Daylight and dark, daylight and dark - thats a 24-hour period - God creates everything. Now, there are people who do this to Genesis 1, 2 and 3. First, the Antichrist would appear and a seven-year period of tribulation would commence. Not just the future of Israel, but our confidence in the Word of God. Anything to avoid premillennialism, even if you change the rules of interpretation. 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. Ive been teaching and preaching the Bible expositionally now for over 40 years, one verse at a time. They dont want to accept that the entire universe was created in six nearly twenty-four-hour days. He never has. Do you know - are you watching this media? A. DeJong, As the Waters Cover the Sea: Millennial Expectations in the Rise of Anglo-America Missions, 16401810 (Kampen: J. H. Kok, 1970), 3738.) Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. I reject the wacky world of newspaper exegesis and cartoon eschatology, and crazy interpretation like the locusts of Revelation 9 being helicopters, et cetera. 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 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. 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. 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. After clicking 'Register', you will receive an email with a link to verify your account and to complete your registration. He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. He made them in the past, when He didnt know what He now knows, because what was going to happen hadnt happened. So, we can set aside the idea that somehow this is rooted in wacky dispensationalism; it is not. Why bother? 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. 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? What passage is it in? 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. Revelation 1:3: Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it: for the time is near.. 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. Israel crucifies the Messiah, thats it. In fact, some say nearly one-fourth of Scripture is prophetic. 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. Scofield, that came out of J.N. 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. Ive written about this in several places. Post-Millennialism, in stark contrast to Pre-Millennialism, believes that the Millennium occurs before Jesus' Second Coming rather than after. So, my words to you are really very simple foundational words, I say this. Now, talking about eschatology is not without controversy. Why do we want to change the rules in interpretation to avoid that? He also said that it is too late for Calvin but it is not too late for you [to join the Reformed Premillennial movement]! Since Scripture speaks of the Millennium as a time of great prosperity for the kingdom of God, post-mills are inherently optimistic. He notes that "the decisive authority of Asiatic millennialism is John, from whom the elders claimed to have obtained their information. 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. Thats for people who dont know this; that the way history ends, is with Jesus coming and taking us away. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure., Getting your eschatology right will bless you and getting your eschatology right will purify you. 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. 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. 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. Its not nearly as difficult as some people make it if you just take Scripture at face value. Pretribulational Rapture in 17th and 18th Century England. O.T. What did MacArthur fail to tell the attendees at the Shepherds Conference? His mode of expositing those verses that supposedly counter Preterism really helped me to focus on those areas in the Bible. Why do we want to run from that? 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. Continue reading Particular to this framework is the eschatological position known as "premillennial dispensationalism" which holds that Christ will return prior to a literal one-thousand-year reign on earth. And . But let me tell you something: normal, natural, literal interpretation is the only way to stop abuse of Scripture. Staggering. 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. Now, Im going to save the good stuff till next time, but I want to just end by giving you a little list of benefits of getting your eschatology right, okay? It is the theme of Scripture, the theme of eternity, and the . As you may be aware, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into full effect on 25th May 2018. It matters to me. The other view is whats called openness theology, and its the same thing; it simply means God has no idea what the future is. He comes pre, not post; He comes before. See De Jong, As the Waters Cover the Sea, 12.). Israel sinned, youre out. This we think to be the sense, in general, of those scriptures, both in the Old and New Testament, which speak of the latterday glory. Preachers Should Measure Twice and Cut Once, Why Our Church Cancelled Christmas Eve Service. 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. 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. Now, against those two is the view called premillennialism; that means there will be a millennium and prior to that millennium, Jesus will come. "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. Ridgeley knew his history well enough to know that the majority of theologians in the seventeenth century held to an advancing kingdom through the proclamation of the gospel which includes the future conversion of the Jews. 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. Most of the Reformers and the Puritans were postmils. 2. Did God do this but somehow mumble? And again, I say, His election is divine, unilateral, unconditional and irrevocable. 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? MacArthur insisted that we should be able to preach the whole Bible without changing the original meaning of the text or abrogating promises. 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. Now, if you want to get the future right, youve got to get Israel right, and youve got to get Gods sovereign electing purpose right. Theres a rapture, and theres a bma seat judgment; we know that. But for those who get it, for those who understand it, for those who embrace Gods sovereignty - that He is the only one who can determine who will be saved and blessed, and He is the only one who can save and bless - then saying that He cancelled promises to Israel because they didnt believe is completely inconsistent. 