There is a diverse set of Christian eschatological views, including Amillennialism, Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, Historicism, Preterism, Futurism, Idealism, and others. Here we are focusing on Preterism.

Preterism teaches that the events described in the book of Revelation occurred in the 1st Century. They say Roman Emperor Nero (who reigned from 54 AD to 68 AD) was the Antichrist, and that all the supernatural events mentioned in Revelation are metaphors and allegories. The conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD is the “end of the world,” and there is no literal resurrection or literal new heaven and earth. If the events of Revelation already happened, then where is the Millennial reign of Christ, New Jerusalem, both Resurrections of the Dead, the White Throne Judgment, and the New Heaven and Earth? Shouldn’t Jesus be ruling the world from the New Jerusalem in Israel right now? He comes to defeat the Antichrist and the False Prophet in Revelation 19:19-21. That hasn’t happened yet since anti-Christian nations and people still exist. Is Jesus never coming back because it was all hyperbole? Some 1st-century Christians were saying that Jesus wasn’t coming back, and Peter told them that was incorrect in 2 Peter 3. Was Peter mistaken? Paul denounced teachings that denied the literal resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, and heretics who claimed it had already happened in 2 Timothy 2. Was he wrong as well?

The Book of Revelation itself:
John wrote the Book of Revelation while in exile on the island of Patmos during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian. That was after the temple was destroyed because Domitian ruled from 81 to 96 AD. So why would Revelation be a prophetic book of things that happened before the book was written? How can all of it be finished if the book is written AFTERWARDS? Practically every source I’ve read states that it was written during the time of Domitian, and most specify the year 95 AD. It has been the prevailing belief throughout church history, based on the teachings of early church fathers. Wouldn’t they know more than anyone today, since they were much closer to the first century? Meanwhile, preterist theology started in the 1600s.

A few sources on the dating of Revelation:
Another Article about the Time of Writing for Revelation
Book of Revelation (Apocalypse)

More than one Antichrist:
The spirit of Antichrist influenced rulers like Nero and Diocletian, but not the final human Antichrist of Revelation. Daniel and Isaiah have visions involving multiple Antichrist-type figures who are evil emperors who rule over Israel. In other words, history repeats itself; for example, there was a Jewish Exile by Babylon (598-586 BC), a Jewish exile by Rome (70 AD), and then restoration after each. Matthew 2:18 connects the murder of children by Babylon in Jer 31:15 to Rome’s infanticide (Herod’s attempt to kill Jesus), and Peter even refers to the Roman Empire as “Babylon” in 1 Peter 5:13. 1 John 2:18-27 also mentions that there are multiple Antichrists, implying it’s a title for rulers and systems that oppose God, not just one person throughout history. Hence, Nero isn’t the only one. The Anti-Christ in Revelation must be the final Antichrist ruler. These Anti-Christ and Babylon references are an archetype that repeats throughout history and will continue to repeat until the coming of the Messiah and Judgment Day.

Some say the Antichrist already came as Nero because the gematria (numeric value assigned to letters) for 666 or 616 (Rev 13:18), equals Nero’s name. However, Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, says that this is incorrect, even to the people of his day who were claiming that the Day of the Lord had already happened. If the Antichrist had already come, then judgment would have already happened, which hasn’t happened since we are still waiting for it in the present age. When the antichrist comes, preterists are susceptible to being deceived into thinking he is the messiah because they believe that “since the antichrist already came, this new figure must be the Messiah”.

Repeating events through history is a pattern in Bible prophecy. It’s similar to 1 Peter 3:20, which states that the last days will be like the days of Noah, echoing Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:37-38. Therefore, the earth will experience a level of sin comparable to what occurred before the flood. The events of Revelation can’t be confined to just the 1st century, since the sinless world of the new kingdom doesn’t yet exist. The world is still filled with sin and violence, and Christians are persecuted at similar levels to those in the 1st century in certain countries today, mainly throughout Africa and Asia.

The Destruction of Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple in 70 AD:
In Matthew 24:15, Jesus mentions the Temple being desecrated by a sacrilegious object (reference from Daniel 9, 11, and 12). Still, it must be a new third temple, since the Romans destroyed the previous one in 70 AD. The Antichrist will take over Jerusalem and desecrate the Temple with idols, as described in Daniel 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11. Daniel 9:27 corresponds to 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, which occurs amid the 7-year Tribulation described in The Book of Revelation (Revelation 7:14). According to Revelation 7:14 the antichrist who made a treaty with Israel at the beginning of the tribulation reneges and desecrates the temple and calls himself god. Some people believed that this prophecy from Daniel was fulfilled in the story of Hanukkah (Maccabean Revolt), when Antiochus IV placed Greek idols in the Temple around 170-160 BC. However, Jesus said that it hadn’t been fulfilled yet and was speaking in the future tense when he discussed these things in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. What happened in the Maccabean Revolt could be a one-time occurrence, and it may happen again in the future; this is merely a repetition, as we’ve explored previously.

The destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 AD was a sign that the Sinaitic covenant had come to an end, and we are now in the Messianic covenant. The people of God are now themselves Temples filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Believers comprise the body of Christ and are the new Temple/Tabernacle because the Holy Spirit is God dwelling within them (John 14:16-17, 1 Cor 6:19-20). A Temple, by definition, is the house or dwelling place of a deity. This was a sign of a covenant change; that’s why it’s mentioned alongside the death of the Messiah in Daniel 9:25-26.

Daniel 9:25 Now listen and understand! Seven sets of seven plus sixty-two sets of seven will pass from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until a ruler—the Anointed One—comes. Jerusalem will be rebuilt with streets and strong defenses, despite the perilous times. 26 “After this period of sixty-two sets of seven,[h] the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple.

The Age of the Gentiles:
Luke 21:5-23 describes the first-century persecution of Messianic Jews/Christians in Jerusalem from the time of the ascension of Christ to the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Romans. In v. 24, Jesus says Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the age of the Gentiles comes to an end. In verses 25-38, he describes the signs that occur during the “Age of the Gentiles,” which include storms, earthquakes, wars, and so on. That age hasn’t ended yet because we haven’t seen him return, which he describes in v. 27.

Luke 21:20 “And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. 22 For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. 23 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. 24 They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end.

In Acts 1:6-8, the disciples asked Jesus when Israel would be freed from Roman control and restored to a glorious position on the earth. They were inquiring about the literal restoration of Israel and liberation from Roman rule. That didn’t happen; Rome crushed Jerusalem in 70 AD. How did Jesus respond? He didn’t say it was metaphorical and that there is no real New Jerusalem; instead, he said only the Father has the power to set those dates and times. Meaning the new kingdom is literal, not just spiritual, and that the time for it to come to earth hasn’t arrived yet. However, there will be a time when the kingdom comes, as Jesus says in Matthew 24:30-31 and Luke 21:27, which references Daniel 7:13. 

After that, in Acts 1:9-11, Jesus rose into heaven, and the disciples gazed into the sky, straining to see Jesus ascend into heaven. Then two angels show up and ask why they are staring at Jesus in heaven. They said Jesus would return to the earth one day, just as He left. He went up into the sky, and according to the two angels, he will return from the same way he left. This has not happened yet.

The Literal Resurrections of the Dead:
Is the resurrection of the dead literal, like the Pharisees believed, or impossible, as the Sadducees believed? The resurrection was prophesied in the Old Testament, but it was a point on which Pharisees and Sadducees disagreed. The Pharisees believed in it because they adhered to the Tanakh, which mentions resurrection in Ezekiel 37:12-14 and Daniel 12:1-2. Jesus even mentions both resurrections in John 5:28-29, as well as in Luke 14:14 (the first resurrection), and John 11:24-29 (both resurrections). The Sadducees attempted to test Jesus by challenging the concept of the literal resurrection of the dead in Matthew 22:23-33, Mark 12:18-27, and Luke 20:27-40, but ultimately failed. Jesus used Exodus 3:6 to demonstrate that the final resurrection was literal and real.

Matthew 22:29 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. 30 For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 “But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead—haven’t you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said,[Exodus 3:6] 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[d] So he is the God of the living, not the dead.”

To say that Revelation refers to events of the 1st century also denies the most significant promise of the New Covenant, the resurrection after death. While the Pharisees hated Jesus because he called them out on their hypocrisy, they had the correct theology in terms of eschatology because they believed in the resurrection. Remember, there were members of the Pharisees who believed in Jesus, such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea; there were even Pharisees who invited Jesus to dinner (Luke 14:36-50). Paul (a former Pharisee) even appeals to this belief when in court defending his faith in Jesus before the Sanhedrin in Acts 23:6-11. The Sadducees, on the other hand, were influenced by Greek philosophy and were anti-supernatural rationalists who diluted Jewish theology to make it more secular. Preterism may be built on the same ideas that influenced the Sadducees. 

