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. Its just a lot of material. This article is also available and sold as a booklet. It is narrative history, and we fight - sometimes tooth and nail - to maintain the literal veracity of Genesis 1 through 3. All this panic about global warming, and all this panic about the end of the world and asteroids crashing into the earth? 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. But in both cases, they would deny the actual thousand-year reign of Christ, and they would deny that Christ will reign and rule on earth and literally fulfill all His promises to the nation Israel given in the Old Testament covenants. 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. That in itself is an indication of Gods preservation for their future. 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. 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. "[42] It was authors such as these who concluded that the decline of the Roman Catholic Church would make way for the conversion and restoration of the nation of Israel. "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. 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. And . He considers the Mosaic history of the creation a type of six ages of labor for the world, each lasting a thousand years, and of a millennium of rest, since with God one day is as a thousand years. Millennial Sabbath on earth will be followed by an eight and eternal day in a new world, of which the Lords Day (called by Barnabas the eighth day) is the type" (, Note this is Victorinus of Pettau not Marcus Piav(v)onius, Augustine wrote in regards to the premillennialism And this opinion would not be objectionable, if it were believed that the joys of the saints in that Sabbath shall be spiritual, and consequent on the presence of God. There is another form of that view called amillennialism; amillennialism - and youve probably heard about that. 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 [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. Hes getting better. Historic, or Classic, Premillennialism is distinctively non-dispensational. The church historian, Eusebius, reports this in his Ecclesiastical History. And youve been great tonight; this is more like a theological lecture. Its there. 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. 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. The world, as they see it, is in an ongoing golden process of progress. 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. 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. (Both MacArthur and Barry Horner, though, do teach the biblical covenants, point 1 above.) You never met a Hittite, an Amorite, a Hivite, a Jebusite, or any other ite. They have long since morphed into the melee and the mix of the races. Some of the most formidable amillennialists - and Im talking about well-respected, very erudite influential theologians - say things like this, and Ill quote. Log In Even His promises may not be valid, because He made them with inadequate information. 4. I think He cares that we get it right, thats why He wrote it, and I think He understands that His glory is at stake, and our hope and comfort is at stake and the evidence of Gods massive moving in history is at stake with regard to the future. Throughout the 19th century, premillennialism continued to gain wider acceptance in both the US and in Britain, particularly among the Irvingites,[46] Plymouth Brethren, Christadelphians,[47] Church of God, Christian Israelite Church. Donald Bloesch in his book The Last Things writes that: "Amillennialists as well as some postmillennialists adhere to the theory of progressive parallelism when dealing with the book of Revelation. 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. You get the Old Testament covenants and promises right when you get the interpretation of Scripture right. In his early period, Augustine held to the sexta-/septamillennial view common in early Christianity (see above section on Patristic Age). Short Response to Dr. MacArthur's statement. It was developed in mid-19 th century England by John Darby, a leader of the small but influential Plymouth Brethren Movement. The proponents of amillennialism interpret the millennium as being a symbolic period of time, which is consistent with the highly symbolic nature of the literary and apocalyptic genre of the Book of Revelation, sometimes indicating that the thousand years represent God's rule over his creation or the Church. 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 was a voracious reader, and he just loved his ministry. Help Grace to You bring important resources like this to people in your community and beyond, free of charge. The reformers had it right on most issues. They were fighting the massive Roman system, and being occupied on those fronts, they never really got to the front of eschatology. 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? There are a number of viewpoints of what the Bible means when it speaks of future events. 1. 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 keeping with his view of faith, MacArthur denigrates "facts," "doctrine," "intellectual assent," and so on. Hes improving; Hes definitely on the upward curve. a.Dispensationalist Premillennialism 1. And so, I think its a fair test to see whether eschatology holds up. [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. They dont want to accept that the entire universe was created in six nearly twenty-four-hour days. Grace to You radio, video, audio, print, and website resources reach millions worldwide each day. And at that judgment, well be recompensed for the deeds done in the body, whether they are good or phaulos, meaning useless. [32] The theological term kingdom maintained its eschatological function, though it was not necessarily futuristic. Through allegorical interpretation, he had been a proponent of amillennialism (of course, the sexta-septamillennial tradition was itself based upon similar means of allegorical interpretation). 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. 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. All of these are benefits of getting it right. Now, the second flavor: Dispensational Premillennialism. This is an account of the things formerly created, as also it is a prophecy of what is to come. Every Sunday morning for over 50 years, John MacArthur a faithful pastor with many of the same convictions as Barrow has ascended the pulpit of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, opened his Bible, and boldly preached God's Word to the thousands assembled there to worship. John MacArthur claims to be a Dispensationalist in both The Gospel According to Jesus (GAJ) and The Gospel According to the Apostles (GAA). In one passage he defends premillennialism by arguing that a future earthly kingdom is necessary because of God's promise to Abraham, he wrote "The promise remains steadfast. Whether youre talking about the church as Gods elect, or Israel as Gods elect, both are Gods elect. S. Lewis Johnson Jr. (1915-2004), a conservative evangelical pastor and theologian, was for many years a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. 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. I have never moved away from my conviction about these two things. Among our elders, all four of the end-times views are representedhistoric premillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism. 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. Israel sinned, promises cancelled. Barry Horner's emphasis in Future Israel also fits in here. John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where he has served since 1969. 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. But we now have pure Israelites. 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. During the 2007 Shepherds Conference at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, John MacArthur delivered a lecture entitled "Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist." It created quite a stir among Reformed pastors and theologians. The other looks at it as a spiritual kingdom also but says it will decline and decline and decline until Jesus finally comes. 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. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:16 in the New Testament, which describes Jesus's reign in a period of a thousand years. God promised him the inheritance of the land. 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. 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