All of this was fulfilled in about 70 AD when the Romans installed a stature of Caeser in the Temple and utterly destroyed Jerusalem.
I'm a Catholic. I never understood why anybody would think that this is going to happen in the future when it was already fulfilled in antiquity. It also goes with Christ's own prediction of the same events. Daniel and Jesus predict the same event that happened in about 70 AD. That's amazing, and it's a cause for great wonder. Why in the world do we need to project that into some imaginary future when we have the glory of the historical proof of prophecy?
The author of this article is correct - dispensationalism is a come-lately reading of the Bible. Nobody read the Bible like that before. It's utterly foreign to Holy Tradition. To read it in such a way would require one to reject Tradition utterly and to assume that the Spirit was not with the Church for preceding 1800 or so years which would directly contradict the promise that Christ will always be with us and that the Spirit will lead us to all truth.
It's a terrible distraction, and frankly it's embarrassing for us more traditional Christians. I mean, Hal Lindsay says that the metal insects in Revelation are Soviet Helicopters. How much more "out there" can one really get? I wish they'd stop.
It sells books and gets you on "Coast To Coast AM." Follow the money.
Because that is part of the Daniel prophecy, as I'm sure you know. God says that the man who confirms a seven-year peace contract with Israel will be the one who stands in the temple and declares himself to be "god". Also, the Scripture makes reference to a "he", not a nation or a kingdom, so we'll need the name of the "he" in the Roman empire that confirmed a seven-year peace contract with Israel.
Can you give me any independent historical record that verifies that the Romans confirmed a specific, seven-year peace contract with Israel in 70AD?
“I’m a Catholic. I never understood why anybody would think that this is going to happen in the future when it was already fulfilled in antiquity. It also goes with Christ’s own prediction of the same events. Daniel and Jesus predict the same event that happened in about 70 AD. That’s amazing, and it’s a cause for great wonder. Why in the world do we need to project that into some imaginary future when we have the glory of the historical proof of prophecy?”
Because that would mean the millenial reign began in 70 AD. Thus, after the sack of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Jesus would defeat all the armies of the earth without raising a sweat on the plains of Meggido, Christ would then rule the Earth for the 1,000 years along with the martyrs—during which period Satan will be bound up (a lot of Catholics held that view in 1,000 AD). Look around you for the past 2,000 Years or so. Anything you see look remotely like a Meggido or the millenial reign or the absence of Satan?
I understand the argument that, really, Revelation was written before the destruction of the temple and that John was referring to that event and that Nero was the Antichrist. With no evidence of the next 2,000 years, I think it has a decent case to be made for it. But that still leaves the plains of Meggido, the Millenial reign with no Satan, judgment, and the creation of the new earth to happen after 70 A.D.
But either we throw out Revelation entirely by discarding it as a meaningless metaphor, decide we have no idea whatsoever what John meant, or we have to square it’s prophecy against reality. The tribulation happened in 70 AD position doesn’t do a very good job of squaring with post-70 AD reality.
I’m not ready to toss much of Revelation as a meaningless metaphor—prophecy that has no impact if you will. So that leaves as a significant possibility that we do not understand Revelation at all. Both pre and post millenial positions may turn out to be as wrong as the Jewish interpretion of scripture about how things were going to go when the Messiah showed up.
So we do the best we can and await His return.
I see you’re new here too...welcome to FR....though I don’t agree at all with your assessment. It is interesting to see the debates about it as once they draw to a close your side does come up wanting....too much twisting and diving around the scriptures to make it fit. While those on the other side can simply move along smoothly without all the twisting and diving of scriptures. Just how it plays out each time.
Some take that fear of the inexorable and use it to make believe that they are a higher caste, prechosen to sneer at the non-worthy, non-elite/elect. Others take that to speculate about the methods of Ragnarok and the time. And still others posting pictures of their teeth. The weirdest pictured ones believe in God as an alien UFO diviner using bio-genetically created robots posing as aliens, but who are actually controlled by demons (yes, that's what they believe) and believe that Jesus Himself was an alien. Others say Jesus was just the Archangel Michael etc. etc. -- the permutations and combinations in which man tries to fill the void due to their revolt against God's community are myriad and strange.