The Promises Of God And Premillennialism by West End Church of Christ

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The Promises Of God And Premillennialism Premillennialism is a fascinating doctrine -- and it is a false doctrine. It is the intriguing view held by many Bible believers that at the end of time, Jesus Christ will descend to this earth, conquer the earth by military might, and set up an earthly kingdom with headquarters in Jerusalem, rebuild the old Jewish Temple and reign on David's throne for a literal thousand years. It's a nice idea -- it is simply not true. We will look at just one aspect of the doctrine of premillennialism today to show just how false and mislead it is. Please stay tuned. The West End Church of Christ presents these fifteen minute lessons every Sunday. We have only one reason for doing it -- we want to preach the truth of God's word without being restricted by human doctrines, creeds, and wisdom. That is why we repeatedly ask anyone who listens to communicate with us if you do not agree with what we teach on this program. This is not done out of a spirit of dare, or challenge, but in sincerity and in the interest of being absolutely right about the most important issue of this life and of eternity. We also want to invite you to attend our services. Bible study begins at 9 a.m., just under an hour from now and we have classes for all ages in which the Bible is discussed and made relevant to living in this world today. At 10 this morning we assemble to worship -- we honor God in the reading and teaching of His word, several prayers, gospel songs, giving of our means, and partaking of the sacred memorial feast of the Lord's Supper. Tonight we assemble for worship at 6 p.m. One more thing before we study premillennialism is a special sermon to be preached at West End, Sunday night August 12th. It is entitled "The Drug Problem and the Church." No collections or donations will be taken for the sermon -- it is a study of how the current drug problem is affecting religion in general. You may be interested in it and if you are, please come. Bring your children and friends and join us at the West End Church of Christ meeting house, August 12th 6 p.m. Questions will be allowed at the end of the sermon. One of the essential elements of premillennialism is the restoration of the Jewish nation to the land of Palestine which is scheduled sometime in the future. A number of passages of scripture are badly mistreated in order to get this idea into the premillennial menagerie of futuristic speculations. What is just as bad is the complete ignorance deliberately directed toward plain and simple verses dealing with God's promises to the nation of Israel . The promise to the Jews began with their forefather, the great patriarch, Abraham. God spoke to him and directed him to leave his homeland. The record reads: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: (2) And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: (3) And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth blessed." (Genesis 12:1- 3). Verse 7 contains the promise. "And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him." A description of the complete land area included in this promise is given in Genesis 15:18. It reads, "In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:" The ancestors of Abraham were to hold title to this land "forever." "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever (Genesis 13:15)." Several questions must be answered regarding the promise. When was the promise fulfilled? Was it fully fulfilled? Were there conditions attached to the fulfillment of the promise? To these questions there are Bible answers. Cities of Refuge The Law of Moses included provision for the safety of a person who had taken the life of another without intending to kill. These cities were called Cities of Refuge and are listed in the book of Deuteronomy. Read the following. (Deuteronomy 19:7-9) "Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. And if the Lord thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers; If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee beside these three: That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee" Deuteronomy 19:7-9). Please observe the expression "all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers." When the cities of refuge were established, the promise of the full land area was assured. Joshua 20 lists the six cities of Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Ramoth and Golan. Since the promise was that when the cities were established the promise would have been fulfilled, no one should look yet to the future for the fulfillment of this promise. But to make it absolutely beyond question, these words from Joshua clinch the matter. Joshua 21:43 reads, "And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein." When Solomon reigned over the Israelites the Bible says he ruled over all the kingdoms from the River unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt..." (I Kings 4:21; II Chronicles 9:26). As if these verses were not enough, inspiration clinches the matter with the affirmation that can hardly be disputed. Nehemiah rehearses the history of his people and concludes, "Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous" (Nehemiah 9:7,8). The premillennial theory of the restoration of the Jews to Israel as a prelude to the millennial reign of Christ on earth implies the direct opposite of the inspired statement from Nehemiah. The premillennialist argues that the promise was "forever" and therefore the land still belongs to the Jews as God's favored nation. Notwithstanding the fact that such a view makes God a respecter of persons (which is flatly denied in the New Testament) it is simply untrue to assume that forever means without end. Notice the things that are said to be "forever." 1. The ritual of circumcision was to be "forever" (Genesis 7:13). 2. The Passover was an institution for the Jews "forever" (Exodus 12:15). 3. The Levitical priesthood was to be "forever" (Numbers 25:13). Those who argue that the land was to belong to the Jews "forever," by consistency, ought to hold still to the ritual of circumcision, the Passover, and the Levitical priesthood. But, they won't. One of the great prophets of the Old Testament was Jeremiah. Please read his visual description of why the Jews lost their right to the land. (Jeremiah 19:1-11) "Thus saith the Lord, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them. Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury." This prophecy was fulfilled in part when the Babylon crushed Jerusalem and captured the Jews in 586 B.C. (Read II Kings 25). The final breaking of the Jewish nation, however, was fulfilled in A.D. 70 when the Roman army leveled Jerusalem, destroying the temple, all Jewish symbols, and genealogical records. This is one explanation why Paul warned New Testament Christians about arguments over "endless genealogies." "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. (I Timothy 1:4)." After Jerusalem fell, the prophecy of Jeremiah was completely fulfilled and notice, nothing could put the broken nation back together again. Like Humpty Dumpty, it was broken completely. How a premillennialist can still argue that the nation of Israel will be put back together again as God's favored nation is beyond the wildest of imaginations. But, somehow, blindly they continue this senseless affirmation. If you have a question about any of these things that have been said -- please contact us. Our mailing address is West End Church of Christ, 1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, Ky. 42101. We will try to help you. Well, thank you again -- we appreciate the opportunity to come to you each Sunday on this radio station and hope you'll be back here again next Sunday -- 8 a.m. Goodbye and God bless you. Radio Sermon No. 20, Page 1