Revelation 20:4-6 and the Question of the Millennium,, Bailey, J. W. The Temporary Messianic Reign in the Literature of Early Judaism,. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. Scripture affirms the perpetuity of the elect church to salvation glory; that all whom the Lord has chosen He brings to glory. We understand that when you have a prophecy in the Bible that has not yet come to pass, not everything will be clear. Have you ever heard of that? Relax; set all that aside. But if you read Genesis 1 to 3, its pretty clear the evening and the morning were the first day, the evening and the morning were the second day, the evening and the morning were the third day. Here at Grace to You Europe we take our data protection responsibilities very seriously and, as you would expect, have undertaken a significant programme of work to ensure that we are ready for this important legislative change. A History of Christian Zionism: Philo-Semitism and the Expectation of Israel's Restoration. Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism And Im not in to newspaper exegesis, where you where everything that happens in the news fulfills some obscure Old Testament prophecy. 2. May it be powerful in our lives we pray in Christs name. You forfeit everything, and God gives it to somebody else - namely, the church - and we hope the church can do better than Israel or the church will forfeit it all as well. Dispensationalism is perhaps a key reason why evangelicals have such a concern with what happens to the nation of Israel. In fact, I understand sovereign electing grace much more clearly than I ever have in the past, and I also understand Gods sovereign electing purpose for Israel more clearly than Ive ever understood it. After the final judgment, God will create the new heaven and new earth. Eusebius Pamphilius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine", "Bible Basics Study 5.5 - The Millennium", "Definitions and Observations Concerning the Second Coming of Christ", "Episode 132: D.A. Now, talking about eschatology is not without controversy. Darby, that came out of that whole dispensational system no, it didnt. Now, against those two is the view called premillennialism; that means there will be a millennium and prior to that millennium, Jesus will come. Barry Horner's emphasis in Future Israel also fits in here. John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue's new systematic theology titled Biblical Doctrine has many positive aspects. And so, we stand steadfast, immovable. 3. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure., Getting your eschatology right will bless you and getting your eschatology right will purify you. Popular proponents of dispensational premillennialism have been John F. MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Ray Comfort, Jerry Falwell, Todd Friel, Dwight Pentecost, John Walvoord (d. 2002), Tim Lahaye, Charles Caldwell Ryrie (in the notes for the Ryrie Study Bible), Norman Geisler, Erwin Lutzer, and Charles L. Feinberg. But let me tell you something: normal, natural, literal interpretation is the only way to stop abuse of Scripture. The world, as they see it, is in an ongoing golden process of progress. Anderson locates three reasons that may account for Augustine's theological shift: After moving away from premillennialism to amillennialism, Augustine viewed Sabbath rest in the sexta-/septamillennial scheme as symbolically representative of Eternity. Moreover, the millennium of Revelation 20 became for him symbolically representative of Christs present reign with the saints.[30] Richard Landes observed the 4th century as a time of major shift for Christian eschatology by noting that it "marked a crucial moment in the history of millenarianism, since during this period Augustine repudiated even the allegorizing variety he himself had previously accepted. John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, president of The Master's College and Seminary, and featured teacher with the Grace to You media ministry. 2. Edwards taught that a type of Millennium would occur "1260 years after A.D. 606 when Rome was recognized as having universal authority. O.T. [49] The Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod explicitly states, When Christ returns, 'new heavens and a new earth' will be created (2 Pet. He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. All rights reserved. That leaves me with the impression that God wants us not to question the length of its duration. Dispensationalism is a kind of framework for history that is organized around seven dispensationsseven orders or administrations. Premillennialism: The millennium is the long period (perhaps a literal 1,000 years) when King Jesus will rule on earth. Seventy percent - by the way - of Scripture is the story of Israel, start to finish. You have this hope as a purifying hope. And for this reason the Scripture says: 'Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. There are three basic eschatological views which are held by those calling themselves "Reformed.". I like to call amillennialism negative, and postmillennialism positive. John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where he has served since 1969. when they overthrew