Unraveling the End A Biblical Synthesis of Competing

Unraveling the End A Biblical Synthesis of Competing Views

“Few doctrines unite and separate Christians as much as eschatology. . . One of the most divisive elements in recent Christian history. ” Christianity Today February 6, 1987; p-1 -I

2 Guidelines 1) Sola Scriptura 2) In Love

SUMMARY: 7 Reasons Why Vital SUMMARY: 7 Reasons Why Vital 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) How much of the Bible is involved? How much salvation do we currently have? How much of the kingdom do we currently have? What do you do with the modern-day nation of Israel? It’s the focal point of the liberal-skeptic attack on the Bible and Deity of Christ. It makes a difference in your worldview It makes a difference in your life and family

Four Abuses 1) Tendency to import or add things not there in the text. 2) Inconsistently applying literal or symbolic meanings. 3) Accepting a belief because it was simply “told us. ” 4) Stubborn resistance to change when confronted with scriptural evidence.

Four Views (in order of prominence) #1 – Premillennial (Dispensational) #2 – Amillennial #3 – Postmillennial #4 – Preterist

Unraveling the End A Biblical Synthesis of Competing Views

#3 – Postmillennial View Motivated our forefathers in the faith to come to America. . . • Not just to escape religious persecution. • But to expand the kingdom of God. • And help Christianize the world. • Better and better as society was transformed. • Each Christian’s individual responsibility.

#3 – Postmillennial View “discredited” • • • World War I and World War II Atom Bomb Threat of a nuclear Armageddon Moral decline of society, Rebirth of the nation of Israel (1948)

#3 – Postmillennial View “. . . there used to be a group called ‘postmillennialists. ’. . . World War I greatly disheartened this group and World War II virtually wiped out this viewpoint. No selfrespecting scholar who looks at the world conditions and the accelerating decline of Christian influence today is a ‘postmillennialist. ’” Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth, 164 -165.

#3 – Postmillennial View • Are SURE – Christ’s Second Coming is future (happens after the 1, 000 years) • Be personal, visible, bodily, and in great glory ending history at the “end of time. ” • But will not occur any time soon. • All three other Four Chief Moments are also future.

#3 – Postmillennial View • • • Optimistic kingdom orientation. Rarely, if ever, charged with heresy. A lot of Scripture to back their view. . . for. . . Earthly and historical success of the gospel. Growth of the present and earthly kingdom of God in this present age. • Victory within history. . . in terms of converting a sizeable portion of humankind to Christianity. • All of which must take place BEFORE Christ can return.

#3 – Postmillennial View Scriptures • • • Genesis 1: 28 Isaiah 9: 6 -7 Ezekiel 47: 1 -12 Daniel 2: 35; 2: 44; 7: 27 -28 Luke 1: 33 Mark 1: 15

#3 – Postmillennial View Scriptures Growth parables • • • SEED scattered on the ground produces the harvest (Mark 4: 26 -29). MUSTARD SEED into a tree (Matt. 13: 31 -32; Mark 4: 30 -32; Luke 13: 18 -19). YEAST throughout the dough (Matt. 13: 33; Luke 13: 20 -21).

#3 – Postmillennial View Scriptures Great Commission (Matt. 28: 18 -20) “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age. ”

#3 – Postmillennial View Scriptures Matthew 24: 14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. ”

“During the past sixteen years I can recollect only two occasions on which I have heard sermons specifically devoted to theme of the Kingdom of God. . I find this silence rather surprising because it is universally agreed by New Testament scholars that the central theme of the teaching of Jesus was the Kingdom of God. ” [quoting Dr. I. Howard Marshall of the University of Aberdeen] Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 59.

Supportive Quotes • "the great omission. . . why. . . today's church [is] so weak" Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 40 f. • "reductionism of the gospel" Darrell Guder, The Continuing Conversion of the Church, xiiif. • “the gospel we proclaim has been shrunk” Robert Lynn, “Far as the curse is found” in Breakpoint Worldview magazine, Oct. ’ 06, 14. • “we have settled for a little gospel, a miniaturized version that cannot address the robust problems of our world” Scot Mc. Knight, “The 8 Marks of a Robust Gospel” in Christianity Today magazine, March 2008, 36.

