One of the greatest misunderstandings in theology is the belief that the church today is the replacement for the prophesied Old Testament Davidic kingdom that is to be set up in Jerusalem by the Messiah. This false claim has dominated Christendom throughout the ages of the church. The implication is that God is through with the Jews, and argues that the church now fulfills those promises made throughout the Old Testament. This misplaced doctrine is given credence by what is called allegorical interpretation. This interpretative approach is wrongly used with the Old Testament prophecies, making the church the kingdom. A literal kingdom, with the Messiah sitting on the throne in the Holy Land, was promised to the Jews through the ancient Hebrew prophets. Allegorical interpretation is used to reinterpret God’s plans for Israel. It is given the label replacement theology, i.e., the church today has replaced the Jewish people in the Messianic Plan of God!
WHAT DOES THE WORD KINGDOM MEAN IN THE BIBLE?
This chapter is dealing with the issue of the earthly Messianic kingdom promised to the people of Israel. God has a universal and a heavenly kingdom reign as testified by the most powerful monarch of history who said, "I Nebuchadnezzar praise and exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His way just" (Dan. 4:37). Those who belong to the body of Christ today are called "a kingdom of priests to His God and Father" (Rev. 1:6). But these kingdoms in no way imply that the church presently is that Messianic kingdom of Israel. That kingdom is yet future.
WHERE ARE THE PROMISES FOR THE FUTURE MESSIANIC KINGDOM?
The story begins in Genesis. The Jews through their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were promised a huge earthly territory that would be more than simply the confines of what is called the Holy Land. The Bible tells us that a covenant was made with father Abraham. The Lord said: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt (a tributary called Wadi el Arish, or possibly the Nile river) as far as the great river, the river Euphrates" (Gen. 15:18). This great expanse of land will be someday the outer boundaries of the Messianic kingdom and today includes most of the Arab lands. Have the Jews ever occupied such a vast land? No.
So therefore this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled!
As the Old Testament unfolds, the Lord through what is called progressive revelation expands and elaborates on this promise to the faithful descendants of Abraham. What is progressive revelation?
The interpreter must consider progressive revelation. In many prophecies of
Scripture, God did not reveal everything at once concerning a specific truth or
doctrine. Over years and even centuries, a doctrine may be progressively
expanded upon. … Progressive revelation is especially important in gaining
a full understanding of eschatology as the prophetic plan unfolds through the
Word of God.1
Applying thus rule one can see the unfolding plan, beginning with Abraham, into other prophecies that are revealed in the Bible. Through the kingly tribe of Judah, and the line of king David (who comes from the tribe of Judah), a promise is given in which through David’s son Solomon, the Lord promises: I "will establish his kingdom. … I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. … And your house [David] and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever" (2 Sam. 7:12-16). One cannot escape the forever, eternal nature of this promise. It has never been rescinded, annulled, changed in configuration, as some claim, though it has been expanded upon, further explained with many additional details. Also, the issue of the kingdom remains as an important future component and feature for the nation of Israel. In other words these Jewish promises are indeed Jewish and have to do with a national entity and a territorial restoration. When this kingdom and its blessing come, it will affect all of earth’s history for a thousand years!
This promise is spiritual in nature and implies that the Jews accept the Lord Jesus as their Savior. However this promise is not to be spiritualized or allegorized away to mean something else than what the plain words imply. In other words, this kingdom promised is not the present church age. The church does not take the place of promises made by the prophets of a coming earthly Messianic reign that will bless Israel first, and then the entire world. In that these promises have not come to pass simply means that they are yet to be fulfilled!
Literal kingdom prophecies are mentioned throughout the Old Testament:
God’s Anointed (the Messiah) is the "King" whom God will install "upon Zion (the hill in Jerusalem), [upon] My holy mountain" (Psa. 2:2, 6). He is the Son of God who will shatter the nations and rule over them (vv. 9, 12). God will establish David’s Seed forever and He will build up his throne to all generations (89:4). Jesus is the child who is born of David and Solomon and the son given, who will sit "on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness" forever (Isa. 9:7). But more, He is deity: He is the Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (v. 6).
