Millennialism, End Times, and the Reign of Christ (Part 10) - Errors 1-6 of Premillennialism

For a master copy of the outline, click here: Millennialism V. The errors of Historical Premillennialism. 1. Error #1: Two bodily resurrections. A. Historic Premillennialism teaches that the resurrection of the righteous is at the beginning of the millennium and the resurrection of the wicked is at the end of it. B. The Bible teaches that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust (Act 24:15). i. Jesus said that the hour is coming in the which all that are in graves shall hear His voice and they shall all come forth and will be either raised to life, or damnation (Joh 5:28-29). ii. Notice that the righteous and the wicked will be resurrected at the same hour, not hours. iii. Notice that all that are in the graves will come forth at that time, not only the righteous, and then the wicked a thousand years later. C. This one point by itself completely obliterates all forms of Premillennialism. 2. Error #2: The resurrection of the righteous will happen 1000 years (1007 years for Dispensational Premillennialism) before the destruction of the earth. A. The resurrection happens at the LAST day (Joh 6:39-40,44,54; Joh 11:24). B. This one point by itself completely obliterates all forms of Premillennialism. C. The resurrection happens when the heavens are no more (Job 14:12). D. The heavens and the earth will be destroyed on the last day (2Pe 3:10). 3. Error #3: The righteous are rewarded in the kingdom and the wicked are judged 1000 years apart. A. The Second Coming will be like it was in the days of Noah when the righteous and the wicked lived together until the day of judgment (Mat 24:37-39; Luk 17:26-27). B. The day in which Christ is revealed will be like it was in the days of Lot when the righteous were delivered and the wicked destroyed on the same day (Luk 17:28-30). C. Jesus taught that the children of the kingdom and the children of the devil will grow together until the time of harvest at the end of the world when the wicked will be cast into a furnace of fire and the righteous will shine in the kingdom of their Father (Mat 13:24-30 c/w Mat 13:37-43). D. Jesus taught that the wicked will be severed from the just at the end of the world (Mat 13:47-50). 4. Error #4: Satan will be loosed while Christ is reigning on earth to gather the nations together to do battle against Him. A. This would be a strange sight to behold. B. Is Jesus going to be sitting on his throne in Jerusalem while Satan is gathering all the nations (which Jesus is supposed to be ruling over) together to make war against him and the camp of the saints? C. Jesus destroys Satan with fire when he is revealed from heaven, not after he has been on earth for 1000 years (2Th 1:7-9 c/w Rev 20:9). D. If Jesus goes back up to heaven during the time Satan is loosed and then returns again to destroy him, that would make it his third coming (and fourth coming for Dispensational Premillennialism). VI. The errors of Dispensational Premillennialism. 1. The origin of Dispensational Premillennialism. A. The pre-tribulation rapture doctrine was first taught by a London preacher named Edward Irving (who was influenced by the vision of Margaret Macdonald) in the 1830s in Scotland, was later promoted by John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren in Britain, and then in the early twentieth century was popularized by C.I. Scofield in the Scofield Reference Bible. i. The following quotes are from Dave MacPherson in his book, The Rapture Plot. ii. "All of my major writings over the years have demonstrated that various individuals in Group A taught the pre-trib view before anyone in Group B did. "Group A consisted of London preacher Edward Irving and his followers (Irvingites), and also included those who influenced them. After some serious clashes with officials of his own Presbyterian denomination (he was eventually deposed on charges of heresy), Irving organized what became known as the Catholic Apostolic Church, an independent and charismatic group in Britain. "One person whose prophetic views greatly influenced Irving and his friends was Miss Margaret Macdonald, a young lassie living in the small shipbuilding town of Port Glasgow in western Scotland.... "Group B can refer to no other group than the Britain-based Brethren, often called the Plymouth Brethren by outsiders. Its most influential prophecy teacher was John Nelson Darby. His followers have been labeled Darbyites or Darbyists." (Dave MacPherson, The Rapture Plot, pages 2-3) iii. "During the springtime in 1830, an end-time vision sprang into Margaret Macdonald's mind. Privately she sent handwritten copies of her Scripture-riddled revelation to some leading clergymen including Irving." (Ibid, page 3) iv. "In 1861 Robert Norton again published Margaret's pre-trib vision....Several pages later Norton finally named Margaret as the one who had given the same 1830 revelation, the revelation he had first aired 21 years earlier without giving her credit. He added that this had been the "first" instance, as he put it, of the new doctrine." (Ibid, page 15) v. "The following year [1872] Thomas Croskery of Londonderry, Ireland wrote in an article: "...this idea of the Lord removing his Church secretly...was never heard of till it was proclaimed in one of the delusive utterances of the Irvingites in 1832."" (Ibid, page 16) vi. "In 1880 William Reid, in his book on Brethrenism, stated that "Edward Irving contributed the notion of...the secret rapture of the saints."" (Ibid, page 17) B. Margaret Macdonald's vision in 1830. i. Margaret Macdonald was a young girl living in Scotland who was an occultist, and who had a vision of things to come which became the basis of the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine taught by Edward Irving and John Nelson Darby. a. The following quote shows that Macdonald was Satanically influenced: b. "Robert Norton, the pretrib origin chronicler, revealed the following about Margaret and one of her friends: "I have seen both her and Miss Margaret Macdonald stand like statues scarcely touching the ground, evidently supernaturally."" (Ibid, page 52) ii. Robert Norton witnessed Macdonald relaying her vision and wrote down what he heard. iii. "In the spring of 1830 