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Is The
Millenium Next Or Never
Do you know whether the Millennium is the next event in Divine
history or do you think there will never be a millennium? This
is an important question. Some people confidently assure us that
a glorious earthly millennium is about to break upon this
troubled world, while others are equally confident that the
Bible teaches no such thing. Only one faction can be right
because the views are based on entirely different
interpretations of the Bible. Therefore, one must be an error.
Only one can be truth. Are you positive you know which is right?
Some people say it doesn't matter which way you believe
because this doctrine does not affect your salvation anyway.
This is only partly true. The Jehovah's Witnesses and many
Dispensationalists do teach a form of salvation AFTER the coming
of the Lord and the so-called rapture of the believers. A
theological controversy rages among professed Christians
concerning which is the right interpretation of the Kingdom of
God. Dispensationalists confidently assure us that the
millennium is next. Amilennialists affirm with equal conviction
that there will never be a millennium. You must decide which is
right. Our task will be made easier if we know exactly what the
basic issue is. This we shall proceed to reveal.
The Question Stated
To begin with, there are two questions that must be asked and
answered. The first is, "Where and when did
Dispensationalism originate? The second is, "How will it
end?" The first question directs us to the foundation on
which the doctrine rests. The second causes us to ask what
conditions entitle one to participate in its blessings, and what
ultimately happens to the millennium itself. It should not be
difficult to find a satisfactory answer to these valid
questions.
Dispensationalism originated in England about the year 1840.
Several prominent names such as Irving, Maitland and J. N. Darby
were among the first ones to preach and publish articles and
books on the subject. In America it engaged such outstanding men
as Dr. C. I. Scofield, James M. Gray and Harry Ironside, all of
whom were connected with Moody Bible Institute and who
contributed tremendous influence to its propagation. A natural
question at this point is, "Where did J. N. Darby and his
group discover the doctrine?" Dispensationalists would have
us believe that it came as a result of discovering new light on
the Bible itself, but the facts lead us elsewhere.
The real source of the doctrine came from a book that was
written much earlier by two Jesuit Priests by the names of
Ribera and Alcaser. These men were commissioned by the Pope to
publish a teaching that would counter-act the prevalent
Protestant belief that proclaimed the Pope as the Antichrist.
Eventually this book fell into the hands of Irving and from its
interpretation of the Bible Dispensationalism was born.
The Antichrist of the Reformation
History makes it very clear that the very heart of the
Reformation preaching attacked papal claims of supremacy and as
a result of this onslaught they rocked Catholicism to its very
foundation. Luther, Zwingli and Calvin, as well as countless
other Reformation preachers opened up the Word of God and
fearlessly proclaimed that the Pope was the Antichrist of
prophecy, the Beast that overcame the saints mentioned in
Revelation. As a result the strangle hold of Papal authority was
gradually weakened and Papal power began to topple and crumble
as multitudes embraced this liberating truth.
It is interesting to note the meaning of Antichrist in
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. It is described as:
"pretender to Christhood; a false Christ." Webster
also mentions the fact of history that Wycliffe and Luther
identified the Pope as the Antichrist and that the real meaning
of Antichrist is, "an OTHER Christ." In view of the
fact that the Pope assumes the title of "Vicar of the Son
of God," it gives further evidence that the Antichrist is a
false Christ. Webster's meaning of Vicar is: "A substitute,
a proxy or representative." He adds this illuminating
information that "The Pope is the Man of Sin heralded by
the Reformation preachers." The Antichrist not only means a
false Christ, and an OTHER Christ, but also as one "Who
takes the place of Christ as Head of the church."
It is easy to see the task that confronted Ribera and Alcaser.
However, they cunningly conceived a plot to rival the
interpretation by the Protestants. They sought to prove that
Luther was wrong about the Antichrist being the Pope. To
accomplish this they speculated on a future Antichrist who would
oppose Christ with all the infernal powers under his control.
Dispensationalism adopted the Futurist theory with its future
Antichrist and future millennium. It should be pointed out that
there is nothing in Dispensationalism that in any way identifies
Catholicism with its place in prophecy. History labels their
long tyranny over man as the Dark Ages. The Bible says
"They made war on the saints." The Reformation was
born with the proclamation of the Papal Antichrist.
