For example, the book is well-organized. One says moving toward the coming of Christ there will be no kingdom. Its two ways to view human history. Ive been here at Grace Church well, what - thirty-some years. 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. Death, where is your sting? Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist, Part 1. 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 We understand that when you have a prophecy in the Bible that has not yet come to pass, not everything will be clear. Why? That in itself is an indication of Gods preservation for their future. 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. Now, there are people who do this to Genesis 1, 2 and 3. And by what authority? DMcFadden said: The mixture of dispensational eschatology and Calvinist soteriology is not unique to MacArthur. They were fighting the massive Roman system, and being occupied on those fronts, they never really got to the front of eschatology. Not true. And I can only tell you I am unwaveringly committed to the sovereign election of a future generation of Jews to salvation, and the full inheritance of all the promises and covenants of God given to them in the Old Testament. 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. My professors were a Who's Who of dispensational premillennialism: John Walvoord (then president of DTS), Charles Ryrie (author of Dispensationalism Today and The Ryrie Study Bible ), and J. Dwight Pentecost (author of perhaps the most influential text on the subject at that time, Things to Come ), just to mention the more well-known. Edwards believed that the overthrow of Satans kingdom involved several elements: the abolition of heresies and infidelity, the overthrow of the kingdom of the Antichrist (the Pope), the overthrow of the Muslim nations, and the overthrow of Jewish infidelity: However obstinate [the Jews] have been now for above seventeen hundred years in their rejection of Christ, and however rare have been the instances of individual conversions, ever since the destruction of Jerusalem … yet, when this day comes, the thick vail that blinds their eyes shall be removed, 2 Cor. He notes that "the decisive authority of Asiatic millennialism is John, from whom the elders claimed to have obtained their information. ( 3:16) . CLASSIC DISPENSATIONALISM. Here at Grace to You Europe we take our data protection responsibilities very seriously and, as you would expect, have undertaken a significant programme of work to ensure that we are ready for this important legislative change. Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource. Some of them are postmillennialists, although there are fewer and fewer of those. 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. "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. 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. First, the Antichrist would appear and a seven-year period of tribulation would commence. Does the end matter? They believe God elects nobody to salvation. John Piper Backs Professor's End Times Theory of Premillennialism. 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. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4; 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. MacArthur--who is an ardent dispensationalist--stated and defended his position. He blogs at Ordinary Pastor. 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. Dispensational Premillennialism is a recent, complex, and increasingly controversial form of modern Historic Premillennialism (HP). 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? Instead, MacArthur systematically unpacked the biblical theology that leads one to an unabashed Calvinistic eschatology. Craig Blaising and . The completed registration allows us to send order and donation receipts to the email address you provided. Ridgeleys original work was titled A Body of Divinity: Wherein the Doctrines of the Christian Religion are Explained and Defended, Being the Substance of Several Lectures on the Assemblys Larger Catechism and was published in 1731.)) So, you interpret it right, and that will allow you to understand the meaning of the Covenants and the future of Israel; and Gods integrity is at stake. They taught that the kingdom of God would be visibly manifest on earth after the second coming of Jesus. [2] Christ's Prophetic Plans: A Futuristic Premillennial Primer. 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? 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 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. This morning John MacArthur opened the 2007 Shepherd's Conference with a loud blast that will no doubt be heard around the Reformed world in the coming weeks. Prior to that I thought about it a lot. Its the whole point of the beginning and the middle. Thats for people who dont know this; that the way history ends, is with Jesus coming and taking us away. When it was first published three and a half decades ago, Paradise Restored helped to precipitate a massive paradigm shift in the Evangelical and Reformed world from abject pessimism to unabashed optimism. Israel crucifies the Messiah, thats it. I am not going to try to quote him here, because frankly I did not take notes, I just sat there and listened. I reject the wacky world of newspaper exegesis and cartoon eschatology, and crazy interpretation like the locusts of Revelation 9 being helicopters, et cetera. Should We Cancel Karl Barth, Martin Luther, and Jonathan Edwards? 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. That leaves me with the impression that God wants us not to question the length of its duration. 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. Its just a lot of material. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. This is a positive book: positive about the future of the Church. 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. Process theology: they are the theologians, liberal theologians, who believe that God is in process of becoming what He will be. He has also written or edited nearly four hundred books and study guides. Preachers Should Measure Twice and Cut Once, Why Our Church Cancelled Christmas Eve Service. In short, there shall be, as it were, a universal spread of religion and holiness to the Lord, throughout the world. 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. They are certainly available (or they should be) in the library at MacArthurs Masters Seminary. It is masterfully written. And I went there and I spoke for a week, and they finally said to me, When are you going to tell us the good part? and I said, Well, whats the good part? They said, We want to know about the future; we want to know about the future. These are dicult words to pronounce and even harder concepts to understand. 