I once went through the entire New Testament and painstakingly catalogued every reference to the Second Coming of Jesus as being expected to occur in the lifetime of the first-century Church. I found 62 verses/passages, even after excluding ones that strongly support preterism but could potentially be spiritualized away (like Titus 2:11-14), and organized them into 45 challenges to futurism, which I have listed below.

The evidence is so overwhelming that I’ve even heard a futurist pastor say in a sermon that the apostles were mistaken or confused about the timing of the Second Coming. My response would be: if they were mistaken about that, what else were they confused about when they wrote the New Testament? What words of theirs can we trust?

I later did some cursory analysis to compare Scriptural evidence for preterism to that for other doctrines. I was able to find in the New Testament only 6 references to justification by faith, 6 references to communion (not even its meaning, just any reference to the Lord’s Supper whatsoever), and 16 references to the meaning and/or nature of baptism. That means there are more than twice as many references to the imminent nature of the Second Coming (which doesn’t include references to the Second Coming for which the timing isn’t mentioned or isn’t clear) than there are to all three of those highly controversial topics put together.

This puts the imminent nature of the Second Coming in the lifetime of the apostles on a level more comparable to, say, the very existence of water baptism in the New Testament, to which there are 71 references (not counting references to John the “Baptist”). Again, that’s just references to people baptizing or being baptized, not what it means or how it was performed.

That means the idea that the Second Coming occurred shortly after the Bible was completed is in a category of evidentiary confirmation in which we would put simple facts about the Bible narrative, such that Jesus was crucified. It contains far more Scriptural witness than most common doctrines Christians debate and get worked up about.

Why Don’t Christians Accept Preterism?

Why then is such a Scripturally obvious fact so heavily ignored or denied, or even denounced as heresy, by so many Christian teachers?

Well, basically, preterism implies that the Old Covenant Law has completely “passed away” and been fulfilled (Matthew 5:18), only now existing as a source of wisdom and guidance, not a normative set of rules. However, while they won’t always admit it straightforwardly (because it is so clearly against the text of the New Testament), futurist authoritarians seek an equivalency between the priestly sacrificial system of the Old Covenant and the modern Christian institutional church. In other words, they seek by analogy to justify the notion that a pastor is essentially a priest, closer in holiness to Jesus via ordination than the common priestliness of the laity.

As John 4:21-24 make clear, however, the idea of a structured worship system, an intermediary priesthood, and a physical sanctuary were all made obsolete by Christ’s sacrifice (and were dramatically wiped away during the First Jewish-Roman War). His disciples are to worship God in spirit and in truth, and wherever two or three disciples gather in Christ’s name, we have the presence of our Messiah (Matthew 18:20). Nothing more is required for worship.

In fact, Revelation 20:6, 21:22, and 22:3 make clear that in the New Covenant, resurrected Christians are the “priests” of the heavenly sacrificial system, in which there is no temple, but rather the Father and the Son are the “temple.” The timing of the fulfillment of Revelation thus becomes extremely relevant, because if you believe that the ending of Revelation is in the future (instead of in the past, with the exception of the final Satanic battle), then you believe that God has left a “gap” between the destruction of the Second Temple and the final eternal state.

In this way, futurist Christians are much like Rabbinical Jews, who have established synagogue worship centers as “temples in exile,” as they believe they never received a replacement for the Second Temple worship system. Instead of synagogues, futurist Christians see churches as mini-temples that bridge the gap between 70 AD and the future Second Coming of Jesus. Pastors thus have to be the special priests, because there is no currently existing formal priestly system that was dictated by God.

Preterism, however, makes clear that the ministration of Christ’s sacrifice is currently happening through the saints who have been resurrected in the New Jerusalem. Christ and God are currently the temple, so there is no gap. God has not left us in exile – rather, we have a permanent worship system and kingdom in place that will allow us to conquer the world with the gospel.

Preterism is thus a powerful antidote to the curse of liturgical institutionalism. That’s why its proponents fight so hard against it.

The Last Days

Often futurists say that we are living in the “Last Days” right now and have been since the days of the first-century Church. Thus, the descriptions of the Last Days in the New Testament are said to apply to all times and places across a long stretch of time. However, futurists will then immediately turn around and say that the descriptions of the Last Days in the New Testament also describe the time that will directly precede Jesus’ return.

