Greetings to you, my friend. I have here a letter from a friend. He says, "Please answer this question for me: Is my Lord and Savior going to establish a kingdom in Jerusalem when He returns?" Well, that is our study today. We will see what the Bible says.
Thank you, thank you, for inviting us into your home by means of your television or your radio so we can study the word of God together. Our program is called In Search of the Lord's Way, because we believe that in the Bible God has revealed the only way of salvation and the best way to live together the human race has ever known. We are committed to a study of His book for His way; and I pray we will both be blessed in this study.
What does the Bible really say about the universal reign or the kingdom of Christ? If you think you might want a copy of this message, simply mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083-- or by e-mail searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may use our toll-free telephone number, simply call us. Our number is 1-800-321-8633. Or you may see it or hear it or read it on our website (www.searchtv.org.). There is absolutely no charge for anything that we offer on this program. Everything we offer is absolutely free. It is paid for by friends of yours-- and ours-- in churches of Christ in the area of this station. No, we won't be adding your name to a mailing list and begin sending you appeals for money either. No, that isn’t the way we work. We just don’t do that way; we don't operate that way. Everything is free. I know it's unusual; I know it is unbelievable, but it is true. Believe me, it is. Ken Helterbrand's going to lead us now as we sing together, and then I'll be back for Bible reading and prayer.
We are reading today from the apostle Paul’s great dissertation on the resurrection. In the first few verses he has given proof of the resurrection of Jesus and made that strong affirmation. And then in verse 20 he begins by saying: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each one in his own order; Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when he delivers up the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” And we read from the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, verse 20 through verse 26. Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are so thankful to You for Your numerous blessings and for the great hope that You give to us in Jesus Christ; and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we, too, have that resurrection and someday we will live with Thee in eternity. Thank You, Father, for the hope and for the promise of that hope. In Jesus’ lovely name, Amen.
The things of which we speak today are the elements of a very popular doctrine called "premillennialism." Now, that is a big word; we seldom hear it in sermons, yet we hear a lot of preaching about it. "Pre" means "before" and "millennium" has to do with a "thousand." It is often used in association with years, so we are talking something that is before a thousand years. As it relates to religion, it's the theology or the doctrine of the return of Christ before His thousand year reign. There are also people who are called "post-millennialists," because of their belief that there is yet a golden age of righteousness and peace for the church at the end of which Christ will return and there will be the great resurrection. There are also people who would be rightly described as "amillennialists," meaning those who do not believe the Bible teaches a literal thousand-year reign of Christ.
However, what we are hearing today is not pure premillennialism. It is a mixture of premillennialism with dispensationalism, which holds to the idea that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. And because of that, all human history is divided into seven dispensations.
When you combine these two you have many of the ideas that are being preached so much on television and radio, seen in the religious press, and heard discussed in so much religious conversation nowadays. We can't examine every detail of these teachings, but let's take a quick overview of some of these things.
First is the idea that Jesus Christ came into the world at the time of His incarnation to establish a kingdom, His universal reign among men. But the Divine plan was thwarted by His unexpected rejection by the Jews and His crucifixion. But Jesus, foreseeing that event and rather than suffer total defeat we are told, established the church instead as sort of, well, an afterthought, or an interim situation. Then He is supposed to have promised that He would come again at which time He would then establish the kingdom as originally planned and prophesied which He could not establish the first time.
He is said to have given a number of signs of His return, many of which are recorded we are told in Matthew 24. It is taught that when He returns, He will come very quietly. And many people won't even know about it. And He will snatch the saints or the saved away in something that is called a "rapture." It's said that life will go on for other people, that is the people left on the earth, the wicked and the unconverted of course. And the raptured will be with the Lord somewhere, for a period of seven years. Meanwhile here on the earth there will be a seven-year period of great tribulation-- such tribulation as the world has never experienced. During the first three and a-half years of the tribulation period, it is said that all the Jews will be returned to Palestine, and there will be a restoration of their religion. They will rebuild the temple which Solomon built, and revive the system of animal sacrifices under the Law of Moses of the Old Testament period.
The second half of the seven year period is supposed to be characterized by a great conflict, a terribly disastrous war which is called the Battle of Armageddon. And that conflict is to be ended with the third coming of Christ-- this time with His saints. He will then establish His Throne in Jerusalem, so we are told, and rule the world in a universal reign of peace and plenty for a thousand years. And at the end of the thousand years, He is supposed to deliver up the kingdom to God; and there will be judgment, and following the judgment, eternity.
Now, these are the basic and fundamental elements of dispensational premillennialism. Of course, mixed in all of this is the idea of an anti-Christ and a lot of other dressings which we don't have time to go into today. And I hasten to say, too, that the general theory which we have outlined very briefly, may not suitably describe in detail the theory you have been hearing-- or believing-- or teaching. It would be impossible, even if we were disposed to do it, to detail every modern prophet's private speculation-- or his supposed revelation directly from God to him. We have only intended to present a general overview.
There is no doubt that many premillennialists are sincere people. But there are some things that are questionable about the basic tenets of their theology. And I'm sure you, too, want to know what the Bible really teaches about all these matters; so, we will search the Scriptures to see. As you'll see, it does make a difference.
First, to say that it was a part of the Divine plan for Christ to establish His kingdom when He came into the world by the virgin Mary is Biblically accurate. However, to say He was defeated in that purpose by the unexpected rejection of the Jews consummated by Christ’s crucifixion is to deny the Sovereign will and power of Almighty God! My friend, God was not defeated when the Jews rejected His Son. His plan was not overthrown at the cross. Neither was the crucifixion unforeseen or unanticipated by the Lord. The Holy Spirit says, "...you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was (now listen) foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you" (1 Peter 1, verses 18-20).
