From a Ligonier “Ask R.C. Live” Event (July 2014) beginning at the 36:47 mark:
Transcript:
Questioner (Kathy): Do you believe that we are living in the end times that we read about in the Book of Revelation?
RC: Yes and no. Unless you think I’ve fallen into neo-orthodoxy and paradoxical theology, let me explain that. In one sense, everything that takes place after the ascension of Christ is in the end times. The end times started in the New Testament. We’re still in the end times. Now, I presume, though, what you’re asking me is, are we at the end of the end time so that we’re coming close to the return of Jesus as it was set forth in the Book of Revelation?
Now, one of the big questions in understanding the Book of Revelation, and interpreting the Book of Revelation, is tied to when it was written. The majority report of the dating of the writing of the book Revelation is that it took place in the decade of the 90s of the First century. There has been some significant scholarly work in recent years that argues, and I believe persuasively, that the Book of Revelation was written before the fall of Jerusalem, in the 60s, during the time of Nero, when Nero’s most famous nickname throughout the empire was “the Beast.”
And so the question is, if we could know for sure when the Book of Revelation was written, we would have a better handle on what period of history it was describing. Now, I’m in a minority report here, but in the Olivet discourse in Matthew’s gospel as well as in Luke and Mark is when Jesus talks about the signs of the times, and he talks about the destruction of the temple and the destruction of Jerusalem, and he said, “This generation will not pass away till all of these things are fulfilled.”
Now that phrase has been one of the most hotly debated statements ever to come from Jesus. I went to a liberal seminary, and it seems to me, I didn’t actually, but it seemed that I heard every day in class that Jesus taught that he was coming back within 40 years, and he failed to keep his promise. And that’s one of the reasons why we can’t believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God.
And so in terms of higher critical assaults on the trustworthiness of scripture and the trustworthiness of Jesus, the point of attack is on Jesus’ predictions about the nearness of the coming of the fulfillment of his prophecies there in the Olivet discourse. Notice also the timeframe references that are throughout the Book of Revelation, where it talks about those things that are “near” at hand.
And so the ultimate question is this, were the things that Jesus talking about on the Olivet Discourse and in the Book of Revelation, were those principally pointing to events that were going to take place in the First century, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem and of the exile of the Jews. That’s one view.
The other view is that all of these things refer to a distant future time, and some people will say what… to both – there was a primary and a secondary, so this becomes very complicated in piecing it all together.
But in any case, however we understand Revelation and when it was written, and what it was referring to, or the Olivet Discourse, we’re still looking forward to the return of Jesus. And he hasn’t come yet.
And as I take great hope and optimism in this, is that every day that passes, he’s that much closer. And when I see what’s going on around us today, I have every reason to think we’re getting closer and closer and closer.
But of course, a lot of that is my hope. And I also realize it could be another 2000 years before he comes. I’m not into making projections, predictions of dates and days or the hours of that sort of thing, but we should certainly be vigilant today, and we should be looking for the coming of Christ.
Lee: And thank you, Kathy. So R.C., you hold to what’s called a partial preterist view, is that correct?
RC: Yes. Not a full Preterist view. Full, the full Preterist teaches that all of the New Testament prophecies regarding the future kingdom and the future company of Christ were all fulfilled in the first century. I don’t believe that. I still think there’s much more to happen, but I also think, and I’m in a minority at this point, I should tell you that, I think that we’ve radically underestimated the significance of what took place in 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Lee: So how many chapters of the Book of Revelation do you believe have been fulfilled in that first century prophecy?
RC: Well, it would be most of them up until the last couple chapters when we come to New Heaven and the New Earth and the final consummation of the kingdom of God.
Lee: So, there’s plenty to look forward to in that?
RC: But understand this too, Lee, that in the whole scope of systematic theology, theology is a very broad science. We deal with the doctrine of God, we deal with salvation, sin and the Holy Spirit and Christology. And then we have the science of eschatology, which is study of the last things.
First of all, of all of those different subdivisions of theology, probably the most controversial and the most difficult is eschatology because so much more dealing with future events that we’re not looking back on, and we don’t have the 2020 vision of hindsight.
Secondly, so much of the information about the future prophecies of the New Testament come to us in highly imaginative and symbolic language, which makes it very easy to misunderstand.
Now, when I talk about the different kinds of areas of theology, as a theologian, my confidence and convictions of this doctrine and that doctrine are not always equal. I’m 100% convinced of the doctrine justification by faith alone. Okay? I don’t have any doubts in my mind in that. I don’t have any doubts about the deity of Christ or his substitutionary atonement. Those things are, I have total assurance of, but you asked me about questions in eschatology, and I’ll say, maybe it’s this, maybe it’s that. I don’t have views that are so solidified and cemented I get vehemently dogmatic about it, if you understand what I’m saying.
Lee: Yeah, yeah.