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 1) “Fulfilling the assignment of preaching the Kingdom is the key to the timing of the return of Christ. Jesus said that the end will come after the gospel of the Kingdom is preached to all nations. . The fact that Jesus has not come back yet is proof that His assignment, which He delegated to His followers in every generation, has not yet been fulfilled. ”

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 2) “How many churches today are actively and conscientiously preaching the gospel of. . the Kingdom of God? Not just any message will do. . Jesus will return only when the message of the Kingdom has been proclaimed in all the earth, and that proclamation is the Church’s responsibility. ”

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 3) “[In] Africa, many African believers have never heard the gospel of the Kingdom of God. They know Jesus, but they have never been taught about their status and rights as sons and daughters of God and citizens and heirs of His Kingdom. . Even in Europe and the West. . . few people have heard the gospel of the Kingdom. [Yet] Many have heard about Jesus. . . . ”

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 4) [Some] “have heard the wrong message of the Kingdom. . that is perhaps the most serious [deficiency] of all. . The gospel of the Kingdom of God. . . must be carefully defined so that there are no ambiguities. . ”

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 5) “One of the reasons the Church is not more effective at reaching the nations is because we are not preaching the message they need to hear. . Unfortunately many in the Church have discovered the King but they have no clue about the Kingdom that He came to bring to mankind. ”

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 6) “So much time today we get the message wrong by preaching the good news of heaven. The two are not the same. We tell people to put their faith in Jesus for salvation and then we focus on heaven as our goal and destination. Jesus never preached heaven. The disciples never preached heaven, and neither should we. There may be a lot of appeal to the idea of going to heaven. . . but people struggling with daily life on earth. . need to hear the good news of the Kingdom of heaven—the rule of God has come to earth and all can experience the reality of that world. ”

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 7) “People everywhere are looking for the Kingdom, even if they don’t recognize it by that name. . “People are not looking for religion; they are looking for power, and the Kingdom offers power. . If we preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God, people will respond. ”

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 8) “When we preach Christ without preaching also about the Kingdom of God, we do people a great disservice. . Jesus preached the Kingdom, but the Church preaches so many other things rather than the Kingdom. . It’s the lost message of Jesus that needs to be resurrected in our times. ”

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 9) “The gospel of the Kingdom is the only true 9) gospel. Anything else we preach is not the true gospel, or at least, not the complete gospel. Preaching about Jesus Christ is a vital and essential part of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, because He is our way into the Kingdom. Just because we place our faith in Christ, however, does not mean that we automatically understand either what it means to be a citizen of the Kingdom or how to live like one. ”

Rediscovering the Kingdom by Myles Munroe 10) “Every one of the 7 billion people on planet earth is seeking the Kingdom of God, which is their ultimate fulfillment. Every religion and activity of mankind is man’s attempt to find the Kingdom. It is the pearl that out-values all pearls, and the only treasure that is worth all the other treasures of life. The Kingdom is life itself. . [and] The king is the central component of a kingdom and embodies the essence of the kingdom. ”

#3 – Postmillennial View Demise 1) Negative world events. 2) Absorbed into the social gospel movement. 3) Charges of being “triumphalistic. ” 4) A small band of modern-day postmillennial scholars fight back.

Onward, Christian Soldiers (1865) Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle see His banners go! At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee; On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory! Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise; Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.

Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus (1858) Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross, Lift high His royal banner, It must not suffer loss; From victory unto victory His army shall He lead, Till every foe is vanquished And Christ is Lord indeed.

Joy to the World! (1719) (1) Joy to the world, the Lord is come! (1) Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World! (1719) (2) Joy to the world, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

Joy to the World! (1719) (3) No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found.

Joy to the World! (1719) (4) He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders, of His love.

? ? ? For the darkness shall turn to dawning, And the dawning to noonday bright, And Christ’s great kingdom shall come to earth, The kingdom of peace and light. We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations (1896)

“the most serious error in much of the current ‘prophetic’ teaching is the claim that the future of Christendom is to be read not in terms of revival and victory, but of growing impotence and apostasy. ” Oswald T. Allis, in Foreword to Roderick Campbell, Israel and the New Covenant, ix.

#3 – Postmillennial View The bottom line for why postmillennialists think their view is hated so much nowadays is this: Their view of exercising “dominion in history. . teaches responsibility. ” Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. , He Shall Have Dominion, back cover.

#3 – Postmillennial View • • Duration of the Millennium Some say figuratively. Lasts longer than a literal thousand years. We are living in it now. Not something to come cataclysmically at some future time.

