A Good Friday Post: Toward a Preterist Reboot Starting with Matthew’s Gospel

To be a Christian is to believe that Christ lived, died, rose bodily to immortally, ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. It means to believe that Jesus will come again, that all the dead shall be raised and judged—either vindicated in Christ or condemned for their sins.

To be a Christian also means to believe “the New Testament” (as we call it) records the origin of Christianity. We have been raised for generations to believe that these documents mainly teach the substance of what I listed in the first paragraph. Virtually no believer comes to the Greek Scriptures expecting anything else. Christianity is basically a “movement” that began with Jesus and Pentecost and then has been transmitted throughout the world from that point in time and space. Eventually the Apostles and the first generation of Christians died, but their younger converts continued and grew the “movement.”

Notice that Evangelicals don’t have such an interpretation of the so-called “Old Testament.” While they often don’t show much interest in anything that seems unrelated to a kind of “pre-movement” view, they do acknowledge that the Word or God contains a lot of geo-politics and other social disruptions and transformations. The Hebrew Scripture may not be read or studied as much as they should be, but one can point out that they teach something beyond the creation of a “movement.”

A video debate: Is Postmillennialism Biblical?

Many thanks to Lucas Curcio of the Method Ministries Podcast for the opportunity to exchange views!

What do you mean, “prunes”?

“Prunes” is the word used in the ESV and other English Bible translations for a word in Jesus’ discourse in John 15:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit (John 15:1–2 ESV).

The meaning of this passage commonly understood to refer to life’s trials that God sends our way to refine us (like in James 1:2).

But I have to wonder if something more might being also hinted at.

How Blood Moves History Forward

Admittedly, this is a macabre headline, but it does allude to a Biblical issue.

I recently tweeted about Matthew’s Gospel, arguing that Jesus literally told his followers to expect violent death before that entire age was judged. This is explicitly in Matthew 23 and 24, but by the time you read through chapter 10, the message is obvious.

In this post, I want to point out in this post is that this [major!] aspect of Matthew’s Gospel fits with other Biblical patterns.

The Future of Jesus 3: The “Millennium”?

I have written a brief introductory case for the world being destined to become Christian in history (followed by a case for a general resurrection and judgment at the end of history). In my first post, I briefly discussed Revelation 20:1ff to bring up a possible implication of the Devil being released “to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth.” But I could have easily constructed my case without mentioning anything from that chapter in Revelation and I have done so in the past.

However, a common label attached to the view of the future for which I am arguing is “postmillennialism.” That name is entirely derived from Revelation 20:4, 6, 7. The millennium refers to the “thousand years” mentioned in those verses.

The Future of Jesus 2: The Bodily Resurrection as Essential Context

Before I go any further on what the Bible tells us about the future history of the mortal human race, I must address the end of that history: the final resurrection.

When Paul was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, he soon realized they weren’t going to give him a fair trial. (They started torturing him and then self-righteously accused him of insubordination when he objected to this behavior.) So he had to make a strategic move:

The Future of Jesus 1: Discipling the Nations before the Second Advent

What kind of future should we expect before the return of Christ and the general Resurrection and Final Judgment?

in Daniel chapters 2 and 7, we have two visions representing future history from the time that Daniel lived. Both visions give us a timeline of four successive empires that are Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Romans. In the time of Rome this history is brought to an end. In chapter 2, it is said to be ended by a rock from heaven that is thrown to earth and then grows into a great mountain.