Do Most End Of The World
Passages Really Refer To
Destruction Of Jerusalem ?

When it comes to the end of the world, you have to look somewhere other than the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24.

Only somebody who does not take the Bible literally would shove the events of Matthew 24:1-33 off into the future. That's because the text very literally states that those events occurred in the 1st Century.

Thus, the Preterist believes that Jesus was characterizing the entire calamity and conflagration of Jerusalem in Biblical apocalyptic language. He was not referring to the end of the world.

The Destruction Of Jerusalem

He told the disciples that the sun would be darkened and the moon would be turned to blood, Old Testament language describing the fall of kingdoms (Is. 13:10). He went on to say that “then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven”.

In other words, the destruction of Jerusalem was a sign that Jesus had come to the Father in the clouds of heaven, had received His kingdom and was seated at the right hand of God judging the world. This event had been foretold by the prophet Daniel hundreds of years earlier (Dan. 7:13).

The Preterist also believes that Matthew 24:34 is a definitive “time passage” in which Jesus told the disciples plainly that their generation would not pass away until all these things had come to pass. Earlier he had told the disciples that “there are some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Mt. 16:28). Thus, the time referred to is not the end of the world.

The destruction of Jerusalem was the definitive sign that Christ had been established as King at the right hand of God and was now coming in judgment. This was well within the lifetime of many of those hearing His words, exactly as He said, and not the end of the world.

Peter likewise, on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) declared that the giving of the Holy Spirit was also an aspect of that “great and notable day of the Lord” prophesied by Joel, in which “the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood….” Hebrews 1:2 further declares the 1st Advent of Christ to be the beginning of the “last days…when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high….”

This act marks the beginning of the 1000 year, millennial reign of Christ, in which his Kingdom is gradually manifested on earth. To force it into the future as a description of the end of the world is to do violence to the text.

The number 1000 is used in the Bible to signify vastness, as when the Psalmist declares that “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills” (Ps. 50:10). Having thus begun, the “last days” will not culminate until the rapture of the church at the 2nd Advent of the Lord, after all His enemies are subdued in one final rebellion (Rev. 20:7-9).

During this period the nations will come to the church for instruction in Biblical law and justice (Is. 2:4). All of this occurs before the end of the world.

Who Is The Beast?

No discussion of Biblical prophecy, however brief, is complete without an attempt to identify of the infamous “Beast” of Revelation 13:8. Some authors, like Ken Gentry, identify the “Beast” as Nero in his book, "The Beast of Revelation".

He points out that Caesar Nero is the only candidate, 1) whose name adds to the required 666 (Rev. 13:18b), 2) whose name could be counted by John’s contemporary readers (Rev. 13:18a), 3) who “had a mouth speaking great…blasphemies, and 4) in A.D. 64 embarked on the first imperial persecution of Christians.

Note that the “Beast” attacks the church from without, while the spirit of “Anti-Christ” described only in I John 2:18,19 arises within the church. Thus, the two cannot be the same; antichrist refers more to a spirit of apostasy that afflicts many "antichrists" than to a specific individual. It has nothing to do with the end of the world.

The “Beast” is also spoken of as a 7-headed kingdom in Rev. 13:1 and Rev. 17:10. This Kingdom is generally acknowledged to be Rome. This is a further indication that Nero could be the individual “Beast”, the personification of tyrannical Rome.

After the suicide of Nero in A.D. 68, Rome was wracked with internal dissension and civil war almost to the point of dissolution. Note that these events all occur prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Finally, Rome recovered its stability under Vespasian, thus fulfilling the death and resurrection prophesy of Revelation 13:3.

Revelation 17:3 describes another “scarlet colored beast” on whom a harlot arrayed in purple is riding. This most likely depicts the alliance of the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman civil authority against the Lord Jesus.

Thus, in all likelihood the Beast lived over 2,000 years ago. Christians are speculating in vain over an end of the world appearance which will not occur. Much better to devote that time and energy the accomplishment of the Great Commission.