Dispensationalists have relegated all the Scriptures relating to
the Antichrist to a mysterious creature of horror in some
unknown future. When a substantial segment of the Protestant
faith accepted this interpretation, the Jesuits accomplished
their purpose far beyond their fondest hopes.
Dispensationalists maintain that God divided His government
of the world into seven dispensations, each of approximately
1000 years duration. Five, they say, are already past. We are
now in the sixth, namely the age of grace. According to their
theory the millennium is next. However, there is no place in the
Bible, or even in the Scofield notes, that Scripturally
indicates seven dispensations. Try to find them! Jesus Christ
made no reference to seven dispensations. The Bible says there
are two, namely the Old Testament and the New Testament. Where
then did the teaching of seven dispensations originate? The
first proponents of this novel interpretation came from these
two Jesuit priests. Their purpose was to blunt the attack of the
Reformers on the Papacy and direct it to some future mysterious
Antichrist. In this subtle manner Satan accomplished his
objective by infiltrating the ranks of Protestantism with the
doctrine that offers a glorious earthly millennium filled with
carnal delights and the possibility of getting saved under more
favorable conditions, leaving a purgatory as an escape from hell
for the Catholics.
The Acid Test of Truth
Any doctrine based on an erroneous foundation cannot support
its ultimate conclusions. The farther error is pursued, the more
difficult it is to maintain. This is one reason for the
multiplicity of different interpretations among
Dispensationalists themselves. It also accounts for the
necessity of introducing plural resurrections and judgments, and
many other complications such as restoring the ancient animal
sacrifices during the millennial age as well as the racial
barrier between Jew and Gentile. Even a causal Bible reader will
be well aware of these distinctions having been removed by the
Cross. Truth is simple and profound. Error is complicated and
mysterious. As we deal with the second question this will become
more apparent.
Who Will Inhabit the Millennium?
Some years ago I posed the question, "Who will inherit
the millennium?" to the editor of Our Hope Magazine. The
answer given will be found on page 557 of the March 1957 issue
and reads as follows: "The question doubtless concerns the
people who will inhabit the earth during the millennial reign of
Christ. The Scriptures clearly teach, we believe, that when the
Lord returns in glory to this earth, THEN Israel as a nation
WILL BE SAVED. (Caps mine). Rom. 11:25-27. Preceding this, as
the result of the preaching of the Jewish remnant saved at the
beginning of the tribulation period, a great number of Gentiles
will have been saved and will manifest that salvation by
befriending the Jewish remnant, our Lord's brethren according to
the flesh. Matt. 25:31-46. This same passage shows that when the
Lord returns, He will judge the nations then living upon the
earth, and only the saved from among them will enter the
kingdom, though, of course, children will be born to the
inhabitants of the earth throughout Christ's thousand year
reign. These, in order to be saved must be "born
again," just as is the case in the present age. Now all of
those born into the world during the millennium will receive the
Lord Jesus, though fear of swift judgment will keep them from
openly manifesting their hatred of the King. At the end of the
thousand year reign of Christ, when Satan is loosed for a litter
season, he will find a great multitude ready to follow
him." (End of quote).
It is difficult to understand how this learned writer could
impose so many errors in such a small compass of words. First,
he misquotes Rom. 11:26, by saying that it teaches at the Lord's
return, THEN, all Israel will be saved. The passage reads,
"SO" shall all Israel be saved. "Then" is an
adverb of time, but "SO" is an adverb of manner. Rom.
11:26 does not offer fleshly Israel a future salvation.
"Then," by the ushering in of a glorious earthly
millennium, but clearly says she will be saved "SO,"
as the context amplifies by being grafted into the true olive
tree, which is Christ. On this basis of saving faith "So
all Israel will be saved." While this writer has asserted
that only saved Jews and Gentiles will enter the millennial
kingdom, it should be observed that both classes get saved AFTER
Christ's return to earth.
The above statements are too vital to go unchallenged. You
must remember that the church is raptured to be with
Christ--"Forever with the Lord," prior to the
millennial age. Only unbelieving Jews and unbelieving Gentiles
are left. Now, if the righteous dead are resurrected in their
glorified bodies, and if, the living are changed in the
twinkling of an eye to their glorified bodies to be forever with
the Lord, then the only way anyone can inhabit the millennium is
to be an unbeliever when the Lord comes. This is crystal clear.
