So I’m a preterist and this about Nero is one of the things that I find compelling about being a preterist. So in preterism we see the apocalyptic symbolism of the book of revelation occurring in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem occurring in 70 AD. We generally find that most of revelation has been fulfilled and generally the line drawn of things that has not occurred yet is in verse 20:6 and the rest of the book after that is in the future. So when you see the word translated earth the word here could mean land but the word doesn’t matter I find it to mean the land of Israel which is commonly referred to as land and the gentile nations are referred to as sea. So like the image of the angel with 1 foot on the land and the other on the sea holding a small book. The gospel would be the book going out to the sea (gentile nations) and the land (Israel).
So the sea was seen as unruly and chaotic and so were the gentile nations while the land or earth was seen as more stable like Israel. Then we have the writings of Josephus which went into detail ad nauseoum almost describing the tribulation before the sac of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. You can line up these very historical events he wrote about very nicely with a lot of the book of revelation in the years and ultimate culmination of the destruction of the temple. Then there is the mark of the beast which is clearly to be Nero in the numbers 616 and 666. Then there is the time of this being soon in the first chapter it is very clear that John thought this thing was happening very near in the future not in 2 millennium from then. In the Greek it even reads like it is more soon than in the English. Then you have the 7 horns which are seven hills which is a reference to Rome. Then the whore of Babylon which some take to be Rome but I take it to mean apostate Israel drunk on the blood of the martyrs so in the Old Testament Israel is referred to as a harlot and then the whore is eaten and burned by the beast (Rome). Then there is the bride of Christ which is the church.
The judgements on the earth or land like the trumpets and bowls are apocalyptic imagery of a horrendous siege in poetic form. Then of course there is the Olivet discourse at the end of the first three gospels which the preterist finds as for the most part fulfilled in the first century when the temple was destroyed and was predicted by Jesus etc. Also the prophecies of Daniel have been fulfilled and nicely so. And the only thing yet to be fulfilled is the second coming of Jesus. It is ultimately predicting the change or transition of the old age of Judaism and gentile paganism where the animal sacrifices were ceased etc to the Church age of Christendom when the gospel goes out and changes the world slowly growing in the hearts of men throughout the ages. So the preterist laughs at all these end times predictions of the premillennial futurists. Preterists know there won’t be a great tribulation over the earth as these things already happened in the past.
So it is an optimistic view of the future where the gospel goes out into the whole world and ultimately saves the whole world not everyone but a number so large we can’t count that high because this book also shows how many are in heaven when John hears the number 144,000 which is a symbolic number of Jewish people from various tribes then he turns and looks at the saved and saw a number of people too high to count a gigantic multitude. So it is also important to take the book from the point of view from the audience it was written for which was first century Christians… so when they heard the number of the beast they immediately knew who it was referring to…I mean could you imagine Demetrius reading this in the first century figuring out the number and saying.. who the heck is Henry Kissinger? Or Ronald Reagan? No these people knew what was meant. So there are many other things that fit nicely fit with the preterist interpretation… too many to write but for the preterist it is perfectly logical to place these events squarely in the first century.
So no there isn’t going to be a one world government run by a lawless dictator, likely no third temple, barcodes aren’t evil marks of the beast, it’s not describing Apache helicopters. The end of the world is not coming in 1843,1918,1975, 1988,1989,2011,2012 and it won’t likely happen anytime soon in the future certainly not by 2030 which is a recent one. Blood moons don’t predict it. And to read the newspaper and line it up with this book is silly and the path to delusion land. There will always be wars, always be tensions in the world until the gospel changes the world enough that it may one day bring peace. That is the hope of preterism and we find comfort in it that we don’t have to worry about these things. You know many people who believe these things are living like they aren’t going to have great grandchildren… but they’re going to… overwhelmingly so. So if the lord tarries 10,000 more years the preterist is ready and comfortable.
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