This makes no sense when considered closely. After all, if we are living in the Last Days right now, which means that the things described in passages like 2 Timothy 3:1-5 could happen at any time, then how could we possibly recognize the evidence of Jesus’ imminent return? How could we distinguish between the “long stretch” Last Days and the “real” Last Days? How could we say things like, “Event X is evidence that Jesus’ return is approaching”? Wouldn’t they have said the same thing a thousand years ago when something similar to Event X happened?

And indeed, this exact thing has been happening for nearly 2000 years. Christians have been consistently and wrongly predicting Christ’s imminent return for centuries upon centuries, tying various events of the day to elements of Revelation or other eschatological passages, only to see their predictions repeatedly fail. It’s more than a little embarrassing for our shared faith.

The reason this is happening is simple: if the apostles believed they were living in the Last Days, then they were living in the Last Days. There is no logical way to create some kind of dual “we’re always in the Last Days, but then the real Last Days will happen” paradigm, nor is there any Scriptural justification to do so. In fact, Bible prophecy becomes simple and consistent when viewed through a preterist lens (see The Enigma of the End Times for more information).

Challenges to Futurism

Anyway, on to the evidence:

If the Second Coming and associated end time events are in our future, and not the near future of the first-century Church…

1. Why did John the Baptist and Jesus say that the kingdom of heaven was “at hand” (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17), and Jesus said that some of the people standing in front of Him would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God present with power (Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27), when the establishment of Jesus’ kingdom occurs in the midst of the events of Revelation (Revelation 11:15)?
2. Why did Jesus say that not one jot nor tittle of the Old Covenant Law would pass away until heaven and earth pass away (Matthew 5:18)? Significant sections of the Law became impossible to observe after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. How could those jots and tittles continue to apply, unless heaven and earth did indeed pass away at that time?
3. Why did Jesus say that his disciples would not finish going through all the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes (Matthew 10:23)? This mission was cut short by the First Jewish-Roman War that devastated Israel. Has this mission continued for 2000 years nonetheless?
4. Why did Jesus say that some of the people standing in front of Him would not taste death until they would see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matthew 16:28)?
5. Why, in the Gospel of Matthew, when asked about the destruction of the temple and the sign of His coming and the end of the age, did Jesus describe the end-time events and His Second Coming, and then say that “this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matthew 24:1-34; cp. Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32)? A generation in the Bible is 40 years, and there were exactly 40 years between Jesus’ first cleansing of the Second Temple and the destruction of Jerusalem that included the burning of the temple. What better interpretation of “generation” is available that accords with both biblical use and the events of recorded history? [Note also that the same Greek word is used for “generation” in Matthew 24:34 as in Hebrews 3:10, and Hebrews 3:16-17 makes clear that the “generation” in Hebrews 3:10 was the Israelites who left Egypt under Moses and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.]
6. Why, in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, did Jesus describe the end time events in response to a question solely about the destruction of the temple (Mark 13:1-4; Luke 21:5-7)?
7. Why did Jesus instruct his listeners to “watch” (Matthew 24:42; Matthew 25:13; Mark 13:33; Luke 21:36), if they were not to experience the coming of the Son of Man?
8. Why did Peter, when told by Jesus to be ready for the coming of the Son of Man, interpret Jesus’ intended audience as including Peter himself (Luke 12:40-41)?
9. Why did Jesus tell the high priest that he would see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62)?
10. Why did Jesus say that “now” (meaning, in His very near future) the ruler of this world (i.e., Satan) would be cast out, when after the same event is described in Revelation 12:9, the devil is described as having a “short time” (Revelation 12:12)? Similarly, why did Paul say that God would crush Satan under the feet of Christians “shortly” (Romans 16:20)?
11. Why did the apostles believe that John could survive until the Second Coming (John 21:23), based on Jesus’ comment in John 21:22? Did they expect John to roam the earth for 2000 years, never aging and never revealing his true identity after the first century?