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. This article is also available and sold as a booklet. "John MacArthur on Calvinism, Dispensationalism, Israel, and Hermeneutics: A Few Comments" . 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. It is narrative history, and we fight - sometimes tooth and nail - to maintain the literal veracity of Genesis 1 through 3. May it be powerful in our lives we pray in Christs name. Do you understand the massive apologetic power of the existence of Israel as an ethnic people in their own land? 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 shall all be changed, in a moment, the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed., Thats the rapture; were going to study the rapture. Its just a lot of material. One says moving toward the coming of Christ there will be no kingdom. And so, you have to change the rules of interpretation and once you say the Bible doesnt mean what it says, then we have no idea what it means. Regarding this Dr. Timothy Jones writes, "Dispensationalism emphasizes the differences and discontinuity between the physical descendants of Abraham and followers of Jesus [2]. Thats a hard sell, frankly. I couldnt help but wonder what the other guest speakers might have been thinking as they sat in the front row. 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. I have even called thee by thy name Isaiah 65:9: Mine elect shall inherit it - the promises of God. There were 1600 pastors from central Asia - the first Central Asian pastors conference in history after the breakup of the Soviet Union. MacArthur pulled no punches in his messages saying things like Jesus, Peter, the writer of Hebrews, and James were all premillenial. Also, among Scottish Presbyterian churches during this period, special days of prayer were set aside partly in order that the promised conversion of [Gods] ancient people of the Jews may be hastened. (Quoted in Murray, The Puritan Hope, 100.) Isaiah 65 - really, the whole chapter is about Israel, Gods elect - verse 22: My elect again shall enjoy long the work of their hands. Israel repeatedly called Gods elect; we know what that means. But people are upset because MacArthur so badly misrepresented amillennialism, and because he defined "premillennialism" as though it were dispensationalism. All right, thats the introduction. Show it to me. This is a positive book: positive about the future of the Church. The end is as divinely designed as the beginning, and God has given us massive amounts of revelation in the Scripture about the future. He confronts the views of covenant theology, historical premillennialism, ultradispensationalism, and, in this revised edition, the increasingly popular progressive dispensationalism. / ( .) What you have here is a benediction from God: blessed is he who reads and understands the book of Revelation. Calvin, though, was an amil, and DutchCalvinism, after a postmil start, has tended to be amil. 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.
Tell us about the future. They were in a very hopeless situation, having very little in life. Dispensationalism is a kind of framework for history that is organized around seven dispensationsseven orders or administrations. . Yet it is inconsistent with. All rights reserved. In the world, things will get better and better and better as the church becomes more powerful and more influential. 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. 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. , . Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. Return the sovereignty of God in election to its rightful place, return the nation Israel to its rightful place, and your eschatology will unfold in beautiful clarity. Im unwaveringly committed to that. Murray notes that A number of years before [the Larger Catechism and Westminster Directory for Public Worship] were drawn up, the call for prayer for the conversion of the Jews and for the success of the gospel throughout the world was already a feature of Puritan congregations. (Murray, The Puritan Hope, 99.) He has also written or edited nearly four hundred books and study guides. 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. 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. So, heres how to get the foundation for a good sound eschatology: get election right, get Israel right, you got it. It therefore teaches responsibility. We are responsible for our sin, but in the end, we believe because He moves on us. Registered User
This year they upgraded some snacks and are handing out Zone protein bars, a major enhancementhowever, I am really missing my family. Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource. . Grace to You radio, video, audio, print, and website resources reach millions worldwide each day. His contention that unless you see Scripture through dispensational eyes, you cannot be a "self-respecting Calvinist" surprised many-Reformed amillennarians and historic premillennarians alike. Without the dispensational lens-says MacArthur-you will misunderstand much of the Bible. They would rather believe that God has predestined His Church to failure than believe that they are personally responsible for transforming society. He asked what the amillennialist would say if the Jew asked about the kingdom and the blessings. Erik Raymond is the senior pastor at Redeemer Fellowship Church in Metro Boston. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), which, along with the appearance of the Antichrist, marks the beginning of the seven-year great tribulation on earth. 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. Show more Friends Following They are certainly available (or they should be) in the library at MacArthurs Masters Seminary. Dispensationalism continues to provoke heated debate within the Christian world. But, in any case - and by the way, postmillennialists and amillennialists differ as to the details of these kinds of things. We also applaud his insistence that the Bible must be interpreted literally, according to its normal sense. Because, you see, if it doesnt mean what it says it means, then any suggestion is as bad as any other suggestion. We chart the course and God reacts. Darby, that came out of that whole dispensational system no, it didnt. And by the way, if we change the rules, what are the new ones? We can interpret it the way we interpret any other passage of Scripture, with the same use of the normal, natural means of interpreting language, and we should; and it will yield for us as clear an understanding of the future as the Lord wants us to have. 