Death Wasn't Destroyed In A.D. 70

Hyper-Preterists always say that death was destroyed in A.D. 70. But what does the destruction of the temple have to do with the abolition of death?

Death was not packaged with the Mosaic economy. It belongs to the Adamic economy. Therefore, the removal of the Mosaic economy has no power to annul death. As the ratification of a covenant cannot make an earlier promise of none effect (Gal. 3: 17), so the converse holds true. The passing away of a later covenant has no power to fulfill an earlier promise.

Now, the promise to annul death was made to Adam in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3: 15). And Paul's statement that death passed upon all men through Adam's transgression (Romans 5: 12 ff.) shows us that the covenant was made with Adam and his seed. A later covenant was made with Abraham and his seed. But the seed, in both cases, is JESUS CHRIST.

JESUS CHRIST is both Son of Man and Son of David. His ministry comprises two economies. Therefore, if His promise to annul death was made to Adam, then the abolition of death is still future. Why? Because not all of Adam's seed was born when the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70!

The only thing that passed away in A.D. 70 was the law of bondage. This was made after the moral law, and was added "because of transgressions" (Gal. 3: 19). It was effectively nailed to the cross (Col. 2: 14), but did not pass away completely until the destruction of the temple. Its abolition was foreshadowed by the rending of the veil of the temple when Christ died on the cross (Matt. 27: 51).

But the abolition of death was also foreshadowed, for "the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept, arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many" (Matt. 27: 52-43).

Christ's sacrificial death generated the power to fulfill all things. But not all things are fulfilled at once. As there was a gradual development of the covenants over a long period of time, so there is a gradual fulfillment. In all cases, the order of fulfillment is reverse to the order of development.

The law of bondage passed away first (in A.D. 70) because it was ratified last. It belonged to a later economy, and so its annulment was earlier. However, death was not annulled at the same time, for it came first. Therefore, its abolition will be last. As the law of bondage embraced the whole of Israel, so the law of death embraces the whole of mankind. This determines the timing of fulfillment.

Some say that the moral law passed away in A.D. 70. But that view is false, for the moral law belongs to the Adamic economy. Note that sin, death, and the law, are all bound up in the Adamic/Genetic economy, and not in the Mosaic economy.

The law is the decalogue, which exists in men's hearts by nature (Romans 2: 15). If by nature, then it was from the beginning. Sin is transgression of the law (1 John 3:4), and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6: 23). So, if you remove one link in this chain, the whole structure falls. Now, if there is no more moral law, there is no more transgression (Romans 4: 15). If there is no more transgression, there is no more condemnation. Which means that all men are saved.

Thus, any placing of the destruction of death in A.D. 70 results in universalism. But the fault comes from wrongly perceiving death as belonging to the Mosaic economy.