In Search of a More Consistent Preterist Approach (The Ego)By Barry Dupont

April 5, 2010   |   Category: Digging Deeper

The purpose of understanding, is not to acquire a false "us and them" egoic framing of acquired knowledge. Rather it is to frame the ego its proper perspective of interconnectedness and Union. There is no building up of the individual independent of the "whole" where God is all and in all. Nor is "all in all" a physical verses spiritual dichotomy of any type where the flesh and the spirit are always at odds. This is why the bible as pertains to ALL OF the subject matters which are inseparably linked to the TOPIC of its "time line" and "eschatology" are, so definitive, so final, so comprehensive, so complete, so irrevocable, so absolute. There is an inescapable finality and totality to the subject of fulfillment.

 

"Everlasting fire" for example is just such a subject. The "aionian" aspect of the fire lies in the irrevocable nature of the "sentence" itself. The process itself which is a "burning up" is absolute, final, complete, and total. The process does not continue. The sentence however has a "life of its own" within a given audience relevance.

 

The "second death" was foretold in scripture very plainly, very clearly:

Jer 23:39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, [and cast you] out of my presence:

Jer 23:40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

 

The "fathers" of Jer 23:39, goes back to ADAM. Here is the "sentence" again:

 

Mat 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Mat 23:31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

Mat 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

Mat 23:33 [Ye] serpents, [ye] generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and [some] of them ye shall kill and crucify; and [some] of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute [them] from city to city:

Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not!

Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

 

The "valley of Hinnom" sentence is given with a strict time line. This is a terminal generation. This generation would see the end of eschatological history from Adam. This generation would complete all eschatological "measures" going back to Adam. The end of their "house" was the end of eschatology. God's new age has no eschatology. It is total, it is final, it is complete, it is none repeatable. The chaff is burnt up, the works are burnt up, the elements are burnt up, the tares are burnt up, death is thrown into the fire, the sentence is irrevocable.

 

To continue this processes in any way is to continue eschatology.

 

An example of aionian fire was Sodom. A "sister" in shame with Jerusalem. Sodom's sentence had a life of it's own. Permanently shamed in the history of eschatology. Covenantal Jerusalem would finalize eschatological history. Sodom was an "example" a figure, of the totality, and finality of the end of the whole of the old from Adam. Jesus would come as a thief in the night, and end the night. It would come like a flood. Those who were not hurt by the second death had all the crap burnt off already. They were perfected, soteriologically. The perfection of the firstfruits would trigger the "end".

 

2Cr 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

2Cr 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

 

Hence:

Phl 1:5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;

Phl 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:

 

Phl 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and [in] all judgment;

Phl 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;

 

Those that were not rally of them like the Judaizers would be "taught not to blaspheme".

Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

 

Those of this perfection this resurrection, would not be hurt by the end of the history of eschatology, the "second death".

 

Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

 

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

 

Rev 20:13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

Rev 20:14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

 

The end of death ended the legacy of Adam. It ended the grave of sin.

Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

 

It ended the egoic structure of religion that stood in the standing of types and figures.

1Cr 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

1Cr 1:28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

1Cr 1:29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

 

Those things which "were", "are" no more.

 

The "ego" was not burnt away.

The ego's reference of standing was taken away. We do not duplicate eschatological history. We do not fulfill. We implement fulfillment. We apply it. We learn the proper placing of the ego reference in the interconnectedness of the new age.

There is no burning off or burning up because there is no "standing" for it. It's all been done. There is no standing for that which was of an independent human potential. There is no standing for that which is "made with hands". You can build a temple all you want, it's not going to bring it back. You can tear down a temple if you want and it still will not repeat fulfillment.

 

Because we have a reference for the burning up of such things in the scriptures we associate our present learning experience with theirs. They are not equal and they are not equivalent. The false egoic structure of standing in the Adam legacy was held in place by a standing of types and figures. It was held in place by an absence of revelation. Confined to a period of human history. The false egoic reference which is presently imagined in our minds and between our ears doesn't have a chance in ongoing history because it is false. That's it. It's not burnt off, it falls to the wayside like all ignorance eventually does because God took away our toys.

 

The purpose of understanding, is not to acquire a false "us and them" egoic framing of acquired knowledge. Rather it is to frame the ego in its proper perspective of interconnectedness and Union.