Question: I recall you mentioning on Voice of Reason that the septer passed from Judah is accepted by most scholars, even of Jewish and Muslim faiths, as being AD 70, with the destruction of Jerusalem. What is the significance of this from the preterist view, versus a yet future second coming?
Answer: I did a search on Google, on "Genesis 49:10" at one point, and got back an incredible number of websites, of all faiths, and virtually everyone of them agreed that the scepter passed in A.D. 70. The exception was that in the early first century, after the Romans had taken away the right to capital punishment, there were a couple of Rabbis that claimed that this was the passing of the scepter. That was never a widely held view however. It seems that the A.D. 70 date is the one held by virtually everyone.
As to the implication, it is incredibly huge, and yet, it is an issue that is virtually ignored! In one radio debate, my dispy opponent agreed that the scepter passed in 70. I noted that this could not happen until Shiloh came for that gathering of the people (i.e. into the kingdom), and he had no answer at all! He just started regurgitating the same futurist stuff in spite of his admission! I know that John Anderson had an encounter with a couple of Jewish Rabbis also, and it put them to flight!
The bottom line is that the coming of Shiloh in the text is the eschatological coming, because it is the time of the gathering to him, and the taking of the scepter to himself. There is a transference of majesty at work in the text that cannot be ignored. IT is the transference from the political/nationalistic Judah to the spiritual!
When anyone admits that the scepter has passed, they have abdicated any futurist eschatology! This is especially strong in comparison with Matthew 21:43, for it is the leaders of Judah that Jesus is addressing in the text. Clearly the scepter had not passed already, at that time, so Jesus was looking forward to the time when the scepter would pass from Judah in his future and theirs, when the kingdom was taken from them.