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Many Christians when reading the Gospels will encounter passages such as Matthew 5:17-20.

17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:17-20 (NKJV)

And Matthew 24:15-28:

15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’[fn] spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. 23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

Matthew 24:15-28

And will immediately believe that the “heaven and earth” passing away of Matthew 5 and the Abomination of Desolation in Matthew 24 are about the Second Return of Jesus. However, I would disagree– and no this does not mean that Jesus has already came back bodily. There are other passages within Scripture that deal with Jesus returning the Second time. But Matthew 5 and Matthew 24 are not one of those passages.

This hermeneutic is called Partial Preterism, it is the mode of interpretation that deals with passages within the prophetic pieces of Scripture contained within Daniel, Revelation and Matthew as being partially fulfilled (i.e. Meaning that Preterist do not believe that Jesus has come back to Judge the Righteous and the Wicked which would be Full Preterism).

Now that I have defined what Preterism is, lets see if this hermeneutic is consistent within Scripture.

First beginning with Matthew 5:17-20, where Jesus is talking about how the points of the Old Law will not pass away until all is fulfilled. He also states that unless a person’s “righteousness” like that of the “scribes and Pharisees” will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Many Hebrew Roots, Law-Keeping Christians, and Seventh-Day Adventist will use this passage in order to support Torah keeping. Since in their hermeneutic (Futurism), they believe that heaven and earth passing away the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. And since this is an event that has not taken place, there in no way in their mind that the Law is “done away with”. Therefore, this passage supports the observance of the Law of Moses for Torah-Keeping Christians, and Seventh-Day Adventist the observance of the Ten Commandments, especially the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment.

Well hold on, what if “heaven and earth” already passed away? And “heaven and earth” is not talking about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. Before we go there, we should state if the Futurist perspective was true. It would support Torah-Keeping, and not just the Ten Commandments. The reason for this is the phrase Jesus says in verses 19 and 20.

“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:19-20 (NKJV)

The fact that Jesus says our commandment keeping must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees already debunks the idea that this is the Ten Commandments. Because we know that the “righteousness of the Pharisees” exceeded far greater than the Ten Commandments. There “righteousness” included what Seventh-Day Adventist would call the “Ceremonial Laws of Moses”.

Anyways, moving on to the crux of the matter– “heaven and earth” already passing away. The reason why I would advocate for a Partial Preterist interpretation of Matthew 5 and Matthew 24 is the context of Matthew 24.

The overarching context of Matthew 24 is the prophecy of the Second Temple of Jerusalem being destroyed (Matt 23:37-24:2).

Jesus then explains the events of the Abomination of Desolation from verses 3 to 28. And from verses 29 to 31, is where the Futurist will start screaming “Second Return of Christ!”. Well hold on pal, does “see” the Son of Man mean literally see the Son of Man as in the Second Return of Jesus? No, the Greek word used for see is optanomai which means to behold or perceive. The same Greek word optanomai is used where Jesus is talking to the High Priest, where He says “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” So we know this is not talking about the Physical Second Return of Christ (Jesus would have had to return for the Second Time during the life of the High Priest). So no, this is not literally seeing Jesus in the sense of His Second Coming.

The Futurist will then say “brother the angels with a great sound of a trumpet”. We know that the word for angel in Hebrew and Greek is dependant on the context. Since the word angel can mean spirit creature, or messenger. Within the context of Matthew 24, we can recognize that the word angel, does not mean spirit creature. But rather the Human Evangelists fulfilling the requirement of spreading the Gospel to all the world which was met before 70 A.D (v.13, Rom 1:8, Col 1:6).

The “tagger” that shows that this passage is not about the Second Return of Jesus is verse 34. Which states “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all there things take place“. Jesus affirms that the events of the great tribulation will take place in the timeframe of the scribes and Pharisees. Further proving the affirmation of this prophecy being related to the Second Temple of Jerusalem being destroyed. And that “heaven and earth” passed away in 70 A.D. This means that Matthew 5:18 and Matthew 24:34 are not talking about the Second Coming.