Your answers to the following questions asked in the Learning Activity will most likely not exactly match the ones I have proposed as being my view. Here it is of importance that you state your views as you see them in the Scriptures.
1. Some Christians are still waiting for the coming of Christ today because they have been misled by incorrect Bible understanding. They have come to believe that Jesus had to come back a second time physically in order to fulfill the Scriptures and since there is no evidence of that taking place they still wait. This is a result of them not seeing that Jesus did not have to come back physically as indicated in other Learning Activities on this web site, but rather He could come back, and did come back, spiritually! Christ did come back circa AD 70 and now lives in the believer today.
2. This theological error in the minds of some Christians is partially the result of them not being able to distinguish the physical from the spiritual when reading the Scriptures and other historical documents such as the writings of Josephus. This prevents them from seeing that the Scriptures both require and verify that Jesus did come back (spiritually) circa AD 70 and now lives in the believer. A lack of understanding of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant also contributes to this confusion.
3. All of this was fulfilled through the events leading up to and culminating with the destruction of Jerusalem circa AD 70 by the Roman Army.
4. The “end” Matthew was speaking of was the end of the Old Covenant. There are a number of Learning Activities on this web site explaining the Old and New Covenants (see Learning Activities # 27, 28, 29, 29A, and 29B.
The Christians who are trying to fulfill this scripture today are misled by their ignorance of what the Bible has to say about this topic. That “command” has been fulfilled. This is not to say that we Christians do not share the Good News with others – what Christian would not want to share their understanding of Christianity with other non-believers! The motivation for this sharing is NOT driven by a command, but rather by our love for Christ and the lost.
5. All of the events enumerated by Jesus in the text were fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem circa AD 70.
6. This belief in some of those in the church today makes no sense at all. If we do an honest scriptural study we will find that the Parousia of Christ and the coming of His kingdom have both already taken place.
7. The majority of the confusion in the theology of some Christians today is because of an ignorance to the Old and New Covenants as well as fulfilled Scripture.
8. This is a passage that is parallel to Matthew 24 and would have the same answer as # 5 above.
9. This is a passage that is parallel to Matthew 26:64 and would have the same answer as # 6 above.
10. As a respected member of the council, Joseph would have spent considerable time studying and discussing the contents of the Old Testament writings which described the Messiah and the end of the Old Covenant (with the ushering in of the full kingdom). He would have been aware of the era in which he was living and expected the fullness of the kingdom. The kingdom was introduced by Jesus during His earthly ministry and came into its fullness at the Parousia circa AD 70 when the Old Covenant came to a complete and final end.
11. John was referring to the judgment that was soon to come upon Israel by the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Army. The non-believers witnessed that wrath circa AD 70 during the destruction of Jerusalem. The believers escaped that wrath as indicated in Learning Activities # 44 and # 45 on this web site.
12. Jesus is instructing them as to how to handle and transition into the New Covenant from the Old Covenant. They are NOT to take from the old and bring it into the new or you end up with a mess. And you do NOT mix old wine and new wine (covenants) together. He also warns them about wanting the “old wine” (old covenant) over the “new wine” ( new covenant).
13. The kingdom was to appear to those who were standing before Him when He spoke this statement. This validates and dates the arrival of the (spiritual) kingdom of God!
14. Jesus told them this information because He wanted them to know He was coming back in their lifetime (generation). There would be no delay in the fulfillment of this statement.
15. The disciples had available the Old Testament writings via the Synagogues and the personal teaching of Jesus Himself yet they were ignorant to all of the facts that surrounded them as to the time period they were living in.
16. Israel was ripe for judgment because she had failed to recognize her Messiah and failed to be the witness to the Gentile world that God intended her to be. If during this next short season she did not change her ways she would be cut-off as a special class of people and the gospel would be taken to the Gentiles (and it was see Acts 28:28) along with physical Israel being replaced by spiritual Israel, the New Covenant church (see Learning Activities 62, 63 and 64).
17. The Pharisees would not see the kingdom coming by signs because the kingdom is spiritual and not physical in nature.
18. Jesus would certainly not have told this to His disciples if that message would not be taking place for at least 2,000 years into the future! No, He said it would happen speedily – which included His coming back to earth (which was a spiritual event).
19. Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because of the great devastation that would be brought against the city, the temple, and the inhabitants of the city in just a short time into the future by the Roman Army.
When Jesus states in verses 43 and 44 that the enemy would cast up a bank about Jerusalem and surround Jerusalem and dash the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the ground and not leave one stone upon another He was referring to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Army circa AD 70.
The destruction of the city of Jerusalem, the temple, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem were the result of their not recognizing the visitation of their Messiah!
20. The word “you” is referring to the disciples. They are the audience to whom these words were directed and this passage would directly affect them. This principle of Bible interpretation is known as “audience relevance.”
21. There is adequate evidence that this, and other biblical passages using the words heaven and earth, are not referring to the physical heaven and earth. Josephus, the Jewish historian, writes when he refers to the Jewish place of worship in the Old Covenant, “…this proportion of the measures of the tabernacle proved to be an imitation of the system of the world; for that third of the part thereof which was within the four pillars, to which the priests were not admitted, is, as it were, a Heaven peculiar to God, but the space of the twenty cubits, is, as it were, sea and land, on which men live…” Antiquities of the Jews, Book 3, Chapter 6, Line 123.
Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis writes, “…the principle reference of ‘heaven and earth’ is the temple-centered cosmology of second-temple Judaism which included the belief that the temple is heaven and earth in microcosm. Mark 13 and Matthew 5:18 refer, then, to the destruction of the temple as a passing away of an old cosmology and also, in the latter case, to the establishment during Jesus’ ministry and His death and resurrection of a new temple cosmology – a new heaven and earth.” Eschatology in Bible & Theology, InterVarsity Press, 1997, P. 145.
22. Peter was speaking about the ending or last days of the Old Covenant which was in the process of phasing out as he spoke. The Old Covenant completely passed away at the Parousia circa AD 70.
23. The day of the Lord refers to the Parousia circa AD 70 when God brought judgment on Israel through the instrument of the Roman Army led by Titus. See Learning Activities #37, and #47 on this web site.
24. The temple was destroyed circa AD 70 by using the Roman Army under the leadership of Titus as His instrument of destruction. All of the Old Covenant customs were done away with at the Parousia of Christ circa AD 70 when the Old Covenant was completely replaced by the New Covenant.
25. The “hour” Paul spoke of was the time of the complete doing away of the Old Covenant and the complete replacement of it with the New Covenant. Although they and Paul had believed earlier in time their salvation was not a totally fulfilled event until the Parousia of Christ that would take place in a few years circa AD 70.
26. Satan was crushed under the feet of believers at the Parousia of Christ. See Learning Activity # 38 on this web site for additional background material on this topic.
27. At the Parousia of Christ circa AD 70.
28. Salvation was not totally implemented until Jesus, the ultimate High Priest, had come back out of the heavenly Holy of Holies after His resurrection and ascension. This event, the Parousia, had not yet taken place when Paul wrote this letter to Corinth; therefore, he used the “in progress” term of “being saved” in his letter.