4. I have even called thee by thy name Isaiah 65:9: Mine elect shall inherit it - the promises of God. 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. His point being that Jesus literally fulfilled promises of God just as they would have been literally taken, how in the world can we now redefine the kingdom in a different way than it was described in and through the prophets? Guest. . This is postmillennialism at its best. 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.. I dont know about you, but I really cant get too worked up about greenhouse gases. In keeping with his view of faith, MacArthur denigrates "facts," "doctrine," "intellectual assent," and so on. 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. He also spoke briefly about dispensationalism, but I am not going to cover that here, I got to run. 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. But let me tell you something: normal, natural, literal interpretation is the only way to stop abuse of Scripture. 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. 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. 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.) See more on the author's page Sung Wook Chung All right. Dispensationalism is a kind of framework for history that is organized around seven dispensationsseven orders or administrations. That is a large part of evangelical Christianity, the Wesleyan movement, Charismatic movement, Methodists, etc., etc., many Baptists. This makes two distinct judgmentsone for Christians and one for non-Christians after the millennium. 315K views 1 year ago Significant video editing was used to create a unique storyline that teaches about the end times, specifically premillennialism and amillennialism. It makes no sense. In a really interesting illustration MacArthur envisioned an amillennialist evangelizing a Jew. (Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 1:563564.). He asked what the amillennialist would say if the Jew asked about the kingdom and the blessings. I like to call amillennialism negative, and postmillennialism positive. Chicago: Moody, 2012. 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? 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. John Knox (1) John MacArthur (4) John MacDuff (1) John Mark (1) John Piper (25) John T. Carroll (1) John the Baptist (1) . Some people try to call it poetry, but its clearly not poetry - it has none of the earmarks of poetry, none of the characteristics of Hebrew poetry. Christ returns before the Millennium, a literal thousand years 2. 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. Staggering. He and his wife, Christie, have six children. Show more Friends Following As soon as you abandon that, then its fair game for anybodys craziness. Amen. [1] He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. 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. We want the Word to cause us to live lives pleasing to You. 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. Whether youre talking about the church as Gods elect, or Israel as Gods elect, both are Gods elect. 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. John McArthur John MacArthur was born on 19 June, 1939. And it is powerfully persuasive. He wants us to get it right; thats why He put it in the Scripture and the Scripture is replete with it. The reasons are simple enough: this classic work is forthrightly Biblical. Arminians - not Armenians, thats different; those who follow Arminius - did not believe in election. 2. You have this hope as a purifying hope. As more and more information comes to Him, and as He has more and more experience in dealing with the issues of His universe, Hes getting better at being God. I was talking to one of our missionaries just this same week I gave this talk to the pastors, and he was coming back from China and he said, Theres only one view in the church in China and its the premillennial view. Of course, because they just take what Scripture says. I have never moved away from my conviction about these two things. Well, this is such a great chapter - verse 51: I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep. - comfort one another. How could He hold any of us, in one sense, responsible for not believing? Romans 11:28 . 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. When Frederick the Great called his chaplain in and he said, I want proof of the truthfulness of the Bible, and I want it briefly, the chaplain replied, Sir, I can give you proof of the truthfulness of the Bible in one word: Israel.. Death, where is your victory? The reformers had it right on most issues. Why do we want to change the rules in interpretation to avoid that? #10. Thats just two ways to look at the same thing. 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. 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. 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. Scofield, that came out of J.N. 3. I have thought about these things, by the way, for a long time. 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. 1897 (Western Theological Seminary) (James Orr) .. 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. (Edmonton, AB Canada: Still Waters Revival Books, [1855] 1993), 2:621. Certainly, you have no idea what it means - neither does anybody else. MacArthur's "dispensationalism" is eschatological and ecclesiological only. Who Are the Real Schismatics? Help Grace to You bring important resources like this to people in your community and beyond, free of charge. 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. 2023 Grace to You. Now, why am I making a case for this? Not that they were the end, but they were the means to the end. Or another way to say it would be this: how many of you have attended an amillennial prophecy conference? If only he could just send down one message, that might be it. The beliefs of Premillennialism are far from "rightly dividing the word of truth"! In the modern theological world, I say leave amillennialism to the process theologians. 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. Not just the future of Israel, but our confidence in the Word of God. 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. What some postmil critics fail to recognize is that postmillennialists have always had a significant role for the future conversion of Jews while premillennialists do not. This article is also available and sold as a booklet. ), 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.). Why would God wait nearly 2000 years to redeem a single generation of Jews only to have the antichrist wipe out two-thirds of them? The Rapture, Antichrist, and Rebirth of Israel in Medieval Manuscripts. But, for certain, according to amillennialists, there will be no thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. 