. My sermon was on amillennialism, which I posted to my blog last week. This article is about Premillennialism in Christian eschatology. John MacArthur's first message at the Shepherds' Conference set off shock waves throughout the reformed evangelical church by upholding Premillennialism as being the only consistent position for any person who holds to the doctrine of sovereign electing grace. And there are a lot of people who get the first one right - they get election right - and they dont get Israel right, and they are lost when it comes to eschatology. He will return to an increasingly wicked earth, He will come in fiery judgment, He will judge all the ungodly of all the earth, and then establish His rule and His kingdom forever. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. He loved the church. "John MacArthur on Calvinism, Dispensationalism, Israel, and Hermeneutics: A Few Comments" . Christ's Prophetic Plans: A Futuristic Premillennial Primer. Now, against those two is the view called premillennialism; that means there will be a millennium and prior to that millennium, Jesus will come. Now, when they came here, Im very much aware that many of them are amillennialists. I. Dr. MacArthur on Premillennialism and Calvinism: "Now that leads to my title: `Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist Is a Premillennialist' [laughter and applause] Now it's too late for Calvin, but it's not too late for the rest of you. We sent you an email. And youve been great tonight; this is more like a theological lecture. GDPR is the new European privacy regulation, which will replace the Data Protection Act 1998 in the UK and the equivalent legislation across the EU Member States. Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism 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. And for this reason the Scripture says: 'Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. 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. He doesnt know the future because it hasnt happened. I have thought about these things, by the way, for a long time. 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. 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. Does the end matter? 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. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, this mortal must put on immortality. And then he goes on to talk about the fact that in that moment, in that event, Death is swallowed up in victory. In the modern theological world, I say leave amillennialism to the process theologians. I saw it in Scripture when I was young; I saw it in Scripture because it was so 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. (Matt .25:31-46; John . Christ will return, He will come in a glorious second coming to earth - but not to establish His kingdom, but rather after His kingdom has been established. Particular to this framework is the eschatological position known as "premillennial dispensationalism" which holds that Christ will return prior to a literal one-thousand-year reign on earth. a.Dispensationalist Premillennialism 1. 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. 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". Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR. Johnson was a moderate dispensationalist and a Five-point Calvinist in his soteriology. Arminians - not Armenians, thats different; those who follow Arminius - did not believe in election. The faithful spend eternity in the New Jerusalem. Mhling, Markus, "Grundwissen Eschatologie. Daylight and dark, daylight and dark - thats a 24-hour period - God creates everything. Barry Horner's emphasis in Future Israel also fits in here. [34], During the Reformation period, amillennialism continued to be the popular view of the Reformers. They were fighting the massive Roman system, and being occupied on those fronts, they never really got to the front of eschatology. And by the way, if we change the rules, what are the new ones? 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. We know that, so our ambition is, when we get to that place, to be rewarded because we are pleasing to Him. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9; 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9: We have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, - that is, whether in heaven or here - to be pleasing to Him - to be pleasing to Him. The other says there will be a kingdom. But in both cases it will be the flow of history under the influence of the church, so theyre really looking at the same thing. Now, frankly, its too late for John Calvin to fix his work, although he is now a premillennialist in heaven. That the conversion of the Jews will not be till this present state of the world is near unto its end. Articles Baptist Theology Calvinism Charles Spurgeon Christology Classic Premillennialism Covenant Theology e-Articles e-Books Eschatology Historic . 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. Postmillennialists think things are going to get better. 4. Hes not predicting the future because you cant predict what hasnt happened - it doesnt exist. [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. [41] Although they were not premillennial, the English theologian Daniel Whitby (16881726), the German Johann Albrecht Bengel (16871752), and the American Jonathan Edwards (170358) "fueled millennial ideas with new influence in the nineteenth century. . The reason why it's called "historic premillennialism" is that, historically, this was the allegedly commonly-held view by many of the church fathers like Iraenus, Pappias, and Justin Martyr. I know where history is going. First John 3 verse 2: Beloved - 1 John 3:2 Now are we the children of God. Even His promises may not be valid, because He made them with inadequate information. If you interpret Old Testament prophecies literally, they cannot be fulfilled in this present age. The first era was the Old Testament history and was accordingly the age of the Father; the current age of the church was the age of the Son; and still in Joachim's future was the age of the Spirit. 