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. Daylight and dark, daylight and dark - thats a 24-hour period - God creates everything. Whether youre an amillennialist or a postmillennialist, you basically say Israel forfeited all its promises. 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. Israel and the church, and advocate for futuristic millennialism. Historic, or Classic, Premillennialism is distinctively non-dispensational. "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. The world, as they see it, is in an ongoing golden process of progress. There should be a footnote in the chapter saying, Please note: here comes a prophetic text; change the rules. We really need a divine mandate, because I think God cares that we get it right. You get the interpretation of Scripture right when youre faithful to valid rules of interpretation. [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. May it be powerful in our lives we pray in Christs name. And Ive gone back after I preach, and Ive written commentaries - now I think 26 or 27 volumes on the New Testament - back through the same material again and again and again and again and again, so that this understanding of eschatology has had to stand the acid test of every text. 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. I have even called thee by thy name Isaiah 65:9: Mine elect shall inherit it - the promises of God. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. Its two ways to view human history. . 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 . In the world, things will get better and better and better as the church becomes more powerful and more influential. . We also applaud his insistence that the Bible must be interpreted literally, according to its normal sense. John F. MacArthur, Jr. is a United States Calvinistic evangelical writer and minister, noted for his radio program entitled Grace to You and as the editor of the Gold Medallion Book Award winning MacArthur Study Bible. I think it matters to God. 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. Why? 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. When Assyrian power had ebbed by 625 B.C., the Neo-Babylonians conquered: 1) Assyria with its capital Nineveh in 612 B.C. Father, we thank You for a great evening together; wonderful testimonies, great fellowship and how - how good it is to think deeply and broadly about the glory of Your Word. Darby, that came out of that whole dispensational system no, it didnt. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism,577 especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism.578". This up to now has been more like a lecture, but turn to Revelation chapter 1, and just look at verse 3 for a moment. 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. Proponents of the view include John Gill, Mike Placko, Charles Spurgeon,[51] James Montgomery Boice,[52] George Eldon Ladd,[53] John Piper,[54] Albert Mohler,[55] Francis Schaeffer, Carl F. H. Henry,[56] Harold Lindsell, D. A. Carson,[57][58] Bryan Chapell,[59] and Gordon Clark.[60]. Log In Ive been teaching and preaching the Bible expositionally now for over 40 years, one verse at a time. How could they believe unless He caused them to believe? 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. This is process theology. Relax; set all that aside. If you want to understand what the Bible says about the future, get these two things right: the sovereignty of God in election, and the promises of that sovereign, electing God to those people to whom He has elected - His redeemed church and Israel. He loved to read and study. We want the Word to cause us to live lives pleasing to You. His teaching is still one of the most potent elements in Western religious thought.[24] Therefore, to analyze what happened to premillennialism in the Middle Ages and the Reformation, it is necessary to observe the Augustinian foundation. 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. We understand that when you have a prophecy in the Bible that has not yet come to pass, not everything will be clear. 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. 3. When I was in seminary I thought about it, and I guess for about 50 years Ive been thinking about eschatology, the time of the end. Among our elders, all four of the end-times views are representedhistoric premillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism. MacArthur's "dispensationalism" is eschatological and ecclesiological only. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.' In fact, some say nearly one-fourth of Scripture is prophetic. Jenna . Because when you understand Gods purpose for Israel, you now have the foundation for all eschatology; all eschatology. I had, as theologians might call it, my own my own ordo eschaton; that would be the chronological sequence of the end times. The reformers had it right on most issues. The alpha privative in the Greek language means a negative, so there is the view that there is no millennium; that what John is writing about in Revelation 20 is very vague, may refer to nothing other than a long time in which the church flourishes on earth, simply referring to that kingdom which is spiritual - that is, the rule of Christ over those who belong to Him while on earth. Not one reference anywhere in Scripture - and there are over two thousand, referring to Israel - means anything other than Israel. 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. Edwards taught that a type of Millennium would occur "1260 years after A.D. 606 when Rome was recognized as having universal authority. [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. Its the whole point of everything else. Now, frankly, its too late for John Calvin to fix his work, although he is now a premillennialist in heaven. He would be pretty close to progressive. 