Copyright 2023 The Gospel Coalition, INC. All Rights Reserved. It was developed in mid-19 th century England by John Darby, a leader of the small but influential Plymouth Brethren Movement. Historic premillennialism is one system of eschatology that has support in the Protestant community. Jonathan Edwards, a noted postmillennialist and someone MacArthur quotes unfavorably in his Shepherds talk, outlined the future of the Christian Church in his 1774 History of Redemption. But there is a growing influence of amillennialism, because amillennialism has been a part of reformed theology. I just want to note that he neither proposed nor answered the types of objections that are oftentimes levied against premillennialists. [2] The reformers had it right on most issues. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. Out of their own mouth - whats wrong with that? They will die for that truth regarding the church, but unashamedly abandon that same truth for the elect nation of Israel. The "millennium" refers to the period of 1,000 years mentioned in Revelation 20:3, "He threw Satan into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. There isnt such a thing. 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 have never moved away from my conviction about these two things. DP also believes that God has a place for both national Israel (cf. Resting Not Vexing, Our Anchor in a Sea of Chaos and Consternation, Why I (Sometimes) Listen to Supreme Court Oral Arguments. . He concluded that Nothing is more certainly foretold than this national conversion of the Jews in Romans 11. (Jonathan Edwards, History of Redemption, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, 2 vols. In other words, Piper believes Jesus Christ will come on earth and reign for 1,000 years. It has to matter to us. For details about this sermon and for related resources, click here: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-339 To receive John MacArthur's monthly l. But, for certain, according to amillennialists, there will be no thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. and divine grace shall melt and renew their hard hearts … And then shall the house of Israel be saved: the Jews in all their dispersions shall cast away their old infidelity, and shall have their hearts wonderfully changed, and abhor themselves for their past unbelief and obstinacy. 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. 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. And that was over the gospel, and over the nature of Christ, and over salvation by grace through faith and over the authority of Scripture. You can follow him on Twitter. One says moving toward the coming of Christ there will be no kingdom. 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. So, my words to you are really very simple foundational words, I say this. There is another form of that view called amillennialism; amillennialism - and youve probably heard about that. Help train Christians to boldly share the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that clearly communicates to this secular age. I have even called thee by thy name Isaiah 65:9: Mine elect shall inherit it - the promises of God. I dont know about you, but I really cant get too worked up about greenhouse gases. Allis - well-known - says, The Old Testament prophecies if literally interpreted cannot be regarded as having been yet fulfilled or being capable of fulfillment in the present age. Thats true. They were fighting the massive Roman system, and being occupied on those fronts, they never really got to the front of eschatology. . What passage is it in? 8.The Grammatical-Historical Hermeneutic: Its Defense and the Demand for Premillennialism -- by Abner Chou -- p.64 9.Will Israel Build a Temple in Jerusalem? 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. "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. 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. Instead, MacArthur systematically unpacked the biblical theology that leads one to an unabashed Calvinistic eschatology. Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist, Part 1. In 1 Peter chapter 1, you remember, Peter says that the prophets who wrote concerning Christ, concerning the things to come, wondered what person and what time. Or another way to say it would be this: how many of you have attended an amillennial prophecy conference? We sent you an email. He told me he would study the issue and get back to me. Theres a rapture, and theres a bma seat judgment; we know that. And there are others who believe that that refers to heaven; that refers to the experience of the saints in heaven. There are a number of viewpoints of what the Bible means when it speaks of future events. Why bother? 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. Not just the future of Israel, but our confidence in the Word of God. Worship - John F. MacArthur 2012-01-20 Nothing is more important than worship. Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource. So, they did it, and we distributed that at the Shepherds Conference - 350-page version of Revelation, in which the full interpretation is provided there and of course, you can advance to the full two volumes if youd like. He even went so far as to say that the Amillennial position is more consistent with Arminianism Well, we now come to the doctrines that relate to the end times. This is simply a way to understand Scripture in its normal sense. 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. Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts Workbook for Women Updated: Seven Questions to Ask Before---and After---You Marry 9780310875475 These are dicult words to pronounce and even harder concepts to understand. (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, [1834] 1974), 1:607.). See more on the author's page Sung Wook Chung 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. 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. 