You are hereRedux -- "Did Jesus Return in A.D. 70?"
Redux -- "Did Jesus Return in A.D. 70?"
by Terry Hall
The resurrection set forth by Paul is God’s solution to an age old problem. What was that problem? It’s easy to come up with the answer “death”, but which death…physical or spiritual? Both kinds of death affect human beings in the bible story, but which is the more devastating? Which is the one Jesus died to overcome? Which did this same Paul have in mind when he wrote to Timothy “and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2Tim.1:10).The resurrection set forth by Paul is God’s solution to an age old problem. What was that problem? It’s easy to come up with the answer “death”, but which death…physical or spiritual? Both kinds of death affect human beings in the bible story, but which is the more devastating? Which is the one Jesus died to overcome? Which did this same Paul have in mind when he wrote to Timothy “and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2Tim.1:10).An article appearing recently by Stafford North “Did Jesus Return In 70 A.D.?” contained the following fairly accurate description: “At the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the following are said to happen simultaneously: the end of the age (Matt. 28:20), the perfect has come (I Cor. 13:10), the end of all things (Matt. 5:16-17), the restoration of all things (Acts. 3:19-21), all things are made new (Rev. 21:5), the end of the miraculous age, the consummation of the age (Matt. 28:20), all things are fulfilled (Luke 21:20-22), Israel is regathered (Isa.11:10-12), Israel is planted in their own land (Ezek. 36:24), the old heavens and earth burn up (the ending of the Jewish system not the end of our world), the new heavens and new earth come (the new kingdom is fully established) (II Peter 3), the death of Judaism and the resurrection (new covenant is fully established).” This was followed by a six point presentation on what North perceived to be the errors of this view of prophecy and fulfillment. This and subsequent articles are intended to review those points in light of scriptural examination not included in the North article, examinations that give a very different view of the intent of those prophetic presentations.
- The 70 A.D. view is wrong because it makes figurative events the Bible intends literally. Thus, the corruptible body of I Cor. 15 is said to be the fleshly or carnal system of Judaism and the resurrection of I Cor. 15 is the rise of Christianity. The "world" or "fleshly" is redefined to mean the "Jewish age," while the "spiritual" refers to the Christian age. The old heaven and earth is Judaism and the new heaven and earth are Christ’s kingdom. Such meanings are not the interpretation which the passages where these terms are found would suggest. In fact, it does an injustice to the Christian system to suggest that it is the resurrection of dead Judaism. While the Law of Moses was the "tutor" to bring us to Christ and while it had to die when the new system came, Christ’s plan for redemption is not a resurrection of the Law and does not spring forth out of its death. The Law was a preliminary measure to prepare the way for the plan God set in motion before the foundation of the world. y or carnal system of Judaism and the resurrection of I Cor. 15 is the rise of Christianity.
In fact, figures of speech are used to portray actual events. When Jesus said at the end of Matthew 23 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” he was communicating in a figure the actual forbearance and kindness of God. Regarding the resurrection of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is dealing with a wondrous spiritual reality, far more significant than the molecular reconstitution of physical bodies. Paul states plainly that the resurrection he is speaking of is spiritual in nature, not physical-“It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.”(v.44). When Brother North states that an injustice is done to the Christian system to suggest that it is merely the law being resurrected; this is an answer that misses the point. Paul does not teach that Christianity is the law resurrected. Paul actually says the outward must die, and the inward then springs forth from the dying of the outward “…. that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain,”
The resurrection set forth by Paul is God’s solution to an age old problem. What was that problem? It’s easy to come up with the answer “death”, but which death…physical or spiritual? Both kinds of death affect human beings in the bible story, but which is the more devastating? Which is the one Jesus died to overcome? Which did this same Paul have in mind when he wrote to Timothy “and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2Tim.1:10). The resurrection Paul sets forth in 1 Cor.15:1-53 produces the victory described in verses 54-57. The death swallowed up in this victory is a death produced by sin and finding power in the law. Physical death does not find its power in the Jewish law. Paul explains in Romans 7 “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me” (NASB). Paul’s great concern was not physical death, but the spiritual death produced by sin, which found its strength in the law. The law provided illumination regarding the righteousness of God, but in that very provision also produced the responsibility and consequences of sin. This is in perfect harmony with the text of 1 Cor. 15:54-59-“But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” It seems clear that these two passages, dealing with sin and its power through the law, are dealing with the same death…spiritual death. The nature of the problem indicates the nature of the solution. If the problem was spiritual death produced by sin (which found its strength in the law), we would not be surprised to find the solution is a spiritual resurrection and life that, when it happened (i.e.-came to pass), produced the joyous quoting of “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death where is thy sting?” upon which Paul makes this comment-“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”
In addition, this fits time parameters Jesus himself set forth. In Luke 21:20-22 he said “when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.” Paul stated in verse 54 that when the resurrection under consideration occurred “…then shall come to pass the saying that is written…” Well, those references are found in Isaiah 25 and Hosea 13. So Paul, in light of Jesus’ statement about all that is written being fulfilled by the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, is saying that when the resurrection he speaks of occurs, these scriptures would be fulfilled. Jesus indicates those Old Covenant scriptures would be fulfilled by the fall of Jerusalem. Notice that both the time parameters and the death under consideration harmonize with the end of the Jewish covenantal system. This is consistent throughout scripture. Especially in Hebrews this scenario is set forth: Hebrews 7:18-19 – “On the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” Hebrews 8:13 – “In speaking of a new covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” Hebrews 10:1; 4; 9 – “1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near…4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins…9 then he added, “Lo, I have come to do thy will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.”
