(Jesuit) Preterism versus John 14

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Nov 23, 2013
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#21
here is step 10 of the betrothal process, immediately preceding the consummation of the marriage:

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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: 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.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
I take that to mean that you don't believe that believers go to heaven at our deaths.

The bible says that when we are absent from this body then we are present with the Lord. What is your view on that scripture?
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
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#22
I take that to mean that you don't believe that believers go to heaven at our deaths.

The bible says that when we are absent from this body then we are present with the Lord. What is your view on that scripture?
that 1 Thessalonians 4 does not contradict Ephesians 2.

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
(1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
when scripture speaks of marriage, is it of the body or of the spirit?
 
Nov 23, 2013
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#23
that 1 Thessalonians 4 does not contradict Ephesians 2.

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
(1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
when scripture speaks of marriage, is it of the body or of the spirit?
I agree the marriage is to the spirit but I don't see how this changes anything. The OT saints spirits couldn't go into heaven until Christ made a way for them... same for us, our spirits couldn't enter into heaven before Christ made the way.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
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#24
the marriage is to the spirit

can you show me that in the Bible?

i could quickly & easily find 100 places describing marriage as the body, both in the OT & NT
"they become one flesh"
 
Jul 23, 2018
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#25
In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
(John 14:2-4)
when He says He goes somewhere to prepare a place for us, and that He will return to take us to that place to be with Him there -- is that place the grave?
because that's where He went when He died on the cross, and the grave is where He returned from.
if [dying on the cross and rising from the grave] = [going to prepare a place for us and returning to take us there] then doesn't that make the Father's house Sheol??


but if He ascended to heaven to prepare a place for us, then we wait for Him to return from heaven and to take us there -- and the marriage supper is in heaven, not in the grave; we look forward to it, as we look forward to His return, to bring us there to be with Him.
Yes mat 25 the 5 wise virgins is a vivid picture of that.
 
Nov 23, 2013
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#26
can you show me that in the Bible?

i could quickly & easily find 100 places describing marriage as the body, both in the OT & NT
"
they become one flesh"
(Eph 5:30) For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
(Eph 5:31) For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
(Eph 5:32) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

The only way the husband (Christ) and the woman (the church) become ONE flesh is through marriage. We ARE (present tense) members of his body, his flesh and his bones. That isn't talking about our earthly flesh nor our earthly bones being members of his body, flesh and bones.

(1Co 6:16) What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
(1Co 6:17) But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

He that is joined to an harlot is one body.... did they literally become one flesh - no. It's all about the spirit as verse 17 tells us.

We, are not our earthly bodies nor are we our glorified bodies, both of those are containers for our spirits. Our spirit is the "real us" and Christ marries the "real us", not the containers that house us.
 
Jun 11, 2020
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#27
Good point and thanks for putting that on my radar, I've never considered those verses that way.
Thank you for your measured answer. Have you noticed the general appreciation after 26 postings? Nearly nobody wants to address the tense. When our Lord Jesus said "where I AM", they all read "where I WILL BE". That is, wherever the disciples were going to be WAS WHERE JESUS WAS AT THAT MOMENT of speaking. But He was on earth. So any talk of heaven or the grave is ruled out.

But then He TOLD the disciples were He was at that moment. "In the Father and the Father IN Him". So the understanding of the narrative is not left to us. The passage is not obscure. The context is not obscure. The Book is not obscure. And the prophecy of John 14 is fulfilled right in the same Book in Chapter 20. But for some reason, men just don't want to hear what our Lord so plainly said.

I know that longish postings are seldom read, and I am certainly not in any way privileged that my postings should be read or answered, but my posting calls into question what more than 95% of Christians believe. You'd think I'd get a bashing for that. But I didn't. Interesting.

But even more interesting is that nobody wanted to give an exegesis that made the whole Chapter harmonize with their theory. They assumed a meaning and then wrested one or two half verses to help their theory. The same context of an "abode" in the Father's House stretches all the way to verse 23. And within those 23 verses the Father is promised to be IN the disciple (v.20), Christ Himself is promised to be IN the disciple (v.18, 20), and the Holy Spirit is promised to be in the disciple (v.17). Which One is it, and how can it be if both the Father and the Son will be in heaven for most of the New Testament age? Then again the matter of going away and coming again stretches to verse 29. Just consider it; "And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe." That is, FAITH only STARTS on that day - not going to heaven or a Wedding Feast which are taught to be the END of your faith.
 
