Eschatological Views

Premillennialism

Most widely held position.

Both believe Christ returns before the Millennial Kingdom.

Historic Premillennialism

Dispensationalism

Think Left Behind.

There’s a secret rapture, a literal 7 year tribulation, and largely tied to the nation state of Israel and a rebuilt temple.

The main problem with dispensationalism is that all their assertions are not found in the Bible.

Show me:

A secret Rapture

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Doesn’t seem so secret.

If there is a rapture it is of the wicked, not the righteous Matthew 13:41-43, 49-50 “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

A literal 7 year tribulation?

A rebuilt Temple anywhere in the NT?

The only rebuilt Temple is Jesus Himself. The true temple of God.

John 2:19-22 “Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”

It also doesn’t understand the nature of God’s Covenants and separates the people of God between ethnic Israel and the church which directly contradicts Scriptures teaching that Jew and Gentile are one new man in Christ (Eph. 2:14) and fellow heirs of the promise through Christ’s gospel (Eph. 3:3-6).

Dispensationalism should be rejected.

However you get there, here is ultimately what Premillennialism believes.

Beliefs

Revelation 20 describes a literal thousand year reign of Christ on the earth that begins at his second coming.

During this reign Satan will be bound and all believers resurrected to reign with Christ for a thousand years.

At the end of the Millennium, Satan is released, there is a widespread rebellion against Christ that God will crush after which, all unbelievers are raised and the final judgment takes place.

Problems with Premillennialism

Revelation 20

Almost the whole Premil system comes from this one passage, and that’s bad Hermeneutics.

When you interpret the Bible, you start with clear passages and let those help you understand less clear passages.

Revelation 20 is one of the most symbolic chapters in one of the most symbolic books, and instead of starting with Revelation 20 and trying to fit other passages into it, you should start with other, more clear passages, and interpret Revelation 20 accordingly.

It clearly ignores all the passages which say Christ established the Kingdom of God in his first advent.

Resurrection

Scripture clearly teaches that all people, both the just and the unjust will be raised at Christ’s return (John 5:28-29) which is the Last day (John 6:40). Paul explicitly says “the end” immediately follows the resurrection (1 Cor 15:22-24).

There is no room for a thousand year gap in any of it.

Defeat of Death

John says that death is destroyed at the Great White Throne of Judgment in Revelation 20:11-14 which everyone believes happens at the end of the Millennium.

Since Paul says Death is destroyed when Christ returns with the resurrection of the Saints (1 Cor 15:22-24) there cannot be a gap between Christ’s return and the Final Judgment. Death can only be destroyed once.

Amillennialism

The millennial kingdom is mostly a spiritual kingdom limited to the hearts of believers, heaven, and the eternal state.

Kingdom of Christ and Kingdom of Satan will run parallel to each other until Christ ultimately defeats Satan’s Kingdom when he returns.

Problems

Jesus’ Authority

All Authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Christ

Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

God is reconciling all things in heaven and on earth to Himself through Christ

Col 1:20 “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Christ must reign until all his enemies whether in heaven or on earth are put under his feet

1 Cor 15:25 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”

Psalm 110:1 “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.””

Jesus was given authority over the nations at in his death burial resurrection and ascension

Daniel 2:34-35 “As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

Revelation 1:5 “and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood”

Daniel 7:13-14 I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Growth of the Kingdom

Amillennialism doesn’t adequately deal with the promised growth of Christ’s Kingdom

Daniel 2:34-35, 44 As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth...And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,”

Ezekiel 47 Promises a trickle of water that grows to ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep, until it is a mighty River.

Matthew 13:31-33 “He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Satan’s Kingdom

If Satan is presently bound how does His Kingdom grow or run parallel to the Kingdom of God?

Satan’s Kingdom was plundered by Christ (Mark 3:27 “But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.”

Daniel 2 promises that Christ Kingdom grows until it fills the earth and that it crushes all other kingdoms to dust

“Finally, we must ask amillennialist why the growth of Satan’s kingdom should have both historically visible and spiritual effects, while the growth of Christ’s kingdom should have almost only spiritual effects.” Mathison, Postmillennialism, 181.

Matthew 16:18 “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The war is a zero sum game. Someone is taking land and someone is losing land.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 The wheat and the Tares grow together but it is a wheat field, not a Tare field.

Postmillennialism

Christ has inaugurated His Kingdom and this Kingdom will Redeem the world

The Kingdom will grow slowly and progressively through 1. Prayer, 2. Preaching of the Gospel, and 3. Power of the Holy Spirit.

This growth will lead to world wide conversion where all the Nations are disciples of Christ

The Kingdom will not be fully consummated until Christ’s return at which point he will remove every trace and stain of sin