Dispensationalism is an outgrowth of Premillennialism. The word “Premillennial” is a combination of two words, “pre” and “Millennium.” Pre means before, and Millennium is the word for one thousand.
It is a religious term which has reference to the belief in certain dramatic events that are supposed to happen before Christ returns to earth to establish his kingdom, over which he will rule for a literal 1000 years, on the literal throne of David, in the literal city
of Jerusalem.
Dispensationalism is different in the emphasis that it places on Israel and the Jews in God’s plan for their salvation and His giving them an earthly kingdom. It is this variety that has become so widespread and popular in our day. John Nelson Darby is considered to be the father of dispensationalism.
C. I. Scofield took the KJV and added his notes often in such a way that it is difficult to know which are scripture and which are his notes. The Scofield Reference Bible did much to spread the dispensational doctrine.
During the 1970s, this doctrine became popular in wider circles, in part due to the books of Hal Lindsey, including The Late Great Planet Earth, which sold over 15 million copies.
In 1995, Tim LaHaye’s book Left Behind sold millions of copies, popularising the dispensational doctrine. Television evangelists Pat Robertson and John Hagee are advocates of this doctrine. Well-known men like Jerry Falwell have advocated this doctrine. It has captured the attention of practically every conservative religious group of our day.
Beyond doubt, it is the most popular religious doctrine of our day. There is no doubt that dispensational preachers and lobbyists have had the ear of the White House and State Department in the past.
If we are to discuss this doctrine, it is important that we understand what it teaches. Also, it must be kept in mind that dispensationalists differ with one another on some of the details of this doctrine, but there are certain main events over which they are all in agreement.
We will attempt to set forth some of the most basic tenets of their false teachings.
1. Jesus originally came to establish an earthly kingdom, which God had promised the Jews.
He came to rule over the Jews as their Messiah but was rejected by them. This rejection was unexpected; God’s plan had to be postponed until a later time when the Jews would be more willing to accept a kingdom. We ask, could an omnipotent God make such a mistake?
Thus, there followed the church period, sometimes called “The great parenthesis” period, where the church was set up until Christ returns again to set up His kingdom. This makes the church an afterthought.
The church would bridge the gap until the Jews are willing to accept Jesus as their Messiah. This is the fatal flaw of their doctrine because the church is the kingdom. The Bible makes no distinction between the kingdom and the church. They are one and the same.
When it is time for Christ to come and establish His kingdom, the church age will end. When the church ends, a period of seven years called “the great tribulation” will be ushered in, which will be characterised by several severe and dramatic events.
1. First, there will occur the “rapture”, which is an English word used in place of the Latin word raptus.
The Greek word is harpazo, which means “caught up” or “taken away.” The English word “rapture” is not used in any Bible translations. This will be a sudden and mysterious disappearance of the church. Those alive will be caught up in the air, and those in the grave will come forth to be with the Lord.
All will “hover” over the earth invisible for seven years. Some say it will be three and a half years. The purpose of the rapture is that God’s saints might be rescued from a great tribulation that will follow the rapture.
2. The “great tribulation”, as it is called, will literally last for seven years.
The tribulation will be a period of great and intense suffering such as the world has never experienced before. The world will get worse and worse, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
The key scripture they use for this event is Daniel 9:27. It is from this verse alone that they get the idea of a “seven-year tribulation.” They also assume that Daniel 9:27 calls for the rebuilding of the old Jewish Temple on the very site of the present-day “Dome of the Rock.”
The fact that this mosque is considered the second most sacred spot on earth for the Arabs. The “Dome of the Rock” (a Mosque) is located on the spot where the temple once stood.
However, this seems to pose no problem for dispensationalists. Should the Jews attempt to do this, it would turn the entire Arab world against them in a religious war.
3. Either just before or halfway through the tribulation, an important figure, the antichrist, will make his appearance.
He will be a world dictator who has his roots in the old Roman Empire. At first, he will appear as a peacemaker. He will lead a confederacy of ten European nations, which is represented in the seven-headed beast with ten horns cited in the book of Revelation.
It would seem they have a problem here in that the number of common market nations has almost tripled the ten he is supposed to rule over. Nevertheless, the antichrist will go to Jerusalem and exalt himself in the new Temple.
He will stop all sacrifices, break a peace treaty he had made earlier with Israel and proclaim himself to be God. They get all this by cutting and pasting Daniel 9:27 / Matthew 24:15 / 2 Thessalonians 2:4 together, and then associating those passages with everything that will be going on in Revelation 4-19.
An important part of their doctrine is Daniel’s prophetic clock of 70 years found in Daniel 9:24-27. The clock supposedly stopped at the end of the 69th year when the Jews rejected Christ.
With the appearance of the antichrist, the prophetic clock will restart, and the 70th year will begin. During this time, 144,000 Jews will be converted, setting the stage for their acceptance of Christ as their Messiah.
By the end of the 70th week, the battle of Armageddon will be about to begin. Armageddon will be a series of battles in the plain of Jezreel in northern Palestine.
First, there will be war between the Arabs and Russians. After this, the war will end up as a conflict between Red China and the Western forces under the Antichrist.
This battle will be fought in the great plain of Jezreel in Palestine. Many will be wiped out. As the battle reaches its climax and it appears that all life is about to be destroyed on the earth, Christ will suddenly return with those who were raptured and save man from self-extinction.
Christ will now set up His kingdom. It will be the literal throne of David in the literal city of Jerusalem for a literal thousand years. It will be a reign of peace, righteousness and justice. There will be universal spirituality. Even the animals and reptiles will lose their ferocity.
There will be plenty for everyone. It will be a real utopia. Those who were raptured will return with the Lord to reign with him as heads and leaders in government in different areas and at different levels. Satan will now be bound for a thousand years.
At the end of this period, there will arise some unbelievers who will rebel under the leadership of the devil. He will lead an army against Jerusalem. Why he will be released, we are not told.
Swift destruction will now be brought upon him and his army. This will end human history. Final judgment will now take place. The ungodly dead will be raised to enter hell.
A New Jerusalem, fifteen hundred miles square, will be put on the very spot of present-day Jerusalem. There God and the Jews will live forever. The righteous Gentiles will enter heaven.
Premillennialists and Dispensationalists are very materialistic. They are very active in watching world affairs. They see every event as something fitting into the picture of the coming rapture and tribulation.
For all of this to happen, Israel has to be a nation again. They say this happened on May 14, 1948, when the United Nations formed the State of Israel. This started what they call the “countdown.”
There is little we can do to stem the tide of evil. The world can only get worse. When dispensationalists hear talk of peace summits in the Middle East, they assume it must have evil origins. The Middle East must further deteriorate. Any talk of peace in the Middle East is fruitless. It will come temporarily, but not by Christ but rather by the antichrist.
It will be short-lived because the antichrist will break his treaty with Israel, which will result in the battle of Armageddon. It is at this point that Christ will return to the earth with all those who were raptured to rule for a thousand years in Jerusalem.
Dispensationalism believes that Christ will rule for a literal thousand years, in the literal city of Jerusalem. They say God had promised the Jewish people an earthly kingdom to be ruled by the Messiah through all the Old Testament prophecies. True to His promise, God sends the Messiah to offer the Jews their earthly kingdom.
