THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

190 The Hope of .Israel: What Is It?
Matt. 24:36-42. It will be unexpectedly; at a time
known only to the Father.
/ Thess. 5:2, 3. "The day of the Lord so cometh
as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace
and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon
them."
II Thess. 1:7-9. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and
that obey not the gospel who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord."
In order to uphold the doctrine of a millennium
under Jewish auspices to follow the coming of the Lord,
it is necessary to assume that Peter, in writing the
above prophecy, purposely overlooked the millennium,
passing it over in silence and writing as if the next
thing following this present age was to be the day of
judgment. But what calls for explanation, in order
to give plausibility to the above supposition, and what
has never been explained to the writer's satisfaction,
is how upon the assumption that this age is to be
followed by a millennium of earthly bliss the apostle
Peter, and every other New Testament writer who
deals with the subject of Christ's second coming, could
write as if the day of judgment were to follow immediately
hereafter.
That Peter does indeed write as if the next thing
after this day of salvation is the day of the Lord, and
that every other N. T. writer does the same, is
indisputable;
and the only reasonable explanation thereof
is that they have so written because so it is to be.
Then the apostle delivers an admonition based upon
his prediction of what is to happen when Christ comes
again, saying "Seeing then that :
all these things shall