Posted on 03/28/2002 6:25:00 PM PST by P-Marlowe
Lambert Dolphin
In their recent, and excellent book, How Now Shall We Live, (1) authors Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey make the strong point that followers of Christ need a sound and complete Biblical worldview. We are commanded to do this by the Bible itself when we are told to always be ready to give a reason for our hope, to divide the Word correctly, and to watch our doctrine closely. Paul told Timothy the Scripture was all that was needed for a man to be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
This, however, is not what Christians usually do today. While a lot of people go to church, it seems few know the Bible and fewer still take following Christ seriously. Secularized Christianity (Country-Club Christianity) has watered down both the truth and the impact of God's Word and its meaning. As a result, there is deep division and confusion concerning many sections of the Bible.
Questions about the nature of God, the nature and purpose of man, the reasons for Israel, the promise of salvation through an incarnate Messiah, God's laws and rules for men, and what the future holds are all answered in the Bible. But to find these answers, the Bible must be read -- not in bits and pieces, but cover to cover. One cannot look up "key" verses and find doctrine and explanations. Life itself is too complex for that, and God's Word does not shortchange us in our lives.
The Bible is the book where the answers to these and many more questions are given. But the Bible is not an encyclopedia or a handy reference guide. It opens its secrets only to the humble and pure in heart. Its treasures escape the arrogant, the proud and the self-righteous. The Bible teaches truth "here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept." This means we can only understand a given subject well if we first know the whole Book. Truth on any subject in the Bible unfolds gradually chapter by chapter in an always-consistent manner. The Author intended His book to be straightforward and easy to understand.
In reading the Bible, the clear, literal sense of the Word is always to be preferred. Allegories and parables are clearly presented as such, symbols used in one section are explained in others, and poetry is clearly marked. God is a master teacher. Even children can understand the basic message. When allegory, parable, or symbolic material is presented it is clear from the context and from similar passages elsewhere in Scripture how we are to proceed with interpretation. God seeks personal and intimate relationships with His people, He is a Master teacher, and His style is such that even children can grasp the basic message. God means what He says and says what He means; He announces, or prophesied the future and then acts accordingly. God announces what He is going to do in advance, then He acts and does exactly what He has said He would do. Though the Bible is a supernatural book, penned by different men who lived over a time span of at least 1500 years, it is self-consistent, accurate and authoritative from cover to cover. Since the Author backs what He has written with His own character, the Word of God is weighty, life-changing, dependable and infallible.
In the writings of the early church fathers, we can see how they wrestled with various issues. Some important issues were, however, never widely resolved. The second and third centuries saw a move towards treating the Bible as completely allegorical. In Alexandria, Egypt, Origen (185-254 AD) and his followers, desiring to accommodate neo-Platonistic philosophy among the intelligensia of the day, adopted the view that the Bible was mostly allegorical and need not be taken as literal, historic truth. In due time this view of the Bible as allegory was rejected as heresy, but damage had been done. Augustine (354-430) headed the church back towards a straightforward reading of Scripture--except for the book of the Revelation, which he considered allegorical.
Thus the Roman Catholic Church was led into the same theology concerning Biblical prophecy (eschatology). Catholicism became "amillennial" -- denying the coming thousand year reign of Christ on earth spoken of in Revelation 20 and referred to many times in Isaiah. In the process another strange theological twist appeared known as "replacement theology." This view claims that the church has replaced Israel in the plan of God. Clear refutation of this heresy is presented in Isaiah 48-52, among other places. The entire book of Hosea ought to be enough to settle the issue of God's enduring commitment to his wife, Israel, in spite or her spiritual adultery. Though Yahweh is seen as divorcing his wife Israel under the terms of the Old Covenant, yet the story ends when God buys back His wife and restores her forever under the terms of the New Covenant. In Scripture, there is a clear distinction between Israel and the Church as well as in regard to God's calling and God's plans for these separate entities. The Apostle Paul spends three full Chapters in his letter to the Romans (9-11) to make this distinction clear to all who are willing to hear.
Although Martin Luther (1483-1546) and the other Protestant reformers of the 16th century brought Christianity enormous strides back to accepting the Bible's full authority, these leaders did not try to deal with, or reform, their eschatology. Today, as a result, few Christians consider the Bible literally true and historically accurate. And when men consider the Bible's history as allegorical, what happens to prophecy is even worse.