When God gave Adam the command in the garden and Adam sinned, he died spiritually that day! Paul explained in Romans 5:12 why death spread to all men-“…because all men sinned”. This certainly wasn’t physical death. Little children, who have no sin, may die physically. They do not die spiritually, as the erroneous doctrine of original sin would teach.
Through the Jewish prototypical kingdom, God diagramed man’s dead spiritual condition in the structure of the tabernacle/temple with its curtain of separation from the mercy seat. The above passages in Hebrews set forth the purpose of the law, its inadequacies, the need for a new covenant, and the direct relationship of the dying of the first and the rising of the second. The law left man short of reconciliation to God, i.e.-life. The new covenant and the new kingdom actually affected the needed solution for the age old problem of spiritual death. The fulfillment of this promise of the prophets is what Paul anticipates at the end of 1 Corinthians 15. One must not disregard the plain statement that Paul’s resurrection teaching in this text is directly glued by Paul to the passing of the law.
The result is the joyous knowledge for us that through Jesus we may live in our present state reconciled to God, walking with him in his garden (which is spiritual life). And the life we have (spiritual life) is eternal, “…he who lives and believes in me shall never die.” We are also assured by 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 3-5 that the faithful who lived prior to the first century culmination of God’s prophetic promises did not miss out on them. As Hebrews 11:39-40 stated about their connectedness to the redemption of the body of Christians in the first century “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. When the temple fell, it was the sign (Mt.24) of Jesus’ return with the presence of the father (John 14) to dwell in his new purified temple, the church (Eph.2). Those believers, cleansed by the blood of the lamb, were caught up spiritually into God’s presence, and they were joined by the Old Testament faithful. Thus the glorious announcement In Revelation 21 “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them.”
To fail to see the wondrous completed redemptive work of the messiah in its true spiritual depth marginalizes what has been wrought through the stunning resurrection power of Jesus. To teach people that resurrection power is the physical reconstitution of their molecular structure is to hinder them from understanding its true and awesome power, rooted in reconciliation to God the father through Jesus the son. If a hateful, deceitful, dishonest man, unconnected to God, is reconstituted molecularly you have the same life in a new body. But when a man or woman is restored to the presence of God, i.e.- spiritual life, that their very being has the most powerful dynamic now in play that the universe has to offer. This must not be marginalized. In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul states regarding the approaching resurrection event at the coming of Christ “For God has not destined us for awrath, but for bobtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,awho died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.” Paul is anticipating the fulfillment of God’s redemptive work to produce “living together with him” for those who wake (i.e.-would be physically alive at Jesus’ coming) and those who sleep (i.e.- those who had physically passed on).
That being the case, we see the complete consistency of the doing away with Hades in Revelation 21. Because of the fulfilled redemptive work of God, we no longer must be separated from God by our sin and a law system which could not take away that sin. We are cleansed by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. The curtain which separated has been torn and Isaiah 25: 7-9 has been fulfilled-“And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord 1God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.
A quick note regarding the interpretation of 2 Peter 3- what was destroyed by the flood? Was it the physical heavens and earth…the planet upon which they walked? More to come…
1 Or foreseen
b Rev 6:11
a 1 Thess 1:10
b 2 Thess 2:13f
1 Lit face of the covering
a Hos 13:14; 1 Cor 15:54
1 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
b Is 30:19; 35:10; 51:11; 65:19; Rev 7:17; 21:4
b Is 8:17; 30:18; 33:2
c Is 33:22; 35:4; 49:25, 26; 60:16
d Ps 20:5; Is 35:1, 2, 10; 65:18; 66:10