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. That's a complete misreading. 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. Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. He never has. That's OK and no one is surprised or upset about that. 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. The following is a partial response to the subject since it is integral to premillennialism while postmillennialism is often ignored on the subject. Btw, LA is beautiful and the conference is great, I hope to post some reflections as the week goes on. 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. What you have here is a benediction from God: blessed is he who reads and understands the book of Revelation. Amen. Log In In a shocking conclusion to the illustration, MacArthur said, if this is the kingdom, then Jesus is not the messiah. So, heres how to get the foundation for a good sound eschatology: get election right, get Israel right, you got it. Chicago: Moody, 2012. 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. Help Grace to You bring important resources like this to people in your community and beyond, free of charge. Do you understand the massive apologetic power of the existence of Israel as an ethnic people in their own land? He also said that it is too late for Calvin but it is not too late for you [to join the Reformed Premillennial movement]! We understand that when you have a prophecy in the Bible that has not yet come to pass, not everything will be clear. Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock, Progressive Dispensationalism Yet in Sproul's lifetime, he and MacArthur were close friends. They believe that salvation can be gained and lost. If you interpret Old Testament prophecies literally, they cannot be fulfilled in this present age. You have this hope as a purifying hope. Whether youre talking about the church as Gods elect, or Israel as Gods elect, both are Gods elect. -- 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 May it be powerful in our lives we pray in Christs name. They would rather believe that God has predestined His Church to failure than believe that they are personally responsible for transforming society. Now, I told you a few weeks ago why people believe that, because they want to get God off the hook so Hes not responsible for evil; but Hes happy to take the responsibility for allowing evil for His own glory. Fundamental 7 Reasons Why the Gospel of John is So Special 3 days ago Its just a lot of material. The sting of death is sin, the power of sin is the law, thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.. Piper was responding to an "Ask Pastor John . This book teaches that Christians will exercise dominion in history. [1] He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. But some are holding on to what they have taught in the past; I guess self-preservation dominates their theology at that point. This is process theology. It is one thing to omit them in formal obedience to the law; and another thing to omit them in prudence, or for necessity, because we cannot keep them. 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. Not one reference anywhere in Scripture - and there are over two thousand, referring to Israel - means anything other than Israel. Another way to see this would be to ask this question: what other category of theology - what other category of theology except atheism - starts with the alpha privative and labels itself as believing in something that doesnt exist? I like to call amillennialism negative, and postmillennialism positive. But that is essentially what theyre asking us to do. Most of the Reformers and the Puritans were postmils. 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. Pretribulational Rapture in 17th and 18th Century England. And whats at stake here? 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. And by the way, dispensationalists - people say, Well, that whole premillennial view, that came out of C.I. (Quoted in Murray, The Puritan Hope, 101102. If you read the paper and have your eyes open, and youre breathing, and your body has any temperature at all, you know things arent getting better. The Rapture, Antichrist, and Rebirth of Israel in Medieval Manuscripts. 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. Romans 11:28 . And . Now, frankly, its too late for John Calvin to fix his work, although he is now a premillennialist in heaven. Now, there are people who do this to Genesis 1, 2 and 3. Dispensational premillennialism (DP) offers the most complex chronology of the end times.It argues that the current church age will end with the rapture of the church (cf. by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue (Chicago: Moody, 2012), 24. There are over two thousand references to Israel in Scripture; not one of them means anything but Israel. 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. The other says it is the kingdom. 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. Arminius did not believe in election; those who follow him do not believe in election. 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. Preachers Should Measure Twice and Cut Once, Why Our Church Cancelled Christmas Eve Service. 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. Why do we want to run from that? The other looks at it as a spiritual kingdom also but says it will decline and decline and decline until Jesus finally comes. I think it matters to God. It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. 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. They didnt really get to the front of ecclesiology either, the study of the church, but those two kind of go together - as well see in this study - in some very fascinating ways. Scripture affirms the perpetuity of the elect church to salvation glory; that all whom the Lord has chosen He brings to glory. 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.