Am I to assume you believe the second physical advent of Christ is time past?
Your comments above impress so.
The second physical advent of Jesus Christ will be at the end of time when He comes to judge the living and the dead.
Jesus Christ came in power and judgment against Jerusalem, its temple, and its worshipers in 67-70 A.D. Jesus did not come in person. He used the Roman armies as His means of physical judgment against the unbelieving Jews.
I gather you realize the measurements of the Temple John is told to do differed from the dimensions of the Herodian built temple
I have not found specific measurements recorded for the temple John was told to measure. John could not have measured the future heavenly temple of the heavenly Jerusalem. The
temple of the heavenly Jerusalem is
God. God cannot be measured.
Revelation 21:22
But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. nkjv
Revelation 11:1-3
Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. 3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” nkjv
The Gentile Roman armies in 67-70 A.D. tread the holy city for exactly forty-two months.
This is the issue with preterism. It is literal about John measuring a temple even though he was in spirit. Yet the defense of a literal physical Jerusalem in Zechariah is somehow spiritualized as church.
Zechariah wrote his prophecy in about 520 B.C. It concerns the the second temple which was first built in about 516 B.C and also the first advent of Jesus Christ. This second temple was enlarged by Herod at about the time of Jesus' first advent.
Zechariah 2:1-5
Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.” 3While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him 4 and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. 5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’ nkjv
Seems to me that this is prophesying about the heavenly Jerusalem/Church on earth. Jerusalem the Church is indeed a city without walls. And Jerusalem after 70 A.D. had no physical walls around it until the 1500s A.D. when the Muslims rebuilt them.
John saw visions with his spiritual eyes but he was told to do the physical thing of measuring the temple in Jerusalem as it stood then and so he did. He was also commanded to physically write letters to the seven churches in Asia and so he physically did. We know he did because we are still reading these letters 2000 years later.
Daniel was told to write his vision but to seal up the vision because the time of its fulfillment was not in the near future. Daniel's visions were fulfilled about 600 years later in the first century A.D.
Daniel 8:26
“And the vision of the evenings and mornings Which was told is true; Therefore seal up the vision, For it refers to many days in the future.” nkjv
John was told that the
time was near for his prophecies to be fulfilled. 2015 certainly is not any time near the time of John's visions. It is 2000 years later now and so it cannot possibly be considered to be
near the time of John's prophecies. Daniel's prophecies were fulfilled only 600 years after he saw them and yet God considered them to be
many days in the future. John's prophecies about the physical Jerusalem were fulfilled a few years later which was indeed
near in time
Revelation 1:1,11
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.......
Revelation 1:11
saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” nkjv
In Revelation 19 Christ comes with His saints to destroy the nations. Not Israel in 70AD.
Acts 2:5 There were Jews from all the nations living in Jerusalem at the time of its destruction.
Revelation 19:1-5
After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! 2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” 3 Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!” 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!” 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” nkjv
This was about the great city Jerusalem which was the great harlot where our Lord was crucified.
The Roman armies did not destroy the unbelieving the Jews from all the nations who were living in Jerusalem without God's authority to do it. Christ and His saints did judge the great harlot city Jerusalem and God destroyed it using the Roman armies to do it.
The beast and false prophet are dealt with in Revelation 19. Rome wins in 70 AD
There was more than one beast.
Unless like the Catholic church you believe Revelation 19 is yet future?
The Catholic Church has made no infallible pronouncements about Revelation 19 and so we Catholics are free to discuss this and offer our own opinions.
