Eschatology (Pt3) - Views of Revelation

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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January 28, 2021

00:00: Want to make sure everyone receives a handout tonight We do have a good crowd which I'm thankful for but it may mean that some of you may have to share so But it is important that you're able to see it even if you have to share with your significant other or Or whatever or I can just run and make some extra copies if I need to But please everyone take a handout because that will be The lesson for tonight will revolve around the handout How'd we do? We do okay looks like All right good well tonight we are continuing our study of the doctrine of eschatology if you are If you remember We began this two weeks ago we we have been in a longer study of an overview of theology and doctrine which began about two years ago and We are coming to an end with the doctrine of last things that is what eschatology means comes from The Greek the eschaton are the last things and We have already discussed that in the study of eschatology.
01:49: There are two primary headings Personal eschatology and Universal eschatology See for the sake of the fun of it how many of you Remember what do I mean by personal eschatology? That's right.
02:21: That's right.
02:22: Nicole.
02:22: We are all in our own in time Even if the earth goes on for another thousand years or another five thousand years.
02:30: We are all destined at some point to have our last day and Even if our last day Is before the last day of the world? It's still our last day we will at that point we'll only see it from the other side So it's important that we deal with personal eschatology first And so that's what we did week one and week two We looked at what happens at death and then in week two We looked at what happens at the resurrection of the dead now After we do what we're doing tonight and next week and probably gonna take three weeks on this handout and looking at preterism specifically We're going to look at the concepts of hell and the new heavens in the new earth.
03:22: So that will sort of culminate personal and universal eschatology because Personal eschatology and universal eschatology both are are leading to the same end You're either going to one of two places There isn't a third option.
03:38: There is no purgatory There is no Halfway house between heaven and hell that I remember when I was a kid There was a television program.
03:50: I have no idea what the name of it was, but I remember very distinctly The opening credits of this show and it was a man who was too good for hell but too bad for heaven, so he got another chance and It showed him.
04:09: This was the opening credits of the show.
04:11: He he comes in and there was two gates gate to heaven was all nice and pearly and pretty the gate to hell was all black and dark and icky and He walks up and both gates go do not enter and they they both say he can't come here He's too good for this when he's too bad for that one.
04:30: So he gets another chance Well, that's hogwash just so you know, that's bad theology might be good entertainment, but it's bad theology We will either go to heaven or hell and there are no When we think of second chances, nobody's going to get to the other side and God say okay You get to go back and try it over again So when we think about eschatology, we are dealing with the most important thing in regard to our own History we're dealing with the most important thing in the world Where are we going to spend eternity? even if you have a lifetime of a hundred and twenty years and you spend every year of your life and nothing but happiness and health and Prosperity if you die and go to hell it will be worth nothing It will be worth nothing So when we deal with what happens after we die, we're dealing with the most important thing really in the world It's like the the old story I've told this before about the rope imagine a rope that goes Into a hole and the rope goes on forever and ever and ever and ever the rope never ends now we know that can't be but you can imagine a rope that just keeps going and going and going never ends and The end of the rope you're holding on to has a little piece of Electrical tape you know electrical tape is a little vinyl stuff people use That little piece of electrical tape on the end of the rope that represents this life And the rest of that rope represents eternity Just to give you a little perspective On what you know, we get so caught up in this life We spend so much time on that little piece of electrical tape and we get so focused on that little bit and we don't consider Eternity We're about eternity Here, that's the that's the focus And people say oh, you're so heavenly minded.
06:30: You're no earthly good.
06:31: I ain't never met nobody that that was true about I Never met somebody who was so focused on going to heaven that they weren't good here.
06:38: I Tend to find that the people who are heavenly minded tend to be the most earthly good Because they realize they're citizens of another kingdom and therefore the good they do here.
06:48: They know is not the most important thing So I've gone a little off let's get back to tonight's topic is the topic of Universal eschatology so personal eschatology is what's going to happen to you.
07:05: You're going to die or Jesus is going to return and you're going to be translated to heaven either way.