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on this One (11:2) and someday all the nations will come to Him who is like a Flag or a signal for the peoples of earth (v. 10). He is Israel’s leader and ruler who alone can approach God (Jer. 30:21). He is called the Son [who relates to] Mankind and who comes up before God the heavenly Father, the Ancient of Days, in glory (Dan. 7:13). This takes place at the dramatic ascension of Christ when He went up from His disciples into glory (Acts 1:10-11). God the Father then bestowed upon Him "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" (v. 14).
WHAT DOES A WORLDWIDE TRIBULATION HAVE TO DO WITH THE KINGDOM?
Anyone who watches carefully current events knows the world is on the brink of a terrible calamity. The Middle East is a near fire storm with no end in sight for peace. The whole world is slowly being dragged into a conflagration like no other. Those who deny the obvious about such world affairs are denying what seems so clear, even to those who are spiritually lost and never study what the Bible says about the final days of world history!
The Lord Jesus made a prediction that a terrible tribulation would come in which the Jews would be the central target and would "be hated by all nations on account of My name" (Matt. 24:9). The events that transpire are called the "birth pangs" that fall on the Jewish people (v. 8). But the fact that the Messiah’s kingdom is coming will be proclaimed during that terrible time of tribulation to the whole earth, just before "the end comes." Jesus stated it this way: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come" (v. 14). Jesus, "the Son of Man" (Dan. 7:13) then said, speaking of Himself, that He will come on the clouds of the sky "with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:30). The angels will accompany Him in His radiant appearance and "He will sit on His glorious throne" (25:31). As earth’s righteous king He will summon His righteous servants, those who trust in Him for salvation, to "inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (v. 34). Those words tell us that the Messianic kingdom as the final chapter of world history was planned in ages past to take place.
THE CURRENT MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT:
WHAT DO THE ARABS SAY ABOUT A FUTURE JEWISH KINGDOM?
The Middle East is aflame with the militancy of the Arabic peoples who want to occupy the Holy Land. The Arab mentality states that if Islam has ever occupied a land, a geographic territory, then it forever belongs to Allah! Therefore the Jews can have no claim to Eratz Israel (the land of Israel). Though the Jews are returning to the land in unbelief, God will someday open their eyes, they will repent, and Jesus the Messiah will come to establish His 1000 year kingdom reign. Then the people of Israel "will look on [Him] whom they have pierced" (Zech.12:10). Many of the Arab leaders know about such prophecies and will risk the shedding of blood to prevent the arrival of Israel’s Messiah and the establishment of a Jewish kingdom.
The concept of a future Jewish Messianic conflict goes back to God’s promises to Abraham in Genesis 12-17. The Arabic peoples claim a right to the Holy Land through Abraham’s son Ishmael, but the covenant with Abraham made clear that the Lord’s promises about the land would come through Abraham’s son Isaac and then to his son Jacob, and his twelve sons. Psalm 105:8-11 states:
[God] has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to
a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His
oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an
everlasting covenant, saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the
portion of your inheritance."
"Whether or not Palestinian-Arabs are related to Abraham, who was led of the Lord to Canaan from the Babylon, they claim that they are descendants of the original inhabitants of Canaan—the Canaanites—as well as other ancient peoples who occupied the land before the arrival of the Israelites."1
DID NOT THE JEWS FORFEIT THE KINGDOM WHEN THEY REJECTED CHRIST?
Though God scattered the Jewish people for their rejection of their king and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the kingdom promises remain. The apostle makes it clear that a "remnant … will be saved" (Rom. 9:27), and "’The Deliverer [the Messiah] will come forth from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob [the Jewish people]. And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins’" (11:26-27). Since the giving of the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12 the Jews have been identified as God’s earthly chosen people who are still beloved by Him for the sake of the promises made to their ancient fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (v. 28).