in Port Glasgow, Scotland...a young woman by the name of Margaret Macdonald came up with a totally different end-time view. Privately she sent handwritten copies of it to Edward Irving and other clergymen. A medical doctor, Robert Norton, had been an eye-and-ear witness when she had explained her view to visitors in her home, and he recorded it at the time. Only after some in later years began assuming that Irving should get credit for the same novel view did Norton, a leading member of (and historian of) Irving's church, reproduce it in two of his books: Memoirs of James & George Macdonald, of Port-Glasgow (1840, pp. 171-176), and The Restoration of Apostles and Prophets; In the Catholic Apostolic Church (1861, pp.15-18...)" Dave MacPherson, The Rapture Plot, page 249) iv. The full text of Macdonald's vision can be found in Appendix A of this outline. v. Following are quotes from Margaret Macdonald's vision in 1830 which show the origin of the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine. a. "I saw it was just the Lord himself descending from Heaven with a shout, just the glorified man, even Jesus; but that all must, as Stephen was, be filled with the Holy Ghost, that they might look up, and see the brightness of the Father's glory. I saw the error to be, that men think that it will be something seen by the natural eye; but 'tis spiritual discernment that is needed, the eye of God in his people (underline mine - CEW)." (Ibid, page 250) b. "Only those who have the light of God within them will see the sign of his appearance." (Ibid) (i) Here is the origin of the idea of the Second Coming of Christ being secret and invisible. (ii) Macdonald said that natural eyes won't see Christ descending from heaven, but rather only God's people will. (iii) What saith the scripture? (iv) "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Mat 24:30) (v) "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." (Rev 1:7) c. "I felt that those who were filled with the Spirit could see spiritual things, and feel walking in the midst of them, while those who had not the Spirit could see nothing - so that two shall be in one bed, the one taken and the other left, because the one has the light of God within while the other cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven. I saw the people of God in an awfully dangerous situation, surrounded by nets and entanglements, about to be tried, and many about to be deceived and fall. Now will THE WICKED be revealed, with all power and signs and lying wonders, so that if it were possible the very elect will be deceived."" (underline mine - CEW) (Dave MacPherson, The Rapture Plot, page 250-251) (i) Notice how Macdonald puts the rapture where one is taken and the other is left before the man of sin (antichrist) being revealed. (ii) This is the origin of the Dispensational Premillennialism pre-tribulation rapture theory. 2. Errors #1-4: All four of the errors of Historical Premillennialism (see previous section). 3. Error #5: Israel and the church are entirely distinct from each other and God still has a special plan for the Jews. A. A church is a congregation of God's people (Heb 2:12 c/w Psa 22:22). i. Israel was God's church/congregation (Act 7:38 c/w Exo 16:2). ii. The NT church was not a completely new creation, but a reformation of God's religion under the law of Moses (Heb 9:10). iii. Reformation - 1. Restoration (of peace). 2. Improvement in form or quality; alteration to a better form; correction or removal of defects or errors; †reparation, rebuilding. B. The New Testament makes it very clear that there are two Israels (Rom 9:6). i. Not all of the natural posterity of Abraham are God's Israel (Rom 9:7-8; Gal 4:28-30). ii. Not all the natural posterity of Isaac are God's Israel (Rom 9:10-13). iii. Not even all of the natural posterity of Israel (Jacob) are God's Israel (Rom 9:27-29). C. It matters not if one is a natural child of Abraham, but rather if one is a child of the promise to Abraham (Rom 9:8). i. The promises to Abraham were made to two people: Abraham and his seed, which is Christ (Gal 3:16). ii. Those who belong to Christ (Jew and Gentile) are therefore Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:28-29). iii. It is they which are of faith which are the children of Abraham, not they which are of blood only (Gal 3:7). D. With the coming of Christ and the writing of the New Testament in His blood and the abolishing of the Old Testament, the Gentiles who used to be aliens from the commonwealth of Israel are now part of it (Eph 2:11-22). i. This is why Paul says "we are the circumcision" to a Gentile church (Phi 3:3). ii. This is why Paul could go as far as to say "he is NOT a Jew, which is one outwardly...but he IS a Jew, which is one inwardly" (Rom 2:28-29). E. Being a natural Jew means absolutely nothing in the eyes of God on this side of the cross (1Co 7:19; Gal 6:15; Col 3:11). F. The true Israel of God are those Jews and Gentiles which are in Christ (Gal 6:15-16), which is the church for whom Christ died (Eph 5:25-27). G. For more proof that the church is Israel, see Section IV,5,A,vi. 4. Error #6: The kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven are two entirely different kingdoms. A. Some dispensationalists teach that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom that was setup at the first coming of Christ, but the kingdom of heaven was the earthly kingdom which was postponed because of the Jews' rejection of Christ. B. This is utter nonsense. C. The phrase "kingdom of heaven" is exclusively used in the Matthew's gospel. D. The phrase "kingdom of God" is used a few times in Matthew and John, and extensively in Mark and Luke. E. A simple comparison of parallel verses in Matthew, Mark, and Luke show beyond question that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are interchangeable terms. For example: i. The mystery of the kingdom of heaven/God (Mat 13:11 c/w Mar 4:11 c/w Luk 8:10). ii. The parable of the mustard seed (Mat 13:31-32 c/w Mar 4:30-31 c/w Luk 13:18-19). iii. The parable of the leaven (Mat 13:33 c/w Luk 13:20-21). F. Matthew himself uses the terms interchangeably (Mat 19:23-24). G. Also compare Mat 19:23-24 with (Mar 10:23-25 c/w Luk 18:24-25). For a master copy of the outline, click here: Millennialism