Nobody Saw God coming these times either, but He ABSOLUTELY CAME in Power and Glory:
YAHWEH WAS NOT SEEN BY HUMAN EYES HERE:
[On Yahweh's coming to Egypt -- early 700s BC] Behold,
Yahweh rides on a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians (
Isaiah 19:1-2)
NOR HERE:
[On Yahweh's coming during the Maccabean Period] For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you as the sword of a mighty man.
Yahweh shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord Yahweh will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south. Yahweh of Hosts will defend them; and they shall devour, and shall tread down the sling-stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar. Yahweh their God will save them in that day (
Zechariah 9:13-16)
NOR HERE:
Jehovah hath made bare His holy arm
before the eyes of all nations (Isa 52:10)
Here one more that should hammer this fact home to any honest Bible expositor:
AFTER David's Defeat of Saul, He described the battle this way:
2 Samuel 22:8-16
“Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
9 Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.
10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.
11 He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
And He was seen upon the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness canopies around Him,
Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
13 From the brightness before Him
Coals of fire were kindled.
14 “The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.
15 He sent out arrows and scattered them;
Lightning bolts, and He vanquished them.
16 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered,
At the rebuke of the Lord,
At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
Sorry Friend, you hypothesis of "nobody saw, therefore it didnt Happen exactly as the Prophet said it would", has been examined thoroughly,and found wanting.
Rather, Hundreds do.
Jesus and the apostles taught of a coming to occur in their lifetimes, and by this they meant the imminent destruction of their country, city, and Temple, which took place in short order as they had prophesied:
"This generation will not pass away until all these things take place." (Mk. 13:30) [spoken in AD 30]
"The axe is already laid at the root of the trees." (Lk. 3:9) [spoken in AD 27-28]
"The end of all things is at hand" (I Peter 4:7) [spoken in AD 58-63]
"Even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour." (I Jn. 2:18) [spoken in AD 60s]
be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." (James. 5:8) [spoken before AD 63]
"in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay." (Heb. 10:37) [spoken in AD 60s]
"These are days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled." (Lk. 21:22) [spoken in AD 30]
"The Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds. There are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." (
Matthew 16:27-28) [spoken in AD 30]
It was God
COMING to Judge Israel. (and Jesus IS God)
It was "The coming of the Lord of the Vineyard" to destroy those wicked men and lease His vineyard to another nation.
According to Jesus' prophecy in
Matthew 21:40-45, the Lord of the Vineyard would "come destroy those miserable men,"
which speaks of AD 70. And in coming and destroying those miserable men, he "took the Kingdom away from them and gave it to a new nation."
Christ the Stone "fell on them and scattered them to dust," and the chief priests and Pharisees "recognized Jesus spoke these words concerning them." That just couldn't be more clearly prophesied:
"Therefore
when the Lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?" They told him, "He will miserably destroy those miserable men...Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whoever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust." When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them. (
Matthew 21:40-45)
You are wholly mistaken if you don't believe AD 66-70 was THAT coming of the Lord, the Chief Cornerstone to crush them..
It was Also the Coming of Christ As A thief that Jesus PROMISED would befall first century peoples.
Christ promised to come against 1st century Sardis as a Thief in the Night, a promise which our Lord
surely kept, for our Lord is a promise keeper!
Revelation 3:1-3
"To the angel of the CHURCH IN SARDIS write: These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. IF THEREFORE THOU SHALT NOT WATCH I WILL COME ON THEE AS A THIEF, AND THOU SHALT NOT KNOW WHAT HOUR I WILL COME UPON THEE."
Jesus didn't issue empty threats. He promised to come upon Sardis back then and he DID come upon Sardis.
He could not lie.
You should really brush up on what partial preterists actually believe and espouse, and have done so for centuries.... How many NON full pretetrist ECF's or NON full preterist Church Historians would it take for me to quote, for you to recant that completely untrue statement?
Classical preterism (i.e. The Catholic Preterism of the likes of James Aiken, Scott Hahn, St Cryssostom, St Thomas Aquinas, Eusebius, etc...) sees AD 70 as a temporal judgment of God/Christ that is not pertaining to the final advent, except as a general prefiguring of it.
I agree with these respected thinkers on this topic.
St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, St. Eusebius all understood this basic principle of bible eschatology, and we really ought to take their words to heart.
As St. Thomas Aquinas taught:
The signs of which we read in the gospels, as Augustine says, writing to Hesychius about the end of the world, refer not only to Christ's [future] coming to judgment, but also to the time of the sack of Jerusalem, and to the coming of Christ in ceaselessly visiting His Church. So that, perhaps, if we consider them carefully, we shall find that none of them refers to the coming advent, as he remarks: because these signs that are mentioned in the gospels, such as wars, fears, and so forth, have been from the beginning of the human race (Thomas Aquinas; Summa Theologica, Supplement Question 73, Article 1)