But unexpectedly, the Jews rejected Christ so that he was unable to establish the kingdom of the Jews. This stopped God’s plans. Thus, God’s plan for the Jews had to be put on hold since God did not anticipate this rejection. This makes God a failure.
It is argued that the church was not prophesied in the Old Testament, and there is no mention of the church in any of the Old Testament prophesies. The Old Testament prophesies were only about the Jews and the kingdom God was going to set up for them.
To fill in the space from the rejection of Christ until Jesus returns and establishes a kingdom, God had to devise a parenthesis period, sometimes called (The Great Parenthesis).
This is also frequently referred to as the “church age.” The church then becomes an afterthought. It is as if God had to come up with a substitute plan to fill in the gap until the Lord would return to establish His kingdom. The church then becomes a kind of inferior spur-of-the-moment substitute.
The rapture, however, will end the church period. The church will be caught up in the sky. Then the prophetic clock can start ticking again, and God’s plan for the kingdom he had promised the Jews will again begin to unfold. There are four things we will look at which totally disprove the Dispensationalist doctrine.
1. We have an omniscient God.
God has infinite knowledge. The word “infinite” means: “without any limits whatsoever.” Thus, he is without any limits as to knowledge. He knows everything. There is no knowledge that he does not possess.
God knows everything about the material universe. The weight of the mountains, the number of hairs on our head, the cause of cancer, how long the world will last, etc. Any discovery man makes, God already knows about it because he created it to begin with.
God can know every move we will ever make. He knows our hearts, thus every thought. Hebrews 4:13 says, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Furthermore, God does not change.
James 1:17 says, “With whom is no variableness, either shadow of turning.” Thus, by his very nature, God cannot cease to be perfect in all his plans and undertakings. Dispensationalism is a disrespectful insult to the intelligence of God Almighty.
2. Why was Jesus willing to die for the church?
Supposedly, the cross was the final rejection of Jesus and his Kingdom. This makes the death on the cross lose its meaning. In Acts 20:28, Paul, in speaking to the elders at Ephesus, said, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
In Ephesians 5:25-27, Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Such glowing language does not indicate the church was an afterthought, but of the utmost importance to His great scheme of redemption for mankind.
3. The church was spoken of in prophecy.
Jesus promised His disciples He would build His church over a year before this event would take place, Matthew 16:18. Included in the promise was the promise “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Even his death on the cross would not stop it from being established nor destroy it at some future date, not even the so-called rapture.
The very day the church was established, Acts 2, Peter quotes from Joel 2 to show that this great event they were observing had been prophesied. In Acts 2:23, Peter quotes David, who prophesied the death and resurrection of Jesus.
In Acts 1:16, Peter quotes Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8 to show that the Holy Spirit had even spoken by David about Judas and his evil deed. Jesus says in John 12:27, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour.” In Matthew 21:33-46, Jesus tells a parable where he actually predicts his own death.
4. The spiritual kingdom of Christ is not of this world.
Jesus plainly stated that His Kingdom is not a worldly kingdom. Standing before Pilate, he said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now My kingdom is not from here,” John 18:36. So there will be no throne in Jerusalem with Jesus ruling from it for a 1000 years.
The Jews and even the disciples had made the mistake of thinking a kingdom would be set up here on earth. They were looking for a Messiah king who would rule over Israel and would drive the Romans out of the land.
For this reason, Jesus did not fit the picture they had of an earthly king who would rule as David and Solomon did. To them, he did not have the background or appearance of a king. He was a poor man, thus would have been looked upon as uneducated and unprepared to serve as a king over a kingdom.
Dispensationalists deny that Jesus established His kingdom. They say He came to do this, but because the Jews rejected Him, He had to postpone its establishment. In its place, he substituted the church until a time when the Jews will be ready to accept him as the Messiah.
They believe Christ will return again and will then establish an earthly material kingdom. He will rule from the throne of David in Jerusalem for a thousand years. Is it plausible that an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and sovereign God would fail in His attempt to establish His kingdom?
In all of these passages, we have a total of eighty-four preachers saying the kingdom of heaven “was at hand.” Were all these men mistaken? Did they teach error?
Could it be that Christ and John, who were both inspired, did not know what they were talking about? Does “at hand” mean two or three thousand years later on?
There can be no doubt as to the meaning of these verses. They taught that the kingdom was ready then to come. It is an insult to the character of God to say he did not anticipate that Jesus would be rejected and His plans to establish would have to be put on hold.
Jesus was the most popular man in Palestine in His day, and the people wanted to make him their king. It was the leaders and Jewish officials who wanted Him to be put to death. This is what led to His being crucified; His popularity offended the leaders.
When Jesus came down the slope of the Mount of Olives in His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem with the crowds cheering Him, it is recorded that the Pharisees said the following.
Jesus was very popular with the people. The Jewish leaders despised him. They are the ones who plotted His death. If Jesus had been so disposed to establish an earthly kingdom, He could have had the backing of the people and easily accomplished it. He could have had the aid of angels. But it was not his purpose to rule over a material kingdom from a throne in Jerusalem by military power.
Ephesians 3:9-11 clearly teaches that the church was in the mind of God from the beginning to “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus used the terms “church” and “kingdom” to refer to the same institution. The word “church” means “the called out.” It refers to all those who have been called out of the world to be in fellowship with Christ and His people. The word “Kingdom” is a term which describes the form of government of the church. It is an absolute monarchy with Christ as its king.
In Matthew 16:18-19, Jesus uses both terms in talking about the same thing. “And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Hades is the realm of the unseen dead. This is where all the dead go after death. Jesus was simply saying that even Hades (death) could not stop him from establishing his spiritual kingdom. Death came to Jesus, but it did not stop him from establishing His kingdom.
Paul speaking of the conversion of the Colossian brethren said, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.”
The apostle John told the seven churches in Asia that he was in the kingdom. He said, “I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom,” Revelation 1:9.
In Hebrews 12:28, the writer says. “Wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” Many living during the preaching of Jesus would live to see the kingdom come. Jesus had taught his disciples to pray “Thy kingdom come,” Matthew 6:10.
On another occasion, He said, “Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power,” Mark 9:1.
This they did on the day of Pentecost. If the kingdom is yet to come, there are some Christians, almost two thousand years old today, who are still waiting! The apostle John told the seven churches of Asia, “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,” Revelation 1:9.
The kingdom came into existence on Pentecost when they “received power from on high,” John 24:49. The fundamental mistake of Dispensationalism is their failure to recognise this truth.
Dispensational doctrine contends that Jesus came to establish His kingdom but had to postpone His plans until a later time because He had not anticipated His rejection by the Jews.
When the time approaches for Him to establish His kingdom there will be ushered in a seven your period of time which will signal His coming back to Jerusalem to give the Jews the Kingdom God had promised them.
This seven-year period of time is the 70th prophetic week of Daniel 9:23-27. Everything in Revelation 4-19 is supposed to take place during this seven-year period. Thus, dispensationalists use Daniel 9 to prove their parenthesis or gap theory.
Seventy weeks equals 490 days. It is generally supposed that a prophetic day represents a literal year of earth time, thus, 490 years. A week (7 days) would then equal seven years of Earth time.
This prophecy was to begin with the command to rebuild and restore Jerusalem following the Babylonian captivity. Six Sixty-nine weeks or 483 years would bring us up to the time of the crucifixion of Christ, leaving one week or literally seven years yet to be fulfilled.
