Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

CONCLUSION
the pure Bride-City, is the Church (pp. 188-189, 215-
216, 218-222), which celebrates her Marriage Supper
with the Lamb in the Eucharist, the Communion Feast
(pp. 189-190); then she follows her Lord, who, as the
Word of God, conquers all nations by the Gospel (pp.
191-195).
Satan was bound in Christ’s First Advent and thus prevented
from prematurely instigating the eschatological
War (pp. 198-201). The “Millennium” is Christ’s Kingdom,
which began at the Resurrection/Ascension and
continues until the end of the world (pp. 196-198, 201-
205). The “new heaven and earth” is a picture of
salvation: brought in definitively by the finished work
of Christ, developing progressively throughout the
present age, and coming finally, in absolute fullness, at
the consummation of all things (pp. 212-215).
Old Covenant Israel
All Biblical covenants were provisional re-creations,
looking forward to the definitive New Creation: the
New Covenant (pp. 113-114). The meaning of Israel’s
history is the bearing of the Manchild, Jesus Christ (pp.
124-125). Old Covenant believers carried the Testimony
of Christ (p. 203). The war between the Seed of
the Woman and the seed of the Serpent climaxed at
the Cross and the Resurrection (pp. 128-129). Unbelieving
Israel was excommunicated; and now the
Gentiles are streaming in to the New Covenant (p.
116). Israel will never have a covenantal identity apart
from the Church (p. 115), for Old Covenant religion
cannot be revivified; salvation is now only with Christ
and the Church (pp. 179-180).
Christ’s Resurrection, Ascension,
and New Covenant Kingdom
The goal of Christ’s Advent was His glorious Ascension
to the heavenly Throne (p. 129) – His definitive
“Coming in the Clouds” (pp. 38-39). By His Resurrection
and Enthronement, He defeated the devil and
destroyed his works (pp. 131-132, 199-200), opening
heaven to all believers (pp. 150-151). Having been
inaugurated at His First Advent (p. 58), Christ is the
Ruler of all the kings of the earth (pp. 38-39); His
Kingdom has begun and is going on now (p. 38, 40).
Jesus Christ’s definitive victory gives us progressive
dominion (pp. 58, 81). His resurrection is the First
Resurrection, in which all believers share (pp. 53, 204-
205). The Kingdom is the Age of Regeneration (p.
202), the era to be characterized by righteousness (p.
215). All Christians are royal priests (pp. 38, 61, 201-
202), ministering and reigning both in heaven and on
earth (pp. 203-204).
Christ’s Ascension opened the New Covenant (pp. 77-
79), the New Creation of heaven and earth – a
description of both our present and future inheritance
(pp. 213-215). The New Jerusalem is the Kingdom
City, the Church: Christ’s Bride now and forever (pp.
208, 215-216). As the Old Covenant was the era of
(relative) Night, the New Covenant is the era of the
Day, for the world moves eschatologically from
Darkness to Light (pp. 225-226). The New Covenant is
thus the promised “age to come” (p. 188).
Orthodox Christians agree that Christ’s Kingdom goes
from His Ascension to the end of the world (pp. 196).
Orthodox Christianity is both amillennialist and
postmillennialist (pp. 196-197): For, while Christianity
has always been staunchly anti-revolutionary (p. 197),
it has also been strongly optimistic regarding the power
of the Gospel to convert the nations of the world (p.
197). Orthodox Christianity is therefore not “pluralistic”
with respect to the Kingdom, holding that all
men, nations, and institutions must bow down before
the Lord Jesus Christ, obeying His commands in every
area of life and thought (p. 197).
Judaism and the Fall of Jerusalem
The foremost enemy of the Church in New Testament
times was apostate Judaism (pp. 54). First-century
Judaism was not simply a continuation of Old
Covenant religion; rather, it was an apostate religion,
denying both the Old Testament and the New
Testament (pp. 52, 139), promoting the heresy of
salvation through chaos (p. 57), committing idolatry by
substituting the creation for the Creator (p. 109).
Israel’s rejection of Christ corrupted the rest of the
world (p. 182), turned God’s blessings into curses (pp.
105-106), and led her into the slavery of occultism
and statism (p. 185). Common Biblical metaphors for
covenant-breaking are fornication and adultery;
apostate Jerusalem is thus represented as the Great
Harlot, the corrupter of the world (pp. 54, 56-57, 149-
150, 170-173). Unbelieving Jews are therefore not
God’s chosen people (p. 62).
Israel’s greater privilege meant greater responsibility,
and thus greater judgment (p. 62). After the Gospel
was preached to the whole world (pp. 149), God poured
out the Great Tribulation of A.D. 67-70 upon apostate
Jerusalem and her Temple (p. 40), in direct response to
the prayers of His Church (p. 103). The destruction of
Jerusalem was the sign to Israel and the world that the
Son of Man is now reigning in heaven (pp. 114-121);
and it was the necessary final act of ushering in the
New Covenant (p. 114). Christ brought in the Age of
Righteousness after the fall of Jerusalem (p. 225); the
salvation of the world came through Israel’s fall (p.
104); indeed, Israel’s fall will eventually result in her
own conversion (p. 158). The only way of salvation, for
Jews and Gentiles, is in Jesus Christ (p. 62).
The Church
There is only one Covenant of Grace, operating
through different administrations (pp. 219-220). With
the coming of the New Covenant, God’s Glory was
transferred from the Temple to the Church (p. 218),
and believing Jews and Gentiles united in one Body in
Jesus Christ (p. 113). The Church is the True Israel
(pp. 52, 71), the eschatological Synagogue (p. 153,
160); as such, she is no longer tied to the earthly
Jerusalem but multicentralized throughout the world
(p. 45). In the Old Covenant, the world had been
organized around the Old Jerusalem; the Church is the
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