The prophetic case is made clear: God will someday open the eyes of the Jewish people and they will return to Him and accept the Lord Jesus as their Savior. However they must go through a terrible tribulation period that will engulf the entire world for seven years. Few will be spared both of the Gentiles and the Jews. The vortex of the destruction of the tribulation will be the Middle East where the fuel for such a conflagration is now being stored and waiting for the moment of the outpouring of God’s wrath on a sinful and rebellious world (Rev. 6-19).
About the Jews being cast off forever with no kingdom promises, the apostle Paul writes "May it never be!" (v.1). He adds: "God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew [in an intimate relational way]" (v. 2). That would be derogatory to His character as a Sovereign who has made unconditional promises of faithfulness to the Jewish nation. Israel is still "His people"; "theirs" is yet the promises; their rejection is only temporary—until the promises of Israel’s future kingdom comes to pass. Today God is working to save the Gentiles who believe in Christ. The visible unity of the saved Gentiles is the church, though in many places thousands of Jews also now truth Him as their Savior! But the fact that we are now in the dispensation of the church does not make null and void the kingdom promises made in the Old Testament. Those promises have never been rescinded.
But the inclusion of Gentile believers [presently in the church] does not affect the
purpose of God with the nation [of Israel], nor does the Church displace Israel
in the plan of God in relation to the other nations. [God’s purposes] are reserved
for restored and converted Israel as a nation to bring the nations to a knowledge
of their glorious Messiah and King, and bring [kingdom] universal blessing to the
world.2
DO SOME SPIRITUALIZE THE KINGDOM AND MAKE IT THE CHURCH?
Allegorical interpretation was a full-grown child of the Rationalist movement, though its origins go further back to the pagan teachings of Plato. The church father Origen was a Platonist who converted the whole Bible, the Old and New Testaments alike, into a series of clumsy, varying, and incredible enigmas. "Allegory helped [Origen] to get rid of [the kingdom idea] and [what he called] superstitious literalism."3
To spiritualize biblical prophecy is "to take in a spiritual sense,--opposed to literalize." To spiritual Israel, or kingdom, is to replace its obvious, clear meaning, and the meaning intended by the author. Walvoord writes:
In other words, if Israel should mean something else than Israel, e.g., the church
in the New Testament composed largely of Gentiles, this would be spiritualization.4
And such spiritualization is not biblical, nor is it intellectually honest!
WHAT IS AMILLENNIALISM?
It is the view of Bible prophecy that generally says the church is the kingdom, or that the church has replaced the Jewish hope of a literally earthly kingdom with the Messiah sitting on the throne of David in Jerusalem. To the amillennialist, the higher and more spiritual view repudiates a physical earthly reign of Christ and substitutes this with a certain kind of spiritual rule. The problem is that all the descriptions in both the Old and New Testaments of the kingdom paint the clear picture of an historical and earthly rule that would dominate the last days of world history as we know it. The a before millennium is the Greek negative. A-millennium then means "no millennium" or earthly "kingdom" for Israel. In fact many amillennialists believe God is through with the Jewish people for their rejection of Christ. Thus the church replaces the idea of a literal kingdom. Amillennialists are usually in the Reformed camp and covenant theological.
Reformed theologians who follow the amillennial interpretation usually
minimize and spiritualize the time of tribulation preceding the second advent,
particularly in such passages as Revelation 6-19. Amillenarians often find the
tribulation being fulfilled in contemporary events, and interpret Revelation
6-19 as history. While interpreting the second advent literally, they to some
extent spiritualize the tribulation. Likewise there is difference in viewpoint on
the significance of the second advent itself. The amillenarian holds that it is
the event beginning the eternal state while the premillenarian holds it begins the
millennial kingdom on earth.5
WHAT IS PRETERISM? HOW DOES IT RELATE TO THE KINGDOM?