Dispensationalists say that the prophetic clock of Daniel chapter nine suddenly stopped at the end of the 69th week. This 69th week brought the Jews up to the time of Christ and His rejection, and ended with his death on the cross.
Thus, we are now in a gap or parenthesis period waiting for the 70th and final week (seven literal years) to take place. The clock will be rewound and will start ticking off these last seven years when certain things begin to take place.
First will be the rapture. This will be followed by the tribulation. Next, the anti-Christ will make his appearance, deceiving many nations. His appearance will be followed by the battle of Armageddon.
A number of questions come to mind. Where do the scriptures indicate that the prophetic clock of Daniel suddenly stopped at the end of the 69th week, 483 years after Daniel received the vision given him by the angel Gabriel? What do the scriptures speak of: a gap or a parenthesis period?
As already observed, the church is not a temporary thing willing in the gap period, for the church is the kingdom. There is no kingdom to establish, as it already exists.
The church and the kingdom are one and the same institution. During the reign of Darius the Mede, it seems Daniel made a study of Jeremiah and, in particular, Jeremiah 25:12 and 29:10.
These passages clearly stated that the captivity of the Jews in Babylon was to last for seventy years. The difficulty was determining the exact year punishment began for the Jews. He seems to have concluded that 68 of the 70 years of captivity had now passed, and the period of captivity was almost at an end.
Yet, he could not see any hope that the Jews were about to be released. Thus, he prayed to God, making confession of the sins of the people and his own. He recognised the justice of God for their punishment in Babylon. In substance, Daniel prayed that the temple and Jerusalem might be rebuilt.
In answer to his prayers, God sent the archangel Gabriel to Daniel to comfort him. By a vision, the angel showed him there would be a period of 70 weeks (490 years) during which time God would accomplish the end of captivity, but would also accomplish even more important things for the Jews. God would redeem them from captivity, but Gabriel tells Daniel of a more important redemption, the redemption from their sins.
In other words, Daniel received far more than what he had been praying for: an insight into the distant future. The 70 weeks are 490 days. It is generally accepted that in prophecy a day represents a year; certain things are going to happen over the 490 years.
While Daniel is concerned with getting back to Jerusalem, God is telling there will be many other things that will happen after their return to Jerusalem. Gabriel divided this period of seventy weeks (490 years) into three periods.
The first period would be seven weeks (49 years). The second period would be sixty-two weeks (434 years), and finally, the last period would be one week (7 years). The first period of 49 years would begin with the decree of Artaxerxes, the king of the Persian Empire, freeing the Jews to return to their homeland.
Although restoration would be slow and “in troublous times,” yet Jerusalem, its walls, its streets and the Temple were restored under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah.
The second period would be sixty-two weeks (434 years). This is the period between the Old and New Testaments. These would be turbulent years for the Jews. They would be overrun and controlled by no less than four nations. The third period is the final week (70th) or a seven-year period of time.
Gabriel said that God would make a firm covenant with many for one week and that in the midst of one week (three and one-half years) He would cause the sacrifices and offerings to cease.
Christ began his ministry at the age of thirty around A.D. 27. Three and one-half years later, He would be put to death on the cross. Thus, once and for all, this would remove the necessity of the Temple with its sacrifices, for His bloodshed on the cross would forever atone for sins.
The remainder of the work would involve the period between his resurrection and ascension into heaven, the establishment of the church on the Day of Pentecost and the preaching of the gospel to Jerusalem and the surrounding villages.
The ministry of Jesus was to the Jews, and the apostles continued this ministry to the Jews only, Matthew 10:6 / Matthew 15:24. During this period of time, the Jews were given ample opportunity to hear the gospel, believe and obey it. Preaching was often accompanied by miracles to prove that the Holy Spirit was leading those preaching the gospel.
As it became evident, the Jews began to reject the gospel it was then carried to the Gentiles. This would seem to complete the seven-year period of the 70th week. Thus, Gabriel gave Daniel the assurance for which he prayed and much more than he had asked for.
One word of caution. We always have to be careful when dealing with figurative language. This is especially true of numbers. However, the application of the above numbers certainly fits the historical facts concerning the Jews during this period of 490 years of Jewish history better than the dispensationalist gap period, with all the spectacular events they claim will take place in the 70th year.
In Daniel 9:26, Gabriel sounds a sad note. Jerusalem would be destroyed again. While he does not say when, he did say that “the people of the prince shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary.”
The “prince” is Titus, a Roman general and the son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian. The “people” is the Roman army. They overflowed the city like a flood, destroying it and the Temple in A.D. 70.
This brought to an end the system of Judaism. It was the end of the priesthood, the sacrifices and the Sanhedrin. The only thing left were the synagogues, which were spread over the Mediterranean world.
The dispersion of the Jews into all parts of the world resulted in intermarriage with different races. No Jew today can trace his ancestry back to some specific tribe.
From the death of Christ until the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, there were uprisings, wars, and insurrections by the Jews. This caused Nero, the Roman Emperor, to give orders to subdue and destroy the land of Palestine.
While Gabriel gave no date, he did say, “And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate.” The “wing of abominations” indicates the swiftness with which the Roman General Titus would come and destroy Jerusalem.
Dispensationalists say that Daniel’s prophetic clock of 70 weeks was stopped at the end of the 69th week and that we are now in a gap period until the 70th week arrives.
Isn’t it strange that God could accomplish what he intended to do in the first 69 weeks but failed in the 70th week to bring His Kingdom into existence? The truth is that Daniel’s 70 years were fulfilled nearly two thousand years ago. We do not have to wait for the kingdom to be established, as it is already established. The kingdom, which is the church, is alive and well.
Dispensationalists teach that Christ is coming a second time to take all the saints, both living and dead, up to the sky where they will be with Him for seven years. They call this the “Rapture.”
The purpose of the rapture is to deliver the righteous from the terrible tribulation which will be poured out on all the unrighteous during this seven-year period of time.
Our English word rapture comes from the Latin word raptus. The Greek word is harpazp, which means “caught up” or “taken away.” This will be a sudden and mysterious disappearance of the church.
Those who are alive will be caught up in the sky (clouds), and all saints in the graves will also be caught up with the Lord. They will “hover” over the earth invisible for seven years.
The time that the rapture will occur varies among dispensationalists. Some say it will be at the beginning of the seven years of tribulation, while others say it will come at the midpoint of this period.
This block of seven years is to precede the thousand-year reign of Christ in Jerusalem. At the end of the seven years, Christ is to descend with all his saints. He will then set up his kingdom, and the saints will rule with him by being placed in high positions all over the earth.
With all the wars and turmoil taking place on the earth, each generation sees and thinks there is clear evidence that the tribulation is about to begin, thus everyone should be ready for the rapture to take place at any time. This is very exciting to many.
While they will not be caught up into heaven itself, they will be with the Lord in the sky above the earth. From this vantage point, they will be able to observe the tribulation taking place on the earth. The thought of suddenly, without warning, being snatched up into the sky by the Lord can sound very sensational and exciting.
The main proof text for their rapture doctrine is 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17.
A careful reading of this scripture will reveal that it does not teach the rapture doctrine. Note the following observations.
1. The word “rapture” does not occur in the passage. The fact is that the word “rapture” is not found anywhere in any of the translations of the Bible.