07:12: You're going to you're going to have an end but universally when we talk about Universal eschatology we began talking about several Distinct ideas that often cause a lot of questions For instance, the first one that is often on everybody's mind is the book of Revelation Pastor how do you interpret Revelation? What's your viewpoint on Revelation? How do you understand those vials and those? seals and those trumpets What's your perspective on the hundred and forty four thousand and who are those two witnesses and what is going to happen during that Millennium? See, that's the revelation, right? That's the big question Everybody wants to talk about the book of Revelation book of Revelation is not the only book that talks about eschatology though I can go back to the Old Testament.
08:08: You can read the last chapter of Daniel It talks about the end times you can even see other things earlier to talk about the in fact, I believe Jude tells us Enoch was preaching about the end times because he says the Lord is coming with 10,000 of his holy ones He's talking about the end right, so the the end times have been discussed since the beginning times and So tonight we're going to ask and answer some basic questions About the end times and the two questions that we're going to ask tonight Primarily are this number one What position should we take on the book of Revelation and Then number two, what position should we take on the Millennium and I want to say from the outset.
08:59: I think our elders are pretty much in agreement on our position, but all of us would say this is one area of theology about which we are not dogmatic and therefore if you come from a Church where you maybe have been taught something a little different And you don't necessarily see it exactly as we do We're not going to sit here and club you over the head about how you interpret Revelation Revelation is not an easy book to understand Even though some would say it's very easy and I tend to find that people who say it's very easy and that they've got it all figured out tend to be The well, I tend to get the least from those folks Because they have it all figured out and therefore they're not going to consider that they have it wrong in any way and oftentimes those people make their name by being Experts in eschatology.
10:04: How many of you have ever heard of Jack van Impey? Television personality real popular 70s and 80s.
10:14: It was all about in times Then of course you have Dwight Pentecost.
10:21: I Mean what a name right? You say it's like it's like you knew this guy was going to be a preacher His name is Pentecost and he has you know, his writings on the end times and how many of you have ever heard the name? John Hagee John Hagee has as bad as his theology is he's got some pretty boards If you ain't ever seen him he get I don't know how much they spend at that church and it's a big church So they can spend whatever they want.
10:47: It's not I'm not judging them, but he must have Just 20 foot boards with massive elaborate pictures and this is what's going to happen And these are the blood moons and this is this and this is that the most beautiful Backdrops you've ever seen you know, I'm talking about kind of chubby guy from Texas Sitting I said he was chubby.
11:06: I'm chubby too.
11:06: Hey That's who he is and he's got these big elaborate and he will tell you he knows exactly how it's going to work out And see I went to a seminary and and in my seminary I was taught exactly how it's going to work out.
11:21: I was taught a system called Dispensational Premillennialism and Those are two big words, which I hope to explain a little further in a moment but I was basically taught that if you did not take the position of Dispensational premillennialism that you did not know how to rightly divide the word of truth But I'm not saying I was kind of told that I was directly told that if you do not accept Dispensational premillennialism then you do not know how to divide the word of truth You ever heard somebody say that Andy? Maybe not that maybe not that mean but and I was also told if you don't believe in the pre-tribulation rapture I hope you get left behind That was a little more hurtful and speaking of left behind When I was first married There was a series of books that came out which were entitled the left behind Series and I remember very specifically we went through all of them my wife and I read all of the books and at that time I was convinced that they gave the clearest and most explicitly correct Explanation of the book of Revelation and what was going to happen in the end.
12:54: I Really did.
12:56: I was convinced that Dispensational premillennialism was the only way and when I got a person who didn't agree boy, I was on it How can you now can you miss this? I was the guy I knew it all Been in the Lord half a minute and figured I knew it all All right So I'm coming to you today as sort of a recovering dispensationalist to say Yeah, you know to simply say if you're where I was 20 years ago, that's okay You know, these are the issues we're going to discuss are not necessarily gospel issues These are more on the issue of what we would call non-essential or secondary issues now if they are gospel issues such as You know the question of whether or not Jesus is going to return.