A reconstructionist preterist, Kenneth Gentry, describes his view this way:
The term "preterism" is based on the Latin preter, which means "past."
Preterism refers to that undersanding of certain eschatological passages
which holds that they have already come to fulfillment.
The preterist approach teaches, for instance, that many of the prophecies
of Revelation and the first portion of the Olivet Discourse have already
been fulfilled. Matthew 24:1-34 (and parallels) in the Olivet Discourse
was fulfilled in the events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem in A.D.
70. In Revelation, most of the prophecies before Revelation 20 find
fulfillment in the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70).6
Preterist Gary DeMar adds,
A perterist is someone who believes that certain prophecies have been fulfilled,
That is, their fulfillment is in the past.7
While it would not be possible to fully confirm, it seems as if preterists will do anything to deny a distinct literal seven-year tribulation that will engulf the Middle East and the world. They also deny any importance to the fact that the Jews are back in the Holy Land and have reestablished their national entity, and have restored their ancient language of Hebrew. The only mention of the Jews among both the preterists and the amillennialists is that God is through with the Jews, and they point out that that more than likely most of the Jewish people will probably not ever trust in Christ as their Savior. Many preterists and amillennialists usually set up a straw man and argue that dispensationalists, and some premillennialists, believe the Jews can be restored and yet do not have to trust in the Lord Jesus. This is in no way what those who are looking for the coming reign of Christ would argue! When the kingdom arrives the Jews will see the Messiah "whom they have pierced; and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born" (Zech. 12:10b).
It would seem that many adopt amillennialism or preterism as a reaction against dispensationalists. With a certain scurrilous attitude R. C. Sproul writes:
The sickness that is epidemic in the evangelical church is the disease of
dispensationalism, and more particularly dispensational eschatology
[prophecy]. These doctrines not only twist and distort the Scripture
but bring the church to near paralysis. The harder we work to build Christ’s
kingdom, the more we delay it.
Thankfully, God in his mercy has done a great work in waking up many
people to their condition. The rapid spread of the doctrine of preterism has
been a welcome tonic.8
Extreme preterists say the second coming of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom has already occurred at the time of the destruction of the second temple and the city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.! In evaluating this strange view Ice writes:
This means there will never be a future second coming, for it has already occurred
in A.D. 70. Further, there will be no bodily resurrection of believers, which is said
to have occurred in A.D. 70 in conjunction with the second coming. Full
preterists believe that we now have been spiritually resurrected and will live
forever with spiritual bodies when we die.9
WHY IS THERE A DENIAL OF A LITERAL REIGN OF CHRIST BY PRETERISTS?
Some have argued that many interpreters have departed from exegesis of the biblical passages and are arguing from philosophical reasoning rather than textual reasoning. Hermeneutics and interpretation are no longer practiced as a science of understanding the message of Scripture. Exegesis is not linear or chronological in nature but circular in which the interpreter puts his own thoughts and his own agenda into the mix of what a passage from the Bible means. There is confusion with ontology with epistemology. The grammatical-historical approach to interpretation has been the standard for interpreting the Word of God, but now a subjective element and a cultural element has been added as a "weight" and an impediment for the interpreter. The interpreter no longer thinks "biblical" but cultural or with a theological bias in mind.
Ice continues:
I believe the spirit of our postmodern times, shaped by a dominant mysticism,
has led some individuals to become more open to a less literal hermeneutic.
