist theology: The full preterist, who believes that all of the events described in Revelation and Daniel have already taken place. The second is partial preterism: the idea that some of the prophecies of Revelation and Daniel have taken place in past history.

There is an artifact of the Bible where many of the Messianic Prophecies that concern Jesus have both an earlier and a later application in their fulfillment. We have already examined the Messianic Prophecy from Isaiah 61, in which Jesus stated in Luke’s Gospel that He has already fulfilled “the acceptable year of the Lord.” The second part of Isaiah 61 Jesus left unfulfilled, to be completed upon His return—“the day of vengeance of our God.”

Postmillennialism describes most of the world as being saved in the end. This idea comes largely from the text in Matthew 24:14, which states: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

The problem with this view of Matthew 24:14 is the failure to understand that during the Great Tribulation, in the final seven years of Daniel’s seventieth week, God will dispatch 144,000 Jewish Evangelists to preach Jesus as the Messiah.2 At the midway point of the Tribulation, God will send two witnesses, likely Moses and Elijah, who will stand in Jerusalem and declare the eternal Gospel to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

There will likely be more people saved during the final seven years of this present world than have ever been saved during any other period of history. It is at the conclusion of the seven-year Tribulation that Jesus’ prophecy of Matthew 24:14, “ This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness,” will be fulfilled. During the Tribulation, all the nations of the world will hear about Jesus, and millions will be saved.

The idea that Jesus cannot return to earth until every nation has heard the Gospel is true, in part. Jesus will come to the outer atmosphere of the earth and meet those who love Him in the air.3 He will take His bride back to heaven and give her the new eternal and perfect bodies He promised, rewards, and the marriage feast of the Lamb.4

At the end of the seven-year Tribulation, Jesus will return to earth with His bride and establish His kingdom on the earth. All those who have believed in Jesus during the Tribulation will be allowed to enter the Millennial kingdom of the Messiah.5 During the final seven years of the present earth, all the nations of the world will hear about Jesus and have the opportunity to be saved.

Today there are still many isolated people in the world who have not heard the Good News about Jesus. The Postmillennialism position is that in the Last Days, a majority of people will be saved as the Gospel is increasingly successful. The New Testament contradicts this position, in that the writers describe increasing apostasy and a vast number of pretend believers falling away from Christ in the last days.

Those who have sincerely repented of their sins, and have fully committed their lives to Jesus, will grow in their faith in the Last Days.

• In the theology of preterism, the events described in the Book of Daniel 9 are asserted as taking place from the seventh century BC to the first century AD.
• The error of Preterism states that the prophecies found in the Book of Revelation, along with the prediction made by Jesus for the Last Days, took place in the first century, specifically 70 AD.
• Preterism incorrectly describes modern Christians as the fulfillment of the promises made by God to the ancient Israelites.
• In the incorrect view of modern preterists, the entire scope of events described for the Tribulation have already concluded by 70 AD.

Preterist Dr. Kenneth Gentry says, “I hold that the Tribulation occurs in our distant past in the first century; I hold that the Tribulation closes out the Jewish-based, old covenant order, and establishes the new covenant (Christian) order as the conclusive redemptive-historical reality.”6

Gentry interprets Matthew 24:21, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be,” as “prophetic hyperbole.” In other words, what Jesus said in Matthew 24:21 is an exaggeration and not to be taken literally.7

There is no indication anywhere that Jesus was exaggerating, or intended anything else but a literal interpretation of these texts. The events of the Tribulation will be unparalleled in the entire history of the earth. These twenty-one judgments—which come in the form of seven-seal, seven-trumpet, and seven-bowl judgments—result in the death of two-thirds of the people on Earth. At no time during the history of the world have there been twenty-one catastrophic events that killed two-thirds of the population of Earth.

Revelation 6:7-8

When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

There are seven seals that begin the Great Tribulation. John writes that when the fourth seal is opened by Jesus, a global war will cause the massive death of one-fourth of the population of Earth.

Today there are 7.88 billion people on our planet. The one-fourth of the population that will die at the conclusion of the fourth seal is 1.97 billion. Before the Great Tribulation has concluded, John will write that two-thirds of the population of Earth will be dead; some 5.2 billion souls will be lost; many, for eternity.8

There is no room for preterist theology in the texts of Revelation or Daniel. No events described by John in Revelation 6-18 have ever taken place on Earth. This is the reason the preterist idea fails. It conflicts with both the texts of Revelation and the historical record.

