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For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. Registered User So, I say, leave amillennialism to those kinds of people who do not believe in the sovereign, unilateral, irrevocable, divine electing power of God. For example, the book is well-organized. Israel sinned, promises cancelled. All of these are benefits of getting it right. 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. He even went so far as to say that the Amillennial position is more consistent with Arminianism Interestingly, some of this same languagethe phrase double conversion of the Gentiles in particularwas used by Johann Heinrich Alsted, whose premillennial The Beloved City or, The Saints Reign on Earth a Thousand Yeares (1627; English edition 1643) exercised great influence in England. The following is a partial response to the subject since it is integral to premillennialism while postmillennialism is often ignored on the subject. As you may be aware, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into full effect on 25th May 2018. Some people say, How in the world can you understand it? They understood it in China without anything but a Bible; they understood it in Central Asia without anything but a Bible; you take it at face value. Christ returns before the Millennium, a literal thousand years 2. 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. It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. by R. Scott Clark on April 8, 2020 | Dispensationalism describes a way of reading the Bible and a system of theology the nearest roots of which are in the 19th century. He also spoke briefly about dispensationalism, but I am not going to cover that here, I got to run. Over 200 times in the Bible God is called the God of Israel - over two hundred times, the God of Israel.. Select Bibliography. Now, they make perfect amillennialists; thats a perfect setup for them. Resting Not Vexing, Our Anchor in a Sea of Chaos and Consternation, Why I (Sometimes) Listen to Supreme Court Oral Arguments. There are 73 references to Israel in the New Testament; each of them refers to Israel. Cause what that means is God does know the future; God has set the future, and the future involves not only the glory of His church but the fulfillment of His elect people Israel with regard to everything that He promised that nation. (Quoted in Murray, The Puritan Hope, 101102. / ( .) See more on the author's page Sung Wook Chung 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. 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. We want the Word to cause us to live lives pleasing to You. God promised him the inheritance of the land. Now, talking about eschatology is not without controversy. Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR. You can follow him on Twitter. In a really interesting illustration MacArthur envisioned an amillennialist evangelizing a Jew. I have - they can try to terrify me with all this stuff; I am unmoved. 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? 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. , . In other words, Piper believes Jesus Christ will come on earth and reign for 1,000 years. Now, there are people who do this to Genesis 1, 2 and 3. I am not going to try to quote him here, because frankly I did not take notes, I just sat there and listened. Relax; set all that aside. And Im not in to newspaper exegesis, where you where everything that happens in the news fulfills some obscure Old Testament prophecy. 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. Now, here comes the real irony; this is the real irony. Highly acclaimed theologian Dr. Charles C. Ryrie addresses this crucial issue from the perspective of classic dispensationalism. And then the effect of it is in verse 58: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, and you can stop right there. You can figure it out. John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, editors Moody Publishers 2012-02-21 Five faculty members of The Master's Seminary have written an excellent primer on what they call "futuristic premillennialism." This is a strong defense of pretribulational dispensational premillennialism. -- by John Walvoord -- p.98 10.The Early Witness to Premillennialism -- by Michael Vlach -- p.104 11.Premillennialism in the Old Testament Series -- by Arnold Fruchtenbaum -- p.107 Whether youre an amillennialist or a postmillennialist, you basically say Israel forfeited all its promises. Now, understanding the future is you know, thats a general statement that you would be blessed - but look at just a couple of other things quickly. This is a positive book: positive about the future of the Church. This is process theology. Dispensationalism continues to provoke heated debate within the Christian world. Since Scripture speaks of the Millennium as a time of great prosperity for the kingdom of God, post-mills are inherently optimistic. I couldnt help but wonder what the other guest speakers might have been thinking as they sat in the front row. And so, we stand steadfast, immovable. Its a strange approach. He made them in the past, when He didnt know what He now knows, because what was going to happen hadnt happened. But not us, who live and breathe the rarified air of sovereign grace and election; it makes no sense to me. The church. They were fighting the massive Roman system, and being occupied on those fronts, they never really got to the front of eschatology. Please make sure all fields are filled out. His point being that Jesus literally fulfilled promises of God just as they would have been literally taken, how in the world can we now redefine the kingdom in a different way than it was described in and through the prophets? Christ's Prophetic Plans offers the reader John MacArthur's most explicit writing on eschatology and is perfect for pastors, bible professors, teachers, and students with a heart and mind for discovering Biblical truth. You can believe and be saved and then you can forfeit your salvation. Did God do this but somehow mumble? You get Israel right when you get the Old Testament covenants and promises with Israel right. 