#3 – Postmillennial View Duration of the Millennium • Others believe we are not now living in the millennium. • See it as a special and future “golden age” of peace and prosperity, of gospel success, and the triumph of good over evil. • May or may not be a literal thousand years in length.

#3 – Postmillennial View End of the Millennium • The end of time and the end of history coming after the millennium at Christ’s Second Coming. • Proceeded by a brief period of apostasy and conflict between Christian and evil forces. . . • Headed up by the end-time antichrist.

#3 – Postmillennial View • • • End of the Millennium Christ taking his Church to be with Him. The resurrection of the righteous and the wicked. An end to all earthly existence and to the earth itself. The final judgment. The beginning of “the eternal state. ” A totally new or renewed earth—“the new heavens and new earth. ”

“This does not mean that there ever will be a time on this earth when every person will be a Christian, or that all sin will be abolished. But it does mean that evil in all its many forms eventually will be reduced to negligible proportions, that Christian principles will be the rule, not the exception, and that Christ will return to a truly Christianized world. ” Loraine Boettner, The Millennium, 14.

C. S. Lewis condemn it as: • “the idea which here shuts out the Second Coming from our minds. ” • “Idea for the world slowly ripening to perfection” as “a myth. . . which distracts us from our real duties and our real interest. ” C. S. Lewis, “The World’s Last Night” (1960), in The Essential C. S. Lewis, Lyle W. Dorsett, ed. , 388.

#3 – Postmillennial View Many Comings of Christ • Includes his “return in judgment” coming in A. D. 70. • His future final coming in glory and consummation at the end of time. • In the meantime and in between there have been, are, and will be many comings of Christ in various ways.

#3 – Postmillennial View One More Big Problem Re: Matt. 24: 14 • According to the Bible itself, the gospel of the kingdom was preached to all nations and to the world in that 1 st century. Col 1: 6, 23 Rom. 1: 8; 10: 18; 16: 26; Acts 1: 8 2: 5; 24: 5 Luke 2: 1 • The Greek word “world” is oikoumene, meaning “land. . . specifically the Roman Empire. • Jesus’ prerequisite is past in fulfillment and was satisfied over 1900 years ago.

#4 – Preterist View • The least known. • But now the chief recipient of heresy charges. • The easiest view to present. • But perhaps the hardest to believe.

#4 – Preterist View • Preterist is derived from the Latin word praeter—which means “past. ” • Used in verb forms (past tense). • In eschatology it means “past in fulfillment. ”

#4 – Preterist View Two Basic Types: • Full preterists • Partial preterists.

#4 – Full Preterist View • All Four Chief Moments are past in fulfillment. • During the Jewish-Roman War of A. D. 66 -70. • Sure this was Christ’s Second Coming and Return. • A non-visible coming in judgment. • But it was personal and glorious. • No future coming or comings of Jesus following A. D. 70.

Criticisms • “the position sounds so bizarre that some may wonder if it seriously deserves to be refuted. ” • . . . of sacrificing “the plain sense of every other prophecy about the return of Christ and endtimes events. ” • “heresy of the worst stripe” • “sub-Christian heresy. ” • “is currently overthrowing the faith of many. ” John Mac. Arthur, The Second Coming, 11, 13, 223.

Critical Assessment • “the debate is shaping up as a showdown between preterism and futurism. ” Thomas Ice and Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. , The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? , 6. • “early forms of preterism were mild and underdeveloped by today’s standards. ” Thomas Ice & Timothy Demy, When the Trumpet Sounds, 14.

‘ 9. 5 Theses’ 1. Everything Jesus said would happen, happened exactly as and when He said it would—within the lifetime of his contemporaries. 2. Everything every New Testament writer expected to happen, happened exactly as and when they expected it would—within their lifetime—as they were guided into all truth and told the things that were to come by the Holy Spirit (John 16: 13).

‘ 9. 5 Theses’ 3. Scholars across a broad spectrum are in general agreement that this is exactly how every NT writer and the early Church understood Jesus’ words. If they were wrong on something this important, how can we trust them to have conveyed other aspects of the faith accurately, such as the requirements for salvation?

