We are doing a series on Berean Distinctives. This is part 3. For the last two weeks we have been looking at the doctrines that Berean Bible Church holds that distinguish us from mainstream Christianity. Now obviously there are other churches that hold to some of these doctrines, but I don't know of another Church that holds to all of the distinctives that we are going to cover.
In our first study we looked at the doctrine of Free Grace which stands opposed to the teaching of Lordship Salvation. You are not saved or kept by what you do; you are saved and kept by Christ. Belief of the truth, nothing more and nothing less, is what separates the saved from the damned.
Then last week in our second study we looked at the doctrine of Sovereign Election. We believe that anyone who believes in Christ does so because he has been chosen in eternity past. God brings all his elect to salvation. The new birth is a sovereign act of God in which man plays no part. Once the elect receive life, they will trust in Christ their Savior.
This morning we look at our third distinctive, our doctrine of eschatology (Preterism). Let's talk for a minute about eschatology. What exactly is eschatology? How would you define it?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it this way:
Definition of eschatology
1: a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind. [This is wrong, it is about the final events of the "age" not the world.]
2: a belief concerning death, the end of the world, [wrong, it's end of the age] or the ultimate destiny of humankind.
specifically: any of various Christian doctrines concerning the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, or the Last Judgment.
Zondervan Academic says, "Eschatology is the study of last things. This involves the events pertaining to Jesus' second coming, including both what happens just before Jesus' second coming and what happens just after Jesus' second coming." This is a good definition.
The word eschatology stems from the Greek word eschatos, meaning "last" or "final," and it pertains to the study of the last or the end of things.
Preterism is a system of Eschatology that views the end time events as taking place in the first century. The word Preterism derives from a Latin word that means "past in fulfillment." Preterism is the teaching that the big three, the Judgment, the Resurrection and the Second Coming, all took place in AD 70 signaled by the destruction of Jerusalem. Preterism takes the time statements in the Bible at face value and believes that Yeshua returned in the first century, just as He said He would.
Is the doctrine of eschatology important? I get the question a lot. "Why is this important? Why does eschatology matter?" My answer is always the same, "Does truth matter?" If it doesn't, we don't need to study the Bible at all. But if truth does matter, then eschatology matters.
Eschatology matters because it is a major theological issue in the Scriptures. R.C. Sproul says that two-thirds of the New Testament is either directly or indirectly eschatological. Other experts say that 25 to 30 percent of the whole bible is eschatological.
James Boice writes, "In the New Testament one verse in twenty-five deals with the Lord's return. It is mentioned 318 times in the 260 chapters of the New Testament. It is mentioned in every one of the New Testament books, with the exception of Galatians, which deals with a particular doctrinal problem, and the very short books such as 2 and 3 John and Philemon." [The Epistles of John (Zondervan), p. 96]
Ray Steadman writes, "Perhaps you have recognized in reading your Bible that this is the most frequently mentioned truth in all of the New Testament. This great hope of the appearing again of Jesus Christ underlies every other truth in the New Testament. It is found on almost every page of our New Testament."
The second coming of Christ is a very important subject. It is something that we should understand. How can we ignore something that is mentioned so often in the New Testament? How can we not care to understand something that is addressed 318 times in the 260 chapters of the New Testament?
In the beginning weeks of 1997, I had a paradigm shift when my views on the second coming of Christ began to change. Like most Christians, I had believed that the second coming of Christ was a physical event that would transform the earth. I saw it as the end of the physical world, a cataclysmic, earth-burning, total destruction of life as we now know it. The thing that changed my thinking was the time texts of the second coming. I began to see that almost on every occasion when the NT Scripture talks about the second coming, it gives a time indicator. The second coming was to happen in the lifetime of those first-century believers; in fact, it was to happen while some that were standing there with Yeshua (Mat. 16:28) were still living. In that very generation, it was at hand (near). Yeshua would come quickly.
As we read the Bible, we must keep in mind the hermeneutical principle of audience relevance. This essential approach seeks to discover what the original audience understood a passage to mean. The concern of the evangelical interpreter is to understand the grammar of a passage in light of the historical circumstances and context of the original audience.
If the timing of the second coming is said to be near, soon, at hand in the first century, then the nature of the second coming must not have been physical. We know this because there wasn't a physical transformation. In Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, we see that the second coming was NOT to be physical. To get some context let's start in Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians.
Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. 2 Thessalonians 1:4 ESV
Paul wrote this letter to the church at Thessalonica in AD 50-51. At the time of the writing, the Thessalonian believers were suffering for their faith in Christ. So, Paul comforts them by saying:
since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Yeshua is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Yeshua. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 ESV
They are going to get relief "when" the Lord Yeshua is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels (e.g., the Second Coming). The NIV Cultural Background Study Bible states that the Theme of this letter is: "Unable to physically be with the new believers, Paul encourages their faith and strengthens their hope in view of Christ's imminent return."
This was written in the first century to suffering believers promising them relief at the Second coming. If that second Coming is still future, how would it give relief to the believers in Thessalonica? Their relief was to come at Christ's return. Paul goes on.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 ESV
In chapter 1 he was talking about the Second Coming and now he says, "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Christ." He's continuing the subject of the Second Coming. The Complete Jewish Bible puts verse 2 this way:
not to be easily shaken in your thinking or anxious because of a spirit or a spoken message or a letter supposedly from us claiming that the Day of the Lord has already come. 2 Thessalonians 2:2 CJB
Now, if the Thessalonians believed that the nature of the Second Coming was an earth-burning, total destruction of the earth, how could they be deceived about its arrival? If the nature of the Second Coming was like many view it today, Paul could have written them and said, "Look out the window, the earth is still here; so the Lord has obviously not come." They thought it had already happened, so they must have viewed it differently than most folks today do. Would you agree with that? If we can allow a crack in this earth-ending Second Coming paradigm, maybe we can begin to understand the truth of the Second Coming.
When reading the Bible, we have to understand that it was written in a time far removed from ours and in cultures quite strange to us. As we try to discover the author's meaning, we must learn to read his writing as one of his contemporaries would have. To do this, we must understand the Tanakh as they did. For example, look at Revelation 1.
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. Revelation 1:7 ESV
Most modern Christians view this as a literal physical coming. But if we are familiar with the Tanakh, we know that the Lord is often depicted as riding a cloud (Psalm 18:7-15, Psalm 68:4; 104:3; Nahum 1:3). When we place the biblical image in the light of the ancient Near East understanding, we realize that God's cloud is a chariot that He rides, bringing judgment.
An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. Isaiah 19:1 ESV
We know from chapter 20 that Yahweh used the Assyrians as instruments of His wrath on Egypt, yet it says that "The LORD is riding on a swift cloud…, Egypt will tremble at His presence." Yahweh came to Egypt. Did He physically come to Egypt? No. How did He "come" to Egypt? He came in judgment. His presence was made known in judgment. But it was the Assyrians who were literally present.
Likewise, when the New Testament talks about Yeshua riding a cloud, we understand that this is not a white, fluffy cloud. On the contrary, it is a storm cloud that He rides into judgment. The more we understand the Tanakh, the better we will understand the language of the New Testament.
If the second coming of the Lord was to be soon and if the Lord and the Apostles taught that it was to happen in the first century, then the nature of the second coming must have been spiritual not physical. And it is very clear that the New Testament speaks of a near coming of Christ.
A book of the Bible that most all Christians think lays out the future of earth is the book of Revelation. But if you pay attention to what the book actually says, it is clear that it is talking about something that was to happen in the first century.
The revelation of Yeshua the Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Yeshua the Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:1-3 ESV
To whom was the book of Revelation written? Most Christians today think it was written to them. They act as though it is a newspaper that just arrived. But John tells us to whom he is writing—the seven churches in Asia Minor.
John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, Revelation 1:4 ESV
These were seven real churches that existed in Asia Minor in the first century. He names the seven churches in chapter 1.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." Revelation 1:10-11 ESV
Notice that John is not told to send it to the church in Virginia Beach, VA in the twenty-first century. This book was to be sent to seven churches in Asia Minor in the first century and he names the churches.
To the church in Thyatira Yeshua said:
Only hold fast what you have until I come. Revelation 2:25 ESV
Yeshua told the believers in the church of Thyatira, in the first century, to "hold fast what you have until I come." He doesn't say, "Hold fast until you die." If language means anything, that means that he would come in their lifetime, would it not? Most commentators of Revelation violate the basic hermeneutical principle of audience relevance.
In Revelation 1:1, John specifically states that the prophecies of Revelation would begin to take place in a very SHORT TIME.
The revelation of Yeshua the Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, Revelation 1:1 ESV
He emphasized this truth of a soon coming in a variety of ways through language. He carefully varies the manner of his expressions as if to avoid any potential confusion on the matter. The Greek word translated "soon" in Revelation 1:1 is tachos. According to Arndt and Gingrich Lexicon, tachos is used in the LXX and certain non-canonical writings to mean "speed, quickness, swiftness, haste." John uses the same word in Revelation 2:16; 3:11; 22:6, 7, 12, 20. John also uses the Greek word engus which is translated "near" in Revelation 1:3 and 22:10.