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. Premillennialism (3) Pretribulationism (1) Pride (3) Priests (4) Princeton Theological Review (1) . Ive written about this in several places. I had, as theologians might call it, my own my own ordo eschaton; that would be the chronological sequence of the end times. I asked Dr. Michael Brown, who is premil, in our debate about Replacement Theology how he reconciles his claim that God is not finished with Israel with Zechariah 13:79. His mode of expositing those verses that supposedly counter Preterism really helped me to focus on those areas in the Bible. 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. 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. We understand that when you have a prophecy in the Bible that has not yet come to pass, not everything will be clear. 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. You would assume that they are confused because the Bible is confusing, and if the Bible is confusing, then God Himself is confused, and so, working hard - and it is often hard work - to understand prophetic passages is needless. These are dicult words to pronounce and even harder concepts to understand. Not just the future of Israel, but our confidence in the Word of God. The other says it is the kingdom. Whats that about? The beliefs of Premillennialism are far from "rightly dividing the word of truth"! He never has. Because, you see, if it doesnt mean what it says it means, then any suggestion is as bad as any other suggestion. Amillennialism is consistent with Arminianism. This morning John MacArthur opened the 2007 Shepherds Conference with a loud blast that will no doubt be heard around the Reformed world in the coming weeks. Now, frankly, its too late for John Calvin to fix his work, although he is now a premillennialist in heaven. Why would God wait nearly 2000 years to redeem a single generation of Jews only to have the antichrist wipe out two-thirds of them? . Well, we now come to the doctrines that relate to the end times. There isnt such a thing. If you interpret Old Testament prophecies literally, they cannot be fulfilled in this present age. "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. Now, were going to dig a little more deeply into the whole idea of the millennial kingdom and what the Bible says about it, and as to its nature and the aspects of the kingdom that are revealed in Scripture - and by the way, they are many and they are wondrous to behold, and we will do that. 3. Why? Amillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism, postmillennialism, preterism. He confronts the views of covenant theology, historical premillennialism, ultradispensationalism, and, in this revised edition, the increasingly popular progressive dispensationalism. You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. . Ive been teaching and preaching the Bible expositionally now for over 40 years, one verse at a time. We freely own, as what we think agreeable to scripture, that as Christ has, in all ages, displayed his glory as King of the Church, so we have ground to conclude, from scripture, that the administration of his government in this world, before his coming to judgment, will be attended with greater magnificence, more visible marks of glory, and various occurrences of providence, which shall tend to the welfare and happiness of his church, in a greater degree than has been beheld or experienced by it, since it was planted by the ministry of the apostles after his ascension into heaven. Historically, church fathers favored historic premillennialism, including Ireneaus, Papias, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Hippolytus. He has also written or edited nearly four hundred books and study guides. And the longer I think about it and the more I study the Scripture, the clearer it becomes to me. They also think that there is not to be a literal thousand-year kingdom as such, but thats just metaphoric for a long time; and it simply indicates whatever the duration of that period where the influence of the church dominates the world, after which Christ returns. The Millennium is the reign on earth of Jews who accept Christ John MacArthur, Because the Time is Near: John MacArthur Explains the Book of Revelation (Moody, 2007). Why TMS? Yet it is inconsistent with. Prior to that I thought about it a lot. You get your eschatology right when you get Israel right. 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. Amen. [1] He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. But let me tell you something: normal, natural, literal interpretation is the only way to stop abuse of Scripture. What some postmil critics fail to recognize is that postmillennialists have always had a significant role for the future conversion of Jews while premillennialists do not. A Review of Dr. John MacArthur's "Why Every Calvinist Should be a Premillennialist" Sermon. Have you ever heard of that? Did He do it and somehow muddle it so hopelessly that the high ground for Bible students and the high ground for theologians is to recognize the muddle and abandon the perspicuity or the clarity of Scripture on that subject? Weve been working our way through doctrinal emphases in Scripture, doctrinal themes, and we have covered a lot of ground. The other view is whats called openness theology, and its the same thing; it simply means God has no idea what the future is. I like to call amillennialism negative, and postmillennialism positive. 