Discuss from Partial Preterist view only......
Concordance/Lexicon I use:
Strong's Concordance with Hebrew and Greek Lexicon
First and last times plural heavens and earth used in OT
YLT)
Gen 1:1
In the beginning of God's preparing
the heavens and the earth --
Zec 8:12
Because of the sowing of peace, The vine doth give her fruit, And
the earth doth give her increase, And
the heavens do give their dew,
And I have caused the remnant of this people To inherit all these.
1st and last verses used in NT
Mat 11:25
At that time Jesus answering said, 'I do confess to Thee, Father, Lord of
the heavens and of
the earth, that thou didst hide these things from wise and understanding ones, and didst reveal them to babes.
2Pe 3:13
and for
new heavens and a
new earth according to His promise we do wait, in which righteousness doth dwell;
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1st and last verses of singular heaven and earth in OT
Gen 14:19
and he blesseth him, and saith, 'Blessed
is Abram to God Most High, possessing
heaven and earth;
Zec 12:1
The burden of a word of Jehovah on Israel. An affirmation of Jehovah, Stretching out
heaven, and founding
earth, And forming the spirit of man in his midst.
1st and last verses in NT
Mat 5:18
for, verily I say to you, till that
the heaven and the earth may pass away, one iota or one tittle may not pass away from the law, till that all may come to pass.
Rev 21:1
And I saw
a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth did pass away, and the sea is not any more;
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A few views from early Church historians, Josephus and Eusebius
The New Heavens and Earth | Study Archive @ PreteristArchive.com - The Internet's Only Balanced Look at Preterism
New Heavens and Earth
Global, Covenantal, or Personal?
"Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth."
II Peter 3:13
Josephus First, Book III, chap.6, section 4:
"Now the room within those pillars was the most holy place; but the rest of the room was the tabernacle, which was open for the priests. However, this proportion of the measures of the tabernacle proved to be an imitation of the
system of the world; for that third part thereof which was within the four pillars, to which the priests were not admitted, is, as it were, a heaven peculiar to God." Of the veil at the holy of holies, he said, "This veil was very ornamental, and embroidered with all sorts of flowers which the earth produces; and there were interwoven into it all sorts of variety that might be an ornament, excepting the forms of animals"
Josephus War 5.1.4 19-20
The darts that were thrown by the engines [of the seditious factions] came with that force, that they went over all the buildings and the Temple itself, and fell upon the priests and those that were about the sacred offices; insomuch that many persons who came thither with great zeal from the ends of the earth to offer sacrifices at this celebrated place, which was esteemed holy by all mankind, fell down before their own sacrifices themselves, and sprinkled that altar which was venerable among all men, both Greeks and barbarians, with their own blood. The dead bodies of strangers were mingled together with those of their own country, and those of profane persons with those of the priests, and the blood of all sorts of dead carcasses stood in lakes in the holy courts themselves.
Oh most wretched city, what misery so great as this didst thou suffer from the Romans, when they came to purify thee from thy internal pollutions! For thou couldst be no longer a place fit for God, nor couldst thou longer survive, after thou hadst been a sepulchre for the bodies of thine own people, and hast made the Holy House itself a burying-place in this civil war of thine. Yet mayst thou again grow better, if perchance thou wilt hereafter appease the anger of that
God who is the author of thy destruction.
But I must restrain myself from these passions by the rules of History, since this is not a proper time for domestic lamentation, but for historical narrations.
EUSEBIUS
Bishop of Caesarea
(c. 265 - 340)
Extract from the 'Theophania' :
"All authorities concur in the declaration that "when all these things should have been done" "The End" should come : that "the mystery of God should be finished as he had declared to His servants the prophets" : it should be completed : time should now be no more : the End of all things (so foretold) should be at hand, and be fully brought to pass : in these days should be fulfilled all that had been spoken of Christ (and of His church) by the prophets : or, in other words, when the gospel should have been preached in all the world for a testimony to all nations, and the power of the Holy People be scattered (abroad), then should the End come, then should all these things be finished.
I need now only say, all these things have been done :
the old and elementary system passed away with a great noise; all these predicted empires have actually fallen, and the new kingdom, the new heaven and earth, the new Jerusalem--all of which were to descend from God, to be formed by His power, have been realised on earth ; all these things have been done in the sight of all the nations ; God's holy arm has been made bare in their sight: His judgments have prevailed, and they remain for an everlasting testimony to the whole world. His kingdom has come, as it was foretold it should, and His will has, so far, been done; His purposes have been finished; and, from that day to the extreme end of time, it will be the duty, as indeed it will be the great privilege of the Church, to gather into its bosom the Jew, the Greek, the Scythian, the Barbarian, bond and free; and to do this as the Apostles did in their days--in obedience, faith and hope.' "
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Is partial preterism biblical? What do partial preterists believe? | GotQuestions.org
Those who hold to partial preterism believe that the prophecies in Daniel,
Matthew 24, and Revelation (with the exception of the last two or three chapters) have already been fulfilled and were fulfilled no later than the first century AD. According to partial preterism, there is no rapture, and passages describing the tribulation and the Antichrist are actually referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in
AD 70 and the Roman emperor Titus.
Partial preterists do believe in the return of Christ to earth and a future resurrection and judgment, but they do not teach a millennial kingdom or that Israel as a nation has a place in God’s future plan. According to partial preterists, the Bible’s references to “the last days” are speaking of the last days of the Old Jewish Covenant, not the last days of the earth itself
Those who hold to partial preterism also do not read
Matthew 24 in a literal sense. Christ spoke of the destruction of the temple (
Matthew 24:2). But much of what He described did
not occur in AD 70. Christ speaks of that future time as one of “great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” (
Matthew 24:21–22).
Surely, this cannot be applied to the events of AD 70. There have been worse times in the history of the world since then.
Partial preterists also appeal to
Matthew 24:34 where Jesus speaks of “this generation.” They say that Christ was referring to those living at the time He spoke the words recorded in that chapter; thus, the tribulation had to occur within about 40 years of His statement.
However, we believe that Jesus was not referring to the people of His day but to the generation who would witness the events recorded in
Matthew 24:15–31. That future generation will witness all of the swiftly moving events of the last days, including Christ’s bodily return (verses 29–30).
The partial preterist viewpoint leads to a belief in amillenialism (or post-millenialism) and is associated with covenant theology. Of course, it rejects dispensationalism. But its main problem is its inconsistent hermeneutic and its allegorizing of many biblical prophecies that are better understood literally. While partial preterism is within the scope of orthodoxy, it is not the majority view among Christians today