2. Not one word is said about “hovering” over the earth for seven years.
3. Paul plainly says that the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then he says those who are alive at the time will be caught up next to meet the Lord in the air. The order of being caught up is just the opposite of the rapture doctrine.
This passage, written to the Thessalonians, deals with a concern they had for their loved ones who had already died. They had the impression that their dead loved ones would be left behind in their graves when Christ returned. Paul is assuring them that the dead in Christ arise first, before the living, when Christ returns
4. When we meet the Lord in the air, we will “ever be with the Lord.”
Paul did not say it would be for seven years but “ever be,” which means always, eternal, forever, not just seven years. Obviously, Paul is speaking of the end of the world and the great general resurrection of both faithful and wicked and not some theory about hovering in the sky.
This will be the second and only return of the Lord. “Ever be” also destroys the theory that those in the rapture will come back again to earth to reign with the Lord a thousand years. If they are to “ever be” with the Lord in the heavens, then there is no time allowed for them to return back to the earth again.
5. Nothing about this event suggests it will be secret or mysterious, as the rapture doctrine claims.
This return of the Lord will be accomplished by a “shout,” with “the voice of the archangel” and “the trumpet of God.” This will be anything but secret.
Dispensationalists also use Jude 14-15 to prove a third return of Christ. This supposedly will occur after the rapture (His second return) and just before He begins a reign of a thousand years. Notice the wording of this passage.
A careful reading of these two verses puts the judgment a thousand years ahead of the dispensationalist theory. According to their theory, the judgment of the “ungodly” will not take place until after the thousand-year reign. Notice that the Lord will come to execute judgment “upon all” in the above passage.
If this passage applies to a third return, then according to Jude, the judgment will take place immediately when Christ returns. Thus, Jude has the wicked being judged a thousand years before the millennial theory allows for the judgment of the wicked.
The theory that this is a preliminary judgment of the nations will not hold up, as nations are not mentioned in the verse. It is the ungodly, not nations, that are to be judged.
The theory of two future comings with the rapture between would really require four comings.
1. There would be the coming of Christ into the world as an infant, John 34:6.
2. There would be the coming for His saints (rapture).
3. There would be His coming with His saints to begin the thousand-year reign in Jerusalem on David’s throne.
4. He is supposed to come to judge the unrighteous. This is an impossible theory with absolutely no Biblical basis whatsoever.
What does the Bible teach about the return of Christ?
1. The Lord has gone to prepare a place for His faithful disciples.
2. He will return a second time only. He will take the faithful with Him to heaven for eternity, and the wicked will be condemned to an eternal hell.
3. The earth will be burned up.
The conclusion to all the above is that there is no room in the scriptures for four comings of the Lord with a period of seven years between the second and third comings. There is no room for a thousand-year period between an unproven third and fourth coming. All this goes beyond what the Bible teaches.
Dispensationalists believe Christ will return to earth to establish a kingdom over which He will rule for a thousand years. Great emphasis is placed on what will transpire during a supposed seven-year period of time before Christ comes to rule over His kingdom.
This is supposed to be the 70th week of Daniel 9:24-27. It will be a time of great tribulation, worse than anything man has ever experienced before. It will begin immediately after the rapture, although some say the rapture will occur halfway through this seven-year period.
The Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, and the antichrist will arise to deceive men. The tribulation will come to an end with the battle of Armageddon, which will be WW III. A vast number of people will be wiped out.
Hal Lindsey says, “The largest descriptive volume of the tribulation is found in Revelation 5-19.” He points out that the first five chapters mention the church thirty times, but beginning with chapter six, the church is never mentioned again. This is because the church has been raptured and no longer exists.
The purpose of the rapture is to rescue all faithful Christians from the terrible calamity that is about to take place on the earth. With the purpose of the church now completed, God will direct His attention toward the nations and especially the Jews with the establishment of a Kingdom over which Christ will rule for a thousand years.
Dispensationalists see Revelation 6-19, Matthew 24:4-51 and Daniel 9:24-27 as applying to the final seven years and a third coming of Christ. Their doctrine misrepresents what is taught in these passages.
First, it is to be recognised that the Bible nowhere teaches that there has been a pause between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel 9. Neither does the Bible say the 70th week will be a period of tribulation. Keep in mind that Daniel’s immediate concern was what would happen to the Jews in Babylon!
Gabriel tells Daniel that God is setting aside a seventy-week period of time (490 years) to accomplish certain things. Sixty-nine weeks (483 years) included more than just the return of the Jews from Babylon Captivity to Jerusalem. Time-wise, it brings us to the time of Christ.
Gabriel tells Daniel that during the 70th week (a seven-year period of time), the “Anointed One” (Christ) will suffer a violent death, which happened when Christ was crucified on the cross.
The remaining 3½ years are taken up with the establishment of the church and the gospel being preached to the Jews. So God gives Daniel more than he asked for.
The Jews will be restored to Palestine, but something greater than that will happen. God’s Anointed, Christ, will come. He will die on the cross. Then He will establish His Kingdom (the church).
The gospel (the good news) about His death and resurrection will be preached to the Jews. After this, the gospel will then be taken to the Gentiles. Thus, the 70th week was fulfilled long ago.
A study of Revelation reveals that the book was written to suffering Christians in highly symbolic (apocalyptic) language. It deals with the severe persecution that Christians would endure in the early years of the church.
This persecution against the church came from Judaism, paganism and the Roman government. The book is written to encourage these suffering Christians. The conclusion is that the Lord will give victory to the church over its enemies.
When it comes to Matthew 24, Dispensationalists teach that Matthew 24:21 refers to the so-called “tribulation.” It reads, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time.”
With complete disregard of the context, they teach that these words describe a worldwide catastrophe, anticipatory of the second coming of our Lord. Jesus is speaking of a tribulation to be experienced by the Jewish nation (primarily Jerusalem). Matthew 24:4-35 describes the tragic fall of Jerusalem. God’s wrath and vengeance were brought to bear upon the wicked city of Jerusalem.
Josephus, the Jewish historian and an eyewitness to the fall of Jerusalem, writes the following.
“O most wretched city, what misery and so great as this didst thou suffer from the Romans” “Neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world.”
Due to the coming destruction of Jerusalem, these early Christians were told to flee to the mountains when they saw the Romans approaching. Jesus warned, “Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes……….For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time, no, not ever shall be,” Matthew 24:16-18 / Matthew 24:21.
If the Dispensational view of the rapture is going on at the same time as their seven years of tribulation, as some teach, then there would be no disciples left on earth to flee from Jerusalem because they (the church) would have been caught up in the rapture and thus would be somewhere up in the sky. The church would no longer exist because he has been raptured.
The documented historical fact is that these disciples were spared the tribulation that fell on Jerusalem by escaping as the Romans approached. Josephus tells us that not one Christian perished in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
Matthew 24:4-35 gives us a detailed account of the destruction of Jerusalem and the overthrow of Judaism. Jesus ends this discussion with these words in Matthew 24:34, “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled.”
Thus, Jesus is not speaking of a seven-year period of time at the end of the Christian age. Instead, he was speaking of what would happen later in their generation. The “tribulation” of Matthew 24 took place over nineteen hundred years ago.
