Double Fulfillment of Bible Prophesy

The fulfilled prophesy of 70 AD is but a foreshadowing of the coming Day of the Lord.

@Tuese Ahkiong made some excellent posts recently making the case that Jesus' Second Coming and the Great Tribulation already happened when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. Many Christians, of course, are still expecting this in the future. I believe the correct answer is "both".

I posted an earlier version of the following in answer to his posts, but since those are several weeks old, I thought a stand-alone update would be worthwhile.

Tuese's posts on this subject makes the case for what is called the Preterist interpretation of these prophesies.

Nevertheless, there are a few things that tell us that the events of 70 AD are but a foreshadowing of the same events on a larger scale, as the Futurists hold.

Thus, both interpretations are actually true. This demonstrates the well-known concept of double fulfillment

Just a few of the things in Jesus' Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 (and other relevant prophesies about the same thing) that did not happen in 70 AD include:

Zechariah 14:4

In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!

This is a very specific and unmistakable geographic change that has obviously not taken place yet.

Matthew 24:22

"If those days had not been cut short, no flesh would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time. "So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the wilderness,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. "Immediately after the distress of those days" 'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' "Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

The items in bold above have not yet happened. Nor can they be merely symbolic. Jesus made the case explicitly that His Second Coming could not be missed. To this date, all the peoples of the world have not seen it and mourned (presumably too late realizing that they should have believed Him). There have not been fear-inspiring planet-shaking events in the sky. And Christians (His elect) have not yet been gathered to Him from the four winds.

Jesus' ascension was a literal "going on the clouds" which we are told He will "come on the clouds" again in exactly the same literal way:

Acts 1:10

They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee, they said, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

Don't feel bad about this. The partial fulfillment in 70AD gives us dramatic evidence that Jesus knew what He was talking about and paints a vivid picture of what is still to come.