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1. Read
II Peter 3. What is the destiny of
the world?
2. Read I
Cor. 15:23
– 26. What does this passage
tell us about Jesus’ destiny? Read also vv. 50 – 58. What does this passage tell us about our
destiny?
3. Read I
Thess. 4:14 – 18. What does this passage say about the end?
Based on these important passages, all Christians
throughout the ages have agreed on the following:
-
Jesus will come again in glory and triumph
completely over the power of sin, death, and Satan. (Rev. 19, 20; Matt. 24 || Mark 13 || Luke
17:20 - 37). This is called the Second
Coming or the parousia.
-
At some point, those in Christ who have died will
be raised, and also all believers who are still alive will be caught up to
be with Christ. Their bodies will be
transformed to be like His body, no longer subject to death. This is called the Rapture.
-
The second coming of Christ is a source of
considerable hope for us: it means the end of our struggle with sin (Gal.
1:4, Titus 2:13), the end of death (Rev. 21:4), the remaking of heaven and
earth, and most importantly, the beginning of a face-to-face relationship
with God which will never end (Rev. 21:3).
This doctrine is sometimes called the Christian hope
or the eschatological hope.
When we partake of Communion (the Lord’s Supper), we proclaim
His death until He comes.
However, Christians disagree rather vigorously about the
timing and manner of the end. Among
Bible-believing Christians, four views have enjoyed popularity at various
times. Each of these views has both
historical and modern-day proponents; a bibliography is included below for
further reading.
Historic Premillennialism
During
the second and third centuries AD, premillennialism
was the dominant view. This view
holds that Christ’s return is the beginning of a thousand-year reign
of Jesus on earth. Here are some
passages which are important to the historic premillennialist:
- Read
Rev. 20. The historic premillennialist sees the book of Revelation as
occurring in chronological order; if we accept this order, then what
important events take place at the end?
- Read
II Tim. 3:1 – 5. What
does this passage indicate about the last days?
- Read
II Thess. 2:1 – 11. What does this passage say about the
return of Christ and the rapture?
Based on these passages and others like them, the
Historic Premillennialist sees the future in this way:
First, there is a tribulation period, during which
either a person or a group known as the Antichrist (II Thess.
2, Rev. 13, Dan. 7:23 – 26) will oppress God’s people. Then Jesus returns; we are caught up to
meet him in the air, and follow along behind him in triumphal procession as
He comes on the clouds in glory (Matt. 24).
He sets up a 1000-year (hence the term “millennial”)
reign, during which Satan is bound.
At the end of this time, Satan is released; a last battle is fought;
Jesus wins; and a new heavens and new earth are established.
Theological
Features
- Historic
premillennialists see the “people of
God” as Christians, both of Jewish and of Gentile
nationalities. There is
essential unity between OT Israel and the NT church.
- Accordingly,
there is a strong belief (based on Romans 11) that there will be a
general conversion of Jews to Christianity in the tribulation time
period.
- There
is a flexible view of OT prophecies.
Some are considered to be literal in nature, while others are
considered figurative.
Famous
Historic Premillennialists
Church Fathers: Irenaeus, Tertullian, Justin Martyr
Modern day: G.E. Ladd (The Blessed Hope), Wayne Grudem (Systematic Theology)
Amillennialism
Augustine
(354 – 430 AD) led the revolt against premillennialism
in the church. He felt that the
emphasis on the future reign of Christ denied the fact that Christ reigns
presently. Here is one important
line of reasoning for an amillennialist:
- Read
Matthew 4:17, 10:7, 11:12, 12:28, 16:28, 21:31, Acts 2:16 –
21. What do these passages
indicate about the time of the kingdom and of the last days? (Note that while Matthew uses the
phrase “kingdom of heaven”, the exact parallel passages
are translated as “kingdom of God” in Mark and Luke
– the ‘kingdom of heaven’ is a synonym for the
‘kingdom of God’).
- On
the other hand, read Matt. 6:10, 8:11 – 12, 13:24 – 30 and
38 – 43, 13:47 – 50, 24:27 – 31, 25:1 – 13,
25:31 – 46. What do these
passages indicate about the time of the kingdom?
- Read
Matt. 4:17 – 23, 5:3, 5:20, 9:35, 13:19, 18:23 – 35,
Colossians 1:12 – 13.
What do these verses show about the nature of the kingdom?