Paul warned against heresy from false teachers, such as Hymenaeus and Philetus, who taught falsely that the resurrection had already occurred (2 Timothy 2:16-18). Paul also argued against this idea of a metaphorical resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Here, he says that if the great resurrection of the dead is a lie, then why believe that Jesus was raised from the dead? Then he goes on to talk about the new heavenly bodies that covenant believers will inherit in the new era. These bodies will be free from sin and therefore free from death. Sin and death are still here, which means that it hasn’t happened yet. Paul also mentions the new bodies in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, Philippians 3:20-21, and 1 Corinthians 15:35-58. He says in 2 Corinthians 5:3 that there are no bodiless spirits in heaven and that everyone who goes to heaven needs a new heavenly body. Since the new bodies are not distributed until the resurrection of the righteous, no person goes straight to the final heaven when they die, but goes to paradise until the resurrection. That’s why in the parable of the bridesmaids in Matt 25:1-13, the brides are all standing outside the door waiting for the groom; they can’t go inside until the groom gets there to escort them in. Likewise, we can’t go to the Kingdom until our King escorts us in.

Also, according to Paul, God, who raised Jesus from the dead, will raise us from the dead (2 Cor 4:14). He said “WILL”, not “did.” Meaning Paul was not speaking in allegories about spiritual renewal. He said “will,” which is a future tense. He describes this resurrection as a literal bodily resurrection with a new glorified body in 1 Corinthians 15. We will experience a literal resurrection, just as Jesus did. Paul calls Jesus the “first fruit of the harvest” (1 Cor 15:20-23) and the “first of many brothers” (Romans 8:29).

In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus describes Sheol, or what we call “Hell” (or Hades). This is a temporary holding place (some people interpret it as soul sleep) until the resurrection. The righteous that died will be in Abraham’s bosom or paradise, a place across from Sheol (Luke 16:22-23), awaiting the resurrection with the new bodies (Rom 8:23, 1 Cor 15:35-58, 2 Cor 5:1-10, Phil 3:20-21) and will reign with Jesus over the earth in New Jerusalem for 1000 years (Rev 20:5-6). The wicked that died are resurrected after the 1000-year reign of Christ (Rev 20:11-15) and they are judged and cast into the Lake of Fire when the world is destroyed and the new heaven and earth are made (Rev 20:7-15, Rev 21:1-8). Jesus describes these events in the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds (or tares) in Matt 13:24-30. The Wheat is planted by the farmer, and his enemy plants weeds. The harvesters ask if they should pull the weeds now, but the farmer advises waiting until everything is ripe so that they won’t damage the wheat. In Matt 13:36-43, Jesus explains that the wheat represents the righteous and the weeds represent the wicked, and the harvest day is judgment day. The wheat is stored in the barns, and the weeds are burned up in the fire. The harvesting itself is the resurrection of each.

The Millennial Reign of Christ and White Throne Judgment:
Then there is the matter of the Millennial Reign and the White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20, as well as the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21-22. Shouldn’t things be different if that already happened? In Rev 20:4, the righteous martyrs are resurrected and given thrones to reign with Christ and rule the nations with an iron rod. This is explicitly discussed in Rev 2:27 for the church of Thyatira, and the verse itself is from Psalms 2:9, which is referring to the Messianic reign. The Messianic reign for a Millennium is over the whole earth (Rev 20:8). The entire time, Satan is bound, and there is perfect peace on earth. Afterward, Satan is loosed and goes to every corner of the world and causes a rebellion against Jesus (Rev 20:7-8). God defeats the rebels and then initiates the white throne judgment (Rev 20:9-10). Christianity was barely out of the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Middle East in the first century, so the nations to which Jesus instructed people to go and preach had not yet heard of his name.

There was no metaphorical rule of Christ on earth through the spread of Christianity globally, as Christ wasn’t yet known in far eastern Asia, the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, northwestern Europe, Oceania, and other regions. The Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20 is to teach all nations, so until every “nation” has the gospel, Christ won’t return. Nation in the New Testament is derived from the Greek word ethnos (ἔθνος), from which we derive the English word “ethnicity.” This means that biblical nations aren’t specifically referring to nation-states but rather people groups (ethnicities). Jesus separates Kingdom (nation-states) from Nation (ethnic groups) when talking about political and ethnic conflicts in the future in Matt 21:7.  This goes back to the ethnic separation by language at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 10 and 11.” Furthermore, God’s covenant with Israel is forever, and so there would have to be a future restoration of Israel (Isaiah 11:12), which has occurred in recent years (1948).

None of the events Jesus mentioned can be dated to the 1st century because many things he said must happen have not yet occurred, and the world was not even mapped on a unified human scale at the time. Not to mention, if you are Christian, your theology requires a belief in the literal resurrection of the dead. Jesus actually agreed with the Pharisees, like Paul, on this topic. More on this topic here.

The Bible doesn’t teach an eternal afterlife; death is temporal, and eternal life starts at the resurrection. For those who will be condemned to the Lake of Fire, their resurrection is only for Judgment Day, and then they are moved to the lake of fire from hell, so even for non-believers, their initial death is temporal, and when condemned to the Lake of Fire it called the “second death”. Jesus was the first to inherit the new body after his resurrection, and those who believe are to expect the same. More on that here.