Arminius did not believe in election; those who follow him do not believe in election. Death, where is your victory? I have dragged you through virtually every verse in the New Testament. Yet in Sproul's lifetime, he and MacArthur were close friends. 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? We had met a short time ago, and she had questions about . Yet it is inconsistent with. Now, they make perfect amillennialists; thats a perfect setup for them. Because they believed that the Jews would be converted, Puritan and Presbyterian churches earnestly prayed that Pauls prophecies would be fulfilled. In the mid-seventeenth century, the Westminster Larger Catechism, in the answer to Question 191, displayed the hope for the future conversion of the Jews. In short, there shall be, as it were, a universal spread of religion and holiness to the Lord, throughout the world. After clicking 'Register', you will receive an email with a link to verify your account and to complete your registration. We've been working our way through doctrinal emphases in Scripture, doctrinal themes, and we have covered a lot of ground. Staggering. Craig Blaising and . (Edmonton, AB Canada: Still Waters Revival Books, [1855] 1993), 2:621. . This is why the Church is so weak in our day. A Look at the Church of England, Sneak Peek Interview: Laura Wiflers New Childrens Book. (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, [1834] 1974), 1:607.). Piper was responding to an "Ask Pastor John . I just want to note that he neither proposed nor answered the types of objections that are oftentimes levied against premillennialists. 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. Hes getting better. Who will establish it? 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 . But if you read Genesis 1 to 3, its pretty clear the evening and the morning were the first day, the evening and the morning were the second day, the evening and the morning were the third day. I saw it in Scripture when I was young; I saw it in Scripture because it was so crystal clear. How could He hold any of us, in one sense, responsible for not believing? The other view is whats called openness theology, and its the same thing; it simply means God has no idea what the future is. 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. 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. 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. The world, as they see it, is in an ongoing golden process of progress. We also applaud his insistence that the Bible must be interpreted literally, according to its normal sense. Premillennialism (3) Pretribulationism (1) Pride (3) Priests (4) Princeton Theological Review (1) . They believe God elects nobody to salvation. And it is powerfully persuasive. 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. Well, we now come to the doctrines that relate to the end times. We sent you an email. 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. 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.. It is the theme of Scripture, the theme of eternity, and the . 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? You get your eschatology right when you get Israel right. These are dicult words to pronounce and even harder concepts to understand. But some are holding on to what they have taught in the past; I guess self-preservation dominates their theology at that point. And whats at stake here? A Review of Dr. John MacArthur's "Why Every Calvinist Should be a Premillennialist" Sermon. Weve been working our way through doctrinal emphases in Scripture, doctrinal themes, and we have covered a lot of ground. In 1679, Scottish minister Walter Smith drew up some guidelines for prayer meetings: As it is the undoubted duty of all to pray for the coming of Christs kingdom, so all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and know what it is to bow a knee in good earnest, will long and pray for the out-making of the gospel-promises to his Church in the latter days, that King Christ would go out upon the white horse of the gospel, conquering and to conquer, and make a conquest of the travail of his soul, that it may be sounded that the kingdoms of the world are become his, and his name called upon from the rising of the sun to its going down. Help train Christians to boldly share the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that clearly communicates to this secular age. The books and articles that make this case are not obscure or difficult to find. 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? A recurring topic of interest in his writings is the historical reliability of the Scriptures. 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. And again, I say, His election is divine, unilateral, unconditional and irrevocable. And by the way, if we change the rules, what are the new ones? 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. This makes two distinct judgmentsone for Christians and one for non-Christians after the millennium. Hes not predicting the future because you cant predict what hasnt happened - it doesnt exist. Some people want to turn it into ages - theres nothing in there that does that; theres nothing in the text itself that does that. How could He hold them responsible for not believing? He has also written or edited nearly four hundred books and study guides. You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. Amillennialism is ideal for Arminians because, according to their theology, God elects nobody and preserves nobody. The assembly and the circumstances of the assembly must be distinguished. Worship - John F. MacArthur 2012-01-20 Nothing is more important than worship. Leave it to the semi-Pelagians and Pelagians, who go in and out of salvation; it makes sense for their theology. 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. 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. Dispensational premillennialists hold that Christ will come before a seven-year period of intense tribulation to take His church (living and dead) into heaven. But we now have pure Israelites. 7 Reasons Why the Gospel of John is So Special 3 days ago Similarly, the Westminster Directory for Public Worship instructed ministers to pray for the Propagation of the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ to all nations, for the conversion of the Jews, the fullness of the Gentiles, the fall of Antichrist, and the hastening of the second coming of the Lord. (Quoted in J. Registered User