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? A Purchased Victory: A Conference on the Bright Hope of Postmillennialism, Website made by Chittam Technology Solutions, LLC. 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. It matters to me to understand what God has said about the end. So to interpret Matthew 24 the way John MacArthur does as all about the tribulation period, and then all of a sudden you get to verse thirteen and you read into that a whole soteriological concept that I've got to make it to the end of my life in good works to prove I'm a Christian so I can get to heaven. DMcFadden said: The mixture of dispensational eschatology and Calvinist soteriology is not unique to MacArthur. In 1679, Scottish minister Walter Smith drew up some guidelines for prayer meetings: As it is the undoubted duty of all to pray for the coming of Christs kingdom, so all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and know what it is to bow a knee in good earnest, will long and pray for the out-making of the gospel-promises to his Church in the latter days, that King Christ would go out upon the white horse of the gospel, conquering and to conquer, and make a conquest of the travail of his soul, that it may be sounded that the kingdoms of the world are become his, and his name called upon from the rising of the sun to its going down. Israel sinned, youre out. He notes that "the decisive authority of Asiatic millennialism is John, from whom the elders claimed to have obtained their information. Hes not predicting the future because you cant predict what hasnt happened - it doesnt exist. A recurring topic of interest in his writings is the historical reliability of the Scriptures. John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where he has served since 1969. The English noun/verb "rapture" comes from the Latin noun raptura/verb rapio that is used 14 times in the NT.The basic idea of the word is "to remove suddenly or snatch away." It is used in the NT in reference to stealing/plundering (Matt. I think it matters. But we now have pure Israelites. Well, this is such a great chapter - verse 51: I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep. And youve been great tonight; this is more like a theological lecture. 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. Some of them are postmillennialists, although there are fewer and fewer of those. That leaves me with the impression that God wants us not to question the length of its duration. They believe that salvation can be gained and lost. I have thought about these things, by the way, for a long time. MacArthur pulled no punches in his messages saying things like Jesus, Peter, the writer of Hebrews, and James were all premillenial. . There are over two thousand references to Israel in Scripture; not one of them means anything but Israel. 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. Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. An Anglican - an Anglican - by the name of William Cunningham in 1815 wrote a book called The Premillennial Advent; he was anything but a dispensationalist. The books and articles that make this case are not obscure or difficult to find. MacArthur is a fifth-generation pastor, a popular author and conference speaker and has served as pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California since 1969, and as President of The Master's College (and the related Master's Seminary) in Santa Clarita, California. Post-Millennialism, in stark contrast to Pre-Millennialism, believes that the Millennium occurs before Jesus' Second Coming rather than after. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), which, along with the appearance of the Antichrist, marks the beginning of the seven-year great tribulation on earth. Iain Murray, the author of The Puritan Hope, a book that Im using to make my historical case against MacArthurs claims, spoke at the Shepherds Conference in 2001. If this is a future event, why arent premillennialists warning the Jews in Israel whats about to take place? [2] Whether you are a pessimistic amillennialist, or an optimistic amillennialist - thats a postmillennialist - you dont know what to do with prophetic truth, because if you interpret prophetic truth in the same normal, natural way you interpret all the rest of the passages of Scripture, youre going to end up a premillennialist; its inevitable. He told me he would study the issue and get back to me. Theres a recovery of premillennialism in the modern era, and the recovery of premillennialism in the modern era came from two very unlikely sources. This primer takes you on a Biblical study of questions surrounding prophecy, Israel, the rapture, and the different millennial . How could He hold them responsible for not believing? An article by John MacArthur: "The common question of which Bible translation to use is very important--it concerns the most important words ever spoken, the words of God the Creator. Even His promises may not be valid, because He made them with inadequate information. All this panic about global warming, and all this panic about the end of the world and asteroids crashing into the earth? Ridgeley spends several pages refuting ancient and modern Chiliasts, or Millennarians ((Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 1:558562.)) The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics helps Christians show unbelievers the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel as the only hope that fulfills our deepest longings. 