The doctrine known as “Realized Eschatology,” or the “A.D. 70 Doctrine,” falsely asserts that all Bible prophecy was fulfilled by A.D. 70, including the final return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment. Eschatology is the study of final things, and its adherents assert that all final things prophesied in God’s Word have occurred and have thus been “realized.” While they claim to be teaching the true fulfillment of prophecy, this doctrine undermines foundational Christian hope and contradicts clear Biblical teachings. This article will expose the errors of Realized Eschatology by examining key Scriptures that prove Christ’s literal return, the literal resurrection of all the dead, and the final judgment are yet future.
This doctrine is also called “(Max) Kingism,” “Covenant Eschatology,” “Full Preterism,” “Radical Preterism,” and “Hyper-Preterism.” Its proponents argue that there is no future resurrection or judgment, claiming that these events occurred at the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This teaching contradicts numerous Scriptural passages that emphasize a future return of Christ and a future resurrection of the dead.
The Contextual Meaning of “All”
Proponents of Realized Eschatology claim that “all things…fulfilled” in Luke 21:22 means every Biblical prophecy was fulfilled by A.D. 70. However, the term “all” can sometimes be limited in scope, as seen in Acts 2:17 and Acts 13:29. God did not literally pour out His Spirit upon “all flesh” (Acts 2:17). Animals also have flesh, and not even all men received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:29 says that when Jesus died, those who crucified Him “had fulfilled all that was written of him,” yet prophecies concerning His resurrection had not yet been fulfilled. That passage refers to the fulfillment of prophecies concerning His death, not every prophecy concerning Christ. Likewise, “all these things” in Matthew 24:34 is limited to the things under discussion in that context, not to every prophecy in the Bible. Consider also how “all” is used in John 19:28; Luke 2:1; and Luke 18:31. Context must always govern the meaning of words. To ignore context is to mishandle God’s Word rather than to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). This principle is especially important in a discussion of Realized Eschatology, since the doctrine often depends upon assigning absolute meanings to words that the context itself limits.
Misuse of Luke 21:31
Realized Eschatologists often cite Luke 21:31 — “when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” — to claim that the kingdom did not come until A.D. 70. However, this contradicts many clear passages that teach the kingdom was already present in the first century, long before Jerusalem’s destruction.
Jesus told His disciples, “Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power” (Mark 9:1). The power came from the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8; 2:1-4). The kingdom came with power in A.D. 33, not A.D. 70. Colossians 1:13 plainly states that first-century Christians had already been translated into the kingdom before A.D. 70.
Luke 21:31, then, points to public proof of Christ’s reign and kingdom before a watching world, not the kingdom’s arrival. Christ was already reigning over His established kingdom before A.D. 70 (Acts 2:30-36). The destruction of Jerusalem demonstrated that Christ had spoken the Truth and was reigning exactly as He had foretold.
The Kingdom “Delivered Up”
Realized Eschatologists claim the kingdom was delivered up to the Father in A.D. 70 (1 Corinthians 15:24). They also claim Luke 21:31 teaches that the kingdom arrived in A.D. 70 — but how could the kingdom arrive on earth and be delivered up to the Father at the same time? If the kingdom had been delivered up, no one on earth would be in the kingdom today. Paul ties that “delivering up” to a specific future event — when Christ “shall have put down all rule and all authority and power,” and when “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:24-26). Christ is still ruling, however, and people still die. The moment Paul describes, then, has not yet arrived, and the kingdom has not yet been delivered up to the Father.
God’s Word also identifies the kingdom with the church. Jesus told Peter, “I will build my church… and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19), placing church and kingdom side by side as the same reality under two descriptions. He then said that some standing there would not die “till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28), fixing the kingdom’s arrival within the first century. If the church Christ built in the first century is the kingdom He promised, and that church remains on earth today, then the kingdom remains on earth today, and it will not be delivered up to the Father until the future moment Paul described.
It should also be noted that the New Testament sometimes uses “kingdom” to refer to the eternal heavenly inheritance awaiting the faithful (Matthew 7:21; 25:34; 2 Timothy 4:18). References to a future entrance into the kingdom, therefore, do not prove the kingdom was absent before A.D. 70; they point to a different sense of the word than the present reign of Christ over His church.