The editor just quoted, is a leading exponent of
Dispensationalism and he asserts that the unbelieving Jews are
Christ's brethren according to the flesh. The Bible says the
"Flesh profiteth nothing." "God is able of these
stones to raise up children unto Abraham." "Wherefore
henceforth (from now until all future time) know we no man after
the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet
now HENCEFORTH, know we Him no more." 2 Cor. 5:16. An
abundance of texts will confirm this relationship and the
severing of fleshly ties in Christ. Common human decency will
cause a person to manifest friendship to Jewish people and does
not indicate the fruit of salvation. A further statement from
the quotation claims that the children born during the
millennium will not all get saved--in fact the unbelievers are
described as a great multitude ready to follow Satan when He is
loosed. This is an understatement for the Bible says the number
is as the sands of the sea. Rev. 20:8. A millennium filled with
unbelievers to this degree could scarcely be as glorious as some
people would lead us to believe.
The Chosen People Are All Believers
Quite obviously, this poses more questions than it does
answers. In the first place, God has no CHOSEN people in
UNBELIEF. The fate of unbelievers in the Bible is too well
determined to require further substantiation. Furthermore, God
has no special salvation for anyone except the atonement made on
Calvary. "God who at sundry times and in divers manners
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, (The Old
Testament Covenant), hath in these last days spoken unto us by
His Son…" (The New Testament Covenant) Heb. 1:1. This is
final. How could the Jews conduct such a successful worldwide
revival without the aid of the Holy Sprit Who is taken out of
the world with the church? Before the Holy Sprit came on the day
of Pentecost the disciples all fled even with Jesus amongst
them. If the devil is bound during the thousand years, how are
the children born during that time tempted and deceived in such
colossal numbers? Millennialists tell us that people will live
to a great age, but some will die during that time.
If only those who are saved from "among the
nations" enter into the millennial kingdom, what becomes of
those still living, but have rejected this overture? Since the
judgment of the wicked is deferred until after the millennial
reign, what will these people do during that thousand years? Did
not Christ say that those who do His will, are His brothers and
sisters, rather than earthly kinship? Matt. 12:48-50. Did not
Christ assert that the unbelieving Jews were of their Father,
the Devil? John 8:44.
Dismal Prospects for the Millennium
Dispensationalists portray a very bleak millennium after all
their efforts to make us believe in one. According to the writer
just quoted, it will contain unsaved individuals who only subdue
their hatred because of fear of swift judgment. There will be
sickness for some and even death for the advanced in age
according to their writers. Imagine if you can, Christ
officiating at a funeral! To what lengths must error go? At the
end of the millennium we are told that Satan will be loosed
again and will marshall the enemies of the Lord who are
described "as a great multitude ready to follow the
Devil," even though they have been in the millennium for a
thousand years under Christ's rule.
To cope with this futile uprising, Dispensationalists portray
Christ riding a white steed and plunging His unsheathed sword
into human bodies until the blood reaches the horse's bridle.
This blood-curdling horror, which is to cause swirling rivers of
blood, cannot be the act of the Christ Who said, "For all
they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."
Matt. 26:52. It merely shows the extreme to which error is
driven to sustain its false interpretations. The Second Person
in the Divine Trinity, does not have to rely on a carnal sword
to achieve His victories. Did He not explicitly say, He had
twelve legions of angels at His command? Is not the silent sleep
of death to the armies of Sennacherib sufficient evidence of His
power? Christ's triumph came at Calvary where He said, "It
is finished."
The Simple Gospel of Christ's Kingdom
Jesus gave us a simple gospel that even a child can
understand. His kingdom requires the new birth in order to pass
its portals. Then follows our walk of obedience and eventually
the call of death or the Coming of the Lord, which will usher in
eternity and the Judgment. None of the earliest creeds contain
even a hint of a millennium. Without exception they state simply
that: "Christ rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father, Almighty, from
whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead…"
Since the Apostle Paul expounded the Scriptures to the Jews
continually wherever he went, and heralded the message of God's
kingdom all over the Roman Empire, does it not seem strange that
the Dispensational interpretation only came to light more that
eighteen hundred years later?