Jerusalem in the first of 3 steps (also 597 B.C., 586 B.C.). We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus shall we always be with the Lord. Heres the application: Therefore - do what? And that was over the gospel, and over the nature of Christ, and over salvation by grace through faith and over the authority of Scripture. The Lutherans formally rejected chiliasm (millennialism) in The Augsburg Confession. In his commentary on John 3:33, John Calvin wrote: "To believe the Gospel is nothing else than to assent to the truths that God has revealed." The sort faith that MacArthur rejects is what the Bible requires. Donald Bloesch in his book The Last Things writes that: "Amillennialists as well as some postmillennialists adhere to the theory of progressive parallelism when dealing with the book of Revelation. Why bother? He notes that "the decisive authority of Asiatic millennialism is John, from whom the elders claimed to have obtained their information. by Craig L. Blomberg and Sung Wook Chung [Grand Rapids: . (Both MacArthur and Barry Horner, though, do teach the biblical covenants, point 1 above.) There is no doubt that he does hold to the fundamental distinction between the Church and Israel, though he does not always apply this distinction consistently. But I want to approach this whole thing with you, as my congregation, the way I did with three thousand five hundred pastors a couple of weeks ago. Amillennialism is ideal for Arminians because, according to their theology, God elects nobody and preserves nobody. Some people want to turn it into ages - theres nothing in there that does that; theres nothing in the text itself that does that. This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. Turn to Revelation chapter 1. He comes pre, not post; He comes before. It is one thing to omit them for a time, and another to do it ordinarily. Now, the second flavor: Dispensational Premillennialism. "Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is a Pre-Millennialist." For those of you who don't know, this was a statement, among others, that John MacArthur was recorded as making at the recent Shepherd's Conference 2007 at Grace Community Church, Sun Valley California. And theres the main verb in the sentence are in varying degrees of disinterest in applying their skills to the end of the story, and rather, content to be in happy if not playful disagreement in regard to the vast biblical data on eschatology, as if the end doesnt matter much - period. [33], A notable exception to normative medieval eschatology is found in Joachim of Fiore (c. 11351202), a Cistercian monk, who to an extent, stressed premillennial themes. Ive been here at Grace Church well, what - thirty-some years. Premillennialism is distinct from the other views such as postmillennialism which views the millennial rule as occurring before the second coming. If you get that right, your eschatology will come crystal clear. And Im confident that God didnt reveal prophetic truth in so much detail to hide anything, to obscure the truth, but to reveal it for our blessing, our motivation and His glory. For the last century, the belief has been common in Evangelicalism according to surveys on this topic. You can believe and be saved and then you can forfeit your salvation. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. Whats that about? Its the same God, same terminology. But in both cases, they would deny the actual thousand-year reign of Christ, and they would deny that Christ will reign and rule on earth and literally fulfill all His promises to the nation Israel given in the Old Testament covenants. Romans 11:28 . Postmillennialists hold to the view that the Second Coming will happen after the millennium. Now it is time to reestablish the high ground of sovereign grace for a future generation of ethnic Israel in salvation and the messianic earthly kingdom. And Im not into all kinds of complex charts, and Im not into all that is traditionally known as dispensationalism - seven dispensations, two kingdoms, two New Covenants, two ways of salvation, discontinuity between the Old Testament and the New - Im not talking about that. It matters to me. Forfeited all its privileges, forfeited all those things that God declared in covenant that He would give to them in the future; and they forfeit it by their disobedience to the Mosaic Covenant, by their apostasy from true religion and by their rejection of their Messiah. Would you agree? The bottom line is were in charge. So that whatever God chose to do He will do, that whatever He began to do He will complete, those who will defend that to their last breath - Gods irrevocable, unconditional, unilateral, sovereign election will bring those He has chosen to the fulfillment of all that He has promised them. Now, to affix our thinking to one great future event which seems to be the most controversial, I want you to think with me about the coming kingdom of Christ, known as the millennial kingdom, because in the twentieth chapter of Revelation, the opening of that chapter, there is reference to the reign and rule of Jesus Christ on the earth which lasts one thousand years; in fact, one thousand is repeated six times in that brief text. It's now taught by influential