First Century Fulfilled
Jesus Said
Mk. 1:15: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Matt.10:23: “For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
Matt.16:27-28: “For the Son of Man will come I the glory of His Father with his angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Some are walking on thin ice, knowing that the promise of the coming of Christ was predicted for that generation of Jesus and the disciples; but if they deny this, they must accept the proposition that Jesus and the writers of the New Testament were wrong! They will not accept the fact that prophecies of the coming of Christ were actually fulfilled as Jesus and His disciples (the writers of the New Testament) said they would be, but they cannot bring themselves to the point of saying that Jesus and His disciples (the writers of the New Testament) were wrong. So they stand on shaky ground – not willing to accept preterist eschatology in its fulfilled meaning, but yet not wanting to say the Bible is wrong. Now what attitude should we take towards such persons? Shall we just stand aside and watch them invent new meanings for words speaking of imminency so they do not have to face this dilemma? Or shall we stand our ground in declaring that the Bible did indeed teach that the question asked by the disciples (Matthew 24:3)
were said by Jesus to take place (all these things” – Matthew 24:24) in that generation (which would have been “this” generation to them, of course). Some modern exegetes tell us that the “this” generation of Matthew 24:34 was not that generation at the time He was speaking, but rather “this” meant a “this” on down the road somewhere at least 2,000 years later! How ridiculous can one be? And all because such teachers will not accept at face value exactly what Jesus said! If it did not happen as Jesus said it would, then I would have to cast my lot with those who say Jesus was mistaken and the disciples (who wrote the New Testament) misinformed, or else someone got all the passages on these things all mixed up and in the wrong places so that they do not mean what we read them to say. So what will it be? I do not have all the answers, but I have been taught to believe the bible, whatever it says.
John L. Bray