qaz… you seem to project an extremely punitive mindset. Your question is loaded in that it assumes postmortem punishment — without thinking, many a prêterist would simply and readily agree, again assuming ‘the lake of fire’ is merely replacing ‘hades’ — Hell MkI being replaced by Hell MkII. Pantelism is more prêteristically consistent viewing ‘the lake of fire’ as a past historical event NOT a future ethereal process, much like the clearing-pond position many a universalist seems to adopt. As I’ve noted before, pantelism understands John’s “lake of fire” and Jesus’ “gehenna” to and one and the same, i.e., prophetic descriptions of the fiery demise of the old covenant world (Mt 24:3).
To say “reconciliation would not save Israel from punishment” is to not understand Israel’s back-story which is full of comparative examples.
All Israel was redeemed (saved) out of bondage (sin) by the grace of God with NO reference to their good works or faith… the WHOLE nation, the good, the bad and the ugly were ALL FULLY redeemed; this was the unilateral work of God. However, only those faithful went on into experience the benefits of said redemption IN THIS LIFE, i.e., the Land of Promise = blessedness and peace.
If you know the story… a whole generation perished, that is, suffered the temporal consequence of their misdeeds YET were FULLY redeemed nonetheless. You’ll notice I used the word “temporal” NOT “temporary” — the consequences suffered were dire BUT relative to THIS LIFE. Thus actions have consequences and especially so for those who were chosen as Yahweh’s representatives to the world — hence the national crisis of AD66-70 that Jesus, Paul and Co. gave warning to. To whom much was given much was expected.
What you seem uncertain about AD70 in this mix. All that was pertinent and key to the old covenant world, i.e., the Law, the Temple, the Priesthood, the Sacrifices, the City, ALL in finality came to naught in the conflagration of those days — this was as I said earlier, none other than Jesus’ “gehenna” and John’s “lake of fire”. Israel the people were redeemed, and yet those who chose to ignore Jesus’ prophetic warnings who clung to that which “is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Heb 8:13) would pay dearly with their lives. Those responding in faith avoided this doom and were subsequently “saved” (Mt 24:13).
Just because a near whole generation perished does NOT mean they weren’t redeemed — they were! Consider these texts from Israel’s past story…
So, with regards to Israel when it came to “remedial justice” under the OC we find the following…
So it was… there were times of punishment involving the outworking of temporal consequences for temporal actions, i.e., their actions had real time consequences in this life where Israel’s temporal pain was the fruit of their trespass; thus their judgment.
These last two verses above show that the TRUE nature, goal and resolve of divine reconciliatory justice is always RESTORATIVE and NOT carte blanche for-the-sake-of-it wrath. God’s “justice” was met fully in Christ at Calvary, met fully in LOVE once for all. That many perished or were carried off into exile was the net effect of rejecting their Prophet/Messiah who DID forewarn these things, giving them opportunity to turn and be saved… as always there was a choice involved. Their demise in no way lessened the reality and efficaciousness of Christ’s bearing of Israel’s sin… He did that for ALL and those that grasped it benefited in this life accordingly.