Aug 3, 2019
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#29
Heaven is the place that Jesus prepared for us, he prepared that place when he died and rose from the dead. Now each of us go there when Jesus comes for us at the death of our earthly bodies.
Then why did the Reformation sing about "when the saints go marching in, O, how I want to be in THAT NUMBER when the saints go marchin in"? We're going to march into heaven corporately as a multitude...we don't march in individually at death. We sleep in the grave until the resurrection.
 
Aug 3, 2019
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#30
Same is true of postribs.

Well with a few modifications.

They have no bride going to heaven or marriage supper.

So nope no postrib rapture.

It can not even be made to fit.

After the flood noah entered the ark and was carried miles into the sky being delivered by God.....oh,wait,it was BEFORE THE FLOOD.

after sodom burned to the ground abraham fetched lot....oh,wait..nope.
Not sure which post trib Christians you been studying with, but clearly you haven't studied with us Adventists. We most definitely have Jesus coming back after the tribulation to collect His bride, the church, and then we'll travel back to heaven to spend the 1,000 years while the prophecies of an empty, desolate, dark, silent, destroyed, uninhabited Earth that are found in Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Psalms, 2 Peter, etc. are fulfilled.

Unfortunately, Jesuit Preterism and Jesuit Futurism afford no such opportunity for fulfillment of these prophecies, so they have to be made to mean the opposite of what is said. Prophecies which speak of a totally uninhabited, silent, dark, empty, destroyed Earth are interpreted to mean and Earth filled with life and order and inhabitants and non-stop hustle and bustle that is continuous and unbroken since the First Advent.
 
Aug 3, 2019
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#31
there's some slight variation among different sources, and this is a really simplified list, but the NT is full of language reflecting the ancient Hebrew betrothal process ((and you can find all this justified in the OT too)):

  1. selection of the bride
  2. payment of the price of the bride
  3. betrothal of the bride
  4. consent of the bride
  5. cup of the marriage covenant
  6. gifts for the bride
  7. cleansing of the bride
  8. departure of the groom to prepare a place for the bride
  9. sanctification of the bride waiting for the return of the groom
  10. return of the groom, snatching away the bride
  11. marriage under the covering
  12. marriage supper

brother i think we're in step 9 here waiting for step 10, @KJV1611
step 12 is after the end of all things, and the completion of our redemption - when we will dwell with Him forever in the place He is now preparing.
Yes, I know, but for the purposes of this thread, it was enough to hit on the main points....to show that Jesuit Preterism simply does not line up with Scripture with regard to the return of Christ.
 
Aug 3, 2019
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#32
Jesus said "that where I am, there ye may be also." Jesus is in heaven. Before Jesus died, we could not go there because the way had not been made yet. This is why OT saints went to Abraham's bosom. The work was accomplished at the cross, that's when our sins we're done away with, allowing us entry into heaven.
So, "Abraham's Bosom" is a symbolic place? Wait, that can't be since it is claimed by those who champion Eternal Torment that the passage is a literal account of the fate of a Rich Man and some guy named Lazarus. Only parabolic passages contain symbolism, right?
 
Aug 3, 2019
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#33
Thank you for your measured answer. Have you noticed the general appreciation after 26 postings? Nearly nobody wants to address the tense. When our Lord Jesus said "where I AM", they all read "where I WILL BE". That is, wherever the disciples were going to be WAS WHERE JESUS WAS AT THAT MOMENT of speaking. But He was on earth. So any talk of heaven or the grave is ruled out.
Really? ...here's two reasons why your logic is flawed. READ BOTH BEFORE REPLYING, THANK YOU:

1) Jesus clearly spoke of going to heaven to build the mansions, and heaven is not on Earth. Therefore, when He said, "...that where I am...", He obviously meant "...that where I am when I arrive at My Father's house".

2) Jesus told Nicodemus, "...but the Son of Man which is in heaven." Clearly, the Son of Man was not in heaven when He spoke with Nicodemus, but since God often speaks in Scripture of "that which shall be" as though it already "is" because He is not limited by the bounds of space and time, Jesus can speak of Himself being in heaven with His Father whilst being on Earth fulfilling His divine mission. In saying this, Jesus was not implying that heaven is on Earth, for "My kingdom is not of this world" and neither is this the case in John 14.

What say you?
 
