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. First John 3 verse 2: Beloved - 1 John 3:2 Now are we the children of God. Whether youre an amillennialist or a postmillennialist, you basically say Israel forfeited all its promises. - comfort one another. 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. Postmillennialists think things are going to get better. 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. In a really interesting illustration MacArthur envisioned an amillennialist evangelizing a Jew. We know that Word about the future has that power. Out of their own mouth - whats wrong with that? 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. The preconception is that we cant allow this to happen. Select Bibliography. In the world, things will get better and better and better as the church becomes more powerful and more influential. It is masterfully written. Major proponents J. N. Darby, C. I. Scofield, John Walvoord, A. C. Gaebelein, Charles Ryrie, Lewis S. Chafer, J. Dwight Pentecost, Charles C. Ryrie, I couldnt help but wonder what the other guest speakers might have been thinking as they sat in the front row. 2. And then the effect of it is in verse 58: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, and you can stop right there. He comes pre, not post; He comes before. In other words, Piper believes Jesus Christ will come on earth and reign for 1,000 years. The other says it is the kingdom. Now, the truth of the matter is, those are just two ways to look at the same thing; postmillennialism and amillennialism is really the same thing. 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. Thats for people who dont know this; that the way history ends, is with Jesus coming and taking us away. Fundamental , . 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. Its just a lot of material. (Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 1:562. Dispensational premillennialists hold that Christ will come before a seven-year period of intense tribulation to take His church (living and dead) into heaven. The reasons are simple enough: this classic work is forthrightly Biblical. For example, the book is well-organized. Why bother? 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, frankly, its too late for John Calvin to fix his work, although he is now a premillennialist in heaven. It is the single most inexplicable story in human history, that this small group of beleaguered people, attacked and assaulted by everybody around them for centuries, still exist as a pure ethnic race. John MacArthur's ministries, including Grace to You and Masters University, also employ a grammatical historical method of interpretation, and they come to a dispensational view of eschatology. So, we can set aside the idea that somehow this is rooted in wacky dispensationalism; it is not. 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? 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. The other looks at it as a spiritual kingdom also but says it will decline and decline and decline until Jesus finally comes. Christ returns before the Millennium, a literal thousand years 2. 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". All of these are benefits of getting it right. 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. We chart the course and God reacts. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ - thats part of the coming eschatology. Log In Im unwaveringly committed to that. 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. 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. 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 dont know about you, but I really cant get too worked up about greenhouse gases. This year they upgraded some snacks and are handing out Zone protein bars, a major enhancementhowever, I am really missing my family. by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue (Chicago: Moody, 2012), 24. Over four decades of ministry, John has written dozens of bestselling books, including The . 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? Do you understand the massive apologetic power of the existence of Israel as an ethnic people in their own land? Its the whole point of everything else. . They believe that salvation can be gained and lost. So, if you say the promises of the Old Testament that refer to Israel really meant the church, you have no precedent for such an interpretation. GDPR is the new European privacy regulation, which will replace the Data Protection Act 1998 in the UK and the equivalent legislation across the EU Member States. And there are a lot of people who get the first one right - they get election right - and they dont get Israel right, and they are lost when it comes to eschatology. Premillennialism: The millennium is the long period (perhaps a literal 1,000 years) when King Jesus will rule on earth. How do you explain that? ), 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.). They were fighting the massive Roman system, and being occupied on those fronts, they never really got to the front of eschatology. Calvin, though, was an amil, and DutchCalvinism, after a postmil start, has tended to be amil. This is a positive book: positive about the future of the Church. 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? 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. The world, as they see it, is in an ongoing golden process of progress. 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. MacArthur, John, and Richard Mayhue, eds. (Matt .25:31-46; John . Leave it to the semi-Pelagians and Pelagians, who go in and out of salvation; it makes sense for their theology. Short Response to Dr. MacArthur's statement. Since Scripture speaks of the Millennium as a time of great prosperity for the kingdom of God, post-mills are inherently optimistic. And by the way, if we change the rules, what are the new ones? Certainly, you have no idea what it means - neither does anybody else. DP also believes that God has a place for both national Israel (cf. See more on the author's page Sung Wook Chung Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. But we now have pure Israelites. Reformed theologian John Piper affirmed his belief that the second coming of Christ is coming soon and indicated that he is a premillennialist. Well, we now come to the doctrines that relate to the end times. CLASSIC DISPENSATIONALISM. 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. 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. After thorough study I saw that his views on the topic were based on (among other things) circular reasoning and tradition. This primer takes you on a Biblical study of questions surrounding prophecy, Israel, the rapture, and the different millennial . So, it is really one of the strange ironies of Reformed theology, and therefore its a strange irony in the church today, that those who love the doctrine of sovereign election most - that would be Reformed theologians - those who love the doctrine of sovereign election most supremely, and who love that doctrine most sincerely and - this is going to be a long sentence - and who are most unwavering in their devotion to the glory of God, the honor of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, the veracity and inerrancy of Scripture , Those who are usually the most fastidious in Bible interpretation - yes, those who are the most careful and intentionally biblical regarding all categories of doctrine, those who see themselves as guardians of biblical truth, those who are passionate to get it right, those who are not content to be wrong at all, and those who most heartily agree on the essential matters of Christian truth, so that they labor with all their powers to examine in a Berean fashion every relevant text to discern the true interpretation of all matters of divine revelation, are . The following is a partial response to the subject since it is integral to premillennialism while postmillennialism is often ignored on the subject. 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.) Did God do this but somehow mumble? That in itself is an indication of Gods preservation for their future. 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. 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.) 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. Erdman refers to the premillennialism of Asia Minor in the second century as "Asiatic millennialism.". 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. John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, editors Moody Publishers 2012-02-21 Five faculty members of The Master's Seminary have written an excellent primer on what they call "futuristic premillennialism." This is a strong defense of pretribulational dispensational premillennialism. They will die for that truth regarding the church, but unashamedly abandon that same truth for the elect nation of Israel. In a shocking conclusion to the illustration, MacArthur said, if this is the kingdom, then Jesus is not the messiah. Because we dont want you to incur expenditure for which you are not prepared, could you please confirm whether you are willing to pay this charge, if necessary? 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. And so, I think its a fair test to see whether eschatology holds up. We also applaud his insistence that the Bible must be interpreted literally, according to its normal sense. 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. 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. 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? And Im not in to newspaper exegesis, where you where everything that happens in the news fulfills some obscure Old Testament prophecy. There are two great elect people in the Bible: Israel and the church; and Israel is elect, as the church is elect - the New Testament is full of comments about the church being the elect. But they never got around to eschatology; they never got around to applying their formidable skills. Ive been putting an outline together in preparation for two talks I did for the December 1819 online A Purchased Victory: A Conference on the Bright Hope of Postmillennialism. My two talks deal with biblical and cultural impediments that are often raised against postmillennialism. 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. 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. . It is the theme of Scripture, the theme of eternity, and the . You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. Moreover, John, as again stated by Papias, ascribed the origin of millenarianism to Christ . What did MacArthur fail to tell the attendees at the Shepherds Conference? 7 Reasons Why the Gospel of John is So Special 3 days ago Do not look down on others from your view of the end-times. So, I said, Would you do me a favor? But people are upset because MacArthur so badly misrepresented amillennialism, and because he defined "premillennialism" as though it were dispensationalism. 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. I have never moved away from my conviction about these two things. 13:79). They would rather believe that God has predestined His Church to failure than believe that they are personally responsible for transforming society.