Less than two months after the crucifixion, Peter preached to the Jews who had crucified Him: "Men of Israel," he said, "hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, and wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know-- Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death..." That is the reading of Acts, chapter 2, verses 22 and 23. So you see, my friend, Jesus' death for our sins was not only foreknown; it was predetermined of God to our salvation. To hold then, that it came as a surprise to Him and He was forced to alter His plan for the Messiah is tantamount to saying, well, it is a denial of God's infinite will and unlimited power, and a repudiation of His scheme of redemption by way of the cross.
Later on, on the occasion of the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful gate of the temple, Peter spoke to some of these same people that he had spoken to before about the death of Christ and this time he said, "Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled." (Acts chapter 3, verses 17-18). So, rather than being an historical accident, as some of the premillennialists are saying, the rejection of the Messiah, resulting in His death, was actually a fulfillment, not only of God's purpose but also His prophecies. He had foretold it! And it had occurred just as He had planned it and the way the prophets had said hundreds of years before that it would happen.
Then, there is the matter of establishing the church as an afterthought, an interim arrangement. My friend, this just can't be because the reference to his ministry to the Gentiles, Paul said it was "to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." Notice the “eternal purpose,” in eternity, before the events of Genesis 1:1, even before then, even before there was a time being measured, even before the first day, God had purposed this event leading to the crucifixion of Christ. So, the church is not an afterthought; it is not a substitute, not an ad-lib, thrown-together, provisional arrangement, but it is a vital part of the eternal purpose that God had in sending Christ into this world from before the world began.
Well, it is obvious to the careful reader of the first four books of the New Testament, the "gospels," Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that Jesus really believed He was the Messiah. He not only considered His mission as bringing individual salvation to the lost as he said in Luke chapter 19, verse 10, but also to establish the community of those who receive that salvation and submit to Him as their King. The Messiah was to be a king, my friend; but there can be no king in the absence of people who submit to his kingship or his rule. So to deny Jesus Christ His Kingship or His rule is to deny Him His Messiahship. If there is no kingdom; there is no king and no Messiah.
The Old Testament prophets had spoken and written for centuries that when the Messiah came, He would establish His kingdom. Premillennialist preachers don't deny those prophecies. As a matter of fact, they preach a lot about them, but they deny that Christ fulfilled them at His first coming, and apply them to the same later appearance that we have just mentioned-- the return of Christ. We will have another program later on some of those prophecies in particular, but for now, two things are important concerning what some call "unfulfilled" prophecies.
Well, first of all let me say that there is no such thing as unfulfilled prophecies in the Bible. Either Christ fulfilled them all or He didn’t. Jesus said that He fulfilled them. In Luke 24, verse 44, after His resurrection, He said to the eleven apostles (Remember now Judas had betrayed Him and had gone and hanged himself), and after His resurrection then Jesus said: "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." So, my friend, Jesus fulfilled everything Moses said in the law about Him, everything in the Psalms and everything in the Old Testament prophets. Well, all of those written messages, all of that, He said He fulfilled. The Jews knew their Scriptures well, and if they could have produced just one scripture in the law or the psalms or the prophets concerning the Messiah, that He did not fulfill, they could prove Him to have been a deceiver and a liar and an imposter, and Christianity never would have been. One of the weightiest evidences we have of the Deity of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of every Old Testament Scripture about the Messiah. Now, centuries later, some people are saying He didn't actually fulfill the kingdom prophecies; He postponed them.
And that brings us to the second thing that we need to consider about prophecy. It is the time element of the prophecy; and it is as critical as any other part of the prophecy itself. If a prophecy did not come to pass when the prophet said it would, he was thereby proven to be a false prophet. Deuteronomy 18:22 says, "When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken, and the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him." Well, you get the idea, don't you? If the kingdom prophecies were not fulfilled as they were supposed to be at Christ's first coming, but postponed, that makes Daniel and Isaiah and all the others false prophets. I'm sure you can see that; it is important whether you believe the premillennial theology or you disbelieve it. It is critical to your acceptance or denial of other very basic teachings in the Bible.
It seems that every time there is a development in the mid-east, modern prophets somewhere have a hey-day with fantasies about how it fits into-- well, each one has his own personal interpretation of prophecy about the imminent return of Christ and the end of the world. Well, you have only glace at the church page of your newspaper to know what I'm saying is true. So, it isn't surprising is it, that we're hearing a lot about it right now. And surely you have noticed, so-called seers constantly having to revise their fabrications. Let us pray. Holy Father, we thank You now for Your revealed word. And we thank You for Jesus Christ who came and fulfilled all those prophecies and all Your purpose in Him. And we pray, Father, that we can accept them as completed and help us to understand that Jesus did accomplish Your will and fulfill it when He came. In His name we pray, Amen.
Well, I didn't get to say all I intended and needed to say in response to our friend's question, "Is my Lord and Savior going to establish a kingdom in Jerusalem when He comes?" We will just have to continue this study next week, won't we? I hope you can be with us then-- same time-- same station. You may be one among those who wonder why we don't speak more about the "end times" things. Well, while they are important, there are so many, many other things that are troubling so very many people. The only solution to that, I guess is more broadcasts.
We hope you are a Christian and living that life to the very fullest. But, if you are not, we feel the urgent need to exhort you to become a Christian at once. Every day you delay in becoming a child of God, you deprive yourself even longer of the love and the joy and the peace and all of that that it means to living a right relationship with God. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." So I'm urging you to come to Christ, as a believer, confess Him openly and publicly as you read in Romans 10 and 9, and then be baptized into Him, as the Scripture says in Galatians chapter 3, verses 26-27. And I hope you will do that today. Let us hear from you that you did.
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We plan to be back next week. I hope you will, too. God bless you, then. We love you.
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