Within a century of the Reformation's beginnings a view of the prophecies of Revelation was becoming popular which denied the clear intent of this book. This view, referred to as "preterism" has been picked up in our time by some notable theologians such as R.C. Sproul. (2) Preterist theology states that the prophetic statements referring to the endtimes as presented in Revelation were fulfilled in the first century of Christendom. Preterists feel this wrapped up God's plan for Israel and that the church has now inherited all that God promised Israel.
According to Sproul, Preterism is, "an eschatological viewpoint that places many or all eschatological events in the past, especially the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70." This school of Bible prophecy actually teaches that the second coming of Jesus (the parousia) really occurred nearly 2000 years ago, and the "last days" are over and done with. When the Romans under Titus destroyed the Second Temple prophetic history was completed and fulfilled, especially with regard to Israel. All that is left is God plus Christ's church.
Preterism takes its clue from Revelation 1:1 which says these things will "soon take place." From there it valiantly defends itself against all sorts of theological difficulties, point by point. However, in doing so, it effectively excises the Lord from management of history, claiming He has abandoned His promises to Israel. Preterism allows great sections of the Old Testament to be relegated to allegory, thus denying New Testament teaching the foundation it was built on. It ends up claiming that much of the Bible is not relevant for us today. Then all we have left is a few rules for living and the promise that we can "believe on Jesus" and go to heaven. This "Christianity Lite"--as a friend of mine refers to it--is deadly, lulling people into complacency in dangerously troubled times and denying them the assurance of God's complete knowledge and control and love as the world situation and personal lives crumble.
Dr. John F. Walvoord in his book Every Prophecy of the Bible (3) has taken the time to examine a thousand individual Bible verses and to analyze 500 specific prophesies from both the Old and New Testaments. His work is meticulous and reverent. He notes that fully half the examined prophecies have been fulfilled in minute detail in history so far. Should we then not expect God to continue in that same way, fulfilling His prophecies literally, accurately, and historically?
Not many Christians today look at Genesis and believe it means what it says. Not many Christians look at Revelation and understand or believe what it says. But the symbols are explained by the prophets of the Old Testament. The entire Bible is not only relevant for today, it is completely indispensable as we move towards the final act of the human drama. The events in Revelation are what wrap up ALL of human history, not just history to 70 A.D. Knowing this we can take comfort that God is completely in control and we can trust Him. It takes humility to turn away from pride and our natural human reasoning when trying to "make sense" of the parts of God's Word we don't understand. But it is that humility God looks for in His people, as God tells Isaiah in 66:2,
"This is the one I esteem:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word."
References:
1. Tyndale House, Wheaton, IL 1999
2. R. C. Sproul, The Last days According to Jesus, (Baker Books, Grand Rapids 1998)
3. John F. Walvoord, Every Prophecy of the Bible, Chariot Victory Publishing, Colorado Springs 1999.
January 24, 2000. Special thanks to Helen Fryman.
See also Progressive Dispensationalism from Zola Levitt's newsletter. 3/00.
Oh, and I'm not a preterist -partial or otherwise.
Jean
Why don't you answer the questions that I posed in 79?
"Revelation 20:3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time."
Nope!
"Why don't you answer the questions that I posed in 79?"
Because you hadn't yet answered my question.
Now that you have, I will:
"J.C., You are merely anxious for something to happen that has not yet happened. - How else could the dreadful goings on of the past 300 years be possible? Our Lord's millenial reign is to be a time of peace, and when Christ comes, he will indeed bind him, and the wars will cease."
How? First, Satan was bound so as not to deceive the nations. That was the only condition stated in Scripture. I would argue that would leave him able to wreak great havoc in many other ways Second, sin. Man is responsible for all those atrocities, specifically those individuals who did them.
"If you have not witnessed the results of demonic action, I suppose it might be easier to accept preterist ideas, but if the monkey sees no evil with his eyes covered does that mean that evil is gone?"
I answered this one. I'm not a preterist. And yes I do see the evil, but the evil is perpetrated by men, not Satan. Does Satan have influence? Conditionally -such that, as Rev 20:3 tells us, he cannot deceive the nations until he has been loosed for his 'little season'.