‘ 9. 5 Theses’ 4. No inspired NT writer, writing twenty or more years later, ever corrected their Holy-Spiritguided understanding and fulfillment expectations (John 16: 13). Neither should we. Instead, they intensified their language . . 5. Partial fulfillment is not satisfactory. 3 out of 5, 7 out of 10, etc. , won’t work. Partial does not pass the test of a true prophet (Deut. 18: 18 -22). Again, Jesus time-restricted all of his end -time predictions to occur within the 1 st-century time frame.

‘ 9. 5 Theses’ 6. God is faithful (2 Pet. 3: 9) and “not a man that he should lie” (Num. 23: 19). Faithfulness means not only doing what was promised, but also doing it when it was promised.

‘ 9. 5 Theses’ 7. 1 st-century, fulfillment expectations were the correct ones and everything happened, right on time—no gaps, no gimmicks, no interruptions, no postponements, no delays, no exegetical gymnastics, and no changing the meaning of commonly used and normally understood words. Such manipulative devices have only given liberals and skeptics a foothold to discredit Christ’s Deity and the inerrancy of Scripture.

‘ 9. 5 Theses’ 8. What needs adjusting is our understanding of both the time and nature of fulfillment, and not manipulation of the time factor to conform to our popular, futuristic, and delay expectations. 9. The kingdom of God was the central teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a present but greatly under-realized reality, and must again become the central teaching of his Church.

‘ 9. 5 Theses’ 9. 5 We have been guilty of proclaiming a half-truth—a partially delivered faith to the world and to fellow Christians. We must repent and earnestly “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). If Christianity has been as effective as it has by proclaiming that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came, died for our sins, bodily arose from the dead, and ascended to Heaven “at just the right time” (Rom. 5: 6; Dan. 9: 24 -27), how much more effective might it be if we started preaching, teaching, and practicing the whole truth—i. e. , a faith in which everything else also happened “at just the right time, ” exactly as and when Jesus said it would and every NT writer expected (John 16: 13). Dare we continue to settle for less?

#4 – Preterist View The Three Biggest Problems 1) “I just can’t believe everything is fulfilled and over. ” 2) “My eyes aren’t seeing what these words are saying!” 3) If all was fulfilled, where’s our hope?

#4 – Preterist View “Great Service” “The first is the time-frame references of the New Testament regarding eschatological prophecy. The preterist is a sentinel standing guard against frivolous and superficial attempts to downplay or explain away the force of these references. ” R. C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus, 202 -203.

#4 – Preterist View “Great Service” “The second major issue is the destruction of Jerusalem. This event certainly spelled the end of a crucial redemptive-historical epoch. It must be viewed as the end of some age. It also represents a significant visitation of the Lord in judgment and a vitally important ‘day of the Lord. ’ Whether this was the only day of the Lord about which Scripture speaks remains a major point of controversy among preterists. ” R. C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus, 202 -203.

#4 – Partial Preterist View • For some it means – some or most endtime prophecies were fulfilled, but not all. • For others it means – all or most were fulfilled in some sense but and await a more complete, final, or ultimate fulfillment when the Lord returns in the future at the “end of time. ”

“I am convinced that the substance of the Olivet Discourse as fulfilled in A. D. 70 and that the bulk of Revelation was likewise fulfilled in that timeframe. . “While partial preterists acknowledge that in the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70 was a parousia or coming of Christ, they maintain that it was not the parousia. That is, the coming of Christ in A. D. 70 was a coming in judgment on the Jewish nation, indicating the end of the Jewish age and the fulfillment of a day of the Lord, Jesus really did come in judgment at this time, fulfilling his prophecy in the Olivet Discourse. But this was not the final or ultimate coming of Christ. . [which will be] universal in scope and significance. It will come. . . at the end of human history as we know it. It will be, not merely a day of the Lord, but the final and ultimate day of the Lord. ” R. C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus, 158.

“The modern revival of preterism represents an interesting and important paradigm shift in eschatology. The advantage of preterism is that is ‘saves the phenomena’ of the New Testament time-frame references; it interprets biblical prophecy according to the images used in Scripture itself; and it offers a framework for consistent interpretation of the difficult apocalyptic literature of the Bible, such as that found in Daniel and Revelation. . Serious study and dialogue are needed if we are to reach agreement as to how far preterism is to go and what remains for the hope of the church’s and the cosmos’ future in the full plan of redemptive history. ” R. C. Sproul, in Foreword, And It Came To Pass: The Third Annual C. E. F. Symposium: Preterism, vii.