The Resurrection of the Dead
Jesus taught that all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, some to the resurrection of life and others to the resurrection of damnation (John 5:28-29). He did not describe separate resurrections for different groups; He described one resurrection involving all who are in the graves, resulting in opposite destinies for both the righteous and the wicked. No such resurrection occurred in A.D. 70. Likewise, Paul spoke of “a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). Jesus elsewhere connected this resurrection to “the last day,” the day of judgment (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 12:48). Martha clearly understood this resurrection on “the last day” to be a literal event involving her deceased brother (John 11:24). Why would Martha have had any comfort regarding Lazarus being raised on the last day if Jesus had not been teaching a literal resurrection of physical bodies? Nothing in the context suggests a figurative covenant transition.
Furthermore, Paul comforted the Thessalonians by speaking of a future literal resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), not a symbolic one. What comfort would it have been to say to the Thessalonians regarding their deceased Christian loved ones, “Do not be troubled — Jerusalem will be destroyed”? Paul specifically pointed to the Lord’s return as the moment when “the dead in Christ will rise first” and living Christians will be “caught up together with them…and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The Thessalonians’ hope was a future eternal reunion, not a destructive event occurring over 1000 miles away in A.D. 70.
Paul ties the believer’s future resurrection directly to Christ’s: “if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen” (1 Corinthians 15:13). The two events stand or fall together, by Paul’s own argument. Christ’s resurrection was bodily and literal, witnessed by hundreds (1 Corinthians 15:5-8); a merely figurative resurrection for believers breaks the very parallel Paul is drawing. The fact that Christ was the “firstfruits” of the dead by His literal resurrection demonstrates that there will be more fruits to come, more who will literally be resurrected to eternal life and glory in Heaven (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23).
Paul describes a change where “this mortal must put on immortality” (v. 53), which has not yet occurred. If physical death has already been destroyed (v. 26), there should be no more death today, which is an absurd conclusion. Paul describes a single subject undergoing this transformation: what is “sown” in corruption, dishonor, and weakness is the very thing “raised” in incorruption, glory, and power (1 Corinthians 15:42-44; cf. 15:50). This language fits a physical body, not a corporate church that was never sown in a grave. Where is the victory over physical death Paul described? Why do Christians still have mortal bodies?
Paul returns to this same transformation in 2 Corinthians 5, describing the present physical body as an earthly tent still waiting to be exchanged for “a building of God…eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1). He uses the same language as 1 Corinthians 15: “mortality” being “swallowed up of life” (2 Corinthians 5:4; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:53-54). Christians are still in the tent; the building “eternal in the heavens” has not yet been received. Paul then ties this event directly to a future judgment where “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body” (2 Corinthians 5:10). This will be a judgment of all individuals — “every one,” accountable for what was done in “his body” — not a judgment of one city, and not a corporate transition experienced by the church collectively in A.D. 70. The “body” in 2 Corinthians 5:10 is clearly an individual’s physical body, the same body Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15 — the one that will be raised to immortality.
Paul also describes the believer’s “vile body” that will be made like Christ’s “glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21). Advocates of this false doctrine often equate “the body” with the church elsewhere in Paul’s writings, when it refers to the physical human body. However, the bride of Christ cleansed with His blood would not have been described as “vile” or “corrupt” (1 Corinthians 15:42). The physical human body is vile compared to the glorious incorruptible body to be received at Christ’s literal return.
The Future Judgment of All Mankind
Why would Felix, a Roman governor, “tremble” at “judgment to come”? (Acts 24:25). Paul warned the Roman Christians of a future “day of wrath” when God would judge all men, both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 2:3-11; cf. Acts 17:31). These warnings were given to Romans, who would not have been affected by Jerusalem’s destruction. In fact, the Romans were God’s instrument to destroy Jerusalem (Luke 21:22), so why should they fear A.D. 70? The day of wrath will be “the last day,” when all men will literally be resurrected and judged together (John 5:27-29; 6:40; 11:24; 12:48). Jesus described “all nations” being gathered before Christ for judgment — not simply one city (Matthew 25:31-46). Jerusalem alone was destroyed in A.D. 70; it was not a judgment upon all nations.
Why would the Thessalonians have needed to “watch and be sober” so that the day Jerusalem would be destroyed would not “overtake them as a thief in the night”? (1 Thessalonians 5:1-9). Why would Paul warn Christians in Corinth, Greece that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ”? (2 Corinthians 5:10). People everywhere were warned because the Lord will literally return and judge all people of every generation.
