Full transcript of “The Fatal Flaw in Preterism No One Wants to Talk About”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:05 All right, welcome to this installment of the underground. This is going to be a shorter session uh but I think it's going to be important and I think a lot of people are going to find it very helpful. So the title of this session is the fatal flaw in predism no one wants to talk about. So, if you've been around on social media at all the past few years, but in particular, I'd say the past several months with the explosion of anti-semitism, a lot of the just rage against dispensationalism or anyone who believes in the ongoing calling and election of Israel or the focus on the return of Jesus throughout the scriptures, you've been bombarded with people who say, "You dummy, you
0:51 know, you idiot." All of these things were already fulfilled back in 70 AD with the fall of Jerusalem. So this perspective is called predtoderism. Now some of these folks are partial predtoists but many have been embracing something called full predtoism. So the partial predtoist will say that the majority of the prophecies in the book of Daniel in the Olivet discourse in the book of revelation most of them were fulfilled again in the events that surround the destruction the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. uh the partial predtoist will say but Jesus is still going to return in the future that we still believe in the future resurrection of the dead but in terms of the antichrist the mark of the beast the
1:36 great tribulation these type of things they're all fulfilled in the past and that with the close of that age if you will that chapter in Israel's history the Jewish age or the old covenant age is over and we are now in the new covenant age. You'll hear this a lot. Now, the full predtoists actually say Jesus has already returned. They say that we're already in the new heavens and the new earth. They say that this is the resurrection. The resurrection of course is just spiritual and not physical. Now, as I said, many people are embracing this and I want to be very clear and I'm not throwing this term around lightly. It's real heresy. Like people who have embraced this are no longer Christians. You know, you can say
2:24 you're a Christian as much as a Jehovah's Witness could say they're a Christian or a Mormon might say they're a Christian, but you're not a Christian. You have abandoned the historic Christian faith. Paul the Apostle made it very clear that Himaeus and Phileatus in saying that the day of the Lord had already come, they had shipwrecked their faith and they were shipwrecking the faith of many others. And many Christians today are abandoning the faith for this poisonous and unbiblical doctrine. But even partial predtoism um it's not heresy but it is crouching and slouching toward heresy. It's a slippery slope toward heresy. And in fact many of those who started out with partial predtoism they end up uh in full
3:09 predtoism. Not all uh but many. So I want to just talk about a very very simple concept that easily clearly debunks the idea that the Olivet discourse is all about the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. So I want to talk about something called the two age model. Scholars might refer to it as the Jewish apocalyptic two-age model. And it's very very simple. I've got a diagram here. Uh it says the biblical two-age model. And it's real simple. uh the Jews, the Bible, and it really any scholar worth their salt will acknowledge that the Bible pivots from and functions from the framework of the two age model, which is to say that presently, ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden, we are in this age. This
3:58 age is the age of the curse. This age is the age of sin and death and sickness and corruption. This age is broken. But we're looking forward to the age to come. The age to come is the age of redemption. The age to come is the age of the resurrection. The age to come is the age of eternal life. Now, these two ages, as you can see in the diagram, are separated by something called the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord or the New Testament refers to it as the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. The day of the Lord and the return of Jesus are one and the same. Now to make it just a little bit more complicated, this is how the New Testament understands the two age model.
4:44 And this is called premillennialism, which is to say that this age is broken up really into two different segments. And the age that we're presently in according to the New Testament is called the last days. that ever since the first coming of Jesus or to be more specific ever since Pentecost until his return we are in a time known as the last days very broadly these are the last days and now the last days can also be used in the more restrictive sense just referring to that final narrow period the seven years right before the return of Jesus but in a very broad sense we are in the last days and the last days are essentially very simple The last days are the transition out of
5:31 this age into the age to come. Now, the millennium, if you're a premillennialist, which is to say we believe Jesus returns before the millennium, and that when the scriptures talk about the millennium six times in the book of Revelation, and when they describe it in great detail throughout the prophets, that we should take these things at face value and believe the word of God. And so if you're a premillennialist, you believe that after Jesus returns, there is a millennium. Now, some people believe it's a literal 1,000 years. Others are open. It could be 2,000, 10,000 years. But it is just like the last days, just like some people might call it the church age. Just like the church age is the transition out of this age, the millennium is the transition into the
6:17 age of perfection, the eternal state. Now, some premillennialists will say that after the millennium begins what is called the new heavens and the new earth. I personally believe and many premillennialists believe that the millennium is part of the new heavens and the new earth. So when Jesus returns, it begins the new heavens and the new earth and it ultimately transitions into the age of perfection. Jesus must rule on the earth until the final enemy is subjugated under his feet and that is death. Death is the final enemy and the New Testament lays this out very clearly. So that is for all intents and purposes the two age model. Now I'm just going to look at a few
7:03 scriptures real quickly. I want to start out with Matthew 12:32. Jesus and we're not going to get into the meaning of this passage but we all know this passage. Jesus says, "Whoever speaks a word against the son of man," he's talking about himself, "it shall be forgiven of him, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him." Now, ready? He says, "Either in this age or in the age to come." Now, that phrase, by the way, the age to come, it's very common today among Jews. It's biblical. It is olamhabah. The age to come. The olam haba. We are looking forward to the age to come. All of creation, Romans 8 says, is groaning for the age to come. The
7:50 Holy Spirit within us is yearning for the age to come. Jesus himself in Hebrews says is presently seated at the right hand of the father waiting for what? The age to come. The kingdom of the Messiah. So here you have Jesus clearly affirming the two-age model. He says it won't be forgiven him either in this age or in the age to come. But you could say, well, what does Jesus actually mean when he says this age and the age to come? Again, predtoists will say that in 70 AD, this age ended. The Jewish age, they'll say ended. The old covenant age, they'll say, ended. And we are now in the New Covenant age. Okay?
