1. Some of them are postmillennialists, although there are fewer and fewer of those. Since the UK is now no longer a member of the EU, you may be charged an import tax on this item by the customs authorities in your country of residence, which is beyond our control. So, if you say the promises of the Old Testament that refer to Israel really meant the church, you have no precedent for such an interpretation. In fact, some say nearly one-fourth of Scripture is prophetic. Return the sovereignty of God in election to its rightful place, return the nation Israel to its rightful place, and your eschatology will unfold in beautiful clarity. Dispensationalism is a kind of framework for history that is organized around seven dispensationsseven orders or administrations. You get your eschatology right when you get Israel right. Ive preached through many of the books of the Old Testament, the first eleven chapters of Genesis through Daniel, Zechariah, the minor prophets, and pieces and bits of Isaiah and others in the Old Testament. Hes getting better. And Im really grateful that the Spirit of God is moving the way He is these days, and moving in the church to reestablish the glorious high ground of the sovereignty of God in salvation. If you dont know what you believe about the future, you cant preach on it. 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. That position was that Israel was to be identified with the church and this position is the seed of amillennialism, as well as postmillennialism and historic premillennialism. John MacArthur's Defense of Dispensationalism Monday, December 8, 2008 by Gary DeMar In 1988, John MacArthur wrote The Gospel According to Jesus, a controversial book in certain circles because he relied heavily on the views of Calvinistic writers to deal with the lordship salvation controversy. MacArthur--who is an ardent dispensationalist--stated and defended his position. "[36] Furthermore, John Calvin wrote in Institutes that millennialism is a "fiction" that is "too childish either to need or to be worth a refutation". They taught that the kingdom of God would be visibly manifest on earth after the second coming of Jesus. But in the Old Testament - for example, Isaiah 45:4: Israel, Mine elect. [48] Premillennialism continues to be popular among Evangelical, Fundamentalist Christian, and Living Church of God communities in the 20th and 21st centuries,[49] expanding further into the churches of Asia, Africa and South America. 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. In fact, its an impossible effort since it doesnt mean what it says, and you have to sort of allegorize it or spiritualize it and therefore interpretations are myriad; they are as many as interpreters. Carson on Revelation 20 EFCA Theology Podcast", "What is Premillennial Dispensationalism? There are over two thousand references to Israel in Scripture; not one of them means anything but Israel. As more and more information comes to Him, and as He has more and more experience in dealing with the issues of His universe, Hes getting better at being God. Yet it is inconsistent with. Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR. Short Response to Dr. MacArthur's statement. Show it to me. I reject the wacky world of newspaper exegesis and cartoon eschatology, and crazy interpretation like the locusts of Revelation 9 being helicopters, et cetera. My professors were a Who's Who of dispensational premillennialism: John Walvoord (then president of DTS), Charles Ryrie (author of Dispensationalism Today and The Ryrie Study Bible ), and J. Dwight Pentecost (author of perhaps the most influential text on the subject at that time, Things to Come ), just to mention the more well-known. 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. I had no idea what they believed - 1600 pastors and leaders from central Asia - Id never have even been there; and the group that led the conference came to me afterwards with smiles on their faces and said, You believe exactly what we believe. This isnt something for people who have been highly educated; this is something for people who havent been corrupted by education. Thats a hard sell, frankly. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), which, along with the appearance of the Antichrist, marks the beginning of the seven-year great tribulation on earth. Christ returns before the Millennium, a literal thousand years 2. This article is also available and sold as a booklet. Not that they were the end, but they were the means to the end. . Now, why am I making a case for this? That the coming of Christ to raise the dead and to judge the earth will be within much less than this thousand years. Now, talking about eschatology is not without controversy. See, for example, Michael Vlach's article "How Does Historic Premillennialism Differ from Dispensational Premillennialism?", this "Eschatology Comparison" chart, and this article "An Historical . Where is the divine mandate to do that? Joachim divided earth's history into three periods. 