(John 12:31-32) "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."
Preston reveals himself to be only thinking naturally by seeing judgment as a final end point at the Destruction of Jerusalem. He states "Are we to understand that there are two totally different and disparate judgments in view in these two epistles?" This statement is designed to make non-preterists look ignorant or dumb for not seeing his own natural thinking logic. He will argue until he is blue in the face, and he still won't see. He sees a single generational judgment tied to the destruction of Jerusalem rather that seeing the unbelieving generation who do not obey the gospel which affects all generations. The unbelieving generation like the present heavens and earth, or this present age, is characterizing those who fail to put on the new man and are outside of Christ. Unless, Preston can prove that this single judgment is the final ending point (for ALL men, Universalism?), or unless he can prove that people are no longer judged for not obeying the gospel, how in the world can he draw this conclusion that this event Paul is speaking of is temporal in natural or occured in 70ad. Are we to believe judgment is temporal also? Is our flesh what is judged for spiritually breaking our covenant with the Lord? For example if you fail to obey the gospel (sin) and your judgment is frying in a electric chair (destruction of Jerusalem), is that the judgment Paul is referring to?
Don Preston
Peter's emphatic declaration of the imminent judgment and his rhetorical question about the fate of those who do not obey the gospel sheds light on another very significant eschatological text. In 2 Thessalonians 1:4-12 Paul said Christ would come "in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that obey not the gospel." Who would these be that would suffer such a fate? It was the very ones that were persecuting the church, vs. 7-8.
What we find then is that Peter poses a question that Paul had already answered. This is why Peter's question is rhetorical. Paul's Thessalonian epistles were well known to Peter's readers, 2 Peter 3:15-16. Thus, when Peter asked the question, his readers could directly reference those epistles.
Are we to suppose that Peter was concerned with a different fate for "those who do not obey the gospel" than Paul? Are we to understand that there are two totally different and disparate judgments in view in these two epistles? (Spoken like a true Preterist)
When one acknowledges Peter's positive declaration about the imminence of the judgment upon "those who do not obey the gospel," then unless it can be categorically demonstrated that Paul and Peter were speaking of two different circumstances, two different judgments, two different groups of "those who do not obey the gospel," two different fates for these groups, then it must be admitted that Peter's chronological statement governs and identifies the judgment of 2 Thessalonians 1.
http://www.eschatology.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=152&Itemid=61