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. It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. Amillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism, postmillennialism, preterism. Postmillennialists think things are going to get better. 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. ), 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.). DP also believes that God has a place for both national Israel (cf. Some of them are postmillennialists, although there are fewer and fewer of those. Therefore, Israel has been permanently set aside, so that the only kingdom will be that kingdom that we call the church, ruled by Christ, either expanding to take over the world, or existing in the world, and finally in heaven. Some people want to turn it into ages - theres nothing in there that does that; theres nothing in the text itself that does that. Other well-known historic premillennialists include Walter Martin; John Warwick Montgomery; J. Barton Payne; Henry Alford, a noted Greek scholar; and Theodor Zahn, a German New Testament scholar. Its there. So, I say, leave amillennialism to those kinds of people who do not believe in the sovereign, unilateral, irrevocable, divine electing power of God. 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. It is one thing to omit them for a time, and another to do it ordinarily. And theres the main verb in the sentence are in varying degrees of disinterest in applying their skills to the end of the story, and rather, content to be in happy if not playful disagreement in regard to the vast biblical data on eschatology, as if the end doesnt matter much - period. We still have Mark to go, but there are only a couple of discourses and a couple of miracles in Mark that arent in the other three gospels, so not a lot of new material. And he is suggesting, therefore, that we cant interpret them literally, because somehow, weve got to make them fulfilled in this age, because there is no future age. Historic premillennialism is the view that Christ will return before the millennium. Some of the most formidable amillennialists - and Im talking about well-respected, very erudite influential theologians - say things like this, and Ill quote. Hes improving; Hes definitely on the upward curve. So check out Tim Challies summary on this once it is posted and if you are able to get your mitts on the audio for this it is highly recommended. Amillennialism is ideal for Arminians because, according to their theology, God elects nobody and preserves nobody. You get your eschatology right when you get Israel right. We know that, so our ambition is, when we get to that place, to be rewarded because we are pleasing to Him. 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. One topic I did not mention is the place of Israel in prophecy at it relates to postmillennialism. How could they believe unless He caused them to believe? Those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election regarding the church and its inviolable place in Gods purpose, from predestination before the foundation of the world to glorification in the future, those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election, those who most aggressively, most militantly, and most capably defend the truth of Scripture regarding this election being divine, unilateral, unconditional, irrevocable by nature, for the church - thats for us . 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.. (1) That the old offcasten Israel for unbelief would never be forgotten, especially in these meetings, that the promised day of their ingrafting again by faith may be hastened; and that the dead weight of blood removed off them, that their fathers took upon them and upon their children, that have sunk them down to hell upwards of seventeen hundred years. He and his wife, Christie, have six children. 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. This is postmillennialism at its best. Like all divine truth, getting the future truth right is beneficial. God promised him the inheritance of the land. Dispensational premillennialists hold that Christ will come before a seven-year period of intense tribulation to take His church (living and dead) into heaven. Historical Records of New South Wales, vols 1-7; Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vols 1-17, series 3, vols 2-3, series 4, vol 1; S. Macarthur Onslow, Early Records of the Macarthurs of Camden (Syd 1914) S. J. Butlin, Foundations of the Australian Monetary System, 1788-1851 (Melb, 1953) M. H. Ellis, John Macarthur (Syd, 1955) and for bibliography 11:12; 12:29; 13:19; John 10:12, 28, 29) and removing (John 6:15; Acts 8:39; 23:10; Jude 23).There is a third use, which focuses on being caught up . John McArthur John MacArthur was born on 19 June, 1939. MacArthur--who is an ardent dispensationalist--stated and defended his position. I have never moved away from my conviction about these two things. . Not true. There are a number of viewpoints of what the Bible means when it speaks of future events. 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. I have - they can try to terrify me with all this stuff; I am unmoved. Now, when they came here, Im very much aware that many of them are amillennialists. We've been working our way through doctrinal emphases in Scripture, doctrinal themes, and we have covered a lot of ground. Look, I reject all of those really abusive and bizarre kinds of interpretation; but frankly, theyre no more wacky then the interpretations of the amillennialists, who want to take the entire book of Revelation and stuff it into the events of 70 A.D. and a few years afterwards and come up with things that are just as ridiculous. He made an interesting connection between Genesis and Revelation. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4; 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. and defends what can only be described as postmillennialism over against premillennialism. One says its not the kingdom. 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. Macarthur writes "Futuristic Premillennialism is the result of an understanding and application of the prophetic texts in a way that is consistent with the normal, literal approach to interpreting Scripture." This is how the authors come to their Futuristic Premillennial view. 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? Thats called process theology. 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