Fulfillment Doesn’t Mean Finality: Why History Didn’t Stop in 70 AD

Fulfillment Doesn’t Mean Finality: Why History Didn’t Stop in 70 AD


Many who embrace Full Preterism hold fast to the powerful truth that all biblical prophecy was fulfilled by 70 AD—with the destruction of the Temple, the end of the old covenant age, and the full establishment of the Kingdom. That’s a foundational conviction. But let’s be careful not to make the mistake of thinking:


“Since all prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD, nothing spiritually significant happened afterward.”


That’s like saying, “Since Jeremiah’s prophecies were fulfilled when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, nothing meaningful happened after that.” That’s just not how fulfillment works.


Fulfillment Is Not the End of the Story


Think about the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. That was a prophetic fulfillment—clear, dramatic, final.


But what happened after?


Gedaliah was appointed governor by Babylon but assassinated shortly after (Jeremiah 41).


A remnant fled to Egypt against the word of the Lord (Jeremiah 43).

Jeremiah’s prophecies were fulfilled, but events kept unfolding as a result. This can be considered a historical consequence of the prophecy.



The 70 AD Fulfillment: A New Beginning


When Jesus said “all these things will happen in this generation,” He wasn’t joking. The tribulation, resurrection of the dead, judgment of the covenant world, and the coming of the Son of Man all climaxed with Jerusalem’s fall in 70 AD.


But did the story stop there? No.


The 144,000 had fled to Pella as early believers.

After the dust settled, many returned to Judea to rebuild their lives and communities. Revelation 21’s New Jerusalem wasn’t a cube-like spaceship—it was the people of God living out the New Covenant reality on the ashes of the old.



Revelation 20 and the Bar Kokhba Revolt


Some Full Preterists try to cram all of Revelation 20 into 70 AD. But what if the final portion of Revelation 20—the Gog and Magog conflict—refers not to Titus or Rome in 70 AD, but to Simon Bar Kokhba’s revolt (132–135 AD)?


Gog and Magog are described as attacking the “beloved city” and “camp of the saints” (Rev. 20:9). That city isn’t old Jerusalem—it’s New Jerusalem, the covenant community of believers.

After 70 AD, the faithful remnant had returned from Pella to rebuild and repopulate Jerusalem.


Bar Kokhba, hailed by many Jews as the messiah, led a massive military uprising to reclaim the land—but in doing so, he persecuted Christians who refused to follow him. Bar Kokhba fits the Gog archetype perfectly—coming from “the ends of the land” in rebellion against the covenant order, attempting to overthrow the Kingdom and reign by force.


Revelation 20 doesn’t have to be squeezed into 70 AD. It’s after fulfillment—but it shows how spiritual history continues with consequences, judgment, and victory.


Conclusion 


The fulfillment of prophecy doesn’t end the movement of God. It establishes the Kingdom in fullness, and from there the people of God move forward in power, presence, and purpose. Just as Gedaliah’s murder and the Egyptian exile weren’t “prophesied events” but still mattered deeply, so too did the Christian response to Bar Kokhba.


 

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