2. Revelation 1:3: Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it: for the time is near.. 2023 Grace to You. Now, I know at this point somebody out there is going to say, Oh boy, hes into the Left Behind series. No, Im not in to Rapture fiction, and Im not in to wacky charts - you dont see me up here with a big chart and a stick. Between 1790 and the mid-19th century, premillennialism was a popular view among English Evangelicals, even within the Anglican church. This morning John MacArthur opened the 2007 Shepherd's Conference with a loud blast that will no doubt be heard around the Reformed world in the coming weeks. 4. The world, as they see it, is in an ongoing golden process of progress. 11:12; 12:29; 13:19; John 10:12, 28, 29) and removing (John 6:15; Acts 8:39; 23:10; Jude 23).There is a third use, which focuses on being caught up . God is just trying to find His way through the melee of choices and decisions, through the endless vicissitudes and choices that everything and everyone makes, through all of the numberless issues in this massive universe that are going on; Hes sorting it all out as He goes. But people are upset because MacArthur so badly misrepresented amillennialism, and because he defined "premillennialism" as though it were dispensationalism. Some people want to turn it into ages - theres nothing in there that does that; theres nothing in the text itself that does that. Those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election - thats the Reformed - they are typically amillennial. Hes getting better. What you have here is a benediction from God: blessed is he who reads and understands the book of Revelation. And by the way, dispensationalists - people say, Well, that whole premillennial view, that came out of C.I. And for most evangelicals, for most people who hold to a sound, biblical view and Reformed theology, they would live and die that the text of Genesis 1 through 3 means exactly what it says it means, because thats the only way to interpret Scripture. Staggering. MacArthur's Millennial Manifesto Paperback - May 29, 2008 by Samuel E. Waldron (Author) 30 ratings 4.4 on Goodreads 70 ratings See all formats and editions Paperback $12.81 6 Used from $12.80 8 New from $12.81 Mass Market Paperback $50.62 3 Used from $49.48 2 New from $50.62 You can choose Him and then not choose Him, and then choose Him again and then not choose Him, and you make the decision; and so, all of the promises of God are conditional on you. I have dragged you through virtually every verse in the New Testament. by Craig L. Blomberg and Sung Wook Chung [Grand Rapids: . Over 200 times in the Bible God is called the God of Israel - over two hundred times, the God of Israel.. You get Israel right when you get the Old Testament covenants and promises with Israel right. Well see more about how that works. We want the Word to bless, to make us pure, to stabilize us, to comfort us, to give us a passion for evangelism. The preconception is that we cant allow this to happen. Now, they make perfect amillennialists; thats a perfect setup for them. I dont do this to you very often, but I hope you feel like it was helpful, and anchored you in this great and important truth. Every promise God made to Abraham about his lineage inheriting the land of Palestine has been fulfilled! Among our elders, all four of the end-times views are representedhistoric premillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism. The first view well call the postmillennial view; that is to say, that Christ will come after the millennium; that the return of Christ is post, it is after the millennial kingdom. John MacArthur claims to be a Dispensationalist in both The Gospel According to Jesus (GAJ) and The Gospel According to the Apostles (GAA). This means that it sees no radical theological distinction between Israel and the Church. Im unwaveringly committed to that. Do you understand the massive apologetic power of the existence of Israel as an ethnic people in their own land? The first clear opponent of premillennialism associated with Christianity was Marcion. I have even called thee by thy name Isaiah 65:9: Mine elect shall inherit it - the promises of God. But even more interesting, in England in 1827, there was a publication affirming premillennialism, the coming of Christ and the establishment of His millennial kingdom, written by a Jesuit priest - reading his Bible - by the name of Manuel de Lacunza y Diaz. The first phase of that eternal rule will be His reign on this earth, which will last - as Revelation 20 says six times - a thousand years, after which His rule will continue, because it is an everlasting rule, but it will continue in a new heaven and a new earth that replace this heaven and earth, which will melt in an atomic implosion and make way for the new creation. 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. May we be faithful to take it, to interpret it as you intended for us to, so that it can yield to us the wonderful rich blessings that You have promised. I reject the wacky world of newspaper exegesis and cartoon eschatology, and crazy interpretation like the locusts of Revelation 9 being helicopters, et cetera. 