What is Preterism? 

Preterism is a view of eschatology, which is concerned with theology regarding end times or last things.

Most Christians believe that the Bible talks about a future coming of Christ. That is, future to us. This future coming will signal the end of the physical cosmos and the creation of a new physical heaven and a new physical earth. But what if I told you that the bible never once talks about the end of the physical world? What if I told you that it only talks about the end of an age; Specifically, the old covenant age of law, to be replaced by a better and permanent new covenant of grace? And what if I told you that this event already occurred in the distant past? In the first century? 

We Preterists believe that Jesus returned within the same generation that saw Him crucified. We believe that the well-documented siege and destruction of Jerusalem was the great and terrible day of The Lord promised through the old testament and clarified by Peter at Pentecost:

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
-Acts 2: 14-21

 Peter knew he was living in the last days. As did the writer of Hebrews:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
-Hebrews 1:1-2

John knew the end was near in his day:

 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
-1 John 2: 18

Paul knew they were at a critical juncture of redemptive history:

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
-1 Corinthians 10:11

Peter again backs his earlier claim of the end of the age being upon his generation:

The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.  
-1 Peter 4:6:7

Consider the book of Revelation, touted by prophecy pundits as the main evidence of a far future second coming. This book is clearly addressed to 7 specific historical Churches that existed in Asia Minor in the first century about things soon to take place:

The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
-Revelation 1:1-3

 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
-Revelation 1:10-11

Jesus told the Church in Thyatira to hold on until He came:

Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, 25 except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
-Revelation 2:24-25

And if you think that Revelation covers the near future to the first century audience, and the distant future for us, John clears up any confusion by placing more time statements at the very end of the book in chapter 22. Remember this is after the tribulation, the judgement, the defeat of Satan and the establishment of the new Heaven and Earth:

 The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”
-Revelation 22:6-7

Jesus gave multiple time indicators to communicate that His return in glory and righteous judgement of rebellious Israel would come upon the same generation who he was speaking to:

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
-Matthew 16:27-28

Jesus tied the destruction of the temple to end of the age and fulfilment of all prophecy:

When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfilment of all that has been written.  
-Luke 21:20-22

The Siege of Jerusalem from 66-70AD was meticulously documented by Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who was there. Here is just one example of supernatural signs and wonders being observed by witnesses over Judea and Jerusalem during the siege that match the prophecies:

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
-Matthew 24:30

Here is the documented fulfilment:

Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. 

-Flavius Josephus; History of the Jewish Wars Against the Romans; Book 6; Chapter 5.3

Jesus came on the clouds in judgement, exactly the same way he left the Apostles in Acts chapter 1. Cloud coming is also well established old testament language about God's judgement on a nation, as well as His presence:

He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
-2 Samuel 22:10

Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
-Psalm 68:4

See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire.
-Isaiah 30:27

Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined!
-Jeremiah 4:13

For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near— a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.
-Ezekiel 30:3

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.
-Daniel 7:13

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    sound the alarm on my holy hill.

Let all who live in the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
2     a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
    a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
    nor ever will be in ages to come.
-Joel 2:1-2

The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
-Nahum 1:3

The evidence supporting Preterism is deep and wide, and found all throughout the scriptures. Critics of Preterism will cite a few verses that we supposedly hang on, but the fact is there are dozens or even hundreds of verses, as well as a consistent theme in general that points to the events of the Siege of Jerusalem in 70AD as the Great and Terrible Day of The Lord. 

In summary, consider the below points supporting Preterism before you write it off as crazy or heretical:

• Multiple time statements in the new testament that make it clear that the New testament writers and believers expected Christ to return in their generation

• Multiple time statements from Jesus Himself that make it clear He promised to return to the same generation He first came to

• The recorded historical siege and destruction of Jerusalem from 66-70 AD, which happened in the lifetimes of the same people Jesus spoke to during His earthly ministry

• Historical records of supernatural signs and wonders being witnessed by people during the siege that perfectly fit with the end times prophecies found in Daniel 12, Matthew 24, Luke 21, Revelation etc

• New scholarship that dates the Book of Revelation to the mid to late 60s AD, rather than the long-held date of 95-96 AD. 

Christians through history have held a Preterist or partial-Preterist view, but it has never been a majority position officially within the post Apostolic Church. If you believe that Church tradition is more important than scripture, then you will remain unconvinced. However, please consider this: If you are a Protestant, then you believe that the largest and most powerful Church on earth - the Roman Catholic Church, who also had their creeds and traditions, had salvation doctrine wrong for over a thousand years. If there was a need for reformation of Soteriology (salvation doctrine), then surely there could reasonably be a need for reformation when it comes to Eschatology. 