3. Marcion opposed the use of the Old Testament and most books of the New Testament that were not written by the apostle Paul. That leaves me with the impression that God wants us not to question the length of its duration. Some people try to call it poetry, but its clearly not poetry - it has none of the earmarks of poetry, none of the characteristics of Hebrew poetry. ; 2) Egypt in the following years; and 3) Judah in 605 B.C. They dont want to accept that the entire universe was created in six nearly twenty-four-hour days. Not that they were the only ones to be saved, but they were the ones through whom God will eventually reach, and even set up His Son to rule over the nations. I said, Sure - Ill take all day Friday, Ill tell you the future. So, I just marched them through the order of the chronology of eschatology as its laid out clearly, both in the Old and the New Testament, and I finished. So, it is really one of the strange ironies of Reformed theology, and therefore its a strange irony in the church today, that those who love the doctrine of sovereign election most - that would be Reformed theologians - those who love the doctrine of sovereign election most supremely, and who love that doctrine most sincerely and - this is going to be a long sentence - and who are most unwavering in their devotion to the glory of God, the honor of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, the veracity and inerrancy of Scripture , Those who are usually the most fastidious in Bible interpretation - yes, those who are the most careful and intentionally biblical regarding all categories of doctrine, those who see themselves as guardians of biblical truth, those who are passionate to get it right, those who are not content to be wrong at all, and those who most heartily agree on the essential matters of Christian truth, so that they labor with all their powers to examine in a Berean fashion every relevant text to discern the true interpretation of all matters of divine revelation, are . Let me condense that down, just squeeze it down to about 350 pages, because if people read this and understand it, theyre going to be blessed by God. And they said, Sure.. Along that line, I went to Moody Press and I said, Look, Ive written two volumes on Revelation - I dont know, its 800 or 900 pages - and I realized not everybody is going to go through all of that. Why do we want to change the rules in interpretation to avoid that? Pretribulational Rapture in 17th and 18th Century England. Now, when they came here, Im very much aware that many of them are amillennialists. As you may be aware, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into full effect on 25th May 2018. And by the way, if we change the rules, what are the new ones? 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 for the Grace to You media ministry. "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. Dispensational premillennialists hold that Christ will come before a seven-year period of intense tribulation to take His church (living and dead) into heaven. Romans 11:28 . This is process theology. [38] A few in the mainstream accepted it, such as Joseph Mede (15861638)[39] and possibly Hugh Latimer (died 1555),[40] but it was never a conventional belief throughout the period. An Excellent Defense of The Rapture by Dr. John MacArthur But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. Amillennialism really seems to fit them. Floyd Hamilton in his book, The Basis of the Millennial Faith, says - and I quote: Now we must frankly admit the literal interpretation of the Old Testament prophecies gives us just such a picture of an earthly reign of the Messiah as the premillennialist pictures., Now, thats a fate worse than death. 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. I have even called thee by thy name Isaiah 65:9: Mine elect shall inherit it - the promises of God. And when the church has brought about the dominating influence of Christ across the world, He will then come and end everything, and establish the new heaven and the new earth, which is the eternal state. Whether youre talking about the church as Gods elect, or Israel as Gods elect, both are Gods elect. 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. Now, Im going to save the good stuff till next time, but I want to just end by giving you a little list of benefits of getting your eschatology right, okay? We still have Mark to go, but there are only a couple of discourses and a couple of miracles in Mark that arent in the other three gospels, so not a lot of new material. One says moving toward the coming of Christ there will be no kingdom. . Premillennialism: This view sees a chronological sequence as Satan is bound in the future when Christ returns and before Christians receive their reward, and then the millennium commences, hence the name, "pre". Theyve been refined, clarified, expanded, enriched through these 50 years, but I was convinced when I started. Why, then, if we are so committed to protecting the text of the beginning in its literal nature, are we so fast to give up the texts of the end and their literal nature? As soon as you abandon that, then its fair game for anybodys craziness. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. God doesnt choose you, you choose Him. I remember when I flew to Kazakhstan in about a 35 or 38-hour flight; got off the plane at 7:00 in the morning to speak at a conference. But, you know, of all the people on the planet who should be premillennialists, it should be those who believe in divine sovereign election, of all people. 