This is the amillennial paradigm of which I grew up under, believed and preached (regrettably) for 29 years; but, is this doctrine true? Can it be corroborated hermeneutically, and exegetically? I continue to be stunned as I study the scriptures, of both the Old and New Testaments, at how many facets of what I was taught, and therefore taught myself, especially concerning eschatology, are nothing but empty doctrines built on, proof texts, i.e., texts, statements and verses, which are incessantly ripped out of their context, and forged into doctrines and theories completely foreign to Hebrew thought; literalistic doctrines which ignore the majority of the specific time statements; suppositions which disregard audience relevance, and redefine Biblical terminology.
There are several passages which are used sustain the AD 33 doctrine, such as, Gal 5:4, Eph 2:10ff, Rom 3:20, etc., but the #1 go-to passage embossed on our minds from infancy to confirm that the Mosaic law was fulfilled and removed at the cross, is Col 2:14; so, let's look at some passages to see if this can be substantiated by consistent hermeneutics, to see if this passage actually means "Blotting out the law of Moses..., since that is not what it says.
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled," (Mat 5:17f).
To my knowledge, everyone in the churches of Christ believes that the Law of Moses (LOM) is no longer operative; however, it is the timing of its fulfillment and removal which comes into question when studying eschatology; therefore, if the LOM was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, then it unquestionably must follow that heaven and earth also passed away at the cross, because Jesus says plainly that not one jot or tittle of the LOM would pass away until heaven and earth passed away. Notice the double usage of "till" in His statement: "For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled," (v.18). The tills must agree, so, when every last jot and tittle of the LOM would pass, would be when heaven and earth would pass. There simply is no way around this contextual and linguistic fact; therefore, are you willing to accept the consequence of the conclusion that the LOM was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross? Now, watch what Jesus says in the very next breath:
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kindgom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kindgom of heaven," (v.19).
Do you see that?! Jesus was teaching that the kingdom was at hand, right? If Jesus knew that the LOM was to be fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, why would He say that whosoever would do and teach even the least commandments from the LOM in the kindgom would be called great?! Are you still 100% convinced that the LOM was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross? Is it possible that we have also been ripping Col 2:14 out of its context, and/or failing to understand the proleptic nature of the passage, and therefore we have been forcing it to mean, not only something that is not stated, but worse, causing it to contradict a plethora of other passages, and thereby charging Holy Spirit of contradicting Himself?
"And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands←[myriads, lit. 10's of thousands] of Jews there are which believe←[Jewish Christians]; and they are all zealous of the law: And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law," (Acts 21:20-24).
IF the law of Moses was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, then why does Luke record that there were literally tens of thousands (myriads) of Jewish Christians still observing the LOM, to the letter, zealously, some 25 years after the cross? How could there be even one Christian zealously observing the LOM, 2 ½ decades after the crucifixion if the LOM was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross?
Who would've been capable of accusing Paul of teaching the Jews to forsake the LOM if it had been fulfilled and removed at the cross? Why would James and the Jerusalem elders instruct Paul to go to the temple, and offer an animal sacrifice with these 4 men so that all would know that Paul walked orderly (in military lockstep) and kept the law, if the law of Moses was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross? Brethren, this point is inescapable! It is beyond refute! The LOM was not fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross.
This inspired text provides irrefutable evidence, that not only were tens of thousands of Jewish Christians diligently practicing the LOM, but that James and the Jerusalem elders directed an inspired apostle to go to the Jewish temple, and offer animal sacrifices in accordance with the prescribed Nazarite purification laws from the Torah (Num 6:1ff)! James and the Jerusalem elders directed Paul to engage in this sacrificial rite, not as means of expiating sin, but for the express purpose of publicly demonstrating, not to some certain group or class of people, but to all that Paul himself walked orderly, i.e., that he kept the law in military lockstep!
Let me reiterate, this Divine record provides us with absolute undeniable proof that the LOM was not fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, and all who argue otherwise understand, "neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm," (1 Tim 1:7)!
"And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there…" (Acts 22:12).
IF the law of Moses was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, then why would the inspired apostle Paul describe Ananias as, "a devout man according to the law?" How could he be a devout man according to the law if in fact the law of Moses was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, as the amillennial position argues? Let's consider the following text from the pen of the inspired apostle Paul:
"Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter←[LOM] killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones←[LOM], was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away←[present tense, lit. is being annulled]: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation←[LOM] be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away←[present tense, lit. is being annulled] was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished←[present tense, lit. is being annulled]: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth←[present active indicative] the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail←[the OT] is done away←[present passive indicative, lit. is being annulled] in Christ. But even unto this day←[Paul's lifetime], when Moses is read←[present passive indicative, lit. is being read], the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall←[aorist (future) active] turn to the Lord, the vail←[LOM] shall be taken away←[present active indicative]," (2 Cor 3:6-16).