13:49: I think that's a gospel issue I think that's a that's a Foundational thing then then yeah, Jesus is going to return and If we deny that that's dangerous, right? So there are some things that I think are non-negotiables, but where do we find the non-negotiables? we find them in the historic confessions of the church and the creeds go back to the the Apostles Creed Lord's going to come back Nicene Creed Lord's going to come back They all down through all the confessions, but you know what they don't do The Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed and all the confessions none of them say and he and he's going to proceed be preceded by Seven-year tribulation there's going to be an invisible rapture the church and then there's going to be a thousand-year kingdom on there None of them do that because even back then there was division You can go back to the early church and there was questions about the Millennium You can go back to the early church and Revelation was the last book to be received into the canon Because it was the most difficult Not people understood it had been written by John But think about got ten headed monsters and ten horns and all this I mean you got him Yeah, I imagine the church reads this and it doesn't read like Romans.
15:01: I mean they're reading something.
15:03: That's quite different This is apocalyptic literature the closest we have to it again is the latter half of Daniel and Some of the other major and minor prophets.
15:15: We don't have anything else like this in the New Testament nothing else reads like Revelation in the New Testament, so When the church is is reading this the early church, you know, the early church didn't determine what the scripture was, but they did they did Receive it and as they were as the churches are receiving this letter this book.
15:35: It's much different than all the rest and so it did not receive universal acceptance as early as Say Romans and many of the other books so we have to understand this is this is heavy.
15:49: This has been debated For 2,000 years and we're not going to figure it out completely in the next 35 minutes but we can at least Tonight and tomorrow night, maybe even Third week over the next few weeks what we can do is we can look at some of the more Popular perspectives and what I will say is I'll say I know what I believe is correct And I'm more than willing to share with you what I think But you have to understand it's what I think and I'm not being dogmatic Just want to be clear so the first thing that we're going to look at is the four perspectives on Revelation itself revelation, of course is a book That was we believe written by John the The Apostle so this would be the same writer of the Gospel of John and the three letters of John This would make the Yohannine corpus or the books of John.
16:55: That's a fancy way of saying that This would this would total them at five We have the Gospel of John first second and third John and Revelation when I was growing up, sometimes I would hear people call John John the revelator And that's fine.
17:12: I understand.
17:13: They're simply identifying him as the Person who wrote revelation, but I think that can be confusing Because now is that different than John the Apostle? No, it's not this is the beloved Apostle This is the one who laid his head on the breast of Jesus on the night of the Last Supper this is John the one who says whom Jesus loved and That helps us because Right away we have at least Apostolic Authority it's being written by an apostle not by Someone outside of the church There are other There are other apocalyptic literatures dated in the second century the Apocalypse of Peter for instance There are some others as well that I just can't call to mind right now, but they're not written by Peter They just they're what are called pseudepigraphal Meaning they have names that are ascribed to them, but they were not actually written by those people And that's an important distinction right because if I had the Apocrypha I'm sorry the Apocalypse by the way the word Apocalypse is the just the Greek word for revelation I have the revelation of Peter and the revelation of John and They're both apostles, then you would expect them to agree if they're both writing under the inspiration of God But if the Apocalypse of Peter is not Written by Peter then it doesn't hold the same weight It doesn't mean I can't read it doesn't mean I can't learn something from it But certainly doesn't hold the same weight as the scripture written under the by an apostle so This is John's Revelation that he received from Jesus.
19:02: Let's read just the first few verses of John or revelation as he describes The situation now I'm going to read from the New English translation as I did on Sunday.
19:13: I'm going to do it again So it may read a little differently than what you have the revelation of Jesus Christ Which God gave him to show his servants? What must happen very soon? He made it clear by sending his angel to his servant John Who then testified to everything that he saw? Concerning the Word of God and the testimony about Jesus Christ Blessed is the one who reads the word words of this prophecy aloud and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it because the time is near Now stop right there.
20:01: It is interesting and I remember this is one thing.
20:04: I remember in seminary.
20:06: That was a good thought It's the only Bible book that I know of that promises a blessing to those who read it Blessed are those who read this book and do what it says That's that's good to know and so we ought to read the book of Revelation We ought not to be afraid of it.
20:25: But as we read it, we have to try to discern its meaning what does it mean as we are reading and Anyone could simply read the book of Revelation and come up with all kinds of theories as to the meaning but we have to have a primer or a place to begin to at least understand what is being said and So if you have your chart, you'll see on your chart.