Based on these verses and others, Augustine reasoned
that the kingdom of God is both now and not yet. It is now in the sense that the last
days have begun, and the kingdom has been inaugurated. The binding of Satan has taken place, and
the gospel of the kingdom is being proclaimed. Truly, the kingdom of God is upon
us. However, it is also not yet
in the sense that Satan has been bound but not crushed, defeated but not
yet cast into Hell. The final
judgment has not yet come. In short,
the kingdom is not yet what it will be in the future. This view is characteristic of amillennialism, which has a timeline which looks
like this:
Notice the key differences with premillennialism:
Jesus’ reign (the millennium) begins now, not in the future;
the binding of Satan begins now, not in the future. However, there are also similarities: a
future antichrist, a future rapture, and a future second coming of Christ.
Theological
Features
- Amillennialists
tend to heavily emphasize the New Testament as the interpreter of the
Old. For this reason,
prophecies in the OT will often be seen as figurative in nature,
especially if mentioned in a figurative sense in the NT. Along with this is the emphasis on
“now and not yet” (sometimes called “inaugurated
eschatology”), and an understanding that we are currently in the
last days (cf. Acts 2).
- Recent
amillennial belief (e.g., Hoekema) sees the fulfillment of many OT
prophecies in the New Heavens and New Earth.
- There
are differences of opinion about the future of the Jews. Most see a future large-scale
repentance and evangelization of the Jews, while others emphasize the
nature of the church as the true Israel (Matt. 21:43, cf.
Romans 11). All amillennialists, however, agree with the historic premillennialists that the hope of the Jews rests
in Christ as savior, and not in a restoration of a Jewish state. In this, they disagree with
dispensational premillennialists (see
below).
- According
to the amillennialist, the binding of
Satan is not a complete undoing of all of Satan’s power;
rather, it is specifically related to the spread of the Gospel
(“…so that he should not deceive the
nations…”, Rev. 20:3).
To extend the metaphor, Satan is not bound hand-and-foot, but
rather on a leash.
- The
amillennial does not read Revelation in
chronological order but as a series of seven recapitulations (much
like a movie which skips around in time). The seven seals (Rev. 5 – 7)
are understood to describe from the first coming to just before the
second coming; the seven trumpets (Rev. 8ff) start over and cover the
same time period. The scene
with the dragon and the beast (Rev. 12, 13) starts once again with the
first coming of Christ and goes to the appearance of the antichrist. Importantly for the amillennial, the last “recapitulation”
is Revelation 20, where the first resurrection occurs when Jesus comes
the first time and the second, when He comes for the second time.
- The
first and second resurrections (Rev. 20:4, 5) are not
simply first and second in time, but also in type. The first resurrection according the
amillennial is the resurrection of being
born again (“and I saw the souls … and they came to
life”) and the second is the physical resurrection before
judgment. This corresponds to
the first death (physical) and the second death (in hell).
- Amillennialism is similar in
many ways to postmillennialism.
Therefore, writers before the 19th century will
often be claimed by both groups (Augustine and Calvin are prime
examples).
Famous Amillennialists
Church
Fathers: Augustine (The City of God), Polycarp, Clement
Reformation: Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the writers of
the Westminster Confession (chaps.
32, 33).
Modern: Jonathan Edwards,
Charles Hodge, Anthony Hoekema (The Bible and
the Future), R.C. Sproul (The Last Days According to Jesus),
Meredith Kline (The Structure of Biblical Authority), John Murray.
Dispensational
Premillennialism
In the
1820’s, a new movement called Dispensationalism
began to flourish in England. Its
chief spokesman was John N. Darby.
Here were some passages which are important to dispensationalists.
- Read
Zechariah 14. On the basis of
this prophecy, who figures prominently in God’s plan for the
end?
- Read
Isaiah 2. According to this
prophecy, what is the destiny of the house of the Lord, and of the
Law?
Darby was uncomfortable with
the standard amillennial interpretation because
it seemed to spiritualize many of the OT prophecies. He felt that this robbed God’s Word
of its literal truth in a manner similar to the liberal German theology of
his day. He also felt that God had
made promises to Israel which had not yet been entirely fulfilled. In order for God to fulfill these
promises, there must therefore be a restoration of the nation of Israel in
the end. Darby saw Romans 11 as
confirmation of this truth. However,
there was a difficulty: if the church, organized under the terms of the New
Covenant, will be here until the rapture, then how can the Jewish nation be
restored? Put another way, if
Jesus’ death has already completely satisfied the Law, then how can
the Law go forth from Zion in the end?
