His most well-known work is, William C. Watson "Dispensationalism Before Darby: 17th and 18th century English Apocalypticism (Lampion Press, 2015), Quoted by Robert K. Whalen, Premillennialism in, Herbert W. Bateman IV, Dispensationalism Tomorrow, in, Works from an amillennial or postmillennial perspective, Works from multiple perspectives or no apparent perspective, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Question & Answer: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church", "Introductory Note to the Fragments of Papias", "Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew", "NPNF2-01. The bottom line is were in charge. John MacArthur's Defense of Dispensationalism Monday, December 8, 2008 by Gary DeMar In 1988, John MacArthur wrote The Gospel According to Jesus, a controversial book in certain circles because he relied heavily on the views of Calvinistic writers to deal with the lordship salvation controversy. 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 . "John MacArthur on Calvinism, Dispensationalism, Israel, and Hermeneutics: A Few Comments" . Since Scripture speaks of the Millennium as a time of great prosperity for the kingdom of God, post-mills are inherently optimistic. Its a strange approach. 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. 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. Seventy percent - by the way - of Scripture is the story of Israel, start to finish. My sermon was on amillennialism, which I posted to my blog last week. Oh sure, it helps to know some history and some background, but this is a pronounced blessing. Now, with regard to the coming kingdom of Christ, in which Christ rules as supreme and sovereign ruler, there are a number of views, but let me boil them down to three views - and these are good, and Ill give you a simple explanation so that you understand where we are going. Why do we want to change the rules in interpretation to avoid that? Those are the views. . Loraine Boettner wrote a book called The Meaning of the Millennium; this is what he said: It is generally agreed that if the prophecies are taken literally, they do foretell a restoration of the nation of Israel in the land of Palestine, with the Jews having a prominent place in that kingdom and ruling over the other nations.. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. Romans 11:28 . I reject the wacky world of newspaper exegesis and cartoon eschatology, and crazy interpretation like the locusts of Revelation 9 being helicopters, et cetera. [37] The Anglican Church originally formalized a statement against millenarianism in the Anglican Articles. He loved to preach. First John 3 verse 2: Beloved - 1 John 3:2 Now are we the children of God. I think it matters. The world, as they see it, is in an ongoing golden process of progress. 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. 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 . Registered User There are over two thousand references to Israel in Scripture; not one of them means anything but Israel. I have even called thee by thy name Isaiah 65:9: Mine elect shall inherit it - the promises of God. I have dragged you through virtually every verse in the New Testament. Premillennialism: This view sees a chronological sequence as Satan is bound in the future when Christ returns and before Christians receive their reward, and then the millennium commences, hence the name, "pre". He loved the church. Why, then, if we are so committed to protecting the text of the beginning in its literal nature, are we so fast to give up the texts of the end and their literal nature? Proponents of the view include John Gill, Mike Placko, Charles Spurgeon,[51] James Montgomery Boice,[52] George Eldon Ladd,[53] John Piper,[54] Albert Mohler,[55] Francis Schaeffer, Carl F. H. Henry,[56] Harold Lindsell, D. A. Carson,[57][58] Bryan Chapell,[59] and Gordon Clark.[60]. Israel sinned, promises cancelled. May 5, 2022. MacArthur's Leaky Dispensationalism. 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. In similar language, Scripture affirms the perpetuity of ethnic Israel to a future salvation and a future kingdom as a race of people, and that in that salvation and in that kingdom will be the fulfillment of all divine promises given to them in the Old Testament, repeated in the New Testament, and through them to the world. Now, the only thing that I ask is that you read it, and the only reason I ask you to read it is so that you may be what? Im unwaveringly committed to that. As soon as you abandon that, then its fair game for anybodys craziness. That is to say, while they understood that someone would come, they understood whatever it was that had been revealed to them, the timing was not clear, and the precise personages were not clear. Hes not predicting the future because you cant predict what hasnt happened - it doesnt exist. Where is the divine mandate to do that? So, my words to you are really very simple foundational words, I say this. Now, I know at this point somebody out there is going to say, Oh boy, hes into the Left Behind series. No, Im not in to Rapture fiction, and Im not in to wacky charts - you dont see me up here with a big chart and a stick. John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where he has served since 1969. 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). "[45] When Assyrian power had ebbed by 625 B.C., the Neo-Babylonians conquered: 1) Assyria with its capital Nineveh in 612 B.C. Leave it to the semi-Pelagians and Pelagians, who go in and out of salvation; it makes sense for their theology. Israel and the church, and advocate for futuristic millennialism. Who will establish it? There were 1600 pastors from central Asia - the first Central Asian pastors conference in history after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The preacher's admission came amid news that Grace Community Church in Sun Valley received an $800,000 settlement from Los Angeles County after defying pandemic-induced health orders. 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. But not us, who live and breathe the rarified air of sovereign grace and election; it makes no sense to me. 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. / ( .) How could He hold any of us, in one sense, responsible for not believing? Yet it is inconsistent with. And by the way, dispensationalists - people say, Well, that whole premillennial view, that came out of C.I. But, in any case - and by the way, postmillennialists and amillennialists differ as to the details of these kinds of things. 