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:3 ESV
This term speaks of temporal nearness, and John uses it to bracket the book. The third Greek word is mello. It is translated as "about to" in Revelation 1:19 and 3:10. The phrase in 1:19: is literally "the things which are about to occur."
Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. Revelation 1:19 ESV
Mello also occurs in 3:10,
Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. Revelation 3:10 ESV
The verse should read "is about to come upon the whole world." If we apply the principle of audience relevance, what would the original readers have thought when they read this? John strategically places these words at the introduction and conclusion of the book. John was telling the seven churches to expect these things at any moment.
So, based upon these time statements and many others, I believed that Yeshua had come "in a sense" in AD 70. I was a partial preterist. I believed that AD 70 was "a" coming but not "the" coming. I was still looking for a future coming of Christ. The thing that troubled me was that the book of Revelation ended with the same time statements that it began with.
And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place." "And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." Revelation 22:6-7 ESV
And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near." Revelation 22:10 ESV
"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. Revelation 22:12 ESV
Five times in the last 16 verses he tells the seven churches in Asia Minor that he is going to come very soon to them. This troubled me (in 1997), but I didn't have a solution because I didn't know of anyone who thought the second coming had already occurred. I had never heard of the idea before the beginning part of January of 1997.
These ending verses should be very difficult for a partial preterist. The time statements bracket this book and cover everything in the book including the second coming, the judgment, and the resurrection. It was ALL to happen soon for the first- century audience. Do you know a one-word description for a partial preterist? Futurist!
As we read the Bible, we must keep in mind the hermeneutical principle of audience relevance. We must understand that the Bible is written "for" us, but it is not written "to" us. We must seek to understand what Scripture meant to its original audience, then we can apply it to ourselves. As you look at the following scriptures, ask yourself these questions: Who is this written to? When was it written? When did they expect Christ to return?
Yeshua said to His disciples:
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Matthew 10:23 ESV
For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." Matthew 16:27-28 ESV
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Matthew 24:34 ESV
Yeshua said to Peter:
When Peter saw him, he said to Yeshua, "Lord, what about this man?" Yeshua said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!" John 21:21-22 ESV
Paul said to the Roman Christians:
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans 13:11-12 ESV
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Christ be with you. Romans 16:20 ESV
Paul said to the Corinthian Christians:
so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Yeshua the Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Yeshua the Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:7-8 ESV
This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 ESV
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 1 Corinthians 10:11 ESV
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 ESV
The "we" here is Paul and the first century believers at Corinth.
Paul said to the Philippian Christians:
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Yeshua the Christ. Philippians 1:6 ESV
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; Philippians 4:5 ESV
Paul said to the Thessalonian Christians:
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 1 Thessalonians 4:15 ESV
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV
Paul said to Timothy:
to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Yeshua the Christ, 1 Timothy 6:14 ESV
Paul said to Titus:
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Yeshua the Christ, Titus 2:12-13 ESV
The writer of Hebrews said to the Hebrew Christians:
For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; Hebrews 10:37 ESV
"For yet a little while." The Greek here is very expressive and emphatic. The author used a word which signifies "a little while," but then for further emphasis, he added a particle meaning "very." He intensified it even more by repeating it, thus literally rendering this clause as: "For yet a very, very little while, and He that shall come will come."
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. James 5:7-9 ESV
Peter wrote to Christians:
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Yeshua the Christ. 1 Peter 1:13 ESV
The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 1 Peter 4:7 ESV
We must keep in mind audience relevance in order to discover what the original audience understood a passage to mean. He said He was coming soon; He said His coming was "at hand." He said He was coming in the life time of those He was speaking to. He said He was coming in "their generation." You cannot read the New Testament without seeing the imminent expectation that they had for the return of Christ. This has caused problems for many.
The self-proclaimed atheist, Bertrand Russell, made use of this obvious conclusion in his work, Why I Am Not A Christian:
"I am concerned with Christ as He appears in the Gospel narrative as it stands, and there one does find some things that do not seem very wise. For one thing, He certainly thought that His Second Coming would occur in clouds of glory before the death of all the people who were living at that time. There are a great many texts that prove it…. That was the belief of His early followers, and it was the basis of a good deal of His moral teaching" (page 16).
Russell used the New Testament's "imminent" texts as "proof" that Yeshua could not be the Son of God. And modern Christianity, in general, has not been able to answer adequately such objections from atheists and non-Christians. Believers today must address directly the vast misunderstanding that exists within the realm of Christianity regarding Christ's eschatological teachings.