8:35 You'll hear this a million times. the old Jewish age ended. The problem is these phrases are found nowhere in scripture. This is just some theological idea that was made up and added much later but it's not in the scriptures. So we need to as careful students of the scriptures pay attention to what the scriptures actually say to what Jesus himself actually says. So what does Jesus mean when he says this age or the age to come? Well, let's look at the parallel um of this passage in Luke. Luke 20:es 33-36. Now there were some who came to Jesus and they were testing him asking him questions and they say okay now this one
9:22 particular woman she marries this guy but then the guy dies and then she marries his brother and then he dies and on and on and on till seven she marries all seven brothers and then they say now in the resurrection now notice the context in the resurrection again the physical resurrection of our bodies in the res and he's talking about they're talking about a time in the resurrection. Therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her. And then Jesus responds. And Jesus told them, the children of this age, he's saying, the people, the sons of this age, they marry and they're given in marriage. In this age, we get married. I'm married. Many of you are married. He says, but those who are accounted worthy to take part in that
10:09 age. So he's contrasting this age with that age. He says those who are worthy to take part in that age and in the resurrection. So when Jesus says that age, he's talking about the resurrection. Now it shouldn't need to be said we have not been resurrected yet. We've been spiritually renewed, but we are waiting for the physical resurrection of our bodies. Again, as it says in Romans 8, all of creation is groaning and yearning for this. This is a consistent doctrine throughout the entire Bible, including throughout the New Testament. So, he says in the resurrection, people won't marry or be given in marriage, for they
10:56 can no longer die because they're like the angels and they're children of God since they are children of the resurrection. No longer children of this age, they are children of the resurrection. Now, don't ask me to explain this um issue of why we get married now and not then. This drives the Mormons crazy because they think they're going to be married forever. And um and this can stir up a lot of emotions. This is not the point. The point that I'm trying to highlight here is simply how Jesus views this age versus the age to come. The age to come is the age of the resurrection. Let's also look at Mark 10:es 29-30. Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there's no one who's given up all sorts of things in this age. You've given up houses and mothers and children for the
11:43 sake." He says, "For my sake and for the gospel's sake." And he says, "If you if you died all of these things, you give these things up in this age." He says, you'll receive much more in this age, but he says, "In the age to come, you'll inherit eternal life." He says, "In this age, most often you'll get much more back, but in the age to come, eternal life." So again, the age to come is the age of the resurrection. The age to come is the age of eternal life. It's really pretty straightforward. Now, let's look at Matthew 13 47 through 50. Jesus says, "The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, it's like a drag net cast into the sea." This is the age that we're in right now. The fishermen have
12:29 gone out. The evangelists have gone out. The gospel has gone forth. and and presently the good fish and the bad fish are being gathered. Now notice what he says. So it will be at the end of the age, the end of this age. At the end of this age, the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire. At the end of the age, at the judgment, when Jesus returns, when Jesus returns, the wicked get thrown into the fire, but the righteous inherit eternal life. That's pretty clear, right? When Jesus returns at the judgment, Galatians 1:es 3-5, Paul says, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
13:16 gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us from what? this present evil age. We are in this present evil age. Now again to be clear, the partial predtoists and the full predtoists will tell you that this age ended in 70 AD. That that's the end of the age and we are now in the age to come that is completely absolutely indefendable. Indefensible. Undefendable. undefendable, indefensible. Biblically speaking, you cannot make a good argument for that biblically in any way, shape, or form. They take these terms like the end of the Jewish age, which is
14:01 found nowhere in the Bible. They take statements, they phrases like the end of the Old Covenant age, which is found nowhere in the Bible, and they expect you to believe it. and they expect you to reject the New Testament framework for understanding the two-age model. We are still in the age of persecution. We are still in the age of sin and death and sickness. We are waiting for the day of the Lord. We are looking forward to the age of redemption. So with that said, they all will tell you that the all of it discourse is about 70 AD and the fall of Jerusalem. and they will tell you you're an idiot for believing that it remains in our future that Jesus
