In a chat with a preterist that authored a book on eschatology he wrote:
"Most hyper-preterists don't believe in spiritual gifts, while I do; most believe that the Millennium began in 30 AD and ended in 70 AD; while I claim it began in 70 AD and will end at some time in the future."
It is unimaginable to me that anyone could believe that the term millennium could suggest a period of 40 years.
2Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
"the elements" is a reference to the elemental principles.
Here's Strong's on G4747 - stoicheion
1) any first thing, from which the others belonging to some series or composite whole take their rise, an element, first principal
a) the letters of the alphabet as the elements of speech, not however the written characters, but the spoken sounds
b) the elements from which all things have come, the material causes of the universe
c) the heavenly bodies, either as parts of the heavens or (as others think) because in them the elements of man, life and destiny were supposed to reside
d) the elements, rudiments, primary and fundamental principles of any art, science, or discipline
1) i.e. of mathematics, Euclid's geometry
Is it so difficult for preterists to see that the Second Coming of Christ is "the day of judgment" and "day of the Lord" and simultaneous with and destruction of the earth?
Did Jesus already come in the manner in which was promised to us? Where is the record of the Lord returning in the clouds just as promised:
Act 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
One would think that event would be worth at least a paragraph or two out of the early chroniclers.
1Cr 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Since Paul was dead before 70 AD, who is the "we" in all these verses if not the church?
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Who is the "we"? If this event happened to the Thessalonians in 70 AD, where is the historical record regarding those Thessalonians that were alive, being caught up together in the clouds and meeting the Lord in the air at the last trump? One would think that would have been worth chronicling by the early historians.
