Why I am Not a Preterist: Part 4
Why I am Not a Preterist: Part 4
Revelation 10:7 (NASV) “but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.”
Let’s dissect Revelation 10:7.
Greek Lexicon: “Then”: 2532 και kai kahee “apparently, a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also a cumulative force.” (“Then” connects and thrusts forward.) This is during the days when the 7th angel (one with the 7th trumpet) is about to sound (literally “trumpet”), that—THE—mystery of God is finished. Look at this in view of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17,
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
And, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
This sounds like “during the days when the 7th angel is about to sound” the end of the age has come, not the end of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Note in 1 Corinthians 15 the words “last trumpet.” This literally means “the last trumpet.” The 7th angel blows the 7th and last trumpet. At the last trumpet the Lord descends, the dead are raised, those alive are changed and caught up (or caught up and changed) to meet the Lord; Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Another thought — what is “the mystery of God” that would be finished, which “He preached to His servants the prophets”? God has a number of mysteries, but my opinion is that it is speaking of the mystery found in Colossians 1:25-27 (tied also to 1 Corinthians 2 mystery),
“I have become its [the Gospel’s] servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness — the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
There are hints of this mystery even in the Garden of Eden. But to say that this mystery or any of God’s mysteries — mystery of the Kingdom: Mark 4:11, mystery of the church: Ephesians 3, mystery of Christ: Colossians 2, mystery of the Gospel: Colossians 4—were finished, as Revelation 10:7’s mystery was finished seems absurd if placed into Preterists’ time frame of 70 AD. But, if placed at the end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ, then it fits with the rest of scripture, and even with the above scriptures concerning the timing of the last trumpet.