Four Views (in order of prominence) #1 – Premillennial (Dispensational) #2 – Amillennial #3 – Postmillennial #4 – Preterist

Recap – 2 Questions 1) How much end-time prophecy was relevant to his original audience? • Premillennialists, “none of it” or “little of it” was. • Amillennialists, “some of it” was. • Postmillennialists, “most of it” was. • Preterists, “all of it” was relevant and fulfilled, right on time. • What do you say?

Recap – 2 Questions 2) Who’s right? 2) • Premillennialists – the very-soon future fulfillment of all things. • Amillennialists – some past partial fulfillment but mostly future fulfillment whose time we cannot know. • Postmillennialists – a lot of past partial fulfillment but significant far-away future fulfillment. • Preterists – past fulfillment of all things. • What do you think?

Early Church Fathers (2 nd-4 th centuries) • At least four subscribed to a preterist (past fulfillment) understanding that. . . • At least some of Jesus’ “all these things” (Mt. 24: 34) had indeed occurred within the time span Jesus had specified. • i. e. , “this generation. ”

Eusebius – a preterist view “It is fitting to add to these accounts the true prediction of our Saviour in which he foretold these events. . ’For there shall be great tribulation. . ’ These things took place in this manner, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian [A. D. 70], in accordance to the prophecies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ . . ” Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Ch. 7, in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, 141.

Eusebius – a preterist view “. . . the abomination of desolation, proclaimed by the prophets [Dan. 9: 27], stood in the very temple of God. . . which was now awaiting its total destruction by fire. ” Ibid, Book 3, Ch. 5. , 138.

Eusebius – a preterist view “Moses had foretold this very thing and in due course Christ sojourned in this life, and the teaching of the new covenant was borne to all nations, and at once the Romans besieged Jerusalem and destroyed it and the Temple there. At once the whole of the Mosaic law was abolished, with all that remained of the Old Covenant…. ” Eusebius, Proof of the Gospel, Book. I, Ch. 6, 35.

Eusebius – a preterist view Recorded that in obedience to the Lord’s Olivet Discourse instructions, 1 st-century Christians fled from Jerusalem to Pella in Transjordan around A. D. 68 after the first siege and before the second one, (1). . and no Christians were trapped and destroyed in the siege of Jerusalem which concluded in A. D. 70. (2) (1) Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, V. 86, 138. (2) Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Ch. 5, 138.

Eusebius – a preterist view “For so it was prophesied concerning the destruction of the royal glory of the Jewish nation. . Yea, in return for their insults to the Lord who thus prophesied, there has not failed for them lamentation, mourning and wailing. And it was only after our Saviour came. . laying their Temple low, and driving them from their country, to serve their enemies in a hostile land. . ” Eusebius, W. J. Ferrar, ed. , The Proof of the Gospel, Book 7, Ch. 4, 146 – on Zechariah 14: 1 -5.

Eusebius – a preterist view “When, then, we see what was of old foretold for the nations fulfilled in our own day, and when the lamentation and wailing that was predicted for the Jews, and the burning of the Temple and its utter destruction, can also be seen even now to have occurred according to the prediction, surely we must also agree that the King who was prophesied, the Christ of God, has come, since the signs of His coming have been shewn in each instance I have treated to have been clearly fulfilled. ” Ibid. , 147.

Clement of Alexandria – a preterist view “‘. . . in the one week, ’ was He Lord. The half of the week Nero held sway, and in the holy city Jerusalem placed the abomination; and in the half of the week he was taken away, and Otho, and Galba, and Vitallus. And Vespasian rose to the supreme power, and destroyed Jerusalem, and desolated the holy place. ” Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Vol. 2, Book 1, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 329.

Athanasius – a preterist view “And Jerusalem is to stand till his coming, and thenceforth, prophet and vision cease in Israel…And this was why Jerusalem stood till then namely that there they might be exercised in the types as a preparation for the reality…but from that time forth all prophecy is sealed and the city and temple taken, why are they so irreligious and so perverse as to see what has happened, and yet to deny Christ, Who has brought it all to pass? …What then has not come to pass, that the Christ must do? What is left unfulfilled, that the Jews should now disbelieve with impunity? ” Athanasius, Incarnation of the Word, Section 39 Verse 3, Section 40 Verses 1 -7 in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 57 -58.