We take issue with Dispensationalism because they maintain
that unbelievers, that is, the unbelieving Jews, are God's
chosen people. Jesus said, "The kingdom shall be taken from
you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof." Matt. 21:43. The Pharisees made no mistake of His
meaning. V. 44. No one has the right to offer a kingdom
different in kind or on different terms than what Jesus
specified. Only Christ has the authority to establish a doctrine
that is binding upon His Church. His words shall judge us in the
last day. No one has the right to propound a doctrine that
offers salvation AFTER Christ comes. His last will and testament
was sealed at Calvary and the terms are clear. It is a mistake
to suggest that Christ only partially fulfilled the promises in
His first coming. The only way Christ could be the Messiah
foretold in the Old Testament was to fulfill every prophecy
concerning Himself. To have failed in any particular would have
convicted Him as an imposter. Even a postponement of the
promises would invalidate His claim according to Deut. 18:22.
"When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the
thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the
Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it
presumptuously; thou shalt not be afraid of him."
Invariably Christ substantiated His claims to being the Messiah
by referring to how Scripture was fulfilled in His ministry. It
is possible to conceive the hatred and persecution unto death
against Christ and Paul if they were preaching a kingdom of
Jewish pre-eminence with all the earthly carnal delights of
Dispensationalism? Was not the opposition generated because
Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world?" Has the
Christ Who is "the same, yesterday, today and
forever," changed?
The millennium is not next. Why was Christ silent about such
a kingdom in His messages? Why is there no hint of a thousand
year reign from Genesis to Jude? Why was something so important
as this interpretation of the kingdom discovered until 1840?
Revelation 20 is the only place in the Bible that mentions a
thousand year reign and it does not say it will be on earth, but
that souls of the martyrs will be with Christ. There is no
reference to the Jews in this passage; nor, to an earthly
millennium. Then what is next? Peter removes all doubt when he
said, "Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day
of God…" The entire third chapter of Second Peter should
be read to get the full impact of coming events. These include
the Coming of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, the Day of
Judgment and the eternal rewards meted out to both believers and
unbelievers. Then, eternity in the place to which Jesus has gone
to prepare.
Surely this truth is more attractive than a temporary
millennium that ends in such terrifying carnage as
Dispensationalists propound. "Jesus came and spake unto
them, saying, ALL power is given unto Me in heaven AND IN
EARTH." Matt. 28:18. Jesus reigns now at the right hand of
God over the universe. Instead of a band of unbelieving Jews
receiving the kingdom when Jesus comes, our Lord's final
irrevocable ultimatium was, "Therefore say I unto you, the
kingdom of God shall be taken FROM you…" Matt 21:43.
Instead of God regarding them as the Chosen People marked for
Divine favors we read, "Behold your house is left unto you
desolate." Matt. 23:38. To be desolate means to be forsaken
by God. Far from the bright future prospects which
Dispensationalists anticipate, Paul said, "They please NOT
God and are contrary to all men…For WRATH is come upon them to
the UTTERMOST," meaning to the end of time. 1 Thess. 2:15,
16b.
Instead of Jesus postponing His kingdom to some mysterious
future under more favorable circumstances, He said, "Fear
not little flock (of believers) it is your Father's good
pleasure to GIVE YOU the kingdom." Luke 12:32. We need to
be born again to SEE it and to ENTER it. John 3:3, 5. Jesus said
His kingdom comes NOT with observation and that it is NOT of
this world. How can you reconcile these plain statements with
the type of kingdom portrayed by Millennialists? Jesus has a
kingdom NOW. When He comes again it is not to SET up His kingdom
but to DELIVER it up to God the Father. 1 Cor. 15:24.
Dispensationsalists say the Millennium is next. The Lord Jesus
Christ said He is coming again to JUDGE the world and take His
own to the place He has gone to prepare. Jesus offers us heaven.
He commissioned His followers to "Go into all the world and
preach the GOSPEL." The urgency of this evangel is stressed
by these words, "Behold now is the accepted time, behold,
now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2b. This is the last
time and it will end on the LAST day with the sound of the LAST
trump. There is no day after the LAST day. God offers salvation
today and eternity next. Millennium? NEVER!
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