20:53: There are four What we would call hermeneutical lenses through which to see the book of Revelation and each of these gives a perspective and would Drastically change how you would interpret it Okay, so let's very quickly talk about each one the first one is Called Preterism the second one is called historicism The third is called idealism and The fourth is called futurism most folks only ever get this one because Most folks assume that what is written in Revelation has not occurred yet Therefore all of the things that happen in Revelation are still yet to come There that is futurism Okay If you come from a dispensational background if you know what that means Then you were taught futurism Basically, this is how it goes the book of Revelation Chapters 1 2 & 3 deal with the seven churches and Asia Minor, but after chapter 4 everything is still in the future So I guess we can't say everything's in the future They would say the first three chapters Refer to what happened in the past the Church of Sardis the Church of Philadelphia the Church of Laodicea those churches, but there is everything else is yet to come and So something has to happen to make those things begin and Typically that is in dispensationalism.
23:01: They'll say it's the invisible rapture That the invisible rapture will take away the Christians From the world and that will begin What is known as the great tribulation and that will last for seven years After which Jesus will return With his church because he raptured the church out and He will return with his church at the end of seven years to set up his millennial kingdom How many of you have ever heard that? That's probably the position many of you have been taught.
23:35: In fact, I know people that's all they're ever taught You're not given any other perspective.
23:40: That's it.
23:42: I Remember years ago.
23:44: I was Leading a Bible study at First Coast High School.
23:47: I used to work there.
23:48: I did security there while I was in seminary and I was leading a Bible study and as I was preparing for the Bible study, I had one of the teachers who was one of the sponsors of the club as a Bible club and she she came up to me we were talking and She said something about the great tribulation and the the rapture and I said well not everybody holds that position and she goes what position I Said well not everybody believes that there's going to be an invisible rapture of the church that precedes the seven-year tribulation Which then precedes the Millennium and she said? But that's what the Bible teaches.
24:29: I Said you're not aware that there are other Perspectives there are no up.
24:34: This is it This is the right one Now I had to have some sympathy for because I was there just a few years before she was I Mean I couldn't get angry.
24:44: I've been there myself if that's all you've ever heard And that's all you'll ever know So the futurist position is that Revelation is yet to be fulfilled in its largest Percentage of it for verse 4 chapter 4 through chapter 22 still yet to be fulfilled The one on top the Preterism position says that most of the content of Revelation.
25:15: This is almost the flip of The futurist this says most of the content of Revelation was fulfilled during the lifetime of the original audience prior to and during the fall of Jerusalem in 1880-70 so this would say the vast majority of Revelation has already taken place and It happened in the first century Not all of it, but the majority of it and you'll notice there's an asterisk beside preterism You know what that is that little star if you follow that star down to The bottom of the chart it says this a distinction should be net be made between full preterism and partial preterism full preterism sometimes called hyper preterism or consistent preterism Argues that all of the prophecies regarding Jesus the second coming and resurrection of the dead were fulfilled in the first century That is heresy Because that says that Jesus is not coming back He's already come back and I do not espouse that position just to be clear.
26:21: I consider that to be a heretical version of preterism But partial preterism or what I call orthodox because it's the only one that could be in line with orthodoxy Argues that many if not, most of the prophecies of Revelation were fulfilled in the first century But there are still some yet to come and you say well, which ones I would say specifically beginning around chapter 19 Because that's when we start looking at Jesus's return But one of the things that we have to understand is Revelation is not written in direct consistent chronological order the book of Revelation is written in cycles and So there are times where it's cycling back through the same history again And if it's sort of like I heard his person say it like this It's sort of like Russ Russian nesting dolls like you got the whole story then you take it apart you got another one and that's sort of how Revelation is read if you it tells you it then it reread it again and it's a little it's a little tighter version of the same thing and then you go again, and so When when I say chapter 19 and forward that isn't really how it works because it's not chronological There are things throughout the book that are looking forward but Preterism would say the judgments on Israel in the book of Revelation were fulfilled in 87 specifically During the siege of Jerusalem by Emperor Titus and When I get to my perspective, I'm going to defend that you Jackie's already heard some of this because I taught about this in our Academy class and Michael and Bethany you're going to hear some of this again because you're in the Bible doctrines class.