I challenge you to put your personal biases to the side and read the new testament carefully and without putting your own view on the text. Read the time statements and you can not come away with a far future second coming. The scripture 100% supports the Preterist view. In fact, the Preterist view comes from the scripture. Many theologians through Church history have noticed the immanence of the time statements and realised that Christ came in the same generation He spoke to in His first coming and fulfilled all of His promises about ending the old covenant and establishing the New Covenant, defeating Satan and completing His redemptive work. 

Notable preterists or partial preterists include Hippolytus of Rome (170–235) ,Eusebius of Caesarea (3rd-4th century), St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) , Tyconius (4th century), Luis de Alcázar (1554–1613), Cornelius a Lapide (1567–1637), Geerhardus Vos (1862–1949), James Stuart Russell (1816–1895), Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), R.C. Sproul (1939–2017), N.T. Wright (b. 1948), David Chilton (1951-1997). 

Preterism is growing and partial and full preterism have been adopted by notable modern theologians including David B. Curtis, Gary Demar, Kim Burgess, Chuck Baldwin and many others. While these are not yet people committed to the history books of the Church, I believe they one day will be. We are in a new Reformation of the Church and Preterism, I'm convinced, is the final frontier to accurate Biblical understanding that will free the Church from the chains of fear and the evils of Zionism ad Pentecostalism. Preterism explains and solves it all. It destroys all of the false doctrines. The Black Hebrew Israelites, Roman Catholicism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists etc. They all fail under the revealed truth that Christ has already come and the tribulation, judgement, resurrection and end of the age is now behind us. 

For ease of navigation and to make answers quick and easy to find and digest, I will create pages on this site that cover many of the evidences that support Preterism and address the common objections. 

There are 3 main reasons why people reject Preterism:

• Church tradition - the logic is that if Preterism were true, the majority of the early Church Fathers and subsequent councils, creeds, confessions etc, would have taught it. Even though full and partial preterist views can be found throughout Church history, the fact that the majority of the Church outside of the Apostles did not see it, is a deal-breaker for most Christians. 

• Poor translations - many versions translate the Hebrew and Greek words to give them a meaning that is beyond the intention of the original author. For example, most modern translations of Matthew 24 verse 30 say:

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." 

But a more accurate translation is the 'tribes of the land', which instantly changes the expectation from world-wide to local. The NIV acknowledges this alternate translation in the footnotes. 

• Poor Hermeneutics- Christians are not taught today how to interpret scripture. They just read the words on the page and put their own bias on the text. People are not taught to apply sound hermeneutics that assist to interpret scripture accurately. Critical principles such as considering audience relevance, using scripture to interpret scripture and using clear verses to interpret the more obscure verses are not employed, and people come up with all kinds of weird and fanciful interpretations, based more on emotion, ego, movies and modern cultural understandings applied to ancient text. For example, these verses from 2 Peter 3:10-13 to our modern lense appear to foretell the end of the world:

 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.[a]

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
-2 Peter 3:10-13

However, if you use scripture to interpret scripture, and look up the Greek word used for 'elements' = 'στοιχεῖα'. This word is used seven times in the New Testament. In the other five situations it is used in the New Testament, it is used to represent to precepts of the old covenant law. The Greek concordance gives this meaning:

stoicheion: Element, principle, rudiment
1. something orderly in arrangement
2. (by implication) an initial element of a fundamental series
3. (literally) fundamental principle
4. (figuratively, plural) the elements

Here is the link so you can read all of the information about this word for yourself:
https://biblehub.com/greek/4747.htm

While it certainly can be used to mean the physical elements of matter, the clear context in the New Testament is that it refers to the rudimentary principles of the old covenant Law.

But wait, don't the same verses talk about heaven and earth being destroyed by fire? Again, using scripture to interpret scripture, as well as having an understanding of ancient Hebrew culture, the true meaning of Heaven and Earth in this context changes drastically:

Heaven and Earth were represented by the Temple. Heaven and Earth was also used to represent nations and covenants. A detailed explanation of this can be found here.

Please go through the resources on this site or email me if you have any questions. I do not identify as just a preterist. However the reason I have named this Church the 'Wagga Preterist Church', is to make it easy to find for Christians in the Riverina who may be seeking Christian fellowship among like-minded believers. Unfortunately, even though this eschatology is completely biblical, the majority of Churches consider it heresy and will excommunicate members who profess this view.