The Danger of Universalism
Realized Eschatologists generally affirm that judgment did occur — but only once, at A.D. 70, with no future day of accounting for anyone born since. If so, how and when will people alive today be judged?
Jesus Himself described a judgment that gathers people across centuries into a single event. He taught that the Ninevites and the queen of Sheba — people who lived centuries before His own generation — would “rise up in judgment” alongside it (Matthew 12:41-42), placing widely separated generations in the same judgment together. That does not fit a final judgment occurring entirely in A.D. 70, since those Jesus named were already centuries dead by then, and countless generations had yet to be born.
If no future judgment remains, the doctrine must explain how a first-century punishment of Jerusalem can function as the universal judgment of all mankind (Acts 17:30-31). Failing that, the distinction between the saved and lost of every generation becomes blurred, pointing to Universalism — the belief that all people are ultimately saved, whether faithful or not. However, God’s Word is explicit that eternal punishment awaits the wicked of every nation and every era, not only those alive in the first century (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).
The Book of Revelation and A.D. 70
If Revelation addresses Jesus’ judgment on Rome, the A.D. 70 doctrine fails. The prophesied judgment of Rome occurred years after A.D. 70, showing that all prophecy could not have been fulfilled at that time.
Babylon in Revelation 17-18 is portrayed as a wicked, idolatrous power with sweeping influence over global commerce (Revelation 18:1-24). Jerusalem never exercised the worldwide political and economic dominance attributed to Babylon. Babylon fits Rome precisely. Like the Babylonian Empire, Rome reigned over the cities of the earth (17:18), and its fall was lamented by the whole world (18:3-18). It was Babylon that destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C., and “Babylon” (Rome) destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70. God foretold the punishment of both Babylons. The term “Babylon” suits a pagan, idolatrous power like Rome much better than Jerusalem, especially since idolatrous emperor worship was addressed (13:12). The harlot in Revelation sat on seven mountains (17:9), and Rome was famously “the city on seven hills.” The timeline of kings fits Rome rather than Jerusalem (17:8-11). The cumulative evidence points to Rome, not Jerusalem.
Daniel 2 is about God’s kingdom overcoming Rome, and so is Daniel 7, which has too many parallels with Revelation to be coincidental (compare the lion, bear, and leopard in Daniel 7 with the same beasts in Revelation 13, for example). If Daniel 7 is about Rome, so is Revelation.
The Ongoing Purpose of the Lord’s Supper
Paul commanded Christians to partake of the Lord’s Supper “till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). If Jesus’ second coming was in A.D. 70, this ordinance would no longer be necessary. Christians still observe this memorial because His literal return has not yet occurred.
Observing the Lord’s Supper is not merely a remembrance of His death; it is also a continual proclamation of His return. Each time Christians partake of it, they are expressing faith in His future return and the ultimate fulfillment of His promises (1 Corinthians 11:26).
People Still Marry and Die
Jesus taught that in the resurrection, “they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:35-36). This passage teaches that in “that world” — the eternal, resurrected state — marriage no longer exists, just as death no longer exists, but people today still marry. Note also that Jesus was clearly referring to literal marriage in that context. If we are already living in the resurrected age as Realized Eschatologists claim, why does marriage continue? The continuation of marriage and death confirms that we are not yet in the age Jesus was describing.
Conclusion
The Realized Eschatology doctrine contradicts numerous clear Scriptural teachings regarding the resurrection, judgment, and the return of Christ. By affirming that these events have already occurred, proponents of this doctrine undermine vital Christian hope and the clear promises of God.
Paul warned of those who taught that the resurrection had already passed, noting that their teaching had overthrown the faith of some (2 Timothy 2:16-18). Realized Eschatology poses a similarly dangerous threat today, denying the blessed hope of Christ’s return and replacing it with a distorted and deadly view of prophecy. Hope that is seen (realized) is no hope (Romans 8:24). Therefore, faithful Christians must diligently study the Scriptures and reject such errors. Jesus will literally return in the clouds, just as He literally ascended into the clouds (Acts 1:11). By grounding ourselves in God’s Word, we maintain the hope of Christ’s return, the resurrection, and eternal life that God has promised.