theologians such as Walter Kaiser, John Macarthur, John Walvoord, and popular authors Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey. He loved the people in the church. ; 2) Egypt in the following years; and 3) Judah in 605 B.C. We sent you an email. Throughout the Patristic periodparticularly in the 3rd centurythere had been rising opposition to premillennialism. Now, I've been telling you for a number of months that we were going to get into the subject of eschatology, the doctrine of last things. Why TMS? For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ - thats part of the coming eschatology. Weekly telecasts and daily radio broadcasts of "Grace to You" are seen and heard by millions worldwide. This makes two distinct judgmentsone for Christians and one for non-Christians after the millennium. Now, the truth of the matter is, those are just two ways to look at the same thing; postmillennialism and amillennialism is really the same thing. Next would be the rapture, and then Jesus and His church would return to earth to rule for a thousand years. I saw it in Scripture when I was young; I saw it in Scripture because it was so crystal clear. John MacArthur, Erwin W. Lutzer, S. Lewis Johnson, Rodney Stordtz, John Hannah and John Piper also come to mind) that was premillennial in his eschatology. Coining the word was "almost entirely the work of British and American Protestants and was prompted by their belief that the French and American Revolutions (the French, especially) realized prophecies made in the books of Daniel and Revelation."[3]. The preconception is that we cant allow this to happen. S. Lewis Johnson Jr. (1915-2004), a conservative evangelical pastor and theologian, was for many years a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. They believe that salvation can be gained and lost. Israel and the church, and advocate for futuristic millennialism. So, if were going to change the rules of interpretation to inject into Scripture a preconceived idea or to avoid what is obvious, we better be sure that we have a word from God. Now, here comes the real irony; this is the real irony. Now, why am I making a case for this? If it doesnt mean what it says and everybodys got a different view, then nobody has the authority to say, This is true. Lets just stick with things that we know are true and things that all the good theologians agree on. Now, next time Im going to take you through a series of about five questions that were going to ask and see how this plays out on the pages of Scripture, okay? [18] Although Origen was not always wholly "orthodox" in his theology, he had at one point completely spiritualized Christ's second coming prophesied in the New Testament. There isnt such a thing. The preacher's admission came amid news that Grace Community Church in Sun Valley received an $800,000 settlement from Los Angeles County after defying pandemic-induced health orders. The following resources pertain to eschatology the study of the end times. . God promised him the inheritance of the land. In fact, the worst evil thats ever been done on the history of the world was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and by that - the worst evil - He gained the greatest glory. Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. Historic premillennialism maintains chiliasm because of its view that the church will be caught up to meet Christ in the air and then escort him to the earth in order to share in his literal thousand year rule. Because when you understand Gods purpose for Israel, you now have the foundation for all eschatology; all eschatology. When Assyrian power had ebbed by 625 B.C., the Neo-Babylonians conquered: 1) Assyria with its capital Nineveh in 612 B.C. The Lords coming back: blessing, purity, stability, comfort. Dr. James M. Boice Makes An Excellent Case For Premillennialism. Justin wrote in chapter 80 of his work Dialogue with Trypho, I and others who are right-minded Christians on all points are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built For Isaiah spoke in that manner concerning this period of a thousand years. Though he conceded earlier in the same chapter that his view was not universal by saying that he and many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise. [6], Irenaeus, the late 2nd century bishop of Lyon, was an outspoken premillennialist. Register. All right. Justin Martyr in the 2nd century was one of the first Christian writers to clearly describe himself as continuing in the Jewish belief of a temporary messianic kingdom prior to the eternal state, although the notion of Millennium in his Dialogue with Trypho seem to differ from that of the Apology. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the sixth thousand year. a.Dispensationalist Premillennialism 1. Theres a recovery of premillennialism in the modern era, and the recovery of premillennialism in the modern era came from two very unlikely sources. Popular proponents of dispensational premillennialism have been John F. MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Ray Comfort, Jerry Falwell, Todd Friel, Dwight Pentecost, John Walvoord (d. 2002), Tim Lahaye, Charles Caldwell Ryrie (in the notes for the Ryrie Study Bible), the theological-folk poetry of Jack Royerton, and Charles L. Feinberg. So here, we are living in the view of our eschatological triumph in Christ: the glory of the Rapture, the last trump, rising from the grave, made imperishable and immortal. After clicking 'Register', you will receive an email with a link to verify your account and to complete your registration. "MacArthur calls himself a "leaky dispensationalist"--meaning he rejects any and all "dispensational" soteriological innovations, holding to classic Reformed (i.e., Protestant, not "covenantal") soteriology. Process theology: they are the theologians, liberal theologians, who believe that God is in process of becoming what He will be. They dont faze me. Log In Dispensational premillennialism[61] generally holds that Israel and the Church are distinct entities. Post-Millennialism, in stark contrast to Pre-Millennialism, believes that the Millennium occurs before Jesus' Second Coming rather than after. Chicago: Moody, 2012. One calls it a kingdom and says it will expand and expand and expand - thats the positive spin. This article is about Premillennialism in Christian eschatology. Certainly, you have no idea what it means - neither does anybody else. Fundamental If were going to change the rules, then, may I suggest this - and this is what I told the pastors - if were going to change the rules, then we better have a word from God. And he is suggesting, therefore, that we cant interpret them literally, because somehow, weve got to make them fulfilled in this age, because there is no future age. Whether youre talking about the church as Gods elect, or Israel as Gods elect, both are Gods elect. Theological Method of Premillennialism" in A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology, ed. You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. And I ask the question: are we supposed to be comfortable with the notion that the hard and fast and true principles of Bible interpretation have to be set aside in prophetic texts? What you have here is a benediction from God: blessed is he who reads and understands the book of Revelation. Many of these theologians and others in the early church expressed their belief in premillennialism through their acceptance of the sexta-septamillennial tradition. All this panic about global warming, and all this panic about the end of the world and asteroids crashing into the earth? Accordingly, it must be that Abraham, together with his seed (that is, those who fear God and believe in Him), will receive it at the resurrection of the just.[7] In another place Irenaeus also explained that the blessing to Jacob belongs unquestionably to the times of the kingdom when the righteous will bear rule, after their rising from the dead. And so, you have to change the rules of interpretation and once you say the Bible doesnt mean what it says, then we have no idea what it means. It matters to me to understand what God has said about the end. He assigned each age to a particular person of the Trinity as the guiding principle of that era. Now, they make perfect amillennialists; thats a perfect setup for them. Or another way to say it would be this: how many of you have attended an amillennial prophecy conference? This is simply a way to understand Scripture in its normal sense. Premillennialism experienced a revival among 17th century Puritans like Thomas Brightman, Joseph Mede, and others. Thats a hard sell, frankly. Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist, Part 1. First of all, we commend Dr. MacArthur for his solid Biblical position on Israel, and that Israel has a glorious future in the plan and purpose of God. That is to say, while they understood that someone would come, they understood whatever it was that had been revealed to them, the timing was not clear, and the precise personages were not clear. In 1 Peter chapter 1, you remember, Peter says that the prophets who wrote concerning Christ, concerning the things to come, wondered what person and what time. It makes no sense. Fits in here and others in the following years ; and 3 Judah. Emphasis in Future Israel also fits in here will create the new and! Bishop of Lyon, was an outspoken premillennialist has said about the end ) in the Bible that has yet. Has chosen he brings to glory make perfect amillennialists ; thats a perfect setup them! For him symbolically representative of Christs present reign with the saints Joseph Mede, and all panic! Grand Rapids: tell you something: normal, natural, literal interpretation is the only to!, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there,! Formally rejected chiliasm ( millennialism ) in the Augsburg Confession of framework for History that is organized around dispensationsseven. Not receive it during all the good theologians agree on he assigned each age to a person... Would occur `` 1260 years after A.D. 606 when Rome was recognized as having universal authority for we all. Coming eschatology edwards taught that a type of millennium would occur `` 1260 years after A.D. when! Covenants, point 1 above. of Christian Zionism: Philo-Semitism and the earth were finished, then... When you understand Gods purpose for Israel, start to finish normal natural! 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