Beginning at Matthew 24:36, Jesus speaks of the end of time. He said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
Men have tried to set specific dates, but they always prove to be false. The fact is that the church has faced tribulation in every age down through the years. The apostle John wrote the following.
John was in tribulation just as the churches to which he wrote were in tribulation. For example, he told the church in Smyrna the following.
In 2 Timothy 3:11-12, Paul says that, “Persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra — what persecutions I endured. And out of them all, the Lord delivered me.
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Thus, persecutions, tribulations, and hardships have been and will continue to be the lot of God’s people.
In Acts 14:22, we learn that Paul and Barnabas warned the new churches they had established, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
In 2 Thessalonians 1:4, Paul said, “We ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.”
Dispensationalists point to the earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes and the wars in the Middle East and say these are more frequent than ever before, which is a sign that a great tribulation is about to explode on the earth, such as never seen before.
The fact is, we have always had these things. Years ago, people did not have the communication technology that we have today; they were not as aware of these things as much as we are today.
For example, an earthquake might occur in China, and no one in Europe would know anything about it. Today, we would know within minutes. At least 200 battles have been fought in the valley of Armageddon. This was due to the fact that this plain was a crossroads for many ancient kingdoms that fought each other. Israel and Judah were constantly at war with their neighbours.
Israel and Judah even fought each other. Since the time of Mohamed and the Crusades, there have been constant wars in the Middle East. European nations have fought many battles with each other for centuries. If anything, there are probably fewer wars now than in the past.
Dispensationalists place much emphasis upon the power and work of the “antichrist.” However, they disagree as to the exact time of his coming. Some think it will be before the tribulation, and others think it will be during the tribulation.
The word Antichrist is the English translation of the Greek “antekhrestos.” It is made up of two words, anti and Christ. Anti means against or opposite of.
This word appears five times in 1 John and 2 John, once in plural form and four times in the singular. The word is not capitalised in most translations of the Bible.
Some think he is spoken of more in detail by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as “the man of sin” and “son of perdition.” Either just before the final seven years or during the time of the tribulation, the antichrist will arise.
Dispensationalists believe he will have his roots in the old Roman Empire. There will be a confederacy of ten European nations (European Common Market Nations) over which he will rule. As it stands now, there are almost three times this number of nations (27) that make up this union.
The antichrist will become the greatest dictator ever known. He will make a pact with Israel, guaranteeing them protection and security. When this pact is signed, the prophetic clock will again start ticking, ticking off the final week of Daniel’s seventy weeks, Daniel 9.
After three and one-half years of progress, the antichrist will break off his pack with Israel entering the Temple, which has been reconstructed by then. He will set himself up as divine and is to be worshipped.
The Jews will oppose him and suffer greatly as a result. This will signal that Armageddon is about to begin. The antichrist will be involved in a series of wars, which will culminate in the battle that is supposed to take place in the valley of Jezreel.
Every age has singled out some individual as the antichrist. The list of those who have been designated as the antichrist would be too long to print. The list would include such names as Nero and other emperors, Popes, Mohammed, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger.
As long as the world stands and men continue to look for the antichrist, they will find someone they think fits the bill. Who will become the next Antichrist? Since there have been so many failures in their attempt to name a specific person, it seems now they are slow to name a specific person.
The late Jerry Falwell said he thought it would be a Jew. With all the turmoil taking place in the Middle East now, their feeling is that the tribulation is about to happen.
The word appears only in the writings of John the apostle. It seems to apply primarily to the Gnostics of his time, who were false teachers. They believed all material things to be evil. Therefore, Deity would not have taken on a fleshly material body, which would be to robe himself with evil. Thus, they denied that Christ came in the flesh.
What people saw and thought was flesh was only an illusion and not real flesh. The result of this doctrine was that man was not responsible before God for what he might do in the flesh but was accountable only for what he was spiritually. This led to indulgence in all sorts of evil.
A close examination of these passages by John would indicate that these people were antichrist by rejecting the possibility that he lived on earth in a fleshly body. John himself, in his gospel, had written the following.
As time progressed, the Gnostic doctrine would take on many forms and would plague the church for many years. A look at the four times John writes about the antichrist will help us to discover who the antichrist is.
Those to whom John wrote were already in possession of this information. Since they had been warned, it would seem that the antichrist was to come in their generation.
To deny the humanity and deity of Jesus was to reject Him and to reject God who sent His only begotten Son into the world. Jesus had said on one occasion, “He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him,” John 5:23.
Here again is a refusal to confess the deity and humanity of Jesus. Notice that he was already in the world, and the spirit of rejection was active at that time.
The false teachers (deceivers) had gone forth teaching this false doctrine. It would seem there were several of these false teachers who were going around, circulating this false doctrine.
From these four verses, we conclude that the antichrist is a liar, a deceiver, a denier and one who refused to acknowledge that Christ came in the flesh. These four characteristics would make one who is against or opposed to Christ.
Rather than some specific person in history, it would seem John is speaking of a detrimental attitude toward Christ that anyone can possess if he chooses to believe that He came in the flesh. Thus, in every age, those who set themselves in opposition to the Lord on this truth would be antichrist.
Many think the antichrist is the same as Paul’s “man of sin” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. Many have assumed that Paul, in this passage, is speaking of the Pope of Rome.
Paul says that this “son of perdition” would come after the “falling away.” This is the apostasy or falling away of the church. John spoke of the antichrist as existing when he wrote, which would be before the falling away. Thus, we do not believe them to be the same.
In fact, we do not believe the “man of sin” to be specifically the Pope of Rome. Rather, we believe he represents the spirit of apostasy and its results, which would take place after the first century.
Some equate the antichrist with the “beast” of Revelation 13:18, whose number was 666. All sorts of names and spellings have been derived from the number 666, allowing a person to come up with just about any specific person in history he feels is the Antichrist.
While it is our conviction that 666 is the code name for Nero we do not think of Nero going about as a false teacher thus he could not have been the antichrist in the sense John uses the term.
In a general sense, all who oppose Christ would be antichrist. Specifically, all false teachers who oppose the teaching of Christ, his church and his people are antichrist.
We have many antichrists today. All sceptics who deny the deity of Christ would be antichrist. Most of the Jews of the world are anti-Christ. Christ came to save the world, but many reject him and his salvation.
Dispensationalists build a most fantastic theory concerning the Battle of Armageddon. The word comes from a Hebrew word, Har-Mageddon, which means “Mount Megiddo.” The exact location is unclear because there is no mountain called Megiddo.
However, “Har” can also mean hill, thus most likely the location is the hill country surrounding the plain of Megiddo, some sixty miles north of Jerusalem. This valley extends from the Mediterranean Sea just north of Mount Carmel eastward to the Jordan Valley.
It is the most fertile valley of Palestine. Famous battles have been fought in this plain. Deborah and Barak defeated Sisera there, although outnumbered by the Canaanites.
Gideon’s victory over the Midianites took place here. It is also the site of two great tragedies: the death of Saul and his sons and the death of the boy King Josiah. More than two hundred battles have been fought in this area. Because of its history, Armageddon became a symbol of death and bloodshed.
However, the word only occurs in Revelation 16:16, which reads, “Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” It is amazing what men have done with this apocalyptic word.
According to dispensationalists, at the end of the “period of the tribulation”, the antichrist will go to Jerusalem and set himself up in the temple to be worshipped. Christians will oppose him and suffer as a result. This will be the sign that Armageddon is about to begin.