28:04: So we talked about this there, too There's a lot of repetition and some of this but it's good here hearing it multiple times.
28:12: So Futurism and preterism are the two most Diametrically opposed one saying it's all yet to come basically and some and the other saying it's all pretty much already fulfilled, right? Historicism is The idea that most of the content of red revelation is being fulfilled Gradually through church history and is still being fulfilled today.
28:39: I Think that this position Was the position Taken by the Reformers.
28:45: I think most of the Reformers saw Revelation as being fulfilled through history.
28:51: Therefore they saw the the beast the Antichrist as being the papacy Not just one Pope, but the Popes were the Antichrists and if you read the confession 1689 confession and brother Mike knows that it says the Antichrist is the Pope.
29:10: I mean, it's it's it's very clear.
29:12: This is very Specific we know who it is.
29:16: It's that guy right there who thinks he's Jesus Yeah, the guy who calls himself alter Christus another Christ.
29:23: Yeah, that's him The guy who calls himself vicar of Christ one who stands in the place of Christ.
29:29: Yeah That's the Antichrist So Historicism says it's being fulfilled Generationally throughout the history of the church and I will tell you this I tend towards preterism, but I am leaky Because I could certainly fall into the historicist position because I think every generation deals with its own Difficulties and I think sometimes revelation has somewhat of a picture of what we're all going to face But again, I don't want to get too far into the allegorical interpretation because that's the third that the last one idealism says revelation is an allegory for the Battles that the church will face through the ages.
30:17: It's the idealist or the allegorical interpretation and I don't like to get too far into that because when you start allegorizing the scripture too much and Nothing has any real tangible value it's all sort of you know up in the air you get you get to where you anything can be anything and There's nothing that's Substantive it's all ethereal.
30:42: So I think that's dangerous So the one position I would say I wouldn't take most likely would be I wouldn't become full idealist I don't think it's I think there's more to it than just an allegory of good and evil because that's the idea of idealism is it's an allegory of Good and evil.
30:59: I read the definition here.
31:01: Most of the content of revelation is meant to be understood symbolically or allegorically Portraying the ongoing cosmic conflict of the spiritual realm could there be some of that in there possibly? But I don't think that's the interpretive grid you should use.
31:15: I don't think that's the starting point You should start from so if you said pastor where what starting point do you start from I I tend to start With the view of preterism the orthodox view and I will explain more next week why I hold that view But if if you're one of the people who just can't stand to wait, I'll give you at least this thought What we just read Says these things are soon to take place.
31:47: In fact, it says very clearly That the time is near This this book was written to an audience who was about to face something and I believe it was written before 8070 to prepare the people for what they were about to endure during the events of 8070 Now if it could be proven that that revelation was written after 8070, I would concede that I am wrong However proving that would be very difficult.
32:23: I Will make an argument next week as to why I believe it was written before 8070 But for now, that is that that's the juxtaposition.
32:31: It's either if it was written before 8070 I don't see how we couldn't come to the conclusion that this is about what's about to happen But if it's written after 8070 then I would concede it couldn't be because then you're looking back and wouldn't be a prophecy anymore Make sense my holding it all together So like I'm willing to concede that I may not be right about this But if it was written in say 68 right right around the time of Nero's reign that it answers a lot of questions about who the beast was and Who the Antichrist was and what the people were facing and all of these other things that oftentimes? What do we do with those things? We try to put them in our day.
33:12: Who's the Antichrist? What's Barack Obama? Who's the Antichrist? Well now it's Joe Biden, you know or whatever or maybe it was Donald Trump, you know, we got to figure it out It's Benjamin Netanyahu or it's Hit hit low.
33:27: Yeah, and think about it.
33:29: When did the Jews return to Jerusalem? It was a 1948 and this following on the heels of the Second World War People would have seen all this and said yeah, buddy.
33:42: I know now and they're connecting the dots.
33:45: It's happening Is there eschatological significance to the Jews returning to their homeland in 1948, I don't know I'm not going to say there's not any eschatological significance.
