8. Imminency
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Just as quickly is used in Revelation to teach imminence, so also is near or at hand (enguʿs) used to mean imminency and thus its usage does not support a first-century fulfillment. Philip E. Hughes rightly says, The time is near, that is to say, the time of fulfillment is imminent. This interval between the comings of Christ is the time of the last days, and the last of these last days is always impending. . . . It is better to see enguʿs as a term that teaches the imminency of a period of time that could begin to happen without the warning of signs.3
Notes
1 American Heritage Online Dictionary, Ver. 3.0A, 3rd ed. (Houghton Mifflin, 1993).
2 Mtt. Mat. 24:42-48; Mark Mark 13:33-37; Luke Luke 12:35-40; Rom. Rom. 13:12; 1Cor. 1Cor. 7:29; Php. Php. 3:20-21; Php. 4:5; 1Th. 1Th. 1:10; Tit. Tit. 2:13; Heb. Heb. 9:28; Jas. Jas. 5:8; 1Pe. 1Pe. 4:7; 1Jn. 1Jn. 2:18; Jude Jude 1:21; Rev. Rev. 3:11+; Rev. Rev. 22:7+, Rev. 22:10+, Rev. 22:20+.
3 Thomas Ice, Preterist Time Texts, in Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, eds., The End Times Controversy (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2003), 106.