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. 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. Its not nearly as difficult as some people make it if you just take Scripture at face value. Theyve been refined, clarified, expanded, enriched through these 50 years, but I was convinced when I started. Moreover, John, as again stated by Papias, ascribed the origin of millenarianism to Christ . This book teaches that Christians will exercise dominion in history. 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. 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. But not us, who live and breathe the rarified air of sovereign grace and election; it makes no sense to me. After thorough study I saw that his views on the topic were based on (among other things) circular reasoning and tradition. 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. He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. Dispensationalism is perhaps a key reason why evangelicals have such a concern with what happens to the nation of Israel. So, I said, Would you do me a favor? 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. 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? And Im not in to newspaper exegesis, where you where everything that happens in the news fulfills some obscure Old Testament prophecy. First John 3 verse 2: Beloved - 1 John 3:2 Now are we the children of God. 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? You get your eschatology right when you get Israel right. 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. by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue (Chicago: Moody, 2012), 24. The other view is whats called openness theology, and its the same thing; it simply means God has no idea what the future is. 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. 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 bottom line is were in charge. Ridgeley spends several pages refuting ancient and modern Chiliasts, or Millennarians ((Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 1:558562.)) Receiving Not Achieving. 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. S. Lewis Johnson, Curt Daniel "The History and Theology of Calvinism" by Curt Daniel) and others affirm full soteriological Calvinism without adopting postmil or amil eschatology. We cant have those prophecies come to pass with regard to Israel in an earthly, literal kingdom the way the Old Testament seems to be saying it, so set aside normal, natural, literal interpretation. One topic I did not mention is the place of Israel in prophecy at it relates to postmillennialism. 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 . Now, they make perfect amillennialists; thats a perfect setup for them. 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. Daylight and dark, daylight and dark - thats a 24-hour period - God creates everything. One calls it a kingdom and says it will expand and expand and expand - thats the positive spin. 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. Have you ever heard of that? It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. iii.16. His message in General Session 1 was entitled Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is Premillennial. This morning John MacArthur opened the 2007 Shepherds Conference with a loud blast that will no doubt be heard around the Reformed world in the coming weeks. We've been working our way through doctrinal emphases in Scripture, doctrinal themes, and we have covered a lot of ground. He even went so far as to say that the Amillennial position is more consistent with Arminianism And so, we stand steadfast, immovable. It is pungently clear. Its the same God, same terminology. Now, to affix our thinking to one great future event which seems to be the most controversial, I want you to think with me about the coming kingdom of Christ, known as the millennial kingdom, because in the twentieth chapter of Revelation, the opening of that chapter, there is reference to the reign and rule of Jesus Christ on the earth which lasts one thousand years; in fact, one thousand is repeated six times in that brief text. If were going to change the rules, then, may I suggest this - and this is what I told the pastors - if were going to change the rules, then we better have a word from God. (Quoted in DeJong, As the Waters Cover the Sea, 38.). He told me he would study the issue and get back to me. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. We know that, so our ambition is, when we get to that place, to be rewarded because we are pleasing to Him. John MacArthur News Why TMS? -- 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 See here and here. Hes getting better. He made them in the past, when He didnt know what He now knows, because what was going to happen hadnt happened. 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. We can take prophetic Scripture at face value. 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. The amil guy, MacArthur said, would have to say that things have changed, those promises no longer apply to you, we have them now and this is the kingdom. 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. Only now has it happened, and so His promises may not be trustworthy, since they were given in the past, before so many things happened that He didnt know were coming to pass. That's a complete misreading. "John MacArthur on Calvinism, Dispensationalism, Israel, and Hermeneutics: A Few Comments" . In his commentary on John 3:33, John Calvin wrote: "To believe the Gospel is nothing else than to assent to the truths that God has revealed." The sort faith that MacArthur rejects is what the Bible requires. Arminius did not believe in election; those who follow him do not believe in election. Why do we want to run from that? / ( .) They explain, "As a refinement of dispensational premillennialism, futuristic millennialism affirms a futuristic view . Postmillennialists think things are going to get better. 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. 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 can follow him on Twitter. I just want to note that he neither proposed nor answered the types of objections that are oftentimes levied against premillennialists. 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. 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).
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