"How about the homosexual take-over of our schools (in the entire western world)? - Or the murder of millions of inocent children in abortion mills? - Are these things that can happen while the sun is forever darkened, and Christ is the light?"
Same answer as the previous question. Every one of the grave evils you point to has been running around rampant in the world for eons. There's nothing new we wretches have thought of that hasn't been tried before.
Now, saying that, I do see the possibility that Satan is currently in his 'little season'. Our country is the best possible example. However, I am hesitant to interpret scripture in the light of current events. So, then, the question is: Is the current apostate status of our once believing nation evidence that Satan has been loosed -or- is it yet another example we have seen so many times in Scripture as well as post NT history -that we reject the truth only to need the Lord God to providentially revive us as we saw in the Reformation and as we saw him do over and over and over with the Hebrew believers of the OT.
Since I'm told by Scripture to always be 'ready', it ultimately doesn't matter which one is true.
1 Corinthians 15:25
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Revelation 20:4
…and I saw the souls…and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years
Ephesians 2:6
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Revelation 20:4
And I saw thones, and they sat upon them, and judgement [krima -a verdict] was given unto them:…
Ephesians 2:7
That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus
Revelation 20:6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection…they shall[future] be priests of God and of Christ, and shall[future] reign with him a thousand years.
Our Lord Jesus Reigns! And we reign with him!
Jean
What these skeptics do each time they reject the fact of Premillennial Dispensationalism is fulfill the prophecy given in 2Pet.3:3-12!
Jesus is coming again. This is our glorious hope. Jesus told us to be about the business of preaching and teaching His Gospel and not speculate about His second coming.
I agree that we are not to 'speculate' but we are look forward to it. Paul describes it as our 'blessed hope'(Tit 2:13) and a 'source of comfort'(1Thess.4:18). It should motivate us to win souls and prepare ourselves for the Judgement seat of Christ (Rom.14:10, 1Cor.13)
Those who believe in Jesus and trust His blood and righteousness for their salvation are prepared for His coming. "Even so, come Lord Jesus!"
Amen and Amen!
Must I be the one to point out the obvious flaw in your hip-shot reasoning?
My total ability to see my flaws in reasoning isn’t that good, you’ve brought up a good point. But before you strain yourself to much in patting your self on the back, let my rephrase my point. First my point is from a reference. I couldn’t find the reference that 1000 is the largest unit of that type. I may have just got that in my mind. But anyway I do believe that they would of saw the 144,000 as 144 one thousand units. Or to put it another way 144 X 1000. Never the less I do think you get the point. I’m not sure whether it was the greeks or the Jews or both added meaning to the numbers, but anyway let me quote from the same book I mentioned before on the subject of a thousand, page 506-507
Satan is to remain bound, St. John tells us, for a thousand years--a large, rounded-off number. We have seen that, as the number sevenconnotes a fullness of qualityin Biblical imagery, the number ten contains the idea of a fullness of quantity:in other words, it stands for manyness. Athousand multiplies and intensifies this (10 x 10 x 10), in order to express great vastness. Thus, God claims to own “the cattle on a thousand hills”(Ps. 50:10). This of course does not mean that the cattle on the 1,001st hill belongs to someone else. God owns the cattle on all the hills. But he says “a thousand years of Revelation 20 represent a vast, undefined period of time…….The thousand years is to be understood as a symbolical number, donoting a long period. It is a round number, but stands for an indefinite period, an eon whose duration it would be a folly to attempt to compute.
my knowledge of units of numbers may be wrong, but I do believe the concept behind 1000 isn’t. Thanks for bring up what seems to be an error in my logic. My goal is to not get into any knock out drag out debates on FR.
How else could the dreadful goings on of the past 300 years be possible
I'll take these last 300 years before I take the 300 years before and after Christs death. I'm sure they had just as much dreadful goings on back then as they do now, probably even more, but that can be debated. I kind of believe there's less of it, there's just more news coverage of what goes on now. As far as abortion goes. They had it back then too. I don't know how much though.
After all we are told : "be sober, and vigilant, for your adversary, the Devil, like a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour". [1 Peter 5:8].