Have you ever read this text, realizing just how many times Paul uses the present tense, and says over and over that the LOM is being annulled. Why didn't Paul know that the law of Moses was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, or, was Paul wrong? Did Jesus forget to reveal to Paul that Torah was fulfilled at the cross; or, have we been misinterpreting Col 2:14?
There can be no argument—whatsoever—that Paul is clearly and unmistakably teaching in this text that the LOM was presently, during his ministry, in the process of being annulled. If the LOM was in the process of being annulled—and Paul said it was—then it is indisputable that the LOM had to still be operative during his ministry. Since the LOM unquestionably was still operative decades after the cross, then the law of Moses could not have been fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, and any argument otherwise forces an unholy contradiction in the scriptures.
Furthermore, Paul, in this text, is teaching the fulfillment of Isa 25:7, which says, "And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations." Now, what is truly extraordinary about this prediction of Isaiah is the contextual time frame, since it is sandwiched between his prediction of the great Messianic Wedding Banquet (verse 6), and death being swallowed up in victory and all tears wiped away, (verse 8).
Since Paul said, in his resurrection text of 1 Corinthians 15, that the resurrection would be the fulfilling (15:54-56) of what was written in Isa 25:8, i.e., "death being swallowed up in victory," and since Isaiah predicted that, "death being swallowed up in victory and all tears wiped away," would occur in conjunction with the vail (LOM) being destroyed, at the time of the Messianic Wedding Banquet, then to argue that the law of Moses was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, would entail the fulfillment of the resurrection at the cross! Again, those who make the AD 33 argument understand, "neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm."
To argue that the law of Moses was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, would also entail the fulfillment of the Messianic Wedding Banquet, at the cross!
To argue that the law of Moses was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, would, hermeneutically, force the conclusion that death was swallowed up in victory and all tears were wiped away, at the cross. See the problem! Brethren, you cannot make an argument, and then ignore the consequences of that argument.
"For if that first covenant←[LOM] had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second←[NT]. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first←[LOM] old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old←[LOM] is ready to vanish away," (Heb 8:7-13).
Why would Paul say that God, has made old, (palaioō, perfect tense, i.e., "once and for all"), and then triple down on this by saying, "the thing being made old" (palaioō, in the present tense) and, "growing aged," (gēraskō, in the present tense), and "is near (eggus, "nigh," "at hand") disappearance," if the law of Moses was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross?
Brethren routinely say, "The Bible says that the law of Moses was nailed to the cross," citing Col 2:14 as their proof text, however, that is not what the passage says. We have been trained from youth to interpret, "handwriting of ordinances" as "the law of Moses," but How could, "blotting out the law of Moses," remit their sins, when the law was never designed to remit sins?
Again, if Paul meant, "blotting out the law of Moses," in v.14, then why pray tell did he go on in the next stroke of the pen to say: "Let not then anyone judge you in food or in drink, of in the rank of a holiday feast, or new moon, or sabbaths, which are a shadow of the things about to be..." (2:16,17; APB+), using eimi (are) which has no past tense, coupled with the present tense verb, mello (things about to be)?
When Paul said things like, "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster," (Gal 3:24f), how are we to understand this apparent contradiction with such texts as we have considered above, where he uses the present tense verbs, demonstrating that the, "ministration of death written and engraved in stones," was in the process of being annulled, or when he wrote that the first covenant had grown old, and was ready to vanish away? Did Paul contradict himself, or is there an explanation?
The reason we have failed to rightly divide these passages through the decades, and why so many Bible students nowadays assume that Preterists are contradicting passages like Gal 3:24 and Col 2:14, is because they don't understand the New Testament writers' linguistic practice of a prolepsis, i.e, "the already, but not yet" style of writing.
What then is a prolepsis? Defined, it is, the representation of a thing as existing before it actually does or did so. To demonstrate that this is not an idea invented by Preterists, let's allow the apostle Paul to define a prolepsis:
"(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were," (Rom 4:17); and thus, we actually have Jehovah's definition and usage of a prolepsis. Because Jehovah promised Abraham that through his seed, all nations would be blessed, God spoke of it as having been accomplished. Now, let's look at some examples of prolepsis:
"And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho←[but they hadn't marched around the city yet], and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour," (Jos 6:2);
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace...Which is the earnest←[down payment, surety] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory," (Eph 1:7 & 14).
