Retiring From the Defensive Position

I have been involved in this discussion for a little while now ever since my good friend Todd Dennis dared to share his heart to our San Diego bible study one Sunday afternoon. This discussion was very interesting and left the full preterist group in a buzz as you can imagine. When this idea of Preterist Idealism was introduced, it was brought with an attitude that showed excitement and concern to look at the eternal things of God. This first study said nothing of his emotions over current preterist debates like those over universalism or a first century rapture. We had all been dealing with these things and trying to answer them in our own way.

Sam Frost has some great articles on the perfected conscience that was brought by the parousia, it is much in line with my response to Ed Stevens on how a physical rapture takes away the focus on what the true reward and rest is, that rest we receive in our heart and conscience before God. However, this was not the only question needing answered, nor was the rest from guilt the only rest I needed. There is more beyond what Sam and I agreed on, and there is more that needs explaining in the preterist movement. Unfortunately the answer to the remaining questions I had have become "taboo" to the preterist movement.

Now we see a trend in full Preterism where it once again feels threatened by, needless to say, “Todd’s Preterist Idealism.” Though sad it is that such a view be given both title and author. Todd’s accusation that Sam is misunderstanding both the purpose for Todd’s Idealist views, and even not understanding the views themselves, are completely accurate. This tends to be the case for most everyone entering into the discussion with their preconceived notions and ideas about what this is and what it means.

I can only, now, tell you what it means to me. In so much that I can only hope my heart and my conscience receive rest against the need to constantly defend what I see as so obvious a truth, but what can so easily be attacked in that it has been given both title and authorship. One way in which to discredit a simple truth of scripture as the phrase, “that which was temporal and of earthly account was there, only in form, to reveal the eternal purpose and truth of God, which inspired it,” is to assign it a man ordained title and origin. Again, this allows mans mind and logic (fallible) to discredit the facts on which it is founded. The facts, in this case, are simply Hebrews. These same facts are disputed when bringing up the idea that Christians no longer need, if their conscience dictates, to observe any sacraments whatsoever. It is common sense that the issues of food and drink, the temple and sacrifices, were imperfect because they could not deliver the soul from sin or the conscience from bondage. However, Christ ushered in a new order as a priest, in that sins are once and for all put behind us, and our consciences before God perfected. So it was not Preterism or any other system that makes me believe we are utterly free from physical observances (sacraments) because “food and drink” and such are utterly incapable of delivering the sought after effect that only Christ Himself upon our hearts, can deliver. Likewise, it is every bit as simple to common sense that the actions of God in history hold no import whatsoever, than that which they were first created to provide; To reveal to mankind the heart, law, perfection, will, grace, forgiveness and truth of the Father. These He did from old testament to new. In the same manner we see the typology of Moses pointing to the person of Christ, we can see the typology of a destroyed temple in the removal of the blindness that keeps all men from Him, for any heart that receives His call.

This, I do not call Preterist Idealism. This I call Hebrews, Scripture, Truth, and the Gospel! And not only is it obviously such, but it has revealed a great many more things to me. For one, that I no longer need to toil in defense of a man ordained title or man founded origin. I am not a full preterist, I am not a preterist idealist. In as much as I have always disdained calling myself a Calvinist (for I have never read a thing about the man, though I agree with what has been defined to me as TULIP), I now disdain all other titles than that of a Christian.

I do not need to defend this view I hold now. I have been utterly set free to read the scripture again with relevance and purpose. No longer do I need to pick out and see what applies to me and what applied to AD 70 but not to me. The entire purpose of having been put in writing was to tell the story of Christ and me. The purpose of the scripture is to not set up a church of men by which the world might be conquered through truth. This only leads to religious tyranny. Those claiming to have what they cannot possibly wield without doing it a severe and grave injustice: Truth. I was among the tyrants. Now I see the beautiful love story between God and me. No wonder my heart has always been drawn to the stories of redemption, like the prodigal son. No wonder I admire the struggles and triumphs of people of integrity like Mel Gibson or Anne Rice. Christ alone has the right to call whom He will, AND THAT INDIVIDUAL ALONE has the power to answer and follow as he sees fit. THIS is the kingdom of God. Christ ruling the conscience with love and a steady guiding hand. A relationship between Him and me. And what has become even more freeing, is the knowledge gained by the testament of the Spirit, using a vessel of a dear friend, to cement it with the knowledge of the scriptures.

So the idea that I need to spend the rest of my days toiling as before over the defense of a title and idea that has so many baffled, is no longer my charge. Praise God I am delivered from that as well. “The kingdom is like” is now my only concern. Let others attempt to defend and define it. I am tried of the rat race and would rather live it.

Some have asked me what Revelation 20 means, and to this I can only ask them to define it how they will. I personally see it this way. In the love story written about God and me, I have seen myself grow in different areas. I have seen myself become knowledgeable and proud of that knowledge. I have seen that knowledge become unclear and even change. I have seen myself dependant upon brothers for guidance. As far as the 1000 years, how can I apply those events to my own life? They have no more chronology than this, in MY life I have been ignorant of the gospel. I have gone through a period of enlightenment at which time I was dependant upon others to assist me in this learning. I have taken this knowledge and grown by the direction of the spirit, guided by Him alone to answer many questions upon which I pondered. After this, I have learned to let go of the systems that kept me from all truth, and embraced the “in Christ” mentality that He alone guides me. That in Him all me sins are done away with. That only in Him is my conscience free from sin. That in Him I am no longer enslaved to “ologies” and “isms” of man that attempt to define this unexplainable “peace like a river.” When we learn to embrace this love story that is divine and beyond human comprehension, and let go of our need to explain it in human terms, so that other humans may, by our fallible efforts, experience this same truth. Only then can we begin to understand resurrection. Only then can we see the death of sin in our lives.

So I see Revelation 20 as unfolding over these past few years in me. I have had that time of bondage and temptation by Satan. I have experienced the enlightenment of salvation through seeing the cross. I have labored under the weight of religiosity and the need to prove, define, and defend that which I thought I knew. I have come out from under that system which has blinded me to the true freedom. I have had that veil removed (time and time again) as the King of my heart once again reveals Himself intimately to me. I have experienced the weight of a sinful conscience removed. I have remembered Pella, I remember it today, as through these words I flee to it again and leave my “ism” behind. I am a walking example of Revelation 20. The dates I cannot give, the situations I cannot point to exactly, but the beast, Satan, and death have all been defeated “in Christ” at different points in my life.

Here I leave it. Though I will blog, converse, and attend my brothers in study when able, here I leave the defending of another “ism.” Its utter uselessness in my human capabilities have been made obvious. However, it’s applications in my soul have provided wondrous freedom. And now, I rest from my own labors.

God Bless
Nate