How The Book of Daniel Impeaches Preterism

The Book of Daniel presents us with further evidence that the preterist idea of the Last Day prophecy is incorrect. In Daniel’s prophecy for the nation of Israel and the Jews, these events that are described as the “seventy weeks” require a specificity of history, that there is no possibility they were fulfilled prior to this current period of history.

Daniel is given specific details regarding these seventy weeks, which conclude with the restoration of the Jews in their own land and the final salvation of all Jews of the Last Days in accepting Jesus as the one true Messiah.

These facts are described in great detail in Revelation Chapter 6 of this book. A brief advance look at one of these events that concern Israel and the Jews is described here:

Many of the prophecies of the last days that are important to the return of Jesus depend upon one stunning prophecy: the return of the Jews to their own country. No other nation or people who have been disbursed all over the world, and have lost their land and national identity, have ever come back to their own land and been established as a nation and people a second time. This was until the Jews returned to their land in 1948.

This fact of history fully impeaches the idea of preterism, that the events described in the Book of Daniel already happened in past history. We do not find the Jews back in their own land, and the nation of Israel established, at any time prior to 1948.

The prophet Ezekiel predicted that in the last days, the Jews who had been disbursed all over the earth would come back to their land and be a nation and people once again. This return was described by Isaiah as taking place in a single day: “Who has ever seen anything as strange as this?

“Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?” ~Isaiah 66:8

The return of the Jews to Israel was crucial to the return of the Messiah. Unless the Jews were in their own land again, the Messiah could not return. The fact that the Jews were brought back to their land is a supernatural work of God and the fulfillment of prophecy, proving that the Bible is the word of God.

When Jesus returns, it will be at the Mount of Olives, outside Jerusalem. Every prophecy that will be fulfilled at that time, from all the prophets who wrote in describing this event, depends upon Israel being a nation again:

“I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city. Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.” ~Zechariah 14:2-5

When Jesus returns to earth as the conquering Messiah, Israel will be surrounded by the nations of the world under the command of the Antichrist. Gathered at the Valley of Megiddo, north of Israel, a massive military force will be waiting for Jesus to arrive (see chapter 19).

Jesus will descend from heaven with His church, as described by Revelation Chapter 19. He will land on the Mount of Olives, the mountain splitting in two (Acts 1:7-12). Traveling north to Megiddo, Jesus will come face to face with the power of the Antichrist, directed by the reigning king, satan (2 Corinthians 4:4). Jesus will simply speak, and all those who are ready to fight Him will be destroyed. Their bodies will spill their blood to the depth of a horse’s bridle along the entire 200-mile length of that valley (see Chapter 19).

This battle could not take place, the nations would not be surrounding Israel, Antichrist would not be waiting at Megiddo—if the Jews had not returned to their land. When Israel became a nation again on May 14, 1948, the stage was set for the soon return of Jesus. All that remains today is the removal of Jesus’ church from earth before He pours out His wrath on this world during the Great Tribulation. This is the topic of this book, a commentary on the Book of Revelation.

Ezekiel predicts this return by the Jews as a work of God to prepare the world for the return of Jesus:

“As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,” says the Lord GOD. “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.” ~Ezekiel 20:33-38

Ezekiel predicts that the Jews will be brought by God back into their former land. It will be during the last part of the seven-year Tribulation that the Jews will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah:

“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” ~Ezekiel 36:24-28

From the texts of Revelation and Daniel, we have sufficient proof that the events described in these texts have not taken place at any time prior to our current generation. This defines these events as future and unfulfilled. They also invalidate the preterist position that these events have already happened. We do not find, at any time prior to 1948, the nation of Israel was reestablished or the Jews were back in their own land, as required by the above prophecies of Zechariah 14:2-5, Ezekiel 20:33-38, or Ezekiel 36:24-28.

The entire purpose and timing for the prophecies of Daniel 9 concern the Jews and the nation of Israel. They do not concern the church at all. It is for this reason that the Rapture or Harpazo will take place first before the seven-year Tribulation begins, then the Antichrist will be revealed.9

Paul said that we are waiting, as Jesus’ church, for the revealing of Jesus Christ. We are not waiting for the revealing of the Antichrist, which would be the case if he came first before the Rapture and Tribulation.

“Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” ~Titus 2:13

There are some who say that the church has to go through the Tribulation to be refined and purified. The Tribulation was never intended for Jesus’ church. When Paul wrote his first letter to the Thessalonian church, he specifically told them that this time of wrath is not for those who love Jesus, because God has reserved us for salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10).10 The idea that we must be purified by tribulation—from the text of Acts 14:22, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God”—is describing the tribulations (troubles/trials) that come from the world, not the Tribulation that comes from Jesus called “the wrath of the Lamb.”