33:56: I think there could be But sometimes we read the book of Revelation in our right hand with the Times Union in our left hand and We try to interpret Revelation through our current system and that is not a good perspective to take And it's dangerous.
34:18: I mean, I remember Hearing people say oh, yes, we know the Antichrist is this person that person ain't even alive anymore you know, so So that's that's four views on Revelation I've told you the position that I tend to hold to but as I said, I'm not dogmatic the The one that I would probably like I said I wouldn't take the idealist position only because I tend to shy away from pure allegory And I'm not even sure the futurist position is wrong because if If I started seeing these things be fulfilled very specifically in front of my eyes, I'd have to go Yeah, maybe I missed it.
35:03: And maybe this is it.
35:04: You know, the futurist position could be right and I'm willing to concede that But I think the most dangerous thing is when somebody stands up and say I know exactly what it is It's this for sure, you know I'm just not there So for the last few minutes, let's look at the Millennium the Millennium specifically refers to The thousand-year reign of Christ which is mentioned in Revelation 20.
35:34: So turn your Bibles to Revelation 20 and it says Then I saw an angel descending from heaven holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain He seized the dragon the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan and tied him up for a thousand years The angel then threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it so that he could not deceive the nations until The 1,000 years were finished after these things.
36:16: He must be released for a brief period of time then I saw thrones and Seated on them were those who had been given authority to judge I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and Because of the Word of God These had not worshipped the beast or his image and had refused to receive his mark on their hand or forehead They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Blessed and holy is the one who takes part in the first resurrection The second death has no power over them But they will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with him for a thousand years now When the thousand years are finished Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog to bring them together for battle They are as numerous as the grains of the sand of the sea they went up on The broad plain of the earth and encircled the camp of the Saints in the beloved city but fire came down from heaven and devoured them completely and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are too and They will be tormented tormented there day and night forever and ever All right, it is interesting That within Scripture we tend to find that the areas that divide us the most are often spoke about the least because that's all that the Bible says about the thousand years and Yet there are whole churches that are divided over this millennial kingdom this millennial reign and so What position is? Is it espousing well, let's look at the three positions very quickly pre-millennialism says this When Jesus returns he is going to set up his kingdom for a thousand years and that is still yet in the future Therefore we call that pre-millennialism Because we now live before the millennium or pre so that's pre-millennialism Post-millennialism says that That there will be a thousand-year reign of Christ, but Jesus will return at the end of that reign after which the world has been thoroughly Christianized through the process and victory of evangelism Evangelistic victory will overtake the earth for the gospel our millennialism Says that we are currently in this thousand-year kingdom because the kingdom began when Christ Inaugurated it in his resurrection and ascension so Let's just very quickly.
39:21: Let's draw a picture and I know we're out of time But I'll I don't want to spend another whole week on this unless you guys just want to do it But I can I can I can summarize this relatively easily Jesus Will call this We'll say this is a first century.
39:40: This is around 30 AD.
39:41: This is Jesus death burial and resurrection and This is his return The pre-millennialist would say the kingdom begins after he returns The post-millennialist would say there's some point before his return where there will be a Christianization of the world or a I like the term victory for the gospel throughout the world Where the world will be Christianized and the world Jesus will return to a world ready to receive him Therefore that would be the post mill position Amillennialism says the kingdom began There and it continues Until he returns and puts all of his enemies under his feet Right Now am I simplifying Oh who I'm simplifying but I hope I'm simplifying not to the point of being wrong I think I'm correct that these are the basic positions now both Postmillennialism and all millennialism agree that the thousand years is not a literal thousand years The term thousand years is often used in Scripture to speak of a long time Give you an example in the book of first Peter It says to the Lord a day is like a thousand years again It's not specifically speaking of a particular length of time is simply saying a long time And so when somebody says well if if the the Amillino position is correct Jesus should have come back a thousand years ago.
41:19: Not necessarily thousand years simply would refer to a long period of time the post millennial perspective depending on who you talk to some believe it's going to be a specific thousand year reign most that I've Have heard teach on it don't they just think there's going to be a long period of gospel success overtakes the world Both of these positions would say though at some point before the end there is going to be a Satan's loosening where there will be some form of interaction where there's that final great battle where the Lord will descend and Destroy his enemies and that's done.