This, in turn, has led some exegetical minds to see the supposed shadow of the
biblical text instead of the letter, or what is actually written. Today’s
hermeneutical atmosphere is such that interpretative schemes such as preterism
are made to seem feasible, when in the past they were dismissed as too
farfetched. The zeitgeist of our day nudges the mind toward the allegorical
and not the literal, the shadow instead of the clear, and the mystical rather than
the physical.10
There is another reason there is a movement to preterism. The philosophical and critical religious climate has brought about doubt and skepticism in the area of hermeneutics. R. C. Sproul, and others who have adopted preterism, admit they were influenced by the doubt and biblical criticism of the likes of Albert Schweitzer, and of the atheist and communist British philosopher Bertrand Russell. These men challenged the words of Christ and assumed that when He said "the kingdom of God is near" (Luke 21:31) that the Lord, only being human, was mistaken about the timing of its arrival. Therefore such men as these re-wrote what Christ was referring to.
To counter the liberal attack, the church must have a wake-up call, repudiate future prophecy, and re-introduce preterism as an interpretative scheme. Sproul, who claims to be a partial preterist, shows how such liberal skepticism molded his views about futurist eschatology. He writes,
In seminary I was exposed daily to critical theories espoused by my professors
regarding the Scriptures. What stands out in my memory of those days is the
heavy emphasis on biblical texts regarding the return of Christ, which were
constantly cites as examples of errors in the New Testament and proof that the
text had been edited to accommodate the crisis in the early church caused by
the criticism leveled against the trustworthiness of Scripture was linked to
questions regarding biblical eschatology.
In other words, Spoul and other preterists like him, use cultural criticisms to determine how to interpret the Word of God! The Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit and stand reliable within themselves. Biblical hermeneutics would not allow such cultural imposition into how we read our Bible.
WHAT DOES JEWISH ORTHODOXY TEACH ABOUT THE KINGDOM?
While many of the rabbis fell into mystical teaching, the main stream of orthodoxy took the Old Testament promises with normal and literal meaning. The orthodox believe in the death of the Messiah for the sins of the world, a seven year tribulation, the coming of the Messiah to reign in His kingdom for 1,000 years. They believe in many things about the Messiah and His Davidic kingdom, except the fact that the Lord Jesus is indeed that One!
In the ancient writings of the rabbis can be found the following:
- All will come and fall upon their faces before the Messiah and say:
"Let us be servants to You."
(Pesiqta Rabbati, 162a-b)
- Happy the hour the Messiah was created! Happy the womb from which he issued!
Happy the generation whose eyes see Him!
(Pesiqta Rabbati, 36)
- The Messiah is the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the
earth (Dan. 2:35).
(Numbers Rabbi 13:14)
- All the kings of the earth will prostrate themselves before the Messiah, and all the
nations will serve Him (Psa. 72:11).
(Numbers Rabbi 13:14)
- A Star [the Messiah] shall rise for you [Israel] from Jacob in peace,
And no sin shall be found in Him,
The scepter of My kingdom will shine forth,
He will judge and save all that call upon the Lord.
(Testament of Judah 24)
- The Lord shall raise up a new priest,
His Star shall arise in heaven as the Star of a King,
He shall be magnified in the world,
There shall be peace in all the earth,
The heavens shall exult in His days,
The glory of the Most High shall pour forth over Him,
None shall succeed Him for all generations [He is eternal],
By His priesthood the nations shall increase,
The just shall rest in Him,
He will give the saints the Tree of Life to eat,
He will bound up Satan.
(Testament of Levi, 18)
- Once the kingdom of heaven is established over the earth the Messiah’s activity
will come to an end, and He will then sit as the Son of Man on David’s
throne in Jerusalem as a visible representative of God in the world of man.
(The Messiah Text, 190)
- The Holy One will reestablish the Sanctuary, and the Shekhina shall return, and He will
rebuild the city of Jerusalem, and He will raise her from the dust of the ground, and the
exiles of Israel will gather to her.
(Zohar 1:134a)
- Israel will return with the Messiah … and they will meet together with all of the House
of David which will be left from the destruction [the tribulation]. And the Messiah will
sit there.
