Eschatology 101– Simple Definitions

We have been studying major prophetic passages in the Old and New Testament for over a year at Lake Country Bible Church.  Currently we are in Matthew 24-25 which is one of Jesus' clearest statements regarding the "end times."  For any of my Christian readers who think that eschatology is not very practical and relevant I'd encourage you to listen to this sermon titled, "How the End of the Story Impacts Today and Tomorrow."  The Holy Spirit has been showing me in my personal studies how often the future is used in relationship to the present.

The following article by Pastor Jesse Johnson is a nice summary as one seeks to understand basic definitions of key terms.  These simple definitions will help one make sense of the different major views on eschatology within the Christian church.  All believers embrace the core doctrine concerning the second Coming of Christ!  We all know and believe in the glorious return of Christ.  As with many doctrines, the more one studies the totality of the Scriptural revelation the less complicated this subject becomes.  At LCBC we are committed premillennialists.

"Eschatology: the study of future prophesied events associated with the Second Coming of Jesus, the kingdom, and eternity. Literally it is the study of the “end times,” but much of the study focuses on the rapture and the tribulation, two events that happen at least 1,000 years before the “end times.” Hence, my definition is better than the dictionary’s.

Millennium: A 1,000 year period where Jesus reigns over the earth. This period sees the restoration of Israel, and the fulfillment of the promises and prophecies given to Israel in the OT. Satan is bound, and the earth is inhabited by both resurrected believers as well as people who were born during the kingdom. It is described all over the book of Isaiah, but especially in Isa 24, 51, 54, 60, 65-66. It is also detailed in Ezekiel 37-48, Daniel 7, Zechariah 8, and Revelation 19-20.

Second Coming: A term that refers to the events that take place around the return of Jesus to earth. These events include the rapture, the tribulation, the anti-Christ, the abomination described in Daniel 9 and 2 Thesselonians 2, and the physical return of Jesus to earth.

Post-millennialism: The belief that the Second Coming occurs after the millennium. This is held by Douglas Wilson, R. C. Sproul, and Tim Keller.

Pre-millennialism: The belief that the Second Coming occurs before the millennium. This is held by John MacArthur, John Piper, D. A. Carson, and Wayne Grudem.

Amillennialism: The belief that that millennium is not an actual time period, but rather that scripture’s descriptions of that time period should be interpreted as being fulfilled in this age, and often spiritually. In other words, there is no millennium, and the kingdom of God on earth is now. This view is held by Michael Horton (and almost every Presbyterian you have ever met), Mark Dever, and J. I. Packer.

Long-standing Historic Error Dies Hard: Why Reformed Christians Should Consider Premillennialism (pt 5)

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..."Sometimes the value of a good book is found in one sentence, one paragraph, one chapter, or in the case of Dr. Barry Horner’s Future Israel, in a nine page personal introduction. The testimony of Dr. Horner will no doubt resonate with many Text-driven students of Scripture. It will also challenge some of you as you desire to understand what the sacred Scriptures teach concerning the "end times." But before I share Horner’s eschatological journey allow me to quickly highlight mine.

I was a student at The Master’s College when I came to fully embrace and to appreciate the "doctrines of grace" for myself. Through the expository preaching ministry of John MacArthur and other gifted teachers at my home church (Grace Community) I began to appreciate more deeply the ministry of the Reformers and the Puritans. During this same time I began to question if my convictions concerning eschatology needed to be refined. After all, so many of my favorite theologians were Presbyterian and Reformed. I remember reading Gerstner’s, Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth as well as Mathison’s Dispensationalism: Rightly Dividing the People of God? From a theological perspective the argumentation in these books was convincing. At the same time however many of the Text-driven (exegetical) conclusions were lacking.

I decided to go back to the Scriptures in order to determine whether my end times positions needed to be modified or overhauled. As I made my way through the Old Testament Minor Prophets I found Charles Feinberg and Jim Boice’s commentaries to be faithful to the Text and to the point. Both scholars embraced premillennialism. By the time I went verse by verse through Romans 9-11 I was thoroughly convinced that the Word of God not only supports the doctrines of grace they also promote biblical premillennialism. In view of this I was not surprised when John MacArthur titled his main plenary address Why Every Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist. Well enough about me. Let’s give Dr. Horner the floor one final time; (this part five in a series of selections taken from his personal introduction in Future Israel).