Darby’s solution was that the church is not present
during the millennium. Instead, it
is taken up to heaven at the rapture, making way for the Jewish nation to be
restored. During this restoration,
the temple and Law will be restored to their places. At the end of the millennium, the final
battle between Christ and Satan will take place, after which will be
judgment and eternity.
A
second feature of Darby’s thought is the coordination between the
time of tribulation and the rapture in I Thess.
4. How is it that the church is raptured, yet Jesus reigns here on earth without
them? Darby’s solution was
that the appearance of Christ in the air is distinct from the second
coming of Christ. When Jesus returns
in the air, he takes the church. The
tribulation which follows (II Thess. 2) is then
experienced by the Jews. The
tribulation is seen to be seven years long (Rev. 11), after which Jesus
returns and the Jewish nation is restored.
For Darby, the separation of rapture and second coming solved many
Scriptural puzzles. For example,
Jesus often warned people to be on their watch, since no one would know the
day or hour of his coming (Matt. 24:36 – 25:13); yet also, he gave
signs by which people might anticipate his coming (Matt. 24:1 – 35;
also, II Thess. 2). For Darby, making a distinction between
the sudden rapture and the knowable Second Coming solved this puzzle
neatly.
Here is
Darby’s timeline:
Notice that in many ways, the chronology is very similar
to the historic premillennial view. However, the character of the millennium
is very different in the dispensational scheme. Israel as a nation, and not the church,
undergoes the tribulation and rules with Christ in the millennium.
Theological
features
- The
most important feature of dispensationalism
is the distinction between the destiny of the nation of Israel and the
destiny of the church.
Darby’s explanation is that Israel is a physical people,
and its destiny is an earthly millennium. By contrast, the church is a
spiritual people, and its destiny is a spiritual reign in heaven. Later dispensationalists have
modified this distinction, acknowledging some common connection (but
not a common destiny) between Israel and the church.
- Correspondingly,
dispensationalism places a great emphasis on
the literal interpretation of OT prophecy. They find amillennial
interpretations of the OT to be overly “spiritual.”
- From
1820 to the present, dispensationalism has
undergone several major modifications.
- The
“classic” stage emphasized a radical discontinuity
between Israel and the church, sometimes even seeming to say that
Jews in the OT were saved by the sacrificial system.
- The
“modified” dispensationalists emphasized a continuity in
salvation by grace through faith in Christ, but a difference in nature
between the physical Israel and the spiritual church.
- The
current “progressive” movement emphasizes the connections
between Israel and the church, but maintains the difference in
destinies between the two.
Israel and the church are like two separate chips on the same
motherboard.
Famous
Dispensationalists
Classic: Darby, Scofield (Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth),
Lewis Sperry Chafer (Systematic Theology)
Modified: Ryrie (Dispensationalism Today), Walvoord (Major Bible Prophecies), MacArthur
Progressive:
Bock (Progressive Dispensationalism), Blaising, Saucy
Postmillennialism
The
postmillennial view is in many ways a variation of amillennialism. In fact, prior to the 19th
century, writers did not distinguish amillennial
ideas from postmillennial ideas. For
this reason, both views will claim descent from Augustine (and, of course,
the apostolic teaching found in the Scripture). The postmillennialist insists that many
of the important kingdom passages not only teach the “now and not
yet” character of the kingdom but also the progressively triumphant
character of the kingdom. Here are
some passages to which they appeal:
- Read
Matt. 13:31 – 34. What do
these two parables indicate about the growth of the kingdom?
- Read
Matt. 28:18 – 20. In addition
to the familiar command of the Great Commission, what promise does
Jesus give? What does this
imply about the success of the Great Commission?
- Read
Revelation 7:9. What does this
passage imply about the success of the Great Commission?
Based on passages such as these, postmillennials
emphasize the success of the gospel in reaching the lost. The success of the gospel is seen not
only in large numbers turning to Christ, but also in the changed lives
which result from the work of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, postmillennialists see
the millennium of Revelation 20 as a “golden age” during which
the gospel goes out to all of the world and transforms its people and
institutions. Governments,
economies, and cultures are all brought under the lordship of Christ. War and poverty are eliminated (Is.
2). The law goes out from the New
Jerusalem (the church), and righteousness is the rule of the day. This golden age comes to a close when God
releases Satan, at which point the final conflict occurs, followed by
judgment and eternity. Below is the
postmillennial timeline. Note that
the beginning of the millennium is gradual rather than sudden; thus, we
will only know that the millennium has come when we are already in the
middle of it.
Theological
Features
- General
agreement with amillennials on the New
Testament interpretation of OT passages.