(T’fillat Rabbi Shim’on ben Yohai, BhM 4:124-26)
- [In the tribulation] they will call [the Antichrist] Armilus. And he will go to Edom
[Rome] and say to them: "I am your Messiah, I am your god!" And he will mislead
them and they will instantly believe in him, and make him their king. … And Messiah ben David and Elijah will be revealed, and both will go to Israel who are in the desert [the world]. And Elijah will tell them: "This is the Messiah!" And he will
revive their hearts and strengthen their hands. … And all Israel will know the sound
of the shofar and will hear that He has redeemed Israel. (T’fillat Rabbi Shim’on ben Yohai, BhM 4:124-26)11
In the whole range of literature of Israel, there is no more exalted or nobler
picture of the Messiah than the description in the Psalms of Solomon. The
Messiah is righteous, holy, and "free of sin," … By the power of the Spirit,
He expels the nations from Jerusalem and establishes a great kingdom in
Zion that serves as the center of the world. The nations serve the God of
Israel and the King Messiah. … The ingathering of the exiles (the reunion of
the tribes of Israel) is a precondition of the coming of the days of the
Messiah. Thus there is a political, national, and territorial aspect to the
kingdom of the Messiah. The spiritual aspect, however, remains central.12
WHAT COVENANTS ARE FULFILLED IN THE KINGDOM?
The Abrahamic Covenant. The promises in this covenant (first given in Genesis 12:1-3) concerning the land and the seed are fulfilled in the millennial kingdom (Isa. 10:21-22; 19:25). Israel’s perpetuity, the nation’s place in the land, and their inheritance of blessings are directly related to the prophetic fulfillment of this covenant.
The Davidic Covenant. The promises found in this covenant have to do with the Messiah coming forth from David and someday reigning as the king, reigning on His throne, and restoring the royal house, in the kingdom period (Isa. 11:1-2; 55:3, 11; Jer. 23:5-8; 33:20-26; Ezek. 34:23-25; 37:23-24. Israel’s kingdom with David’s Son reigning as king is all related to the Davidic covenant.
The Land Covenant. The land promises will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom (Isa. 11:11-12; 65:9; Ezek. 16:60-63; 36:28-29; 39:28). It is at this time that the Lord Jesus will reign with His full glory and splendor. The nations will come up year by year and worship Him. The prophet Micah paints a graphic picture of how a blissful peace will fall upon the whole earth when the Messiah reigns:
And it will come about in the last days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
will be established as the chief mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
and the peoples will stream to it.
And many nations will come and say,
"Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord
and to the house of the God of Jacob,
that He may teach us about His ways and that we may
walk in His paths."
For from Zion will go forth the law,
even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He
will judge between many peoples and render
decisions for mighty distant nations.
Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not
lift up sword against nation, and never again will they
train for war. …
And the Lord will reign [over His people] in
Mount Zion from now on and forever! (Micah 4)
Amos also heralds the glories of the coming kingdom when He speaks about the Davidic covenant and its fulfillment. The prophet writes the words of the Lord:
In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, and wall up its
breaches; I will also raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old. …
Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, and they will
rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
I will plant [My people] on their land, and they will not again be
rooted out from their land which I have given them, says the Lord
your God. (Amos 9:11-15)
WHAT WILL BRING GLORY TO THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM?
The kingdom will bring about the complete manifestation of the glory of Jesus Christ. There is a glory concerning His humanity, and a glory in relation to His sovereign dominion over the earth and all of the heavens. There will be a glory concerning His peaceful government in which He, as the Son of David, is given complete power and authority to rule (Isa. 9:6; Psa. 45:4; Isa. 11:4; Psa. 72:4). Then there will be glory in regard to the blessing that will come upon the Holy Land, and even over the entire earth.
In the kingdom the many names of Christ will amplify His person, His glory, and His authority. It is impossible to escape the many names that reflect His deity. His names may be summed up:
- Immanuel (God with us) (Isa. 7:14).
- The Branch of Jehovah (Isa. 4:2).
- Branch of David (Isa. 11:1).
- Seed of David (Rom. 1:3).
