john macarthur premillennialism john macarthur premillennialism

Isaiah 65 - really, the whole chapter is about Israel, Gods elect - verse 22: My elect again shall enjoy long the work of their hands. Israel repeatedly called Gods elect; we know what that means. 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? Amen. We understand that when you have a prophecy in the Bible that has not yet come to pass, not everything will be clear. Registered User 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. That's OK and no one is surprised or upset about that. So, I say, leave amillennialism to those kinds of people who do not believe in the sovereign, unilateral, irrevocable, divine electing power of God. He also said that it is too late for Calvin but it is not too late for you [to join the Reformed Premillennial movement]! What you have here is a benediction from God: blessed is he who reads and understands the book of Revelation. 13:79). Not that they were the end, but they were the means to the end. And there are others who believe that that refers to heaven; that refers to the experience of the saints in heaven. Have you ever heard of that? His message in General Session 1 was entitled "Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is Premillennial". S. Lewis Johnson, Curt Daniel "The History and Theology of Calvinism" by Curt Daniel) and others affirm full soteriological Calvinism without adopting postmil or amil eschatology. Thats for people who dont know this; that the way history ends, is with Jesus coming and taking us away. 4. In the world, things will get better and better and better as the church becomes more powerful and more influential. As soon as you abandon that, then its fair game for anybodys craziness. Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Ridgeleys original work was titled A Body of Divinity: Wherein the Doctrines of the Christian Religion are Explained and Defended, Being the Substance of Several Lectures on the Assemblys Larger Catechism and was published in 1731.)) 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? (Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 1:562. Jonathan Edwards, a noted postmillennialist and someone MacArthur quotes unfavorably in his Shepherds talk, outlined the future of the Christian Church in his 1774 History of Redemption. Death, where is your sting? John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where he has served since 1969. Therefore, Israel has been permanently set aside, so that the only kingdom will be that kingdom that we call the church, ruled by Christ, either expanding to take over the world, or existing in the world, and finally in heaven. Hes improving; Hes definitely on the upward curve. It is one thing to omit them for a time, and another to do it ordinarily. Guest. Erik Raymond is the senior pastor at Redeemer Fellowship Church in Metro Boston. This article is also available and sold as a booklet. 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. There should be a footnote in the chapter saying, Please note: here comes a prophetic text; change the rules. We really need a divine mandate, because I think God cares that we get it right. Dispensational Premillennialism is a recent, complex, and increasingly controversial form of modern Historic Premillennialism (HP). See here and here. Reformed theologian John Piper affirmed his belief that the second coming of Christ is coming soon and indicated that he is a premillennialist. I had, as theologians might call it, my own my own ordo eschaton; that would be the chronological sequence of the end times. 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. John MacArthur's first message at the Shepherds' Conference set off shock waves throughout the reformed evangelical church by upholding Premillennialism as being the only consistent position for any person who holds to the doctrine of sovereign electing grace. Postmillennialists think things are going to get better. Show it to me. We know that, so our ambition is, when we get to that place, to be rewarded because we are pleasing to Him. You get the interpretation of Scripture right when youre faithful to valid rules of interpretation. Ridgeley knew his history well enough to know that the majority of theologians in the seventeenth century held to an advancing kingdom through the proclamation of the gospel which includes the future conversion of the Jews. [1] He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. Amillennialism is consistent with Arminianism. 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. So, I said, Would you do me a favor? Theres a rapture, and theres a bma seat judgment; we know that. Now, against those two is the view called premillennialism; that means there will be a millennium and prior to that millennium, Jesus will come. Prior to that I thought about it a lot. Tell us about the future. They were in a very hopeless situation, having very little in life. 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. Why, then, if we are so committed to protecting the text of the beginning in its literal nature, are we so fast to give up the texts of the end and their literal nature? But they never got around to eschatology; they never got around to applying their formidable skills. Ive dragged myself through all these years of the discipline of study. Did He do it and somehow muddle it so hopelessly that the high ground for Bible students and the high ground for theologians is to recognize the muddle and abandon the perspicuity or the clarity of Scripture on that subject? See, for example, Michael Vlach's article "How Does Historic Premillennialism Differ from Dispensational Premillennialism?", this "Eschatology Comparison" chart, and this article "An Historical . And . This is postmillennialism at its best. With appearances by. They believe God elects nobody to salvation. It has to matter to us. Macarthur writes "Futuristic Premillennialism is the result of an understanding and application of the prophetic texts in a way that is consistent with the normal, literal approach to interpreting Scripture." This is how the authors come to their Futuristic Premillennial view. John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (born June 19, 1939) is an American Protestant pastor and author known for his internationally syndicated Christian teaching radio and television program Grace to You. He blogs at Ordinary Pastor. 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. And youve been great tonight; this is more like a theological lecture. 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 . The church. Who Are the Real Schismatics? It matters to me. Leave it to the semi-Pelagians and Pelagians, who go in and out of salvation; it makes sense for their theology. 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. A History of Christian Zionism: Philo-Semitism and the Expectation of Israel's Restoration. Some of them are postmillennialists, although there are fewer and fewer of those. He also spoke briefly about dispensationalism, but I am not going to cover that here, I got to run. How could He hold them responsible for not believing? This is process theology. Where is the divine mandate to do that? Do not look down on others from your view of the end-times. (Quoted in Murray, The Puritan Hope, 101102. #10. 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. We sent you an email. After thorough study I saw that his views on the topic were based on (among other things) circular reasoning and tradition. Now, frankly, its too late for John Calvin to fix his work, although he is now a premillennialist in heaven. Ive preached through many of the books of the Old Testament, the first eleven chapters of Genesis through Daniel, Zechariah, the minor prophets, and pieces and bits of Isaiah and others in the Old Testament. Articles Baptist Theology Calvinism Charles Spurgeon Christology Classic Premillennialism Covenant Theology e-Articles e-Books Eschatology Historic . ), 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…. Along that line, I went to Moody Press and I said, Look, Ive written two volumes on Revelation - I dont know, its 800 or 900 pages - and I realized not everybody is going to go through all of that. 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. It is masterfully written. Contrary to MacArthur, the historical record demonstrates that postmillennial Calvinists had developed a prophetic role for the Jews hundreds of years before Scofield. Theological Method of Premillennialism" in A Case for Historic Premillennialism: An Alternative to "Left Behind" Eschatology, ed. In the modern theological world, I say leave amillennialism to the process theologians. These are dicult words to pronounce and even harder concepts to understand. John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (born June 19, 1939) is an American Protestant pastor and author known for his internationally syndicated Christian teaching radio and television program Grace to You. Part of what we pray for in the second petition, Thy kingdom come, is that the gospel [be] propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fullness of the Gentiles brought in. In his commentary on the Larger Catechism, Thomas Ridgeley (16671734) wrote, Hence, we cannot but suppose that those prophecies which respect [to the conversion of the Jews], in the latter day, together with the fullness of the Gentiles being brought in, shall be more eminently accomplished than they have hitherto been. ((Thomas Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 2 vols. I was talking to one of our missionaries just this same week I gave this talk to the pastors, and he was coming back from China and he said, Theres only one view in the church in China and its the premillennial view. Of course, because they just take what Scripture says. Over 200 times in the Bible God is called the God of Israel - over two hundred times, the God of Israel.. Its just a lot of material. and divine grace shall melt and renew their hard hearts … And then shall the house of Israel be saved: the Jews in all their dispersions shall cast away their old infidelity, and shall have their hearts wonderfully changed, and abhor themselves for their past unbelief and obstinacy.