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Matthew 24:34 ESV
Yeshua very plainly and very clearly, tells His disciples that ALL of the things He had mentioned would come to pass in THEIR GENERATION. If you study the context, you will see that this includes the gospel being preached in all the world, the abomination of desolation, the great tribulation, and the Second Coming of Christ. This is so clear that it greatly troubles those who hold to a futuristic eschatology. In his essay "The World's Last Night" C.S. Lewis, talking about Matthew 24:34, quotes an objector as saying:
"The apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, 'This generation shall not pass till all these things be done.' And He was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else."
Then Lewis says:
"This is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible. Yet how teasing, also, that within fourteen words of it should come the statement 'But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.' The one exhibition of error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side." [Essay "The World's Last Night"(1960), found in The Essential C.S. Lewis, p. 385]
So, Lewis says that what Yeshua said about "this generation" is embarrassing and calls it an "error." Was Yeshua wrong? I can't accept that, can you? Fortunately, Christ did keep His promise to come within the first-century generation. Christ's Second Coming occurred spiritually—the way He intended it—at the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem. This highly verified historical event signified that sin finally had been atoned forever and that all Christians, from generation to generation, could live eternally—on earth and in heaven—without separation from God.
Now, you may be asking the following: If the Lord did come back in AD 70, how did the church miss it for all these years? How could He have come back and the church not have known it? The problem here is one of preconceived ideas. It is because of the paradigms that we have developed that we cannot answer such questions. Because we think that the Second Coming is an earth-burning, heaven-melting, globe-changing event; we assume it could not have already happened.
I submit to you that either Scripture is wrong about the time of the Second Coming and thus not inerrant, or our paradigms are wrong about the nature of the Second Coming. Which one of those are you more comfortable with—an incorrect paradigm or an uninspired Scripture?
Contrary to popular belief, nowhere do the Scriptures teach that the physical creation will be destroyed. Notice what God said after the flood of Noah's day:
And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. Genesis 8:21 ESV
Now, folks will say that the Lord destroyed the earth by water one time, and He'll destroy it by fire the next time. Is God's promise here to just change His method of destroying everything? Is there comfort in being destroyed by fire instead of water? Or is He promising not to destroy the earth again?
Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Psalms 148:4-6 ESV
What decree did God make concerning the establishment of the heaven and the earth that will never pass away? Genesis 8:21! God said that He would never again destroy every living thing. God can be trusted; He keeps his word. He said He was coming soon, and He did.
Now, I'm sure you understand that if Christ returned in the first century, we are now living in the New Heavens and Earth.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:1-2 ESV
This is hard for people to accept. How could we be in the New Heavens and Earth? This is easy to accept when you understand that the New Heavens and Earth is the New Covenant.
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. Galatians 4:22-26 ESV
What exactly is this "Jerusalem above" who is our mother? You must keep in mind that the comparison here is between two covenants. Earthly Jerusalem represents the Old Covenant, so this heavenly Jerusalem represents the New Covenant.
Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." Revelation 21:9 ESV
Who is the bride, the wife of the Lamb? The Church is! This angel is showing John "the wife of the Lamb." With that in mind, notice the next verse.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, Revelation 21:10 ESV
"Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." He "Showed me the holy city Jerusalem." The wife of the Lamb is the new Jerusalem, the church. The old Jerusalem was physical Israel and the new Jerusalem is the bride of Christ. Jerusalem above is the "wife of the Lamb," which is the Church, which is the New Covenant, which is the city of God. The writer of Hebrews points this out when he makes the comparison of Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Yeshua, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:22-24 ESV
The word "and" after Mount Zion ought to be rendered "even" or "that is" the city of the living God. Mt. Zion is the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. So, Mount Zion, heavenly Jerusalem, city of the living God, the Church, and in verse 28, the Kingdom ALL refer to those redeemed in the body of Christ. In other words, New Covenant believers.
People must choose between tradition and the Scripture—the choice should be easy. To deny the fact of the second coming is to deny the inspiration of scripture. Do you agree? Well, I believe that the time of the second coming is just as clear as the fact of the second coming. I believe that to deny the time statements that the Bible gives of the second coming is also to deny inspiration. Do you still agree?
If this view is new to you, I would ask that you would openly and honestly look at what it is saying. Almost every book in the New Testament talks of a "soon" return of Yeshua the Christ, and it is very hard to make 2,000 years "soon" by any hermeneutic. The major issue to me in all of this is the Inspiration of Scripture. Don't let tradition rob you of the precious truths which our Lord taught. Be a Berean and daily search the Scripture to see if these things are so.