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? by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue (Chicago: Moody, 2012), 24. And Im not in to newspaper exegesis, where you where everything that happens in the news fulfills some obscure Old Testament prophecy. So, heres how to get the foundation for a good sound eschatology: get election right, get Israel right, you got it. After that he must be loosed for a little while." 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. There are a number of viewpoints of what the Bible means when it speaks of future events. They dont faze me. 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. He loved the people in the church. 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. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Corinthians 15. Many of these theologians and others in the early church expressed their belief in premillennialism through their acceptance of the sexta-septamillennial tradition. Whats that about? Calvin, though, was an amil, and DutchCalvinism, after a postmil start, has tended to be amil. In keeping with his view of faith, MacArthur denigrates "facts," "doctrine," "intellectual assent," and so on. 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? 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. This view understands that an aspect of the eschatological kingdom presently exists, but must wait for the millennium to be realized fully.[63]. [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. If you get that right, your eschatology will come crystal clear. For Joachim, year 1260 was to mark the end of the second and the beginning of the third and final golden age of earth's history. Oh sure, it helps to know some history and some background, but this is a pronounced blessing. O.T. Now, when they came here, Im very much aware that many of them are amillennialists. 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. Theres no sense in going in to all of that, except to say in both cases, they say there is no actual earthly reign of Christ fulfilling all Old Testament covenant promises. In his early period, Augustine held to the sexta-/septamillennial view common in early Christianity (see above section on Patristic Age). We are responsible for our sin, but in the end, we believe because He moves on us. With appearances by. 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. 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 first clear opponent of premillennialism associated with Christianity was Marcion. The church historian, Eusebius, reports this in his Ecclesiastical History. 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. You have this hope as a purifying hope. . Oxford theologian Alister McGrath has noted that "all medieval theology is Augustinian to a greater or lesser extent. All rights reserved. One says moving toward the coming of Christ there will be no kingdom. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), which, along with the appearance of the Antichrist, marks the beginning of the seven-year great tribulation on earth. Dispensational premillennialism[61] generally holds that Israel and the Church are distinct entities. Not that they were the end, but they were the means to the end. The preconception is that we cant allow this to happen. 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. 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. We know that, so our ambition is, when we get to that place, to be rewarded because we are pleasing to Him. Or another way to say it would be this: how many of you have attended an amillennial prophecy conference? If you dont know what you believe about the future, you cant preach on it. Whalen has noted that modern premillennialism is "criticized roundly for nave scholarship which confuses the poetic and inspirational prose of prophecy with fortune telling", though "Premillennialists retort that they merely follow the Word of God, regardless of ridicule." (Matt .25:31-46; John . And . Hes improving; Hes definitely on the upward curve. And youve been great tonight; this is more like a theological lecture. Over 200 times in the Bible God is called the God of Israel - over two hundred times, the God of Israel.. But we now have pure Israelites. This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. For example, the book is well-organized. The catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in paragraph 676 that the millennium is to be understood as "beyond history". There have been premillennial (traditionally known as "chiliastic) movements, including some Reformed theologians, since the early church but most . 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. [25] In accordance with this view, Augustine divided history into two separate dispensations, first the church age (the current age of 6,000 years), and then the millennial kingdom (Sermon 259.2). Who will establish it? Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. 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.. Did God do this but somehow mumble? Now, why am I making a case for this? 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. There are three basic eschatological views which are held by those calling themselves "Reformed.". [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. Contemporary premillennialism is divided into two schools of thought. One says its not the kingdom. 315K views 1 year ago Significant video editing was used to create a unique storyline that teaches about the end times, specifically premillennialism and amillennialism. Why bother? - comfort one another. Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist, Part 1. [34], During the Reformation period, amillennialism continued to be the popular view of the Reformers.
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