14:47 was talking about the end times and his return. They they act like, "Oh, you're an idiot dispensationalist. You don't know the scriptures. you're still clinging to this boomer esquetology that your grandfathers and John Haggy, you know, and all of these sort of uh uncool uh you know, southern white Baptist pastors preach and you know that like all these kind of stereotypes. The reformed folks look down on you, the young folks look down, they make fun of you in this really sort of hostile way. Matthew 24:es 1-3, Jesus is coming out of the temple and they go, "Hey, like look at these things." And he goes, "I tell you the truth, this whole thing is going to be destroyed." And so then a little bit later, they're on the Mount of Olives
15:34 and they say, "Tell us when will these things happen? When will the temple be destroyed?" So that is one question, but then they say, "And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Now again guys, we're still in this age. Jesus then goes on and explains the signs of his coming and of the end of the age. That is in our future. That has been the belief of the church from the beginning. For the first 300 years, all of the primary early church fathers were premillennialists and they believed that the Olivet discourse was in the future. It's not until Ucius
16:21 and some of the more pagan Greek influence church writers started going well maybe this is not about the last days maybe it's about 70 AD right but if you're talking Justin Martyr Irenaeus Hippolitis Lactantius Tertullian they all viewed this as referring to the end of the age now some of you will ask you'll say well why is it then that many of the events that took place in 70 AD. They actually look a lot like what Jesus is talking about in the Olivet discourse. And this is really simple is that prophecy is fulfilled in patterns. So the Lord in the in Torah in Moses in the books of Moses, he lays out what is called the blessings and the curses of
17:06 the covenant. I've talked about these things a lot. The Lord says, "If you obey me, I'll bless you. You'll have rain in due season. Your crops will be blessed. You'll have peace with your neighbors. no problems with the wild animals, etc. I will be your God. You will be my people. He says, "But if you don't obey me, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to destroy most of you. You will be utterly destroyed, and the few that are left will be scattered among the nations." These are called the curses of the covenant, or you could say the chastisements of the covenant. And Israel's history is a series of these cycles where they repent, they return to the Lord, he restores them, eventually they backslide, they fall away, he chastises them again. And if we're to be honest, our own stories are very much
17:52 like this. Unless you're someone that has never backslid your entire life, you've always been rock solid from day one. I wish I could say I was like that, but we all go through these cycles. We repent. We return. We get strong. We, you know, we we slowly fall into uh the hazy deception of of mild backsliding. And then we say, "Lord, thank you that your mercies are new every morning." You can go through the book of Judges, Kings, it's Israel, just these cycles. But in the most profound way, first when Senakarab and the Assyrians came to the northern kingdom of Israel and then when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians came to the southern kingdom of Judah, they were utterly destroyed and the few that are left were scattered among the nations. It happened again in 70 AD. And
18:39 so it will happen one last time in the last days right before the return of Jesus. And so of course the events of 70 AD or the events of of Babylon the fall when Bab when the Babylonians came that looks a lot like what Jesus is talking about in the Olivet discourse. So of course and it and what happened in 70 AD was a profound type a profound prophetic foreshadow of the ultimate fulfillment at the end of the age. So as I end here let me just say this again. If you've been, you know, if you're on social media, you have been bombarded. If you believe what the early church believed, if you believe what the dispensationalists, God forbid, believe. If you believe that God's word can be
19:24 trusted, and Jesus's words are to be heeded and listened to, then these things that he talks about in the Olivet discourse are yet to come. the great tribulation such as has never been since there was a nation and his glorious appearing from heaven, his visible, bodily physical return. Just as the angel said in Acts chapter 1, men of Galilee, why are you staring intently into the sky? This same Jesus who was just taken up from you in front of you visibly, bodily, physically in the clouds, he will come back in the same manner as he just went up. He's coming back. Okay. So, the scriptures are clear about this. Don't let anyone bully you. Don't let anyone deceive you. This is
20:11 very simple. The two-age model is clear. The disciples asked him, "Tell us what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age." And that has not happened yet. So, again, do not be deceived. I hope that was helpful. Um, I expect to jump into a handful more of these um, short sessions where we touch on some of these more controversial, sometimes confusing issues, but the reality is once they're really laid out, they're not that confusing at all. They're actually pretty straightforward. So, I do hope this was helpful. Look forward to seeing you all next time. Until then, God bless and marinatha.