Aug 3, 2019
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#34
here is step 10 of the betrothal process, immediately preceding the consummation of the marriage:

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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: 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.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
The context of this passage is the resurrection, not Jesus' travel plans. The phrase "God will bring with Him" doesn't mean "in the company of" - it means "in like manner". IOW, just as God brought Jesus forth from the tomb, so in like manner will God raise up the dead saints. It doesn't mean "conscious but disembodied saints are going to travel from heaven with Jesus" to Earth to get shot up the nostrils of immortal bodies rolling off some terra firma assembly line.
 
Nov 23, 2013
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#35
Then why did the Reformation sing about "when the saints go marching in, O, how I want to be in THAT NUMBER when the saints go marchin in"? We're going to march into heaven corporately as a multitude...we don't march in individually at death. We sleep in the grave until the resurrection.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
 
Nov 23, 2013
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#36
So, "Abraham's Bosom" is a symbolic place? Wait, that can't be since it is claimed by those who champion Eternal Torment that the passage is a literal account of the fate of a Rich Man and some guy named Lazarus. Only parabolic passages contain symbolism, right?
There's nothing symbolic about Abraham's Bosom it was the place where the OT saints went when they died. Jesus took them to heaven when he ascended.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
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#37
(Eph 5:30) For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
(Eph 5:31) For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
(Eph 5:32) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

The only way the husband (Christ) and the woman (the church) become ONE flesh is through marriage. We ARE (present tense) members of his body, his flesh and his bones. That isn't talking about our earthly flesh nor our earthly bones being members of his body, flesh and bones.

(1Co 6:16) What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
(1Co 6:17) But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

He that is joined to an harlot is one body.... did they literally become one flesh - no. It's all about the spirit as verse 17 tells us.

We, are not our earthly bodies nor are we our glorified bodies, both of those are containers for our spirits. Our spirit is the "real us" and Christ marries the "real us", not the containers that house us.
thank you -- an this is showing that our marriage to Christ involves not only the spirit but the body, right? Paul is using that point to encourage holiness.

speaking of us as already His own bride doesn't definitively make the snatching away of the bride to the place prepared for her, the marriage consummation and feast a thing of the past tho. in Hebrew culture, a betrothed is considered equivalent to an actually married bride. it was not until Gentile culture was mixed with Jewish in the middle ages that there was any thought of the engagement process being 'reversible' or 'tentative' -- rabbinic law treats the betrothal as only being possible to annul through the same divorce proceedings that a married woman would go through.
so it is a very Jewish thing for Paul, a Jew, to speak of the one he 'betrothed' to Christ ((not 'married' - 2 Cor. 11:2)) as already and truly belonging to Him.

but in that these passages from Ephesians speak of us as being bodily joined with Him, how can that consummation, and subsequent feast, have already taken place when we have not yet received the redemption of our bodies ((Rom. 8:22-25)) which is the consummation of our sanctification -- that sanctification being a process the Hebrew bride completes before the consummation of marriage?
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
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#39
The context of this passage is the resurrection, not Jesus' travel plans
Seeing that it says He will descend from heaven, gathering us to meet Him in the air, i take it as clearly written the resurrection involves His 'traveling' to wit His return for His bride, to raise her up and take her to the place He prepares
 
Jul 23, 2018
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#40
thank you -- an this is showing that our marriage to Christ involves not only the spirit but the body, right? Paul is using that point to encourage holiness.

speaking of us as already His own bride doesn't definitively make the snatching away of the bride to the place prepared for her, the marriage consummation and feast a thing of the past tho. in Hebrew culture, a betrothed is considered equivalent to an actually married bride. it was not until Gentile culture was mixed with Jewish in the middle ages that there was any thought of the engagement process being 'reversible' or 'tentative' -- rabbinic law treats the betrothal as only being possible to annul through the same divorce proceedings that a married woman would go through.
so it is a very Jewish thing for Paul, a Jew, to speak of the one he 'betrothed' to Christ ((not 'married' - 2 Cor. 11:2)) as already and truly belonging to Him.


but in that these passages from Ephesians speak of us as being bodily joined with Him, how can that consummation, and subsequent feast, have already taken place when we have not yet received the redemption of our bodies ((Rom. 8:22-25)) which is the consummation of our sanctification -- that sanctification being a process the Hebrew bride completes before the consummation of marriage?
That bride /groom dimension is a game changer.

You are bringing to the table the heart of the issue.

The other non pretrib rapture positions ,can in no way reconcile that component.


....and yet it is the apex of the purposes of God.

Ruth is claimed as a precondition to Naomi's land,along with Naomi.

Gentile gathered first.

Jesus was the middle man to "....you saved the best wine for last". (The Jews)