Dispensationalists try to tie Revelation chapters 16 and 19 together, giving them a literal interpretation, thus a literal battle on the literal plain of Armageddon. This will become WW III. At first, it will be the Russians and Arabs.
As things progress, it will become a greater conflict between Red China and Western forces composed of ten European nations. This battle will involve atomic weapons, destroying two-thirds of the Jews. One third of the Earth’s population will be wiped out.
When extinction seems imminent, Christ will suddenly return to begin His reign of a thousand years of peace. All Jews will be converted. Those in positions of influence peddle this sensational but false doctrine to thousands of people who, no doubt, are easily attracted to things sensational.
The passage using the word “Armageddon” is connected with the sixth bowl of wrath found in Revelation 6:13-16.
Since they assume these verses are literal and the battle is to be a literal carnal war, there are many problems that emerge. In this battle, millions of soldiers will be fighting, and blood will run as high as a horse’s bridles for two hundred miles.
This is an awful lot of blood, even if there are millions fighting. The plain of Megeddo could not accommodate the great armies that were to be involved. Hal Lindsey says there will be two hundred million troops from Red China alone. It would be an impossibility to put this number of soldiers into a confined space 14 by 20 miles long.
When you consider that atomic weapons will be used, it becomes even more impossible. If literal, then the nations will be led into battle by three frogs. Lindsey makes Ezekiel 37-39 refer to the invasion of Palestine by Russia.
The weapons employed in those chapters are swords, shields, helmets, horses, bucklers, bows, arrows, hand staves and spears. They will be riding horses. The commander-in-chief will be using a bow and arrow.
The cavalry would ride grasshoppers. One riding a white horse whose only weapon is a sword sticking out of his mouth would strike the ultimate blow! Would a nation like Russia, now equipped with all the modern instruments of warfare, use such outmoded instruments of warfare?
Ezekiel is referring to a time long ago of walled and unwalled cities with gates and bars, Ezekiel 38:11. With the passing of each generation, the nations to be involved change, and the antichrist changes with dispensationalists. To apply these verses of Revelation 16 to a war yet to come removes its instructions from any relevance to John’s readers.
Thus contradicting the promise of a blessing to “all” who would read and keep fresh on their minds that which was to “shortly take place, Revelation 1:1 / Revelation 1:3 / Revelation 21:6. The logical, consistent, and reasonable conclusion is that the Battle of Armageddon is figurative.
Many believe these scriptures refer to the constant conflict between Christ and Satan. Thus, we are assured that on the final day of this spiritual battle, Satan and his evil forces will be destroyed.
However, I am of the opinion that it was relevant to the Christians living at that time and refers to the coming destruction of Jerusalem and Judaism as a system which had rejected Christ and was persecuting his church.
Revelation 16:12-16 / Matthew 24:4-35 / Zechariah 14:1-17 are all parallel. All employ similar symbolism. Jesus warns in Matthew.
These conditions are verified by both historian Josephus and Pliny, who were eyewitnesses to this event. In Revelation 16:15, He says, “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”
In Zechariah 14:1, he says, “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem.” The provincial kings of the Roman Empire would assist in providing armies for “the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
Because of what John wrote in Revelation, the Christians of that day who lived in Palestine and especially in Jerusalem were warned and thus were aware of when the city would be attacked and destroyed.
They were prepared to know when to flee and thus escape the terrible tribulation that would be brought to bear upon the city of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. Jerusalem had been given time and opportunity to obey the gospel. Instead, they rejected it and persecuted the church.
God’s longsuffering would run out, and He would destroy the city. We conclude that the language of the book of Revelation is figurative, and the battle of Armageddon is also figurative. It was fulfilled in A.D. 70.
Dispensationalists believe that the Old Testament temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt during the period of the tribulation. However, some think it will be built before the seven years of tribulation.
Still others think it will be at the beginning of the 1000-year reign of Christ. Hal Lindsey says, “If this is the time that this writer believes it is, there will soon begin the construction of the temple.”
Lindsey admits that there is a problem in that the Dome of the Rock, the second most holy place of the Muslim faith, is located on the spot of the old temple. But he says, “Obstacle or no obstacle, it is certain that the temple will be rebuilt. Prophecy demands it.”
Restoring the temple will, of necessity, involve restoring the bloody sacrifices for the atonement of sins as prescribed by the Law of Moses. It will also involve restoring the priesthood to offer these sacrifices. All of this is for the purpose of serving the Jews who are supposed to be restored to the land of Palestine.
The law of Christ is recognised as superior and better than the Old Testament law. To restore these things would be to return to that which was inferior and could not save a single person. The book of Hebrews clearly states the superiority of the new Law of Christ over the Old Testament Law of Moses.
While it is true that the Old Testament prophets foretold that the temple would be rebuilt, they spoke specifically of the rebuilding to take place after the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity.
For example, Isaiah said of Cyrus, King of Persia, “He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt, and of the temple, let its foundations be laid,” Isaiah 44:28.
In Ezra 1:1, we learn why he became a shepherd for the Lord. “In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfil the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: This is what Cyrus, king of Persia, says:
Dispensationalists are correct in affirming that the prophets said the temple would be rebuilt; they have just missed the time of the fulfilment by a few thousand years.
Ezra 3-6 tells of the rebuilding. Ezra 6:15 tells us when this happened. “The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.”
The scriptures clearly confirm that the church is God’s spiritual temple.
The church is made up of a holy priesthood.
Concerning this temple, Paul wrote the following.
The spiritual temple of God, then, is the church. Why would God revert to a physical house employing physical things now that we have His spiritual temple today, the church?
The church offers so much more than the old temple could ever offer. The priesthood and sacrifices employed in the old temple were inferior to the church purchased by our Lord’s blood, Acts 20:28.
In Acts 15, a meeting in Jerusalem discussed the subject of adding Gentiles to the church. Peter stood up, recounting the conversion of Cornelius and his household. Paul and Barnabas rehearsed their works among the Gentiles and their acceptance of the gospel. James stood up and quoted Amos 9:11-12.
He declared this prophecy had been fulfilled in the church; that the spiritual tabernacle of David had been built in order that “the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles,” Acts 15:15-18.
Thus, according to James’ argument, the church (the Lord’s spiritual tabernacle) was raised up so that the Gentiles as well as the Jews might seek after the Lord. If this had not been done, then the Gentiles would not have been able to seek after him.
Today God adds all men, whether Jew or Gentile, who are obedient to the gospel to the church. There is no indication that Amos’s prophecy had any other interpretation than that given by James.
All who obey the gospel by believing in Jesus Christ, repenting of their sins, confessing His name and being baptised into Christ are added to His church, Acts 2:41 / Acts 2:47.
Dispensationalists teach that all Jews will be converted to Christ and restored to the land of Palestine. This will be the fulfilment of the Old Testament land promises made to Abraham by God. In Genesis 12-17, we read of many promises that were made to Abraham concerning him and his seed.
However, an examination of the Bible will reveal that all the land promises made by God to Abraham were fulfilled by the time of Joshua’s death around 1390 B.C.
I recently read an article submitted to our local newspaper stating that the Jews were being cheated out of lands that belonged to them. The implication was that Arabs (Palestinians) were holding and occupying land that really belongs to the Jews.