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? After this period of fulfillment of divine wrath, He shall then return to rule from a holy city ( i.e., the New Jerusalem) over the earthly nations for one thousand years. The bottom line is were in charge. First, the Antichrist would appear and a seven-year period of tribulation would commence. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. But for those who get it, for those who understand it, for those who embrace Gods sovereignty - that He is the only one who can determine who will be saved and blessed, and He is the only one who can save and bless - then saying that He cancelled promises to Israel because they didnt believe is completely inconsistent. Not just the future of Israel, but our confidence in the Word of God. Denominations such as Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, Presbyterianism[1] and Lutheranism are generally amillennial and interpret Revelation 20:16 as pertaining to the present time, a belief that Christ currently reigns in Heaven with the departed saints; such an interpretation views the symbolism of Revelation as referring to a spiritual conflict between Heaven and Hell rather than a physical conflict on Earth. "[45] It has to matter to us. Log In 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. One says its not the kingdom. The other says it is the kingdom. Regarding this Dr. Timothy Jones writes, "Dispensationalism emphasizes the differences and discontinuity between the physical descendants of Abraham and followers of Jesus [2]. But his influence did gain wider acceptance especially in the period following Constantine. His most well-known work is, William C. Watson "Dispensationalism Before Darby: 17th and 18th century English Apocalypticism (Lampion Press, 2015), Quoted by Robert K. Whalen, Premillennialism in, Herbert W. Bateman IV, Dispensationalism Tomorrow, in, Works from an amillennial or postmillennial perspective, Works from multiple perspectives or no apparent perspective, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Question & Answer: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church", "Introductory Note to the Fragments of Papias", "Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew", "NPNF2-01. I recently read this great article and would recommend every professing Calvinist to give it a read, I believe John MacArthur's arguments for Pre-Millennialism are biblically irrefutable, mainly because the traditional Reformed view (Amillennialism) does away (Replacement Theology) with future Israel (God's Elect) and that is far from the truth And so, I think its a fair test to see whether eschatology holds up. The Lutherans formally rejected chiliasm (millennialism) in The Augsburg Confession. Theological Method of Premillennialism" in A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology, ed. There are over two thousand references to Israel in Scripture; not one of them means anything but Israel. John MacArthur's six-part series, "Why Every Calvinist is a Premillennialist," addresses this aspect of historic premillennialism, the future for Israel. And by what authority? We can interpret it the way we interpret any other passage of Scripture, with the same use of the normal, natural means of interpreting language, and we should; and it will yield for us as clear an understanding of the future as the Lord wants us to have. MacArthur, John, and Richard Mayhue, eds. His message in General Session 1 was entitled "Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is Premillennial". John MacArthur's first message at the Shepherds' Conference set off shock waves throughout the reformed evangelical church by upholding Premillennialism as being the only consistent position for any person who holds to the doctrine of sovereign electing grace. 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. 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. But not us, who live and breathe the rarified air of sovereign grace and election; it makes no sense to me. Amillennialists do not view the millennium mentioned in Revelation as pertaining to a literal thousand years, but rather as symbolic, and see the kingdom of Christ as already present in the church beginning with the Pentecost in the book of Acts. He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. Whats that about? Craig Blaising and . Edwards taught that a type of Millennium would occur "1260 years after A.D. 606 when Rome was recognized as having universal authority. Its the same God, same terminology. Instead it consistently referred to the present age so that the church was currently experiencing the eschaton. This is simply a way to understand Scripture in its normal sense. So, I say, leave amillennialism to those kinds of people who do not believe in the sovereign, unilateral, irrevocable, divine electing power of God. Thats a hard sell, frankly. He is known around the world for his verse-by-verse expository preaching and his pulpit ministry via his daily radio program, Grace to You. Theyve been refined, clarified, expanded, enriched through these 50 years, but I was convinced when I started. It's now taught by influential theologians such as Walter Kaiser, John Macarthur, John Walvoord, and popular authors Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey. This is observed in the 41st of the Anglican Articles, drawn up by Thomas Cranmer (1553), describing the millennium as a 'fable of Jewish dotage', but it was omitted at a later time in the revision under Elizabeth (1563).[35]. 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