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NASB | Matthew 16:28 ¶ "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 16:28 ¶ "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." |
Subject: Still not convinced preterism is false |
Bible Note: It concerns me Mark that you can say 'if one only interprets Scripture in the way that Scripture presents itself, then a futurist view of Jesus' coming in power and glory, and of the 1000 year reign is the only view allowed by Scripture.' I know of no Scripture that says 'there will be a millennium which will follow the second coming of Christ'. Indeed the truth is that if there is a doctrine of such a time it is completely ignored in the New Testament Gospels and letters. Can you really see pre-millennialists of the present time never mentioning the millennium clearly? That surely suggests that the New Testament writers did not belive in a millennium. There is only one New Testament Scripture that you could point to as possibly teaching a millennium and that is Revelation 20.1-7. But it is very doubtful if that is teaching a millennium after the second coming of Christ. Revelation 20 is a new vision, and it is a summary of what has gone before. Jesus Himself spoke of Satan being bound in His day (Mark 3.27). It is a way of indicating that God has limited his power. He could not literally be bound because he has no body. Those who were martyred for Christ, and those who refused to receive the mark of the wild beast enjoy the 'first resurrection'. That is the resurrection described in Ephesians 1.19-2.6 in which all who are Christ's have a part. 'You has He made alive --- who were dead in trespasses and sins'. And from then on they reigned with Christ whether they were on earth or raised up to be with Him as Paul says in Philippians 1.20-23. The 'thousand years, is the ideal period ahead for Christians before His coming. (It does not actually say that it will not be longer than that). Such huge round numbers were rarely if ever used literally. Most people were not numerate. It simply indicated a long period. Peter confirms this when he is the only one to mention the thousand years and there he refers it to the period between Christ's first coming and His second coming. The loosing of Satan for a little while is described in Revelation 9.1-11; 12.12. Thus Revelation 20.7 refers to a period after the time when God's people have been witnessing for some time and before the second coming. Thus it has already been described in Revelation. Now I realise that you probably interpret Revelation differently from me. But it is not on a basis on which all evangelical Christians can agree. My view of the whole of Revelation is that apart from Chapters 21-22 it is all speaking about what you would presumably call 'the church age', and that it began at the time of the death and resurrection of Christ. Now I do not question your right to disagree with me. But I do object (in friendly fashion) to your saying that I am not interpreting the Scripture literally. I certainly do believe in the fact that Jesus Christ will come personally in glory at the consummation, but I do also believe that the whole Book of Revelation (apart from chapters 21-22) has been in process of fulfilment through the centuries. That is the whole purpose of John's symbolism. It is to some extent applicable in every generation. In fact it is quite clear that the book comes up to the time of the second coming a number of times in different visions (e.g. Revelation 6.12-17; 14.14-20; 19.11-21). All this is open to interpretation, but it cannot be denied that it is to take it literally in so far as symbolism can be taken literally. See for this interpretation the commentary on http://www.geocities.com/revelationofjohn/ Best wishes jonp |