4. It is the theme of Scripture, the theme of eternity, and the . Why do we want to change the rules in interpretation to avoid that? All right, thats the introduction. (Quoted in DeJong, As the Waters Cover the Sea, 38.). Through the work of Ladd, historic premillennialism gained scholarly respect and popularity among Evangelical and Reformed theologians since he had the right appreciation of the redemptive- historical significance of the first coming of Christ and of the NT age. John McArthur John MacArthur was born on 19 June, 1939. He confronts the views of covenant theology, historical premillennialism, ultradispensationalism, and, in this revised edition, the increasingly popular progressive dispensationalism. 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. Regarding this Dr. Timothy Jones writes, "Dispensationalism emphasizes the differences and discontinuity between the physical descendants of Abraham and followers of Jesus [2]. Piper was responding to an "Ask Pastor John . Now, I've been telling you for a number of months that we were going to get into the subject of eschatology, the doctrine of last things. Now, here comes the real irony; this is the real irony. 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. 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. He notes that "the decisive authority of Asiatic millennialism is John, from whom the elders claimed to have obtained their information. His message in General Session 1 was entitled Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is Premillennial. 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. Ive written about this in several places. Theological Method of Premillennialism" in A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology, ed. Hes not predicting the future because you cant predict what hasnt happened - it doesnt exist. All right. 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. 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? God doesnt choose you, you choose Him. 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. 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. 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. Chicago: Moody, 2012. 2. MacArthur's "dispensationalism" is eschatological and ecclesiological only. 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. The alpha privative in the Greek language means a negative, so there is the view that there is no millennium; that what John is writing about in Revelation 20 is very vague, may refer to nothing other than a long time in which the church flourishes on earth, simply referring to that kingdom which is spiritual - that is, the rule of Christ over those who belong to Him while on earth. 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.. 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? And there are others who believe that that refers to heaven; that refers to the experience of the saints in heaven. All this panic about global warming, and all this panic about the end of the world and asteroids crashing into the earth? 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. 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. It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. Enter your email address and we will send you instructions on how to reset your password. 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. An Anglican - an Anglican - by the name of William Cunningham in 1815 wrote a book called The Premillennial Advent; he was anything but a dispensationalist. Because, you see, if it doesnt mean what it says it means, then any suggestion is as bad as any other suggestion. 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.. We freely own, as what we think agreeable to scripture, that as Christ has, in all ages, displayed his glory as King of the Church, so we have ground to conclude, from scripture, that the administration of his government in this world, before his coming to judgment, will be attended with greater magnificence, more visible marks of glory, and various occurrences of providence, which shall tend to the welfare and happiness of his church, in a greater degree than has been beheld or experienced by it, since it was planted by the ministry of the apostles after his ascension into heaven. "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. Tell us about the future. They were in a very hopeless situation, having very little in life. If you interpret Old Testament prophecies literally, they cannot be fulfilled in this present age. 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. This book teaches that Christians will exercise dominion in history. Dispensationalism is a kind of framework for history that is organized around seven dispensationsseven orders or administrations. 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. It is narrative history, and we fight - sometimes tooth and nail - to maintain the literal veracity of Genesis 1 through 3. The second, after the conversion of the Jews. (Quoted in Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope: Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1971), 72. I have - they can try to terrify me with all this stuff; I am unmoved. There have been premillennial (traditionally known as "chiliastic) movements, including some Reformed theologians, since the early church but most . We understand that when you have a prophecy in the Bible that has not yet come to pass, not everything will be clear. 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. 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. 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. Israel sinned, promises cancelled. 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. 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. They believe God elects nobody to salvation. 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 . 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. They would rather believe that God has predestined His Church to failure than believe that they are personally responsible for transforming society. As soon as you abandon that, then its fair game for anybodys craziness. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. 3. A Preface First: One of the reasons I am doing this review of Dr. MacArthur's sermon Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist is due to a good friend and sister in Christ who wished to challenge me on the subject of eschatology. They were fighting the massive Roman system, and being occupied on those fronts, they never really got to the front of eschatology. 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". ), We have, hence, sufficient ground to conclude, that, when these prophecies shall have their accomplishment, the interest of Christ shall be the prevailing interest in the world, which it has never yet been in all respects; so that godliness shall be as much and as universally valued and esteemed, as it has hitherto been decried, and it shall be reckoned as great an honour to be a Christian, as it has, in the most degenerate age of the church, been matter of reproach…. The church will have an increasing influence in the world. Calvin, though, was an amil, and DutchCalvinism, after a postmil start, has tended to be amil. Its two ways to view human history. 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? Its the whole point of everything else. I have never moved away from my conviction about these two things. Historically, church fathers favored historic premillennialism, including Ireneaus, Papias, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Hippolytus. 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. Israel disobeyed the law, youre done. 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 Thats just two ways to look at the same thing. And by the way, if we change the rules, what are the new ones? They also think that there is not to be a literal thousand-year kingdom as such, but thats just metaphoric for a long time; and it simply indicates whatever the duration of that period where the influence of the church dominates the world, after which Christ returns. Turn to Revelation chapter 1. 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. 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. If it doesnt mean what it says and everybodys got a different view, then nobody has the authority to say, This is true. Lets just stick with things that we know are true and things that all the good theologians agree on. After clicking 'Register', you will receive an email with a link to verify your account and to complete your registration. Log In Christ's Prophetic Plans: A Futuristic Premillennial Primer. MacArthur insisted that we should be able to preach the whole Bible without changing the original meaning of the text or abrogating promises. This makes two distinct judgmentsone for Christians and one for non-Christians after the millennium. 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. But people are upset because MacArthur so badly misrepresented amillennialism, and because he defined "premillennialism" as though it were dispensationalism. Moreover, John, as again stated by Papias, ascribed the origin of millenarianism to Christ . For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ - thats part of the coming eschatology. Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist, Part 1. 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. They are certainly available (or they should be) in the library at MacArthurs Masters Seminary. 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. 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. 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. "John MacArthur on Calvinism, Dispensationalism, Israel, and Hermeneutics: A Few Comments" . What you have here is a benediction from God: blessed is he who reads and understands the book of Revelation. I dont do this to you very often, but I hope you feel like it was helpful, and anchored you in this great and important truth. He will return to an increasingly wicked earth, He will come in fiery judgment, He will judge all the ungodly of all the earth, and then establish His rule and His kingdom forever. Why? And it is powerfully persuasive. and defends what can only be described as postmillennialism over against premillennialism. 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. 13:79). Hes getting better. Without the dispensational lens-says MacArthur-you will misunderstand much of the Bible. You get the interpretation of Scripture right when youre faithful to valid rules of interpretation. [1] He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. Register. . Please respond to confirm your registration. 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. by Craig L. Blomberg and Sung Wook Chung [Grand Rapids: . When I was in seminary I thought about it, and I guess for about 50 years Ive been thinking about eschatology, the time of the end. [2] He has also written or edited nearly four hundred books and study guides. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4; 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. John MacArthur claims to be a Dispensationalist in both The Gospel According to Jesus (GAJ) and The Gospel According to the Apostles (GAA). We want the Word to cause us to live lives pleasing to You. / ( .) 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.) If you want to understand what the Bible says about the future, get these two things right: the sovereignty of God in election, and the promises of that sovereign, electing God to those people to whom He has elected - His redeemed church and Israel.
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