- Strong
emphasis on the Holy-Spirit-led progress of the Gospel.
- Strong
emphasis on the transformation of the whole life by the Gospel. Postmillennials
are particularly emphatic that the result of receiving Christ by faith
is a changed life.
- Correspondingly,
postmills disagree with amills
about the nature of the millennium: in their view, it is more
“earthy” in character.
- Some
modern postmils (the “Reconstructionists”, or “Theonomists”) advocate restructuring society
according to the Mosaic Law.
Famous Postmillennials
Church
Fathers: Augustine (again!)
Reformation:
John Calvin (perhaps)
Modern: John Owen, Jonathan
Edwards (the Puritans were postmillennial in attitude if not in timeline),
Lorraine Boettner (The Millennium),
Jacques Ellul (The Presence of the Kingdom)
Theonomists: Rousas Rushdoony (The
Institutes of Biblical Law) , David Chilton (Days of Vengeance),
Doug Wilson, Greg Bahnsen (Theonomy
and Christian Ethics)
Bibliography
The following are good resources for those interested in
further discussion of the millennium:
The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views, Ed.
by R.G. Clouse. This has four
different articles, each written by a scholarly defender of his view (Ladd,
Hoekema, Hoyt, Boettner). It also has responses by each towards
each view.
The Millennial Maze, by
Stanley Grenz.
Amillennial (mostly!) author who gives a
lot of good info on the early church.
Israel and the Church, ed.
by Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock. Many different progressive
dispensationalists reflect on the relationship between Israel and the
church.
A Case
for Amillennialism, by
Kim Riddlerbarger.
The
Returning King, by Vern S. Poythress
Understanding
Dispensationalists, by Vern S. Poythress
The
Kingdom of God and the Church, Oswald Allis
For a practical meditations on eschatology, read ‘A Lasting Faith for
the Last Days’, by Rev. Charles R. Biggs
Appendix
1: Why Is It So Hard To Understand the End?
Compared
to, say, the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the End Times enjoys
very little unanimity among Christians.
While it is true that sin and unbelief play a role in the confusion,
it is also true that the end times are quite difficult to understand. After all, God does not spell out for us
a timeline anywhere in the Bible.
Not only so, but the prophetic books which seem to be most related
to the end times (Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zechariah, Revelation) use
highly symbolic language in many places.
This means that a student of Scripture must make many exegetical
choices in deciding which passages to understand literally and which to
understand figuratively. A look at
Isaiah 61:1 – 7 serves to illustrate some of the difficulties
confronting the thoughtful exegete as he attempts to understand God’s
picture of the end.
In Isaiah 61:4 –7, God
speaks to those who mourn in Zion (v. 3). He says
NAS Isaiah 61:4 Then they will rebuild the ancient
ruins, They will raise up the former devastations, And they will repair the
ruined cities, The desolations of many generations.
5 And
strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your
farmers and your vinedressers.
6 But you will
be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will
eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their
portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs
If we take this prophetic passage literally, it predicts
the following for the future of Israel:
- a
rebuilding of the ancient ruins and repairing of ruined cities
- the
subjection of strangers and foreigners to serve them
- the
title of priests of the Lord
- possessing
the wealth of nations
- replacement
of shame with everlasting joy
It is not at all difficult to see this passage as a
literal description of future blessing for national Israel. It agrees with the dispensational picture
of the restoration of the temple and the priestly function of Israel and
with the promised millennial blessings of peace and prosperity that are
expected for the nation.
However, let us “zoom out” a bit and consider
the context in which this passage occurs:
NAS Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon
me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to
captives, And freedom to prisoners;
2 To proclaim
the favorable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To
comfort all who mourn,
3 To grant
those who mourn in Zion, Giving
them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be
called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be
glorified.
4 Then they
will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations,
And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many
generations.
5 And
strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your
farmers and your vinedressers.
6 But you will
be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will
eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of
your shame you will have a double
portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their
portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs.
Again taking the passage literally, we notice that
- this
rebuilding occurs through one speaking who brings good news to
captives and comfort to the afflicted,
- and
that it occurs in connection with the favorable year of the Lord and
the day of vengeance of our God.
We also notice that the passage vv. 1 – 7 forms a
single literary unit. There are a
number of features in this passage which indicate that vv. 1 – 7 are
an indivisible whole:
- The
“me” in verse 1 has been anointed to perform various tasks
which are laid out in the infinitives “to bring”,
“to bind, “to proclaim”, “to comfort”,
and “to grant.”