We chart the course and God reacts. So, this is a classic perfect fit for Arminian theology. [2] First John 3 verse 2: Beloved - 1 John 3:2 Now are we the children of God. 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. Dispensationalism is a kind of framework for history that is organized around seven dispensationsseven orders or administrations. 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. Over four decades of ministry, John has written dozens of bestselling books, including The . They dont want to accept the fact that Adam and Eve were created full grown, male and female, not the result of an evolutionary process. All this panic about global warming, and all this panic about the end of the world and asteroids crashing into the earth? Register. [1] He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. But, in any case - and by the way, postmillennialists and amillennialists differ as to the details of these kinds of things. One calls it a kingdom and says it will expand and expand and expand - thats the positive spin. Fundamental 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. Allis - well-known - says, The Old Testament prophecies if literally interpreted cannot be regarded as having been yet fulfilled or being capable of fulfillment in the present age. Thats true. Or another way to say it would be this: how many of you have attended an amillennial prophecy conference? 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 reasons are simple enough: this classic work is forthrightly Biblical. I'm two thirds in to the series; however, one of my complaints so far is that MacArthur doesn't characterize the amillennial camp with accuracy. Show it to me. Ridgeley spends several pages refuting ancient and modern Chiliasts, or Millennarians ((Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 1:558562.)) Israel sinned, promises cancelled. MacArthur insisted that we should be able to preach the whole Bible without changing the original meaning of the text or abrogating promises. After thorough study I saw that his views on the topic were based on (among other things) circular reasoning and tradition. Historically, church fathers favored historic premillennialism, including Ireneaus, Papias, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Hippolytus. All rights reserved. See more on the author's page Sung Wook Chung 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. 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. 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. He asked what the amillennialist would say if the Jew asked about the kingdom and the blessings. iii.16. 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. What passage is it in? Please make sure all fields are filled out. 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. John MacArthur claims to be a Dispensationalist in both The Gospel According to Jesus (GAJ) and The Gospel According to the Apostles (GAA). No kingdom on earth ruled by Christ before He gets here, and no kingdom on earth ruled by Christ after He gets here. So that whatever God chose to do He will do, that whatever He began to do He will complete, those who will defend that to their last breath - Gods irrevocable, unconditional, unilateral, sovereign election will bring those He has chosen to the fulfillment of all that He has promised them. 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. 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. Dispensationalism continues to provoke heated debate within the Christian world. And Im not in to newspaper exegesis, where you where everything that happens in the news fulfills some obscure Old Testament prophecy. 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. I am not going to try to quote him here, because frankly I did not take notes, I just sat there and listened. When He comes, everything ends immediately. I reject the wacky world of newspaper exegesis and cartoon eschatology, and crazy interpretation like the locusts of Revelation 9 being helicopters, et cetera. How could they believe unless He caused them to believe? The reason why it's called "historic premillennialism" is that, historically, this was the allegedly commonly-held view by many of the church fathers like Iraenus, Pappias, and Justin Martyr. 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. 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. One says moving toward the coming of Christ there will be no kingdom. 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. It is one thing to omit them in formal obedience to the law; and another thing to omit them in prudence, or for necessity, because we cannot keep them. He confronts the views of covenant theology, historical premillennialism, ultradispensationalism, and, in this revised edition, the increasingly popular progressive dispensationalism. As soon as you abandon that, then its fair game for anybodys craziness. 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. The church. You can figure it out. Without the dispensational lens-says MacArthur-you will misunderstand much of the Bible. John MacArthur was one of the influences that helped turn me to Preterism. Do you know - are you watching this media? 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. Contrary to MacArthur, the historical record demonstrates that postmillennial Calvinists had developed a prophetic role for the Jews hundreds of years before Scofield. 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. (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. 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. In a shocking conclusion to the illustration, MacArthur said, if this is the kingdom, then Jesus is not the messiah. Erik Raymond is the senior pastor at Redeemer Fellowship Church in Metro Boston. Resting Not Vexing, Our Anchor in a Sea of Chaos and Consternation, Why I (Sometimes) Listen to Supreme Court Oral Arguments. That's a complete misreading. 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. Calvin, though, was an amil, and DutchCalvinism, after a postmil start, has tended to be amil. 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. In the world, things will get better and better and better as the church becomes more powerful and more influential.
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