Post by mellontes on Feb 23, 2011 10:58:28 GMT -5
This is a response I received via email from an individual who is reading Beyond Creation Science. Hopefully, this will serve as further encouragement to both Jeff and Tim (alphabetical koodos).
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Ted,
It happened a whole lot faster than it did when studying preterism.
I was reading this last night . . .
From Chapter 20, The Case for Prophecy Fulfilled, page 414 & 415.
In Matthew 23:34-36, Jesus said Judgment on the Jews would come in that generation. It was to be a judgment so comprehensive it would encompass all the martyrs all the way back to creation (23:35) [emphasis ours].
Notice that in Revelation 6:12-17 the response to the prayer of the martyrs was the promise that the Great Day of God was coming. The creation would be destroyed, and the wicked would "run for the hills." To put it another way, the martyrs would be vindicated at the Great Day of the Lord, when heaven and earth would pass away [emphasis ours].
Since the Great Day of the Lord was to occur at the time of the destruction of creation, at the judgment of Babylon [Jerusalem], and since creation was to be destroyed at the end of the millennium, then the vindication of the martyrs, in the judgment of Babylon [Jerusalem], was to occur at the end of the millennium [emphasis ours].
These are remarkable statements. If (1) the creation goes all the way back to the beginning in Genesis (as noted in the first comment), and (2) the creation was to be destroyed "when heaven and earth would pass away" (as noted in the second comment), and (3) the creation was to be destroyed at the end of the millennium (as noted in the third comment), then a fulfilled millennium presents unavoidable implications. A fulfilled millennium proves that the proper understanding of the original creation cannot be a scientific description or historical narrative regarding the origination of the physical universe!
How can we be so bold in our claim? The basic fact is that the physical heavens and physical earth were not destroyed in AD 70. The passing away of "heaven and earth" and the destruction of the creation at the end of the millennium had no bearing on the physical operation of the sun, moon, stars, and planet Earth. This reality proves that the nature of the original creation is defined by covenant, not the physical universe. The images and details used in Genesis 1 may be as symbolic as the elements in temple architecture involving heaven, earth, and sea, or as symbolic as the "heavens and earth" of the New Testament (Matt. 5:17-19;, 24:35; Heb. 1:10-12; 2 Peter 3:5-10; Rev. 21:1), but a fulfilled millennium demands covenant creation for the physical heavens and physical earth did not perish in AD 70. God's "heavens and earth" is God's people in covenant relationship with him from the very beginning. It is impossible to reconcile young -earth creationism with a fulfilled millennium. A fulfilled millennium requires covenant creation!
Ted, I read that and I could no longer hold to a physical understanding of the creation account in Genesis. Absolutely fascinating. On top of everything else I've read in this book, this happened to be what did it. The light went on.
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Ted,
It happened a whole lot faster than it did when studying preterism.
I was reading this last night . . .
From Chapter 20, The Case for Prophecy Fulfilled, page 414 & 415.
In Matthew 23:34-36, Jesus said Judgment on the Jews would come in that generation. It was to be a judgment so comprehensive it would encompass all the martyrs all the way back to creation (23:35) [emphasis ours].
Notice that in Revelation 6:12-17 the response to the prayer of the martyrs was the promise that the Great Day of God was coming. The creation would be destroyed, and the wicked would "run for the hills." To put it another way, the martyrs would be vindicated at the Great Day of the Lord, when heaven and earth would pass away [emphasis ours].
Since the Great Day of the Lord was to occur at the time of the destruction of creation, at the judgment of Babylon [Jerusalem], and since creation was to be destroyed at the end of the millennium, then the vindication of the martyrs, in the judgment of Babylon [Jerusalem], was to occur at the end of the millennium [emphasis ours].
These are remarkable statements. If (1) the creation goes all the way back to the beginning in Genesis (as noted in the first comment), and (2) the creation was to be destroyed "when heaven and earth would pass away" (as noted in the second comment), and (3) the creation was to be destroyed at the end of the millennium (as noted in the third comment), then a fulfilled millennium presents unavoidable implications. A fulfilled millennium proves that the proper understanding of the original creation cannot be a scientific description or historical narrative regarding the origination of the physical universe!
How can we be so bold in our claim? The basic fact is that the physical heavens and physical earth were not destroyed in AD 70. The passing away of "heaven and earth" and the destruction of the creation at the end of the millennium had no bearing on the physical operation of the sun, moon, stars, and planet Earth. This reality proves that the nature of the original creation is defined by covenant, not the physical universe. The images and details used in Genesis 1 may be as symbolic as the elements in temple architecture involving heaven, earth, and sea, or as symbolic as the "heavens and earth" of the New Testament (Matt. 5:17-19;, 24:35; Heb. 1:10-12; 2 Peter 3:5-10; Rev. 21:1), but a fulfilled millennium demands covenant creation for the physical heavens and physical earth did not perish in AD 70. God's "heavens and earth" is God's people in covenant relationship with him from the very beginning. It is impossible to reconcile young -earth creationism with a fulfilled millennium. A fulfilled millennium requires covenant creation!
Ted, I read that and I could no longer hold to a physical understanding of the creation account in Genesis. Absolutely fascinating. On top of everything else I've read in this book, this happened to be what did it. The light went on.
