Even His birth was prophesied. Malachi chapters 3:1 and 4:5 tell of Christ’s coming and even the coming of John the Baptist who was to prepare the way in the spirit of Elijah. But there’s little about His second advent since His first hadn’t arrived yet. He came bring the New and better Covenant written about in the book of Hebrews chapter 7:22, 8:6, 12:24 which is the same covenant Galatians tells us about. And as we see through those books that the new covenant was here before A.D. 70.
We see then why Jesus didn’t say “believe me for the works I do now and those works I’ll do when I return”. And in Jesus’s prayer in John 17 we see He didn’t ask God to allow Him to leave and come again to finish the works He gave Him to do. He said in His prayer “I have Finished the works you gave me to do”. The challenge of Christ in John chapter 10 has been accepted and the word of God has plainly shown Don K Preston and William Bell and all who follow this relatively new doctrine that Christ fulfilled the challenge. His own very words to His Father meet the challenge.
Also, Preston goes to Matthew 17 and uses it to claim Jesus didn’t fulfill the law and the prophets until heaven and earth passed away in A.D. 70. How you might ask? First, I’ll post the relevant verses. Matthew 5:17 through 20
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven“. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
I want you to notice those verses closely. The A.D. 70 doctrine teaches the law of Moses was still in effect until A.D. 70 because “all wasn’t fulfilled”. But All was fulfilled and Jesus said He didn’t come to destroy but to fulfill. He said He came to fulfill the law and the prophets! He didn’t mention leaving and coming back in the form of Titus to fulfill them! And as was already pointed out He said to the Father “I have finished the work you sent me to do”. So how do the hyper preterists miss this so bad? They claim “Heaven and earth” is the Temple in Jerusalem. And they claim it didn’t pass away until A.D. 70. Jesus didn’t say anything about the temple at that time and if heaven and earth means Temple in Jerusalem then Genesis 1 verse 1 would mean “In the beginning God created the Temple in Jerusalem”. The Temple was the dwelling place of God and in that sense it is where Heaven and Earth would “meet”. Either way Jesus said He came to fulfill the law and the prophets and He did just that about 40 years before the temple at Jerusalem was destroyed. Talk about choking on a gnat. Jesus was living under the Law. Anyone living had to obey the Law or else they would not be part of the kingdom of heaven. The Apostles lived under the Law of Moses or else they too would not have belonged to God and His kingdom. Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law and now it’s His kingdom we’re under and the Apostles taught us how to belong to the kingdom of heaven. If you’ll notice Jesus was telling all of them unless their righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees they would not enter or be in the kingdom of heaven. Were they in competition? No, but the Pharisees taught the Law but didn’t live it. Jesus even later commanded the people in Matthew 23 this; “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.” See, they sat at Moses seat and read the Law to the people and even added burdens to the Law themselves, but did not do them themselves. Christ fulfilled that Law and after the cross none of them had to worry about disobeying God by living under the new and better covenant. As Paul said circumcision benefits you nothing. That’s a jot or a tittle yet Paul was teaching that part of the law wasn’t beneficial to anyone since Christ came and fulfilled it. Don K Preston says it was still in effect until the Temple was destroyed. He’s wrong. Jesus said not one jot or tittle would be taken away until all was fulfilled. Circumcision was a jot or tittle and Paul taught against it’s necessity and Paul was chosen by Christ to teach His gospel long before A.D.70
There is a lot of scriptures that prove Don K Preston doesn’t know what he’s talking about concerning the challenge of Christ. But just two verses such as John 17: 4 through 5 is all anyone needs to show the challenge from the hyper preterists is not a serious one. And unlike what Preston claims, this is NOT the main thing which keeps people in unbelief. There’s Lots of things that keep people in unbelief, selfishness, lustfulness, tradition, false doctrine, a hard heart and many things. But the challenge of Christ to those who saw Him perform miracles and raise the dead and resurrect the third day and fulfill the promise of the Comforter, that is not what keeps people from believing the gospel and certainly hasn’t been for 2,000 years. What does the book of John say in chapter 20:30 through 31?
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Those verses are as much a fatal flaw in Don K Preston’s claim as John 17:4 through 5. In my opinion the weakness is in the doctrine that makes the claim of A.D. 70 being the Fulfillment of Christ to do the Father’s will and if it wasn’t then Jesus lied. When people go to twisting scripture to make a doctrine fit, they are trying to save themselves anyway and not listening to Christ or the Apostles. The Temple being destroyed is more than a simple footnote in history. After all Jesus did say not one stone would be left standing of it and the surrounding buildings. However it’s destruction isn’t the time of the “Anointing of Christ” as Preston claims. And it wasn’t what the Father sent Him to do when He came! He did all the things the Father sent Him to do as He said He did. Remember before He ascended His command to His Apostles was this. And this is challenging enough because as we know history has proven they had a difficult job and that job is still going on today. Don K Preston’s “Challenge of Christ” is a task of his own making and exposes his own weaknesses.
Matthew 28:18 through 20
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Below is a YouTube clip of this article read by my daughter Briget Neeley.