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. 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. In a shocking conclusion to the illustration, MacArthur said, if this is the kingdom, then Jesus is not the messiah. 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. Let me give you a theology lesson here a little bit. Continue reading Premillennialism Historic Premillennialism Postmillennialism Amillennialism view sees the re-establishment of temple worship and animal sacrifices as a remembrance of Christ's sacrifice. This year they upgraded some snacks and are handing out Zone protein bars, a major enhancementhowever, I am really missing my family. If students at The Masters Seminary are not being taught these things in their classes dealing with prophecy, then they are being shortchanged, misinformed, and, dare I say, led astray. Another Rapture passage - great one - verse 16: the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first. There are a number of viewpoints of what the Bible means when it speaks of future events. I have even called thee by thy name Isaiah 65:9: Mine elect shall inherit it - the promises of God. When Frederick the Great called his chaplain in and he said, I want proof of the truthfulness of the Bible, and I want it briefly, the chaplain replied, Sir, I can give you proof of the truthfulness of the Bible in one word: Israel.. Some of the most formidable amillennialists - and Im talking about well-respected, very erudite influential theologians - say things like this, and Ill quote. Premillennialists believe that two-thirds of the Jews living in Israel during the time of the great tribulation will be slaughtered (Zech. There were 1600 pastors from central Asia - the first Central Asian pastors conference in history after the breakup of the Soviet Union. MacArthur and the seminary faculty know of Murrays work. One says its not the kingdom. Would you agree? Calvin, though, was an amil, and DutchCalvinism, after a postmil start, has tended to be amil. Edwards believed that the overthrow of Satans kingdom involved several elements: the abolition of heresies and infidelity, the overthrow of the kingdom of the Antichrist (the Pope), the overthrow of the Muslim nations, and the overthrow of Jewish infidelity: However obstinate [the Jews] have been now for above seventeen hundred years in their rejection of Christ, and however rare have been the instances of individual conversions, ever since the destruction of Jerusalem … yet, when this day comes, the thick vail that blinds their eyes shall be removed, 2 Cor. This makes two distinct judgmentsone for Christians and one for non-Christians after the millennium. And in line with that, I want to try, at least, in the next couple of Sunday nights to establish a foundation for our understanding. They taught that the kingdom of God would be visibly manifest on earth after the second coming of Jesus. Theological Method of Premillennialism" in A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology, ed. 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. 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. From the material available online today, many would conclude that "historic premillennialism" refers to the teaching of 20th century theologian George Elton Laddand no other view. Some people want to turn it into ages - theres nothing in there that does that; theres nothing in the text itself that does that. Whether youre talking about the church as Gods elect, or Israel as Gods elect, both are Gods elect. Help Grace to You bring important resources like this to people in your community and beyond, free of charge. Those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election - thats the Reformed - they are typically amillennial. 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. The other says there will be a kingdom. 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. Not that they were the end, but they were the means to the end. 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. Receiving Not Achieving. 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. John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (born June 19, 1939) is an American Protestant pastor and author known for his internationally syndicated Christian teaching radio and television program Grace to You. In the mid-seventeenth century, the Westminster Larger Catechism, in the answer to Question 191, displayed the hope for the future conversion of the Jews. The second, after the conversion of the Jews. (Quoted in Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope: Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1971), 72. What he is saying is, a literal interpretation of the Old Testament is going to lead you to a premillennial view, and since we dont want to get there, we cant use a literal approach. Through the work of Ladd, historic premillennialism gained scholarly respect and popularity among Evangelical and Reformed theologians since he had the right appreciation of the redemptive- historical significance of the first coming of Christ and of the NT age. That's OK and no one is surprised or upset about that. I think it matters to God. And by the way, if we change the rules, what are the new ones? 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. 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.