Future Israel: Before You Become a Amillennialist (pt 4)

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Dr. Barry Horner's book Future Israel is a very helpful read when it comes to understanding eschatology and the place of national Israel. The following is a selection taken from his personal introduction (which is well worth the price of the book)...

"When all has been said and done with regard to the three major schools of eschatology, the real, overshadowing central issue concerns the person of Jesus Christ. It is the new covenant which He has established by His blood, and His present reign at the right hand of the Father, that should dominate our thinking and not some distinctive scheme of prophecy. So Reformed amillennialist George Murray commented, “It is Christ, rather than the Hebrew people, who is the subject of the Old Testament prophets.” (4) And of course, all the major schools of prophecy would heartily agree at this point, so that nothing in fact would have been trumped at all. The reason for this is simply that amillennialism, postmillennialism, and premillennialism are all based on their future perspective of history as it will be climaxed at the second coming or parousia of Jesus Christ that crowns the redemptive work of His first coming. In this sense, Jesus Christ is clearly central to all three perspectives, whatever their disagreements might involve. However, that being said, it must be borne in mind that the Lord Jesus Christ remains the quintessential Jew. We would even dare to say that He has lost none of His essential Jewishness. However, Murray continues, “To be sure, the nation was sovereignly chosen by God as the channel through which His oracles might be given to the world; but God no longer deals with them as a chosen nation.” (5) How incomplete is the allusion here to Rom 3:2 that ignores Rom 9:4 concerning those who “are [present tense] Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.” For a professing Calvinist such as Murray to suggest that Israel has lost its election is not only astonishing, but it also flies in the face of Paul’s further explanation that “regarding the gospel, they [unbelieving national Israel, no the remnant] are enemies for your [the Gentiles’] advantage, but regarding election [the election, ten eklogen], they [unbelieving national Israel] are loved because of their forefathers [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob]” (Rom 11:28). How then can Jesus Christ be exalted when He, “the King of the Jews” (John 19:19), who declared that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22), has His Jewish brethren permanently and nationally defrocked?

Future Israel: Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must Be Challenged (Barry Horner)

Those who have embraced unconditional election and the doctrines of sovereign grace should also welcome Text-driven Premillennialism. In his pot stirring series, Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist Should Be a Premillennialist John MacArthur mentions an insightful new book titled, Future Israel: Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must Be Challenged.   This book is part of the NAC Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology.

As I mentioned last time the introduction of Future Israel is worth the price of the book.  Today's article is the second part of a series of articles on the subject of Biblical eschatology (see part one).   Dr. Horner describes his theological journey with these helpful insights:  "More recently, a closer study of four books of the Bible has led me now to more firmly assert that the basic premillennial model of biblical prophesy, and especially as it relates to ethnic and national Israel, is closest to the truth of Scripture.  First, there was a study of Zechariah, so permeated with the ultimate triumph of the Messiah and the nation of Israel.  The prophet speaks of God’s vindication on earth when He “will become king over all the earth- Yahweh alone, and His name alone” (Zech 14:9).1  I will never forget the study of David Baron’scommentary on this book, which seemed so much more illuminating to the text than Calvin’s.

Then a close study of Romans over several years, and particularly chaps. 9-11, resulted in an indelible impression that for Paul, the converted Hebrew rabbi, Israel has n ongoing national identity, its unbelief notwithstanding.  On the other hand, it seemed as if Reformed exegesis, at least on a prima facie reading of the text, was attempting to avoid the obvious.

11 Reasons WHY I Am Not a Amillennialist (John MacArthur)

11 Reasons Why I Am Not a Amillennialist

By John MacArthur

1. Amillennialist employ a historical grammatical hermeneutic but when they get to prophetic sections they substitute some other hermeneutic. In essence, they have a double hermeneutic.

2. They often eliminate a future for ethnic Israel.

3. They often confuse national Israel with the Church.

4. They often deny God’s promise to restore God’s people to the land even though the Abrahamic Covenant was unconditional and unilateral.

5. They deny Christ’s Davidic kingdom as promised in the Old Testament (see 2 Sam. 7; Psalm 89).

6. They believe wrongly that Satan is presently bound (in the Church age; See Rev 20:2; 1 Peter 5:8).

7. They artificially impose “continuity” on Scripture and do not allow ample room for “discontinuity.”

Our Covenantal friends build their system on three covenants that are not found in the Bible: The covenant of redemption; The covenant of grace; and the covenant of works.  As an aside John MacArthur does see a covenant of redemption in Scripture (note his sermon on Titus 1).