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. Calvin, though, was an amil, and DutchCalvinism, after a postmil start, has tended to be amil. Justin wrote in chapter 80 of his work Dialogue with Trypho, I and others who are right-minded Christians on all points are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built For Isaiah spoke in that manner concerning this period of a thousand years. Though he conceded earlier in the same chapter that his view was not universal by saying that he and many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise. [6], Irenaeus, the late 2nd century bishop of Lyon, was an outspoken premillennialist. Dispensationalism is perhaps a key reason why evangelicals have such a concern with what happens to the nation of Israel. The other view is whats called openness theology, and its the same thing; it simply means God has no idea what the future is. 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. Between 1790 and the mid-19th century, premillennialism was a popular view among English Evangelicals, even within the Anglican church. That's OK and no one is surprised or upset about that. Process theology: they are the theologians, liberal theologians, who believe that God is in process of becoming what He will be. 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. 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. The other says there will be a kingdom. Grace to You radio, video, audio, print, and website resources reach millions worldwide each day. The paragraph in full reads "676 The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. Because, you see, if it doesnt mean what it says it means, then any suggestion is as bad as any other suggestion. 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. I like to call amillennialism negative, and postmillennialism positive. 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. 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. Anything to avoid premillennialism, even if you change the rules of interpretation. 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. The end is as divinely designed as the beginning, and God has given us massive amounts of revelation in the Scripture about the future. Some of them are postmillennialists, although there are fewer and fewer of those. But, for certain, according to amillennialists, there will be no thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. 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? John MacArthur's six-part series, "Why Every Calvinist is a Premillennialist," addresses this aspect of historic premillennialism, the future for Israel. What is meant whe And for this reason the Scripture says: 'Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. Michael Servetus taught a chiliastic view, though he was denounced by the Reformers as a heretic and executed in Geneva under Calvin's authority. Our church just finished up a 7-week series on eschatology. 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. Short Response to Dr. MacArthur's statement. 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 After clicking 'Register', you will receive an email with a link to verify your account and to complete your registration. Not one reference anywhere in Scripture - and there are over two thousand, referring to Israel - means anything other than Israel. This view originated in the 1830s from the teaching ministry of one John Nelson Darby, an early leader in the Plymouth Brethren movement. A preference for allegorical interpretation - Finally, Augustine was influenced by the popular allegorical interpretation of Scripture, particularly of The Book of Revelation. Scofield, that came out of J.N. (Matt .25:31-46; John . Help Grace to You bring important resources like this to people in your community and beyond, free of charge. I know where history is going. 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. . And these things are borne witness to in the fourth book of the writings of Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp. (5.33.3) Apparently Irenaeus also held to the sexta-/septamillennial scheme writing that the end of human history will occur after the 6,000th year. [21] Eusebius also had low regard for the chiliast, Papias, and he let it be known that in his opinion Papias was "a man of small mental capacity" because he had taken the Apocalypse literally.[22]. There is another form of that view called amillennialism; amillennialism - and youve probably heard about that. 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. All right. 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. Craig Blaising and . That, after the Jews conversion there will be a glorious day for the elect upon earth, and that this day shall be a very long continuance."[44]. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.' 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. The millennium will end when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. 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 for the Grace to You media ministry. Israel disobeyed the law, youre done. In fact, some say nearly one-fourth of Scripture is prophetic. Moreover, John, as again stated by Papias, ascribed the origin of millenarianism to Christ . And Ive gone back after I preach, and Ive written commentaries - now I think 26 or 27 volumes on the New Testament - back through the same material again and again and again and again and again, so that this understanding of eschatology has had to stand the acid test of every text. We chart the course and God reacts. Julian of Toledo (642690) summarizes the medieval doctrine of the millennium by referring to it as the church of God which, by the diffusion of its faith and works, is spread out as a kingdom of faith from the time of the incarnation until the time of the coming judgment. Origen was the first to challenge the doctrine openly. Would you agree? Not just the future of Israel, but our confidence in the Word of God. He has also written or edited nearly four hundred books and study guides. 3. . 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. You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. 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. 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. 2023 Grace to You. 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. All right, thats the introduction. 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