41:56: So in general these two positions Are very similar.
42:01: I just tend to I call the post millennial position optimistic Amillennialism because they're both Amillennial the difference is these guys just look forward and say at some point the world's going to be Christian eyes before Jesus returns I don't necessarily think that I look at the the parable of the wheat and the tares Remember the man scatters wheat in his field his enemy comes and scatters the weeds the tares and it they both grow up and They said should we go and remove the wheat and the the king the the master of the house says no Let them both grow up until the end and we'll divide them out at the harvest Right, and if you listen to Jesus explains that parable, he says the field is the world and the Reaping is the end of the age So if you listen to that the point of the matter is see a lot of people think that's the church The church has got wheats and tares as true as that is that parable is not about church That parable is about the world.
43:00: Jesus told us this is the field is the world and the reaping is the end of the age So I think that that would agree With the amillennial position that good and evil will stay to the end and at the end there will be this final battle Now the premillennialist position says no there's going to be a Literal thousand years which begins as soon as Jesus is touched down as soon as not touched down like football But as soon as his foot touches down on the Mount of Olives, there's going to be the beginning of a thousand-year reign and That's premillennialism So you say well, what position do you take? I take the amill position.
43:43: I believe that's brother Andy's position I know it's brother Mike's position and I believe brother Jack as well.
43:49: So our elders would teach amillennialism Again with the understanding we could be incorrect here.
43:56: Here's my big issue with premillennialism a lot of the premillennial view is tied up in a view of having something to do with national Israel in General the premillennial view has something to do with gathering Israel back and making Israel the focus of Eschatology making Israel the focus of the end.
44:21: I believe the church is spiritual Israel I've said that many times and Therefore the idea that there has to be some event in the future that Gathers the church or gathers Israel back and that's the whole idea the rapture right get the church out of the way So God can focus on Israel again.
44:39: I Dispensational view says the church is a parenthesis God was focused on Israel in the past He will be focused on Israel in the future and the church is a parenthesis in the plan of God I didn't say that John MacArthur said that The church is a parenthesis in the plan of God.
44:55: I do not know how anyone can in good conscience Say that the Bride of Christ is a parenthesis in the plan of God That's my opinion.
45:05: I think that's that that devalues the church And misunderstands the distinction between Israel and the church So premillennialism tends to focus on and some some premillennialists believe that during the Millennium There will again begin Sacrificing there will be a new temple.
45:27: There will be sacrifices again and all of basically the Old Testament system Will take over again why would we go back to the Old Covenant when we have a new and Better Covenant according to the book of Hebrews.
45:41: It just does not make sense to me maybe one day somebody will explain it who's smarter than I am, but I Would hold to I wish I could be post millennial.
45:54: They're so happy no matter what happens Gospels victory and it's going to Victor have victory over the earth.
46:02: That's a great positive attitude to have.
46:04: I love it and So like I said the difference between non-millennialism and post-millennialist is they tend to be a little bit more Little more optimistic That's right Post-millennialism was the position of the Puritans and it was the most popular position in the Americas until the middle of the 1900s the Bloodiest century in history Was the 20th century and it changed a lot of minds and a lot of hearts.
46:41: That's exactly right Did you want anything brother? I'm sorry.
46:47: I mean interrupt All right, so anybody have any questions Well good, I'm glad that it was that clear that nobody has any questions I'm sure you'll come up with a hundred of them.
46:58: Feel free to email me.
46:59: I'd love to engage with them next week.
47:01: Let's pray Father in heaven, we thank you for this time of study.
47:05: I thank you for all of these folks who are here tonight I thank you for loving us so much that you gave your son to die for us And I thank you that we can discuss and debate and and and chew on these things knowing Lord that none of these things are ultimately Gospel issues, but they're simply how we understand our world and the future and the past Lord, even if we may come to a position where we find out we've been an error Lord at least we know Christ and we know that our Understanding of him is firm that he in fact is the Savior and there is no other name under heaven given among men by which We must be saved except for his name Lord.