But they want to get God off the hook, so they say Hes really not responsible, Hes really not in charge of anything; Hes just trying to figure it out. Now it is time to reestablish the high ground of sovereign grace for a future generation of ethnic Israel in salvation and the messianic earthly kingdom. Who Are the Real Schismatics? You can believe and be saved and then you can forfeit your salvation. Seventy percent - by the way - of Scripture is the story of Israel, start to finish. He notes that "the decisive authority of Asiatic millennialism is John, from whom the elders claimed to have obtained their information. 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. Like all divine truth, getting the future truth right is beneficial. 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. Erdman refers to the premillennialism of Asia Minor in the second century as "Asiatic millennialism.". Or another way to say it would be this: how many of you have attended an amillennial prophecy conference? 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. I have never moved away from my conviction about these two things. 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. And I ask the question: are we supposed to be comfortable with the notion that the hard and fast and true principles of Bible interpretation have to be set aside in prophetic texts? It was developed in mid-19 th century England by John Darby, a leader of the small but influential Plymouth Brethren Movement. In the modern theological world, I say leave amillennialism to the process theologians. Not that they were the end, but they were the means to the end. The Savoy Declaration, drawn up in October 1658 by English Congregationalists meeting at the Savoy Palace, London, included the conversion of the Jews in its summary of the Churchs future hope: We expect that in the latter days, Antichrist being destroyed, the Jews called, and the adversaries of the kingdom of his dear Son broken, the churches of Christ being enlarged and edified through a free and plentiful communication of light and grace, shall enjoy in this world a more quiet, peaceful, and glorious condition than they have enjoyed. But they never got around to eschatology; they never got around to applying their formidable skills. Its the same God, same terminology. When He comes, everything ends immediately. Those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election - thats the Reformed - they are typically amillennial. And by the way, if we change the rules, what are the new ones? Amillennialism really seems to fit them. Please be aware that these items are sent out from our office in the UK. 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. 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. 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? So, I told the pastors at the conference, and the title of this talk is, Why every self-respecting Calvinist has to be a premillennialist. Because, if you believe in divine sovereign election, then you have to believe that as God will be faithful to His promises to His church, He will also be faithful to His promises to His elect nation Israel. 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. Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource. (Edmonton, AB Canada: Still Waters Revival Books, [1855] 1993), 2:621. MacArthur, John, and Richard Mayhue, eds. Amillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism, postmillennialism, preterism. 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. 2023 Grace to You. After thorough study I saw that his views on the topic were based on (among other things) circular reasoning and tradition. Forfeited all its privileges, forfeited all those things that God declared in covenant that He would give to them in the future; and they forfeit it by their disobedience to the Mosaic Covenant, by their apostasy from true religion and by their rejection of their Messiah. How could they believe unless He caused them to believe? Ive dragged myself through all these years of the discipline of study. 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. 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? Post-Millennialism, in stark contrast to Pre-Millennialism, believes that the Millennium occurs before Jesus' Second Coming rather than after. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), which, along with the appearance of the Antichrist, marks the beginning of the seven-year great tribulation on earth. Relax; set all that aside. I align myself to historical premillennialism, so I want to convey my own dismay with John MacArthur's sermon series from 2007. Would you agree? He even went so far as to say that the Amillennial position is more consistent with Arminianism And so, I think its a fair test to see whether eschatology holds up. MacArthur pulled no punches in his messages saying things like Jesus, Peter, the writer of Hebrews, and James were all premillenial. They taught that the kingdom of God would be visibly manifest on earth after the second coming of Jesus. In fact, some say nearly one-fourth of Scripture is prophetic. Dr. MacArthur picked this fight. Have you ever heard of that? 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. 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. It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. This is postmillennialism at its best. This year they upgraded some snacks and are handing out Zone protein bars, a major enhancementhowever, I am really missing my family. The books and articles that make this case are not obscure or difficult to find. Show more Friends Following Every promise God made to Abraham about his lineage inheriting the land of Palestine has been fulfilled! 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. 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. 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. Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions in order to comply with GDPR. Now, here comes the real irony; this is the real irony. This article is also available and sold as a booklet. Over four decades of ministry, John has written dozens of bestselling books, including The . Moreover, John, as again stated by Papias, ascribed the origin of millenarianism to Christ . I recently read this great article and would recommend every professing Calvinist to give it a read, I believe John MacArthur's arguments for Pre-Millennialism are biblically irrefutable, mainly because the traditional Reformed view (Amillennialism) does away (Replacement Theology) with future Israel (God's Elect) and that is far from the truth I had, as theologians might call it, my own my own ordo eschaton; that would be the chronological sequence of the end times. Calvin, though, was an amil, and DutchCalvinism, after a postmil start, has tended to be amil. Basically he said that when people spiritualize or allegorize the first three chapters of Genesis we call them Liberals, but when they do the same with the prophetic Scriptures we call them amillennialists. 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.. 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. Cause what that means is God does know the future; God has set the future, and the future involves not only the glory of His church but the fulfillment of His elect people Israel with regard to everything that He promised that nation. With appearances by. by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue (Chicago: Moody, 2012), 24. And there are others who believe that that refers to heaven; that refers to the experience of the saints in heaven. There have been premillennial (traditionally known as "chiliastic) movements, including some Reformed theologians, since the early church but most . MacArthur and the seminary faculty know of Murrays work. The church will have an increasing influence in the world. The completed registration allows us to send order and donation receipts to the email address you provided. DMcFadden said: The mixture of dispensational eschatology and Calvinist soteriology is not unique to MacArthur. Certainly, you have no idea what it means - neither does anybody else. . 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. The reasons are simple enough: this classic work is forthrightly Biblical. Where is the divine mandate to do that?
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