Wednesday 11 November 2015

Questions About Dispensational Pre-Millennialism

This is the Dispensational Pre-Millennial idea, as far as I can tell:


Imminency
There is nothing else which needs to be fulfilled first, so the...


Secret rapture

... can happen at any moment.

The dead in Christ rise from the dead, then believers who are alive and remain get raptured with them into the clouds to meet the Lord; they get glorified bodies, go to heaven, receive rewards, and enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Meanwhile on earth...


The Great Tribulation

...breaks out.

(And Dispensational Pre-Millennialism has some unique interpretations about what happens during the Great Tribulation.)


After exactly seven years of Great Tribulation...

The Second Coming
...happens. Christ comes with His saints. Every eye shall see him. Unbelievers cry out for fear of the sight of the Second Coming.


But their fears are premature, because instead of judging sinners straightaway, Christ sets up His headquarters in the city of Jerusalem, and allows sinners to remain and enjoy His thousand year reign, called...


The Millennium

An angel descends from heaven, grabs the devil and binds him.

During this thousand year reign, all Israel gets saved. Ezekiel's massive Temple gets built. The Levitical priesthood is reinstituted. Animal sacrifices resume (but only as a memorial).

In mount Zion there is a suspension of the normal harmful behaviour of snakes and lions.

Unsaved people, still in their physical bodies, continue to bear children. Longevity improves.

But Christ rules the nations with a rod of iron. He crushes many nations. Uncircumcised nations, and pork-eating nations are particular objects of Christ's wrath. Any nation which does not make annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles at the altar in the Temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will be cursed. (And the Bible describes the curse.)

Saints are appointed over administrative regions, on Christ's behalf. They fly around the world in their glorified bodies. And engage with Christ in crushing disobedient nations.

When the thousand years are ended, Satan is released. He deceives the nations again. They amass around the camp of the saints.

Of course the attempt fails. All the unsaved dead are raised physically, only to face...


The Great White Throne Judgement

After which all the wicked are cast into the...

Lake of Fire

...with the devil.

Then God creates...

New Heavens and a New Earth

...where the saints are finally at home forever.


That all raises some questions:


Imminency
Dispensationalional Pre-Millennialists define imminency as the doctrine that the rapture can occur at any moment - that nothing else needs to be fulfilled first.

If that's the case, then imminency must be a new doctrine, established in the Post-Apostolic period - because Jesus said His coming and the end of the world would be preceded by the destruction of the Temple and of the city of Jerusalem and by the scattering of the Jews. Those events didn't happen inside 40 years later. So imminency, as defined above, couldn't have existed during those 40 years.

Paul said not to be concerned that the second coming and resurrection at already happened or were at hand - because according to Paul certain things had to happen first, like a great falling away, and the man of sin standing in the Temple. All of that had to take some time.

Paul said the fulness of the Gentiles had to come in. That also had to take some time.


End of the World
Jesus equated the event of His Second Coming with the end of the world - He didn't describe it as an event to occur 1000 years before the end of the world.


The Secret Rapture
Paul said that the rapture and resurrection are to happen at the last trumpet - not seven years before the last trumpet - and the event was called the Coming of the Lord.


Resurrection
Jesus didn't mention a 1000 year gap between the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked. He just said all who are in the graves will hear his voice and will be raised.

If all Christians dead and living are raised and receive their resurrection-bodies at the Secret-Rapture, it couldn't be a secret event - because Jesus said the graves will be opened.

If people are saved and martyred during the Great Tribulation, when are they raised to life - if the resurrection has already passed? That would require a third resurrection - but there is no mention of it in the Bible.


Salvation
How can Jews or anyone be saved after the Second Coming?

If the Millennium is required in order to fulfil His promised salvation to Israel, then how can the salvation of many Jews in the first-century and since be explained.

If people can be saved during the Millennium, then why warn about the Second Coming, and why the doctrine of imminency?


Jewish Feasts
Why would it be necessary and valid to observe Old Covenant Feasts and sacrifices after we are in the New Covenant?

The only memorial Jesus instituted was the Lord's Table - and only until He comes (because after He comes, we won't need a memorial any more, for we shall see face to face and we shall see Him as He is.)



Judgment 

Jesus' parables of the Kingdom described the judgment of the wicked happening at the same time that the righteous are gathered into the Kingdom, at a moment called the end of the world - not 1000 years apart.

What would be the point of delaying the world's judgment after Christ comes, for a thousand years?








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