Do you see that? Paul said they had redemption, but, they were given the Spirit as a down payment on the inheritance until i.e., they hadn't received the possession yet that was purchased! Thus, we see the "already/not yet" construction, i.e., the prolepsis.
In this same text (Eph 1), Paul states how Jehovah raised Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand, and put all things under His feet (1:20ff); likewise, we see in Paul's resurrection text of 1 Cor 15, that Jehovah put all things under His feet (15:27); but now watch the prolepsis of this all-things-put-under-His-feet declaration, stated verbatim for us by Paul: "Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him," (Heb 2:8). This is an undeniable example of prolepsis.
Our misunderstanding of eschatology was handed to us by our forefathers, and the scholars, who readily recognized the already, but had no clue of the not yet; therefore, they trained themselves, and us, to ignore the proleptic nature of these statements and prophecies, and thereby, we dismiss the when of their fulfillment. So, when I point out to the brethren that the law of Moses was annulled by means of Christ's death on the cross, but not at the time of the cross, this appears to them as a contradiction because all they see are the already statements.
"And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance," (Heb 9:15).
If the LOM was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, then this passage should say, "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that at the point of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called have received the promise of eternal inheritance."
The only way for us to properly exegete passages such as Gal 5:4, Eph 2:10ff, Rom 3:20, etc., with texts like 2 Cor 3:6ff and Heb 8:13 is by understanding them in view of prolepsis.
If you will recall, Charles Manson was an American criminal and cult leader. In the late 1960's, he formed what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune in California. Manson's followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969. In 1971, he was convicted of first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit murder, for the deaths of seven people, all of which, members of the group carried out at his instruction. Manson was also convicted of first-degree murder for two other deaths. Manson was originally sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole after California invalidated the state's death penalty statute in 1972. He served out his life sentence at California State Prison and died at age 83, November 19, 2017. So we see that after the law (death penalty statute) was annulled, it could no longer be enforced.
"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God," (Deut 28:1f).
We see here that Jehovah, through Moses, is making His covenant/law with His people, and states that if they "will obey the voice of the Lord your God," then you will receive the blessings of that covenant/law. Jehovah said they would be blessed:
► in the city and in the field;
► healthy and prosperous children, abundant crops, cattle, oxen, and sheep;
► with plenty of food to eat;
► in their coming into a land and going out of a land;
► their enemies would be given into their hands;
► their storehouses, and all they set their hands to do;
► they would be blessed in the land Jehovah was giving them;
► they would be exalted and feared by all;
"And you shall not turn away from all the words which I am commanding you today, right or left, to go after other gods, to serve them. And it shall be, if you will not heed the voice of your God, to take heed to do all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, even all these curses shall come on you and overtake you," (Deut 28:14f).
As Moses continues to deliver the message of Jehovah's unfettered blessings if only they will observe all of His commandments, Israel is also warned that the curse of God would rest on all they did if they broke His covenant with them. They would be cursed:
► in the city and in the country;
► with famine;
► their children, crops and livestock would be cursed;
► when they come in and go out of the land;
► with plagues of consummation, fever, inflammation, severe burning, blights, mildew;
► dust instead of rain;
► defeat by their enemies;
► ulcers, hemorrhoids, scurvy, and the itch, without cure;
► madness and blindness;
"And all these curses shall come on you and shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed; for you did not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever, because you did not serve Jehovah your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things, and you shall serve your enemies whom Jehovah shall send on you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in lack of all things. And He shall put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. Jehovah shall lift up a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose tongue you will not understand, a nation fierce of face, who will not regard the person of the aged, nor show favor to the young. And he shall eat the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed. He shall not leave to you grain, new wine, and oil, increase of your oxen, or young ones of your flock, until he has destroyed you. And it will be distress to you against all your gates, until your high and fortified walls in which you are trusting come down, in all your land; and it will be distress to you in all your gates, in all your land which Jehovah your God has given to you. And you shall eat the fruit of your body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom Jehovah your God has given to you, in the siege, and in the anguish with which your enemies shall distress you. The man who is tender and very delicate among you, his eye shall be evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his sons which he leaves, so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his sons that he shall eat, because he has nothing left to him in the siege, and in the anguish with which your enemies shall distress you in all your gates. The soft and delicate woman among you, who would not have ventured to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil against the husband of her bosom, and against her son, and against her daughter; and against her fetus which comes out from between her feet, even against her sons whom she shall bear. For she shall eat them in secret, for the lack of everything in the siege and in the anguish with which the enemy shall distress you within your gates. If you will not take heed to do all the words of this Law written in this book, to fear this glorious and fearful Name, Jehovah your God, and Jehovah will make your plagues remarkable, and the plagues of your children shall be great and persistent plagues with evil and long-lasting sicknesses. He shall also bring on you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid; and they shall cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this Law, Jehovah shall cause them to come on you until you are destroyed. And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the heavens for multitude, because you would not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God. And it shall be, as Jehovah exulted over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Jehovah shall exult over you to destroy you, and to lay you waste. And you shall be plucked from the land you are going to possess," (Deut 28:45-63, KJ3).