After their possession of the land of Palestine, Joshua gave his farewell speech to Israel.
An outline of what actually took place can be stated as follows:
1. The land of Palestine was promised to Abraham and his seed, Genesis 12:1-3 / Genesis 13:14-15.
2. God made a covenant with Abraham concerning the land and stated that their land would extend from the Nile River to the river Euphrates, Genesis 15:18 / Exodus 23:30-31.
3. This land was possessed during the days of Joshua.
4. Not all of Israel’s enemies were cast out during the days of Joshua, Judges 2:20-23.
5. Portions of the land were retaken by their enemies during the period of the Judges
6. During the reign of David, these areas were re-acquired, 2 Samuel 8:3.
7. Solomon reigned over all the land that was promised to Abraham, 1 Kings 4:21 / 2 Chronicles 9:26.
Israel’s history is a history of rebellion against God. As a result of their repeated sins, they were removed from the Promised Land. In 722 B.C.
The southern kingdom of Judah followed the same course one hundred and thirty-six years later and was taken captive to Babylon in 586 B.C. 2 Kings 25:21.
In 2 Chronicles 36:13-21, it is stated, “He (Zedekiah) also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. Further, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem,” 2 Chronicles 36:13-14.
2 Chronicles 36:17 tells us, “God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.”
When the ten northern tribes rebelled and broke away from the king of Jerusalem, there were those who were dissatisfied with the idolatry of Israel and made their way back south to Judah.
From reading 2 Chronicles 30-31, it is evident that during the reign of Hezekiah, portions of all twelve tribes of Israel resided in the land of Judah after the fall of the northern kingdom in 722 B.C. and prior to the fall of the southern kingdom in 586. Thus, in the Babylonian captivity, there would have been portions of all twelve tribes.
There were actually three returns from the Babylonian captivity. The first was in 536 B.C. Ezra 1-6. The second was in 457, Ezra 7-10. The third was in 444 B.C, Nehemiah 1-13.
Portions of every tribe of Israel returned to Palestine. These three returns fulfilled God’s prophecies concerning their return from captivity. There is really no such thing as the “ten lost tribes of Israel.”
Jeremiah prophesied the return of all. He wrote the following.
Many other passages could be cited to show that God restored Israel to their land. Dispensationalists say that these prophecies have not yet been fulfilled but will be when Christ returns to establish His thousand-year reign over His kingdom. The Bible is very clear that all land promises were fulfilled.
Since the establishment of the kingdom, when one obeys the gospel, nationality is lost.
The old Israel has been absorbed into the church, which is now God’s new Israel. All the land promises made to Abraham were fulfilled many years ago. When Israel was driven from the Promised Land, as a result of her disobedience, she was permitted to return because of God’s mercy and his willingness to forgive. Since these promises are all fulfilled, there will be no return of all Jews to Palestine.
There is nothing to indicate that all Jews will be converted. There is no such thing as a national conversion. There is only individual conversion. Each one must decide for himself. Most Jews living outside Palestine today would have no desire to return
A fact often overlooked is that with the dispersion of the Jews throughout the world, they have intermarried with those who are not Jews. Few would be full-blooded Jews today.
The average Jew cannot tell you which tribe he descends from. Since only those of the tribe of Levi could minister at the temple, no Jew today can trace his lineage back to Levi or, for that matter, any other tribe.
Revelation 20 is considered the most difficult chapter of the book of Revelation, if not the entire Bible. Dispensationalists freely employ this difficult chapter to prove that Christ will reign on earth for a literal thousand years. Verse four specifically is the passage that is so heavily relied on to prove their theory.
1. It does not mention the second coming of Christ with a rapture.
2. It does not mention a bodily resurrection.
3. It does not mention a thousand-year reign on earth.
4. It does not mention the throne of David.
5. It does not mention the city of Jerusalem.
6. It does not mention or say anything about those raptured reigning with Christ.
7. It does not mention the rapture anywhere.
8. It does not say that fleshly Israel will return to Palestine.
9. It does not say the raptured (faithful Christians) will be placed in positions of rulers.
1. It does say “they” lived and reigned, not we (the raptured) will live and reign.
2. It says they “lived” and “reigned” with Christ, not shall live and reign (future tense).
3. It says they lived and reigned “with Christ”, not that Christ reigned.
4. It says “souls reigned” with Christ, not resurrected physical bodies.
5. It says it was the souls that were “beheaded” that reigned with Christ.
There is no way one can take Revelation 20:4 and make it teach the dispensational doctrine. A careful reading will show that it does not even hint at such a theory. Men have no right to tamper with God’s word, implying things it does not teach.
Dispensationalists make a fatal mistake by making the book of Revelation literal. This is especially true of Revelation 20. But are they willing to accept all of the passage as literal? Reading it literally presents some very awkward problems.
1. Do they accept a literal angel coming down with a literal key and a literal chain? Do such material things exist in heaven?
2. This was for the purpose of literally binding a literal dragon?
3. This literal dragon’s body literally filled the whole earth, and his literal tail reached to the literal heavens and literally plucked the literal stars of the heavens out of their literal orbits millions of miles away? Are they willing to accept this position?
4. The literal dragon, which filled the whole literal earth, was to be put in a literal pit, tail and all. If his body filled the earth, where could a pit be dug on earth large enough to accommodate his literal body?
5. If the thousand years are literal, then the beheading is literal, and only those who have been literally beheaded will get into the millennium?
6. If the reigning ends with the thousand years, the living ends also, for John says they ”lived and reigned” a thousand years with Christ. If we accept the dispensationalist view, the inescapable conclusion is that when the millennium ends, everyone dies.
We can see that if Revelation 20 is taken literally, we get into all kinds of problems. Any literal conclusions force us into positions that are ridiculous. The “thousand years” is but one symbol in this chapter.
A proper understanding of the chapter, as well as the other chapters, begins by recognising that all of John’s visions are described in highly figurative (apocalyptic) language.
Also, to understand Revelation 20, we must keep in mind that it is a sequel to Revelation 19. Revelation 20 is the climax to the last scenes of Revelation 19. The dragon (Satan), the instigator of all opposition to Christ and His church, is about to be cast into the abyss (bottomless pit), thus the final and complete defeat of Satan.
We must consider “a thousand years” as symbolic just as we consider most all the other numbers to be symbolic. It symbolises completeness, thus the complete defeat of Satan and his foes, the complete victory of Christ and His Cause over persecution and oppression.
Through the death of Christ, every persecuted Christian gained victory. If they would remain faithful till death, they would gain victory. While the symbols of this chapter apply primarily to the early Christians and their persecutions, it has a general application to all today who are faithful to him. In this last and great dispensation, Christ is on the throne of His kingdom, Hebrews 1:8.
Christians who overcome “sit with Him on His throne”, NOW in complete victory over the devil, Revelation 3:21. Every Christian today is a citizen of the kingdom of Christ, Philippians 3:20, for that kingdom is now in existence.
We do not have to wait for a future time. It was established on the day of Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ. This kingdom is not an earthly temporal kingdom manifesting political, military and carnal characteristics, but it is entirely spiritual.
Those in Palestine who heard Jesus preach had great difficulty in understanding the nature of His kingdom because they were looking for a kingdom which would have its capital in Jerusalem.
