Two unique positions
Though similar in some respects,
The similarities they accept
But the differences reject.
The former says, already passed
With a little in the future,
The latter posits yet to happen
As its principal picture.
Eschatological positions-
That is what this is about:
Examining last day things
And how they will work out.
Accepted to come:
The final judgment
And the consummation of all things,
Regarding both of these
From the same page they sing.
Neither holds his position
As a requirement for salvation
And both are cognizant
Of the Great Commission.
Go ye into all the world
And preach the Good News,
In this regard
They are of like views.
Their differences come
With when the end will occur
And whether present day happenings
To the last days refer.
A different view of Revelation
Concerning the time,
On its judgments and redemption
They differently opine.
The latter says futuristic
The preterists, it’s mostly passed,
Occurring in the first century
Is what they have grasped.
The Great Tribulation is passed
And therefore, not yet to come
And presently we are living
In the time of the kingdom.
The futurists disagree,
These things are yet to happen,
We are living in the last days
And it’s near the end, they reckon.
Present day happenings:
For them, these are the signs
That Jesus is about to return
And to this they are inclined.
Keep your eyes on Israel
They would also advise
And very soon we should expect
The antichrist to arise.
The generation that see
Israel become a nation again
Will also see Jesus
When he comes back to reign.
Differing interpretations
Regarding St. Matthew 24
Which generation? That’s the question:
Whether now or before.
Preterists argue “this generation”
Is the one to whom Jesus spoke,
But futurists disagree
And uses the fig-tree quote.
The fig-tree they argue
Is a reference to Israel
And “this generation” must mean
Twenty-first Century people.
It is this generation
That witnessed the event
When Israel became a nation;
Time is far spent.
Jesus is standing up
And he is about to return,
This is the lesson from the fig-tree
That we ought to learn.
A coming in judgment
On the nation of Israel
And it has already happened
On the Jewish people.
This is the preterists’ position
Which they advance
But as you can see,
Futurists take a different stance.
Stewart Russell © August 2020