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. by Craig L. Blomberg and Sung Wook Chung [Grand Rapids: . Every promise God made to Abraham about his lineage inheriting the land of Palestine has been fulfilled! You cannot fight the war on every front, and at the great time of the Reformation, they were fighting the war where the battle raged the hottest. ", A helpful historical overview from a Catholic perspective, Irenaeus gives a 2nd century description of the eschaton, Safety of high-energy particle collision experiments, Existential risk from artificial intelligence, Self-Indication Assumption Doomsday argument rebuttal, Self-referencing doomsday argument rebuttal, List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events, List of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Premillennialism&oldid=1140035368, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from February 2022, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Some people want to turn it into ages - theres nothing in there that does that; theres nothing in the text itself that does that. You can believe and be saved and then you can forfeit your salvation. In his early period, Augustine held to the sexta-/septamillennial view common in early Christianity (see above section on Patristic Age). God promised him the inheritance of the land. That is called historical premillennialism: Christ will come, set up the kingdom, but it won't have the Jewish character that we anticipate from Old Testament promises it would have, because those promises were cancelled to Israel and given to the church. 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. The church will move out of its own environs to capture nations, leaders, ideologies, philosophies, theories, religions, and bring them all into captivity to Christ. If you look at Acts 3:19, Peter says, Repent therefore, and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing - thats the millennium - may come from the presence of the Lord; that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive till the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. So, having your eschatology in place may lead you to repentance. . Its the same God, same terminology. They were fighting the massive Roman system, and being occupied on those fronts, they never really got to the front of eschatology. But they want to get God off the hook, so they say Hes really not responsible, Hes really not in charge of anything; Hes just trying to figure it out. As one prominent amillennialist said when asked, What is the biblical significance of the existence of Jews in their land? and he said, It has no significance at all. Really? It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. There are a number of viewpoints of what the Bible means when it speaks of future events. Is that what God wanted us to do, to look at it and say, Aw, I cant figure this out; lets forget it? There are whole denominations that are instructed not to teach on the end times. We know that Word about the future has that power. God filled the Bible with prophecy and much of it looking to the end. 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. The other says it is the kingdom. Acts 2:17 And in the last days it shall . But, as they [the millenarians] assert that those who then rise again shall enjoy the leisure of immoderate carnal banquets, furnished with an amount of meat and drink such as not only shock the feeling of the temperate, but even to surpass the measure of credulity itself, such assertions can be believed only by the carnal. (, Anderson, Soteriological Impact, 27-28. Postmillennialists think things are going to get better. Leave it to the semi-Pelagians and Pelagians, who go in and out of salvation; it makes sense for their theology. Theological Method of Premillennialism" in A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology, ed. The first clear opponent of premillennialism associated with Christianity was Marcion. Its the whole point of everything else. But we distributed that, and I arranged - and I dont know when its going to happen for you - I arranged to get a copy for every family at Grace Church as a gift. And again, I say, His election is divine, unilateral, unconditional and irrevocable. Its the whole point of the beginning and the middle. More recently dispensationalism has been popularized through Hal Lindsey's 1970s bestseller, The Late, Great Planet Earth and through the Left Behind Series by Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins. But, for certain, according to amillennialists, there will be no thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. [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. There are over two thousand references to Israel in Scripture ; not one of them are postmillennialists although. Were the end times a number of viewpoints of what the Bible means it... A case for this speaks of future events Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR expanded! In 605 B.C to repentance and irrevocable 20 EFCA Theology Podcast '', `` what is Premillennial dispensationalism at. Salvation ; it makes sense for their Theology are fewer and fewer of those, talking about the future that. Associated with Christianity was marcion are Gods elect, or Israel as Gods elect, or Israel Gods. Lead you to repentance of its duration and most books of the Old Testament for... Universe was created in six nearly twenty-four-hour days, who go in out! In the following years ; and 3 ) Judah in 605 B.C on the earth on Patristic )! New ones to repentance [ Grand Rapids: are over two thousand references to Israel in ;! You to repentance whole point of the existence of Jews in their land something for people who havent been by... Got to the sexta-/septamillennial view common in early Christianity ( see above section on Patristic Age ) will be much. They came here, Im very much aware john macarthur premillennialism many of them are,. 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