- The
effects of those tasks are then spelled out in vv. 4 – 7: then
they will rebuild, rasie up, repair, etc.
In other words, the passage is organized in a
cause-and-effect manner: first, the one anointed will perform his tasks;
then, the people of God will be restored.
This structure is part of the literal meaning of the text.
So far, we still are comfortable with reading this
passage as a millennial prediction.
However, now let us “zoom out” even further and consider
how the rest of the Bible treats this passage. Here is Luke 4:14 – 21
NAS
Luke 4:14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in
the power of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the
surrounding district.
15 And He began teaching in their synagogues
and was praised by all.
16 And He came
to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He
entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
17 And the
book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book, and
found the place where it was written,
18 "The
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel
to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And
recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are downtrodden,
19 To proclaim
the favorable year of the
Lord."
20 And He
closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the
eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him.
21 And He
began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing."
What can we say about this passage, taking it
literally? We notice that
- Jesus
declares that Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled on that day
- That
Jesus positions himself as the one who is speaking in Isaiah 61:1
– 7.
However, this presents a problem: if we accept that
Isaiah’s prophecy is literally fulfilled on that day (as Jesus
claims), then why do we not see the rebuilding of ruins and other
millennial blessings that we thought Isaiah was predicting? There is tension between our literal
understanding of Isaiah 61 (a picture of the future millennium) and our
literal understanding of Luke 4 (fulfillment as Jesus claimed). One could resolve this tension in many
ways. Here are the six common ones,
representing all of the different schools of thought:
1) We could take the passage in
Luke as having exegetical priority: that when Jesus says that this
Scripture has been fulfilled, He means exactly that. Therefore, we must rethink our
understanding of Isaiah 61. Perhaps
we were mistaken in thinking that Isaiah 61 refers to the second coming,
and perhaps the images in Isaiah 61:4 – 7 are figurative for the
things that Christ accomplished during His first coming.
2) We
could take Isaiah 61 to be two separate prophecies instead of one: vv. 1
– 2a, which was fulfilled by Christ in His first coming, and vv. 2b
– 7, which will be fulfilled in His second coming.
3) We could
suggest that Jesus is speaking typologically; that is, that He is
not claiming that He is right now fulfilling Isaiah 61, but instead that
His first coming is a picture (type) of the final fulfillment in the
second coming.
4) We
could understand Isaiah’s prophecy to have multiple fulfillments. Jesus standing in the synagogue did
fulfill Isaiah 61 in part, but the final fulfillment awaits his second
coming.
5) We
could see Christ as announcing a conditional fulfillment. He is offering the Jews a legitimate
chance to receive, right there, the blessings promised in Isaiah 61. However, since they rejected Him, the
offer is delayed, and the prophecy will await His second coming for fulfillment.
6) We
could say that Jesus is drawing a New Testament application of an Old
Testament principle; that is, that He is indeed coming to release captives
and give sight to the blind.
Therefore, His activity is exactly the sort of thing that Isaiah was
talking about. In this sense, He
“fulfills” Isaiah’s prophecy – but the actual event
Isaiah is describing is still in the future.
What can we say about each of these options? Each of them in its own way overturns the
literal meaning of either the Isaiah passage or the Luke passage. The first option rejects a literal
meaning of Isaiah on the basis of the literal meaning of Luke. The second option re-writes Isaiah to be
two parts, instead of the one unit that it plainly is. That option divides the tasks of the
anointed one into two parts, whereas the text of Isaiah gives no indication
of such a break, and Isaiah’s original audience would have had no
reason to see such a break in the passage.
The other four options reject or rewrite the literal meaning of
Luke. Where Jesus plainly says
“has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Greek: peplh,rwtai, meaning that the full sense has been accomplished),
the third and sixth options takes Him to mean “illustrates”,
the fourth option “partially fulfilled”, and the fifth option
“might be fulfilled.”
Of these six options, which
represent the most common amillennial,
postmillennial, historic premillennial, and
dispensational options, not one of them consistently understands both the
Isaiah 61 passage and the Luke 4 passage to be entirely literal in
nature. This example is but one of
many which illustrate the principle: All interpreters of Scripture
have to make choices about which passages will be interpreted literally and
which will be interpreted figuratively.
There is no way to consistently and literally interpret the
entirety of passages which talk about the end times. For this reason, the doctrine of the end
times has been and will continue to be hotly debated until the Lord settles
the issue beyond doubt by returning the second time.
JRC
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