12. Why did Peter explicitly tie the speaking in tongues on Pentecost to the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy about the Last Days (Acts 2:16-17)? Is this not a straightforward statement that Peter was living in the Last Days?
13. Why did Paul say that it was “high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11)?
14. Why did Paul say that “the night is far spent; the day is at hand” (Romans 13:12)?
15. Why did Paul say that the Corinthians were eagerly waiting for the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:7)?
16. Why did Paul say that the “time is short… for the form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:29, 31)?
17. Why did Paul say that the Lord was at hand (Philippians 4:5)?
18. Why did Paul commend the Thessalonians for turning from idols to wait for the Son to deliver them from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10)?
19. Why did Paul say that the Day of the Lord would have overtaken the Thessalonians if they had remained in darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:4) and that the Thessalonians were to watch and be sober (1 Thessalonians 5:6)?
20. Why did Paul say that God would give the Thessalonians rest when Jesus was revealed from Heaven (2 Thessalonians 1:7)?
21. Why did Paul warn the Thessalonians not to prematurely expect the coming of the Lord before certain signs were fulfilled (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2)? Does this not mean Paul was priming them for the expectancy of His coming during their lifetimes? Would he have not otherwise told them not to expect His coming at all before their deaths?
22. Why did Paul say, regarding the revelation of the man of sin that would directly precede the Lord’s coming (2 Thessalonians 2:3; 8), that the mystery of lawlessness was already at work and that someone was at that time actively restraining the lawless one but would be taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7)?
23. Why did Paul urge Timothy to fight the good fight of the faith until the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 6:12-14)?
24. Why did Paul command Timothy to “turn away” from the people who would come during the Last Days (2 Timothy 3:1-5)? Why did he contrast Timothy’s continuance in the faith with the proliferation of evil men and impostors (2 Timothy 3:13-14)? Why did he connect Timothy’s ministry with the coming of those who would not endure sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:2-5)? Does this not indicate that Timothy was living in (or about to live in) the Last Days?
25. Why did Paul say that in “these” Last Days, God had spoken to them by His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2)? If Paul was not living in the Last Days, is there more revelation from the Son to come in our future?
26. Why did Paul give the Hebrews instructions to perform “as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25)?
27. Why did Paul say that in a “little while” He “who is coming will come and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:37)?
28. Why did James accuse the rich members of his audience of heaping up treasures in the Last Days (James 5:3)? Does this not mean that he was living in the Last Days?
29. Why did James exhort his listeners to be patient until the coming of the Lord (James 5:7)?
30. Why did James say that the coming of the Lord was at hand (James 5:8)?
31. Why did James say that the Judge was standing at the door (James 5:9)?
32. Why did Peter refer to the time his listeners were living in as the “last times” (1 Peter 1:20)?
33. Why did Peter say that the end of all things was at hand (1 Peter 4:7)?
34. Why did Peter refer to the dawning of the day and the morning star rising in the hearts of his listeners (2 Peter 1:19)? What could he be referring to except the Second Coming?
35. Why did Peter urge his listeners to look for and even hasten the Day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:11-12)?
36. Why did John say that it was the Last Hour, as evidenced by the fact that antichrists had already come (1 John 2:18)?
37. Why did Jude refer to the men who had crept into the Church (Jude 1:4) as the mockers of the last time (Jude 1:18)?
38. Why do Revelation 1:1 and 22:6 refer to the events of the Book of Revelation as “things which must shortly take place”?
39. Why does Revelation 1:3 say that “the time is near”?
40. Why does Revelation 22:10 say that “the time is at hand”?
41. Why does John say that those who pierced (i.e., crucified) Jesus would see Him coming on the clouds (Revelation 1:7)?
42. Why did Jesus tell the church of Thyatira to “hold fast what you have till I come” (Revelation 2:25)?
43. Why does Jesus say repeatedly in Revelation that He is coming quickly (Revelation 3:11; 22:7; 22:12; 22:20)?
44. With the exception of the millennium of Revelation 20, why is there not a single reference to the Second Coming or the associated end times events as being in the distant future of the listeners or readers anywhere in the New Testament?
45. Why does every other reference to the Second Coming or the associated end times events that does not include an explicit time frame reference either make as much or more sense when considered as being fulfilled shortly instead of fulfilled in our future?