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. Why I Changed My Mind About the Millennium - The Gospel Coalition Thats for people who dont know this; that the way history ends, is with Jesus coming and taking us away. 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. I think it matters. 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? 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. Theological Method of Premillennialism" in A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology, ed. Its the whole point of everything else. Some of the most formidable amillennialists - and Im talking about well-respected, very erudite influential theologians - say things like this, and Ill quote. To say youre an amillennialist is only to tell me what you dont believe, and then you have to go to all of the passages of Scripture that talk about the kingdom and tell me why you dont believe they mean what they say. Certainly, you have no idea what it means - neither does anybody else. John MacArthur laid down the gauntlet on the issue of prophecy in his opening talk at the 2007 Shepherds Conference that was titled Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist Is a Premillennialist. He was emphatic that only premillennialism takes the prophecies concerning the future of Israel seriously. 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? 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). That's a complete misreading. Oct 27, 2007. Doctrinal Statement Student Testimonies TMS for your Family Academics Academics Overview Master of Divinity Master of Theology Doctor of Ministry Doctor of Philosophy Bachelor of Theology Diploma of Theology Center for Israeli Studies Distance Education Academic Calendar Tyndale Center for Bible Translation 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. Prior to that I thought about it a lot. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ - thats part of the coming eschatology. 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. . You can follow him on Twitter. 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. 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. Hes improving; Hes definitely on the upward curve. Reformed theologian John Piper affirmed his belief that the second coming of Christ is coming soon and indicated that he is a premillennialist. See De Jong, As the Waters Cover the Sea, 12.). If only he could just send down one message, that might be it. . The books and articles that make this case are not obscure or difficult to find. How could He hold any of us, in one sense, responsible for not believing? MacArthur, John, and Richard Mayhue, eds. Premillennialists believe that two-thirds of the Jews living in Israel during the time of the great tribulation will be slaughtered (Zech. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. The Doctrine of the Millennium: A Brief Introduction - Gospel Relevance - comfort one another. This article is also available and sold as a booklet. 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 When He comes, everything ends immediately. 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. Would you agree? MacArthur--who is an ardent dispensationalist--stated and defended his position. Dispensationalism is a kind of framework for history that is organized around seven dispensationsseven orders or administrations. 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. ALL ARTICLES - The Pre-Trib Research Center Theres a rapture, and theres a bma seat judgment; we know that. We want the Word to bless, to make us pure, to stabilize us, to comfort us, to give us a passion for evangelism. So, I say, leave amillennialism to those kinds of people who do not believe in the sovereign, unilateral, irrevocable, divine electing power of God. Why do we want to change the rules in interpretation to avoid that? 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. 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.. I think it matters to God. He is the author, co-author or co-editor of fifteen books and more than eighty articles in journals or multi-author works. 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. 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. Grace to You radio, video, audio, print, and website resources reach millions worldwide each day. And by the way, dispensationalists - people say, Well, that whole premillennial view, that came out of C.I. ), Puritan Independent Thomas Goodwin, in his book, The Return of Prayers, encouraged people to pray for the calling of the Jews, the utter downfall of Gods enemies, the flourishing of the gospel. Goodwin assured his readers that all these prayers will have answers. (Quoted in Murray, The Puritan Hope, 102.). Now, frankly, its too late for John Calvin to fix his work, although he is now a premillennialist in heaven. 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. DMcFadden said: The mixture of dispensational eschatology and Calvinist soteriology is not unique to MacArthur. You get the interpretation of Scripture right when youre faithful to valid rules of interpretation. 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. Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Corinthians 15. The end is as divinely designed as the beginning, and God has given us massive amounts of revelation in the Scripture about the future. Reformed theology has made a monumental comeback in this culture, and thankfully so, because it is biblical. A Purchased Victory: A Conference on the Bright Hope of Postmillennialism, Website made by Chittam Technology Solutions, LLC. Sermons | Educational Resources | The Master's Seminary Craig and his wife Fran have two daughters and reside in Centennial, Colorado. Over 200 times in the Bible God is called the God of Israel - over two hundred times, the God of Israel.. 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. Instead, MacArthur systematically unpacked the biblical theology that leads one to an unabashed Calvinistic eschatology. 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. How do you explain that? Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism Scofield, that came out of J.N. John Knox (1) John MacArthur (4) John MacDuff (1) John Mark (1) John Piper (25) John T. Carroll (1) John the Baptist (1) . In the world, things will get better and better and better as the church becomes more powerful and more influential. First John 3 verse 2: Beloved - 1 John 3:2 Now are we the children of God. There were 1600 pastors from central Asia - the first Central Asian pastors conference in history after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Reformed Theology Opposes John MacArthur | 5 Pt. Salt And the longer I think about it and the more I study the Scripture, the clearer it becomes to me. (Quoted in DeJong, As the Waters Cover the Sea, 38.). Four Views on the Millennium - Study Resources - Blue Letter Bible Riddleblog - The Latest Post - Why John MacArthur Is Not "Reformed" After that he must be loosed for a little while." You have this hope as a purifying hope. 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. They dont want to accept the fact that Adam and Eve were created full grown, male and female, not the result of an evolutionary process. It is narrative history, and we fight - sometimes tooth and nail - to maintain the literal veracity of Genesis 1 through 3. MacArthur: Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is a Premillennialist And may I remind you that you have one very, very important reality to deal with in case you think theres no future in Israel: living Israelites. 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. 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. Is Premillennialism Consistent With Calvinism? - Finding The Balance Highly acclaimed theologian Dr. Charles C. Ryrie addresses this crucial issue from the perspective of classic dispensationalism. 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 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 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. See more on the author's page Sung Wook Chung 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. I couldnt help but wonder what the other guest speakers might have been thinking as they sat in the front row. Now, Ive been telling you for a number of months that we were going to get into the subject of eschatology, the doctrine of last things. One topic I did not mention is the place of Israel in prophecy at it relates to postmillennialism. 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. John MacArthur has compiled more than 20,000 study notes, a 200-page topical index, and numerous charts, maps, outlines, and articles to create The MacArthur Study Bible. The Gospel Coalition supports the church by providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. 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. Who Are the Real Schismatics? 2023 Grace to You. Premillennialism (3) Pretribulationism (1) Pride (3) Priests (4) Princeton Theological Review (1) . Historic premillennialism - What is it? - CompellingTruth.org 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. MacArthur insisted that we should be able to preach the whole Bible without changing the original meaning of the text or abrogating promises. In short, there shall be, as it were, a universal spread of religion and holiness to the Lord, throughout the world. Theres a recovery of premillennialism in the modern era, and the recovery of premillennialism in the modern era came from two very unlikely sources. The church will have an increasing influence in the world. Christ's Prophetic Plans: A Futuristic Premillennial Primer: John It is pungently clear. Biography - John Macarthur - Australian Dictionary of Biography ( 3:16) . Historic premillennialism is one system of eschatology that has support in the Protestant community. But we now have pure Israelites. His message in General Session 1 was entitled Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is Premillennial. Basically he said that when people spiritualize or allegorize the first three chapters of Genesis we call them Liberals, but when they do the same with the prophetic Scriptures we call them amillennialists. 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? See here and here. Dispensational premillennialists hold that Christ will come before a seven-year period of intense tribulation to take His church (living and dead) into heaven.
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