![]() After the return of Christ, there will be a period of 1000 years (the millennium separating the "first" resurrection from the "second" resurrection. During the period immediately preceding the return of Christ, there is great apostasy and tribulation.Ĭ. Upon His ascension into heaven and the "Gift of the Spirit" at Pentecost, the kingdom is present through the Spirit, until the end of the age, which is marked by the return of Christ to the earth in judgement. When Jesus began his public ministry the kingdom of God was manifest through His ministry. The basic features of historic premillennialism are as follows. While often popularly confused with "dispensational premillennialism" with but a mere disagreement as to the timing of the "rapture," historic premillennialism is, in actuality, a completely different eschatological system, largely rejecting the whole dispensational understanding of redemptive history.ī. There is the creation of a new heaven and earth.Ī. At the end of the millennium, the "great white throne" judgement occurs, and Satan and all unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire. The millennium is marked by a return to Old Testament temple worship and sacrifice to commemorate the sacrifice of Christ. Antichrist is awaiting his revelation once the believing church is removed.į. The signs of the end of the age (i.e., the birth of the nation of Israel, the revival of the Roman empire predicted in Daniel as seen through the emergence of the EEC, the impending Russian-Arab invasion of Israel, etc.) all point to the immediacy of the secret return of Christ for his church. The rapture is the next event to occur in Biblical prophecy. God then turned to dealing with the Gentiles - thus, the church age is a parenthesis of sorts. Jesus came to earth bringing with him an "offer" of the kingdom to the Jews, who rejected him. Glorified believers rule with Christ during his future reign.Į. Those who are converted to Christ during the tribulation, including Jews (the 144,000) who turn to Christ, go on into the millennium to re-populate the earth. The visible and physical second coming of Christ occurs after the great tribulation. Therefore, church age, or the "age of grace," is to be seen as that period of time in which God is dealing with Gentiles prior to the coming of the kingdom of God during the millennium.ĭ. Believers do not experience the persecution of the Anti-Christ who rises to prominence during this "tribulation period." The Biblical data dealing with the time of tribulation is referring to unbelieving Israel, not the church. There is a "rapture" of believers when Jesus Christ secretly returns to earth before the seven year tribulation period begins (the seventieth week of Daniel, cf. As John Walvoord states regarding the dispensational hermeneutic, "Pretribulationism distinguishes clearly between Israel and the church and their respective programs."Ĭ. Dispensationalists insist that God has two redemptive plans, one for national Israel, and one for Gentiles during the "church age." This presupposition forms the basis for the dispensational hermeneutic. This means that all promises made to David and Abraham under the Old Covenant are to be literally fulfilled in the future millennial age.ī. If one interprets literally, he arrives at the premillennial system. When the principles of literal interpretation both in regard to general and special hermeneutics are followed, the result the premillennial system of doctrine. Charles Ryrie makes this point very clearly: ![]() ![]() Dispensationalists argue for the necessity of the literal interpretation of all of the prophetic portions of Scripture. This chart is intended to give a brief overview of the perspectives on eschatology and not complete defense or defintions.Ī. The supporting books for the positions may also have newer volumes that support or deny the positions. It should be noted that is information may be a little dated as far as listed in the Leading Proponents sections. He hs published A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End Times as a summary of the audio series. This audio series gives a good overview of the various positions with an excellent Biblical support for Amillennialism. This information was excerpted from For He Must Reign: An Introduction to Reformed Eschatology by Kim Riddlebarger. Chart #2 lists the main distinctives of Postmillennialism and Amillennialism. Chart #1 lists the main distinctives of Dispensational Premillennialism and Historic Premillennialism. This page is broken down into two sections.
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