As Moses enumerated Jehovah's covenantal blessings which would come upon Israel if they would observe all His commandments, His Law likewise contained covenantal curses which ultimately led to the penalty of Israel's death.
In my first example, we noted how that Charles Manson, being convicted of murder, was sentenced to death, under California's death penalty statute, but when the death penalty was rescinded, the punishment authorized by that law was also commuted, thereby prohibiting him from being punished with death for his crimes. This demonstrates that when a law is abolished, the punishment prescribed by that law is also annulled; therefore, if the LOM was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, then the punishment, i.e., the covenantal curses contained in the law of Moses, as we've just seen enumerated above, likewise would have been abrogated at the cross, which should have led to Israel's punishment of death being commuted, however, when we examine the New Testament, we find the opposite is true, for instance:
"Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you," (Acts 13:40f).
Why would Paul admonish the Jews to not reject Jesus lest the curses of the LOM come upon them, if the LOM was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross? Unfortunately, the Jews as a nation did in fact reject their Messiah, and just a few years after Paul wrote these words, that which was spoken of in the prophets did come upon Wicked and Rebellious Israel, that crooked and perverse generation during his generation, at the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jewish Temple, and the consummation of the Jewish age in AD 70.
Jehovah appeared in a pillar of a cloud above the door of the tabernacle and spoke with Moses saying:
"Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, 'Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?' And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods," (Deut 31:16ff).
Moses, upon Jehovah's instructions to write these words in a song, and teach it to Israel, says:
"For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands. Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:" (Deut 31:29f);
"They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation…And He said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith. They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation," (Deut 32:5,20f);
Brethren, since Paul applies the fulfillment of these prophecies to Israel during his ministry, then Torah could not have been fulfilled at the cross!
► "But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you," (Rom 10:19);
► "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy," (Rom 11:11);
► "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world," (Phil 2:15).
Brethren, it simply is not exegetically possible to argue that the LOM was fulfilled, terminated, and removed at the cross, when the inspired apostle Paul is applying the fulfillment of these (and other) prophecies druring his minsitry to the Gentiles some 20+ years after the cross.
"For a fire is kindled in My anger, And shall burn to the lowest hell; It shall consume the earth with her increase, And set on fire the foundations of the mountains," (Deut 32:22);
It should go without saying that this was not fulfilled at the cross! Let me also point out here that this is in the LOM, i.e., Torah, and not in the prophets, thus when people force a dichatomization between the law and the prophets in the attempt to argue that Jesus fulfilled all the LOM at the cross while not fulfilling all prophecy, that argument simply is untenable!
"For the LORD shall judge his people…For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people," (Deut 32:35ff).
"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: 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. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 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! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate," (Mat 23:34ff).
"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord,"(Rom 12:19).
"And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth," (Rev 6:10).
"Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her," (Rev 18:20).
"For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand," (Rev 19:2).
Again I ask, how could Paul quote from Torah, and demonstrate that its prophecies were coming to fruition during his ministry, if the LOM was fulfilled at the cross?
Brethren, it's high time that we become better stewards of God's divine word; it's time to get your heads out of the sand, and start exegeting the scriptures consistently and intelligently, and stop creating impossible contradictions by applying your presuppositions upon the holy scriptures. We must accept the fact that our predecessors misunderstood these facts, and though it be an honest mistake, nonetheless, they taught us their error. The LOM ended exactly where scripture said it would, i.e., at the fall of Jerusalem and the consummation of the Jewish age in AD 70.
"Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished," (Dan 12:7)
A solid truth which we have preached through the years is that all scripture must harmonize, because it is impossible for God to lie. It's time that we practice what we've been preaching.