Historical Premillennialism
(Note: Premillennialism refers to the return of Christ before the millennial reign of Christ.)
Most Christians have heard of the “Left Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. This is how most people who believe the Biblical Rapture will occur, Millions of people will simply disappear, with most of those remaining clueless as to why.
The doctrine behind this view is called Dispensational Premillennialism. Although the historic roots of this doctrine are easily traceable to the 1830’s, its proponents claim the doctrine is much older. What is the truth?
Here is the basic story in under six minutes:
Often one hears objections claiming that the early church leaders wrote about Premillennialism, and the answer is “yes” and “no”. What they wrote about is what is now known as Historic Premillennialism. This is a completely different eschatology than
Dispensational Premillennialism.
Here are some of the key differences:
• Historic Premillennialism teaches that the church was in the fore-vision of Old Testament prophecy, while Dispensationalism Premillennialism teaches that the church is hardly, if at all, mentioned by the Old Testament prophets.
What this means is that in Historic Premillennialism the Church Age was a part of God’s plan from before the beginning of time. While Dispensationalist believe that the Church Age was never spoken of but was instituted by God because the Jews rejected Christ.
• Historic Premillennialism teaches that the present age of grace was predicted in the Old Testament. Dispensationalism Premillennialism holds that the present age was unforeseen in the Old Testament and thus is a “great parenthesis” in history introduced because the Jews rejected the kingdom.
This “great parenthesis” means that God pressed the “Cosmic Pause” button on the Jews. In Dispensationalism the reason for the Rapture is to remove the Church, closing the Church age, so that God may deal once again with the Jewish people.
Historic Premillennialism believes that The Law was planned to precede the church age of Grace and, thus the Rapture as reasoned by Dispensationalism is not necessary, but is also an invalid interpretation.
In Historic Premillennialism the reason for the rapture is not to send souls to heaven so God can deal with the Jewish people, it is simply a common practice of the day. That is, when a King approached a city, the people would come out and meet him and travel with him back into the city with the King. It was a way to honor and welcome the king.
Whether literal or figurative, the “rapture” means just that. We meet Christ in the air, who is coming and then come back to earth with Christ to begin the millennial rule. This cannot mean the rapture of Dispensationalism has occurred, because the dragon is released for the final battle at the end of the millennium.
Dr. Walter Martin was the Bible Answer Man on radio as well as college teacher and frequent guest on The John Ankerberg Show. Dr. Martin wrote the book “Kingdom of The Cults” which is still used as a text book today to teach about cults.
Here is Dr. Martin on the subject.
