Premillennialism by West End Church of Christ

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Premillennialism Practically all denominational churches preach the doctrine known as Premillennialism. In this lesson we will learn what the doctrine teaches, biblical principles that apply to it, and some consequences it holds. Most of those who hold the theory also strongly believe that at the end of time there will be what is called "The Battle of Armageddon," a "Glorious Rapture," followed by this millennial reign of Christ on earth. Do you really believe all this will happen? We will study what the Bible says, in just a minute. But first, the West End Church of Christ presents these fifteen minute sermons each 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. Sunday morning. We have classes for all ages in which the Bible is discussed and made relevant to living in this world today. At 10 each Sunday 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. Sunday evening we assemble for worship at 6 p.m. and mid-week Bible study is each Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The word Premillennialism means that Christ will return before He ushers in a thousand years of His reign over the earth, during which time there will be complete bliss and righteousness. The prefix "pre" means "before" and "millennial" means "one thousand." Thus the term identifies a thousand years of Christ's reign on earth after He returns the second time. W. Adams Brown, contributor to Hastings Dictionary of The Bible, wrote: "Millennium -- A name suggested by the period of 1000 years described in Revelation 20:4-7 during which Satan is confined in the abyss, and the martyr saints reign with Christ. Hence variously understood, according to the interpretation put upon the passage, either as (1) the period, present or future, definite or indefinite, 'during which the kingdom of Christ will be established upon earth, and will dominate over all other authority' or more specially (2) as the period in which 'Christ will reign in bodily presence on earth for a thousand years.' In this latter sense it is associated with pre-millenarian views of Christ's Second Coming." Dictionary of the Bible, Hastings, Volume III, page 370. The only place one may anything about a thousand years, a reign, and Christ is Revelation 20:4-7. This passage is essential to the millennial theories. Without it, there is no basis at all for the doctrine. There is absolutely no basis for it in the Old Testament, nor can one find in the teaching of Christ anything resembling a literal one thousand year's reign on earth. Please read the passage carefully and remember that the book of Revelation is filled with all sorts of symbolism, figures of speech, and visions. Revelation 20:4-7: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison..." Revelation is a book of symbolism. It was designed to convey a message to those who were familiar with symbols and visions. It is a book in which there are many figures of speech which cannot be taken literally. One might be baffled as to the true meaning of this particular section of the book. That does not mean that the speculations of the millennialists are to be accepted. They often ask, "If you don't understand what it means, how do you know that my interpretation is incorrect?" Any interpretation of figurative and symbolic language that contradicts plain language found elsewhere in the Bible is a false interpretation. Suppose you come upon a strange looking beast. It is covered with scales, but has feet like a pig. It has a long bushy tail, and only one eye in the exact center of its head. Do you know what it is? Obviously not. But you can surely know what it is not. It is not a cat, a dog, a pig, or any other animal you know. The same logic applies to speculative interpretations of symbolism in the Bible. You may not know what it means -- but you can surely know what it does not mean. The Premillennial theory holds that at the end of time, Jesus will return to this earth and establish the kingdom He intended to establish the first time He was here. Read how the millennialists view this. "Christ then authenticated His offer of the kingdom to the nation by the multitude of miracles that He performed (Matt. 8-11). But the nation that had been living in the expectation of Messiah's reign rejected Christ, counting Him a demon-possessed lunatic. Without righteousness there could be no kingdom, and without obedience to God there could be no blessing (Deut. 28). It was thus necessary that the generation of Christ's day be set aside and the kingdom program be postponed (emphasis added) that was to be developed in Israel. Christ spoke of this postponement many times in His parables." J. Dwight Pentecost, The Parables of Jesus, Zondervan, page 48. The flaw in the above reasoning is clear. Not all Jews rejected Christ. Not all righteousness was gone. Not all stood in rebellion to God. It is rank assumption to say that the rejection of Jesus as the Messiah by the Jews caused God to postpone fulfilling His long standing promise. The truth is that Jesus did establish the kingdom. In fact the kingdom is spoken of as being "at hand" by both John the Baptist and Jesus (Matthew 3:2; Mark 1:15). "At hand" means near -- certainly not thousands of years off in the future. Acts of the Apostles begins and ends with the expression "things concerning the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3; 28:31). Acts 8:12 reads, "But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike." The kingdom of God is treated as something in existence in the book of Acts. In Paul's letter to the church in Colossae, he wrote: "For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Colossians 1:13). This is language describing something that has already taken place. What kingdom was this into which Paul and the Colossians had been transferred? It was the kingdom Christ established. Premillennialism is fundamentally wrong about the kingdom. The kingdom is a matter of prophecy. The young prophet Daniel was called upon to tell and interpret the dream Nebuchadnezzar had, but could not recall. The dream was of a gigantic statue composed of four kinds of metal. It had a "head of fine gold," "breast and arms of silver," "belly and thighs of bronze," and "legs of iron." The feet of the statue was a composition of "iron and partly clay." (Daniel 2:31- 32). Daniel interpreted the dream as follows: (Notice the drawing on page 4.) Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon was the head of fine gold. The breast and arms of silver represented the next world power, Medo-Persia. The belly and thighs of bronze represented the next world power, Greece. The last kingdom, Rome, was represented by the legs and feet of iron, and iron mixed with clay. And when Daniel came to the last of these four great world powers, he then declared, "And in the days of those kings (the last world power, Rome) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever" (Daniel 2:44). Please note one significant fact -- the kingdom of Daniel's prophecy would "endure forever." The millennialists believe it will endure a mere one thousand years. The kingdom was to be set up during the time Rome held the world in its powerful grip. That accords with the time Jesus came into the world and did set up His kingdom. In Daniel's older days he had another vision. "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming. And He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed" (Daniel 7:13- 14). Again, the salient feature of the dominion given this one like "a Son of Man" was that it would never end. The millennialists to the contrary, argue that Christ's imaginary millennial kingdom will only last a thousand years. Premillennialism teaches that the prophecy of Daniel has not been fulfilled. They also affirm that the Roman Empire has been out of existence for nearly 2,000 years. According to their theory, God has still not set up the kingdom He promised through Daniel. They make God a liar and Jesus a deceitful fraud. God promised the kingdom would be established during the time of the Roman Caesars; Jesus said it was "at hand" when He was on earth, but it was all false -- the kingdom is yet to be established. Such is the folly of millennialism. The millennialists speculate that when God refused to fulfill His promise to establish Christ's reign that He substituted the church in place of the kingdom. Again, read from J. Dwight Pentecost. "It is to be stressed that when Christ revealed truth about the kingdom, He was not speaking about the church. When He spoke of the coming kingdom age, He was not speaking of the church age. The church began on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and will continue on earth until the Rapture, an event that will precede the seven years of the Tribulation. The coming kingdom age of which Christ spoke began at the time of Israel's rejection of Him as Messiah and will continue until Israel's future reception of Him as Messiah at the Second Advent. The church is a part of the kingdom, but the kingdom is more extensive than just the church." (Ibid., page 49). If Pentecost is correct, which he isn't, then part of the kingdom was established on Pentecost Day, for he argues that the church is part of the kingdom. The truth is that the church and the kingdom on earth are the very same. When Jesus promised to build His church, He gave to His disciples "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:18-19). The keys fit the door of the kingdom, but opened up the church (Acts 2:37-47). The very book premillennialists look to for their imaginary millennium begins by the bold affirmation, "and He made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen" (Revelation 1:6). Numbers are used many times in the Book of Revelation in which it is foolish to interpret them literally. There were 144,000 sealed from all the tribes of Israel and time periods described as three and a half days, three and a half years, or a time, time and half times. It is both unscriptural and illogical to take the numeric values of Revelation literally -- yet that is precisely what the millennialists do in only one place -- Revelation 20. Now, consider the things that are essential to their position that are not even in Revelation 20. 1. There is no mention, nor even a figurative allusion, to the second coming of Christ. 2. There is no mention of a bodily resurrection. 3. There is no mention of any kind of a reign on earth. 4. There is no mention of a literal throne of David upon which Christ is supposed to sit. 5. There is no mention of Jerusalem where Christ is supposed to come and establish the kingdom. 6. There is no mention of us. 7. There is no mention of Christ on earth. All of the theory is purely speculative and dishonors the reign of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The theory brings Christ back to earth a second time to try again to set up the kingdom. What makes the millennialist think that the Christ will receive a better reception than He did the first time? There is no verse anywhere in the Bible that indicates Jesus will ever put foot on mother earth again. If so, where is it? Where is there a verse that says anything about Christ's kingdom lasting a mere thousand years? Where is the proof that since the Jews rejected Christ the first time, they will readily accept Him the second time? The theory is filled with folly and error and misleads people `by the millions. Those who look for the kingdom yet in the future cannot now be "receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken" in which "acceptable service" may be offered the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. (Read Hebrews 12:28). If you have any question at all about this topic, or if you would like extra study materials on it, contact us. uou can write us at West End Church of Christ, 1609 Parkside Dr., Bowling Green, KY. 42101. Until the next time we have this opportunity to be with you by radio, may God richly bless you and yours. Good bye. Radio Sermon No. 42