Jesus told the woman at the well that Jerusalem would not be the central place of worship, John 4:21, yet dispensationalists like the Jews in Christ’s time want to put it there in a visible way. Jesus said that his kingdom was not of this world.
Thus, the kingdom would not have a visible earthly manifestation. While Revelation 20 is difficult, it certainly does not teach any of the doctrines of dispensationalism.
The New Testament teaches that there will be one great resurrection of all the dead, both good and evil, at the same moment. Dispensationalists teach that there will be two resurrections. They say that the resurrection of the righteous and wicked will occur at two different times, one thousand years apart.
The righteous will have already been raised at the time of the “rapture”, but the wicked will be raised at the end of the thousand years. Thus, we have a literal thousand years separating the two resurrections.
An examination of God’s word reveals that there will be a simultaneous resurrection of all the dead when Christ returns for the second last and only return. Nowhere do we have pictured in the Bible two resurrections one thousand years apart.
From these two verses, we learn that Jesus taught that righteous believers would be resurrected at the “last day.”
From these passages, it is clear that the Lord says that both the righteous and those who have rejected Him and His word will be judged on the same “last day.”
It is obvious there will be no separation of one thousand years between the two. Thus, judgment for both will take place on the same identical “last day.” There is not the slightest suggestion that there will be two judgments that will be separated by a thousand years.
In this passage, Jesus declares that both the righteous and wicked will be resurrected in the same hour. There is no room for a thousand years between the two if it is the same hour. However, dispensationalists say this is a dispensational hour of “one thousand years.” Who has ever heard or read of such?
It is said that the righteous are to be raised at the beginning of the hour and the wicked at the end of the hour. When men attempt to defend a false theory, they often find it very convenient to make up their own definitions for certain words. In this case, “hour” suddenly becomes a thousand years.
All nations then will be gathered before Christ for judgment when He comes again. This is also clearly taught in 2 Corinthians 5:10 / Matthew 16:27 / Romans 2:16 / Romans 14:10-12.
Now note the parable of judgment and what Jesus says in Matthew 25:46: “And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.” There is no one thousand years mentioned in Mathew 25 between Christ’s coming and the separation of the righteous from the wicked. It is obvious that both will be together at the same time on the Day of Judgment, but will then be separated.
We do not know when that hour will come, but when it does come, both good and wicked will be judged. The false thinking behind the thousand years is that Jesus will give the Jews the kingdom he promised in the Old Testament.
However, that kingdom has already been given. It began with Saul and ceased before the coming of Christ. It will never again exist. Christ has replaced that old kingdom with His new and eternal kingdom.
The thousand-year theory is convenient so as to allow the Lord to give the Old Testament earthly kingdom back to the Jews, which they say had to be delayed because the Jews rejected Christ. This also gives all Jews a second opportunity to become believers in Christ and thus be saved.
The New Testament does not teach two resurrections. It teaches one general resurrection of all. No thousand-year gap between judgment of the good and evil.
All will take place on the Day of Judgment or the LAST GREAT DAY of the Lord. The Second Coming will be the last coming of our Lord when all will be judged to enter heaven or hell.
“Resurrection” is a distinct doctrine in Christianity. The teachings of the New Testament about an afterlife are far superior to pagan and even some Jewish beliefs about the afterlife. There were people who died and were brought back to life, such as Jairus’ daughter, Lazarus, Dorcus and Eutychus, but they still would die later on.
Jesus died, rose, and was visible to his disciples for about forty days and then ascended to heaven. He did not have to die again. This will be true of us. We will die but will be resurrected to enter heaven unless the “last day” comes before our death.
Dispensationalists say that at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ in Jerusalem, some of the children of the believers who started out in the kingdom will become unbelievers.
These will rebel under the leadership of Satan. He will lead an army against Jerusalem, but Christ will bring swift judgment against them, and they will be defeated.
They base this theory on Revelation 20:7: “And when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison.” This event will end human mortal history on Earth. The unbelievers will be judged and removed.
Christ will now completely change the old heavens and earth, creating a new heaven and a new earth. All the atoms will be broken up and put back together so as to make everything new.
It seems that only people with new glorified bodies will live in the new earth. It will be a place without the old, sinful bodies of mortal man. There seems to be differences among dispensationalists as to who will live on the new earth. Some say a New Jerusalem, fifteen hundred miles square, will be put on the very spot of the present Jerusalem.
There God and the Jews will live forever. Supposedly, the Gentiles will live in heaven. Some advance the theory that only 144,000 will go to heaven and the rest will live in the new earth. Some think that heaven will be the new earth.
This passage declares that just as the world suffered destruction by a flood in the time of Noah, so the present heavens and earth by the same word will eventually be destroyed by fire at the Day of Judgment.
The day will be the day of the Second Coming of Christ, who will judge all men according to their works.
It will come suddenly without warning. No man knows the time. Accompanying the dissolution of the heavens and earth will be a great noise. A tremendous fire will consume everything.
Everything man has accomplished, such as great buildings, inventions, human knowledge, monuments, etc., will be consumed according to Peter with a “fervent heat.” Christians are not to despair or be afraid, for Peter says the following.
The word “new” means that which is fresh, in contrast to that which is worn out. The phrase “new heavens and earth” must be understood to designate heaven. It is according to God’s promise.
It is pure folly to speculate beyond what is revealed about the new heavens and earth. If God had wanted us to know more, He would have revealed it to us. We must be satisfied with what has been revealed. There is no room for the theory that there will be two places for the righteous, one on a renovated material earth and the other in a spiritual heaven.
This earth will go out of existence, and the dwelling place for the righteous will be in heaven, where God dwells. There is nothing in Peter’s statements to indicate the Lord will put all the atoms back together so as to renovate the earth and make it like new. Peter makes it clear that the earth will cease to exist.
The old Jerusalem will be no more. A New Jerusalem will be a special place prepared by the Lord. It will be a beautiful place. It will be like “a bride adorned for her husband,” Revelation 21:2.
God will dwell with his people forever, Revelation 21:3. His people will be removed forevermore from persecution, sorrow, pain, and death, everything that they have had to suffer on this present planet that we call the earth, Revelation 21:4.
In describing the beauty of heaven, the Lord employed earthly things which to us are considered to be the most beautiful and costly things men can possess. This is God’s way of saying that heaven is beyond anything we can conceive. John uses word pictures to signify beauty and grandeur.
Heaven is beyond the ability of any human words to describe. Also stressed is the close and direct relationship between God and His people. There will be a perfect fellowship between God and the redeemed.
We will see him face to face as He is, 1 John 3:2. Neither will we be inactive. John informs us that we will be involved in serving Him, Revelation 22:3. We would like to know more about the kind of service, but it will be a great privilege and joy to serve God.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” The Christian then does not look for a material existence.
Peter says it is “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, 1 Peter 1:4. Revelation 21:4 says, “And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Hebrews 11:13 suggests that we are only pilgrims on this earth. Like Abraham, we are looking for something far better than what this earth has to offer. Even if the atoms were all put back to form a new earth, it would still be a physical earth and could not compare with the place that Christ has gone to prepare for us.
In view of the transitory nature of this old world and all that belongs to it, children of God should cease their concern about it and fix their attention on spiritual and eternal matters.
We are admonished to set our “affections on things above.” In view of the fact that the end will come as a thief, without warning, we must at all times be prepared.