As much as I admire R. C. Sproul's bibliology, harmartiology,anthropology, and soteriology, I am amazed that he so completely misses it on eschatology.
The main point on which these go astray is that they do not make a distinction between Israel and the Church. They believe that all of Israel's promises are fulfilled in the Chruch.
However, the state of the modern church does not, even remotely, reflect biblical conditions in the "kingdom."
I've observed coincidentally that the same seminaries that 'give-up' on the same foundations of Calvinism, also remarkably believe homosexuality is just an alternate swell lifestyle. Go figure.
I also observe that some who oppose God and all things Christian will attempt to identify a religious precept with Christianity and then attack the religion precept for its faults. They then discourage unbelievers and more gleefuly, those who seek Christ but have not yet been introduced, to a predicament where their first introduction to Christianity is to be confused by labeling Christian precepts with a religion, its rejection, and confusing accurate Christian doctrine with fallacious material.
Even where disagreements occur, I have never experienced the heartfelt opposition to Calvin which you express. I've found that upon reading Scripture and also studying systematic theology that Calvin is by no means unreasonable nor unScriptual.
I've never met a 'Calvinist' who doesn't place Scipture ahead of theology.
[Galatians 3:8,13 ] "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying 'In thee shall all nations be blessed . . . Christ hath redeemed us [Jews] from the curse of the law . . . [so] that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ . . . ".
But there were many more promises in the everlasting covenant made to Abraham, aside from this one indicating a blessing on the Gentiles through his seed. What about those promises. Is God only going to keep part of what he promised Abraham or all of it.?
Genesis records the full gospel preached to Abraham which includes the promise of the Land [terra fima] upon which Abraham walked. To deny that God promised the Land of Israel to Abraham's seed and will deliver on that promise is tantamount to slander of the God of Israel.
The promises to Abraham are intertwined with each other. The promised blessing of salvation to the Gentiles and Jews is bound up with the promise of the Land of Israel to Israel. It is a package deal. Take it or leave it.
Yes it does. It's important to remember than when Paul was writing to the Galatians he was writing to the Celtic communities in Galatia. The ones Jesus was referred to when he said "Go first to the lost sheep of the House of Israel."
Those Celts were part of the old Northern Kingdom, The Lost Tribes of Israel, thus were Israelites. (Not Jews.) Same with the communities in Ephesus, Phillipi, Corinth, etc. (See NYT 12/25/01 for a recent archeological update).
Click my Profile for more details.
Knowing that this is a false statement, why would I waste my time wading through a long, sad story? I don't understand the ping.
Dan
James' Epistle, Peter's Epistles, and Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews were specifically addressed to the Jews sojourning throughout the Roman Empire. They weren't lost to the Apostles and they weren't lost to God.
Every year, three times a year, the Jews were required to come to Jerusalem to the Temple to present themselves. At Pentecost, the Jews who Peter spoke to were from all over the Roman Empire, not just Judea.
Jews knew where the Temple was. They were not lost to it and it was not lost to them [until 70 AD].
Read your Bible, even after the Kingdom of the North seceded from the South, many people living in the North chose to leave the Northern Kingdom in order to be part of the Southern Kingdom because they knew that the God of Israel was to be found in the Temple at Jerusalem there where he had placed his name not anywhere else.
I have, and obviously more carefully than you have read yours. This is not about intellectually lazy Church "traditions", but about church history, reinforced by modern Archeology.
Check out the links at my Profile, then try again. Happy Easter!
Precisely, because they are not Jews and they never were. Are Israelites (Northern Kingdom) who are not and never were Jews considered to be "gentiles"? If not, then what???
Isn't that a bit like saying "after the Kingdom of the South seceded from Jerusalem..." ? Historical revisionism?
I have always enjoy the stories of JEREMIAH and TEA TEPHI I am sure you know of it-
The Tea Tephi Mystery Tea Tephi Links
Enjoy the work you put into your site.
Sure my pleasure. I'm off now to Easter service, but will catch you later in the day.
>Enjoy the work you put into your site.
Thank You. Nothing very profound, but does represent the past 20 years of study, post-doctoral work both domestic and overseas, lots of world travel to Archeological sites, etc. Tried to distill it all down into 3 minutes, but that leaves out lots of details and evidence. -Regards
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