The idea that Christians must go through the Tribulation in order to be purified of sin and be ready for the return of Jesus is impeached by the New Testament. Paul wrote that we are complete in Christ Jesus. Paul wrote extensively that all of our righteousness comes from Jesus, and those who trust in Him have no record of sin accounted to them.

“For in Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” ~Colossians 2:9-10

“And such were some of you (once sinners). But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” ~1 Corinthians 6:11

Jesus said that those who trust in Him are “clean” and there is no need for any further purification:

Jesus comes to wash the feet of the disciples. Peter protests: “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.” ~John 13:8-11

The moment any person trusts in Jesus for their salvation, after repenting from their sins they are clean, holy, sanctified, and fully ready for heaven. If Christians must go through the Tribulation in order to be purified of sin and ready for heaven, this is a works doctrine that places salvation in the hands of the worker, not in Christ. Salvation is a free gift. We cannot earn it by being more pure or more worthy. When we trust in Jesus for our salvation, we are fully ready for heaven at that moment.

The Purpose of the Tribulation is to separate the Jews who will believe in Jesus as the Messiah, from those who will not. The entirety of Daniel 9, as described by the angel Gabriel to Daniel, is for “your people”—the Jews.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus described the Great Tribulation as days of vengeance, when there will be great distress and wrath from Jesus, the Lamb. As with many of the Messianic Prophecies of the Bible, there is often an earlier fulfillment as well as a later fulfillment. The text of Luke 21:22-24 is one of these, in my opinion. Jesus is talking about the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation, but we find in the history of Israel that this prophecy also had an earlier fulfillment in 70 AD.

Jesus speaking of the last 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation: “For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. (Where they have been for the last 2,000 years) And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” ~Luke 21:22-24

The Time of the Gentiles ends when the Rapture takes place. During this period of prophetic history, the Gentile world has been given the opportunity to hear about Jesus and respond to His offer of salvation. When the Rapture occurs and a billion believers are taken from the earth, the time God has allotted to the Gentile world to hear about Jesus, turn from their sins, and place their trust in the salvation He offers, will come to an end.

The Rapture: Jesus, Coming For His Church

God will turn again to the Jews during the final seven years of the Tribulation, and save those who will turn to Jesus as their Messiah. The Jews on earth at that time will have the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah; the 144,000 Jewish evangelists; and an angel flying over the surface of the earth, proclaiming the Gospel of Christ.

These important events that are vividly described by the texts of Daniel, Revelation, the Gospels, and the letters of Paul—all require a literal Tribulation. At no time during the history of the world have these events all taken place systematically at one time. The Tribulation is in the future; the salvation of Israel and the Jews is in the future. The Harpazo of Jesus’ church is the next major event of the Last Days.

• Does The Bible Teach a Rapture Before the Tribulation?
• The Book of Revelation: Verse by Verse Commentary
• The Book Of Revelation Audio Commentary

NOTES:

1 Numbers 32:14, the generation of those who complained against the Lord in the desert is describes as being 40 years.

2 Revelation 7:4-10 (NKJV) 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; 6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; 7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; 8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.

A Multitude saved out of the Great Tribulation

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

The Two Witnesses:

Revelation 11:3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth…7 When they finish their testimony…”

3 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

4 Revelation 19:9: Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

5 Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

6 Kenneth L. Gentry Jr. in Thomas Ice and Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), p. 12.

7 Kenneth Gentry, Great Tribulation, pp. 26-27.

8 “The Book of Revelation Commentary,” by Robert Clifton Robinson. Chapter 6, “The Tribulation Begins.”

9 Harpazo is the Koine-Greek word found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up (Harpazo) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

10 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 9 “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”

Categories: All Israel will be saved, Apologetics, Attack on Israel by Russia, Battle of Gog and Magog, Building the Third Temple, Building the Third Temple, Eschatology: A Study In The Last Days, Israel in the Last Days, Jesus is the Messiah, Messianic Prophecies, Not Watching For The Rapture, Preterism, Robert Clifton Robinson, Salvation, The Battle of Armageddon, The First Arrival of the Messiah, The Prophecy of Daniel 9, The Temple Mount, The Tribulation Period, Thousand Year Kingdom

Tags: 70 A.D., Eschatology, Not One Stone Upon Another, Pre Tribulation Rapture, Preterism, The Tribulation, Titus