- Jehovah’s Servant, the Branch (Zech. 3:8).
- Son of Man (Dan. 7:13).
- King (Psa. 2).
- Son of God (Psa. 2).
- Judge (Isa. 11:3-4).
- Lawgiver (Isa. 33:22).
- Messiah the Prince (Dan. 9:25-26).
- Redeemer (Isa. 59:20).
- Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2).
- The Wall Breaker (Mal. 2:13).
- The Shepherd (Isa. 40:10-11).
- The Stone (Isa. 28:16; Zech. 3:9).
- The Prophet (Deut. 18:15, 18).
Those who do not believe that all of the descriptions of the earthly kingdom listed in Scripture show an earthly, historical reign of the Messiah, believe the kingdom is only "spiritual" in nature, and in fact is now allegorically fulfilled in the church age! "The amillennialist extols his view of the kingdom as a highly ‘spiritual’ view and minimizes the premillennial concept because it demands the literal and material fulfillment of the earthly blessings."13 The amillennialist argues the kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, a "spiritualized" kingdom, and a "moral" reign, and he wrongly argues a premillennialist sees it as a "carnal" or "material" only. Such charges fail to differentiate between the issue of the "spiritualizing" of the kingdom into something that it is not, and seeing the kingdom as the spiritual earthly reign of Jesus, the Son of God! However premillennialists teach correctly from Scripture that: "Although emphasizing the multitude of material blessings offered in the millennium, the theocratic kingdom is essentially a spiritual kingdom even though it exists in the realm of the earth."14 Such an argument is not made up by premillennialists, it comes from the normal and literal interpretation of the Word of God!
In the kingdom the nation of Israel will be changed and converted and with a spontaneous response will sound forth an inward righteousness and will praise Jehovah their God. They will no more cry a false legalism of days past (cf. Matt. 5:20). Like the earth bringing forth the flower, "the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations" (Isa. 61:11) so that the Jewish nation and its people will be called trees of righteousness and the planting of the Lord. He alone will be glorified (61:3).
FINALLY: IS IT IMPORTANT TO LOOK FOR THE COMING OF THE MESSIANIC KINGDOM?
If our biblical hermeneutics and interpretation is consistent from Genesis to Revelation, the doctrine of the millennial earthly reign of Christ becomes obvious and constitutes a large part of what the Bible teaches. Therefore to not believe in the future millennial kingdom is to outright deny great and numerous passages of the Word of God. It also cuts in half what the Scriptures teach about Jesus Christ. The Lord came the first time to die, and He will come the second time to reign! At some point along the line, it would seem that such scriptural denial and even clear destruction of intended passages, is virtually heretical. It is not good enough to argue, with poor and limp contextual reasoning, that (1) Jesus reigns as "king" in your heart, or (2) that the church has replaced the literal future kingdom, or (3) that all the verses in the Old Testament were only intended to teach some kind of "spiritualized" rule. Too often those in the Reformed camp only fall back on what the Reformers taught. Unfortunately the Reformers simply mouthed the same eschatological views of the Roman Catholic Church. "The Church is the kingdom!" One would hope and expect better of present-day, sincere teachers of the Word of God. One would wish that their ability to properly interpret Scripture would go beyond the limited abilities and views of the Reformation greats! It is not difficult to understand and even sympathize with the Reformation period. The life and death wars of that period were being fought over soteriology and ecclesiology. But Reformed eschatology is stuck in a time warp in which, if Calvin did not teach it, it must not be true!
In summary from my book An Introduction to Classical Evangelical Hermeneutics:
During Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the crowds shouted out
Psalm 118:26: "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
(Mark 11:9). They then added, "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our
father David; Hosanna in the highest!" (v.10). Matthew says that the mob
in their cheering also called Jesus the Son of David (21:9, 15). Messianic
descriptives are also used abundantly in the kingdom parables in Matthew
13. Jesus is called the Son of Man (v. 37), who sows good seed, meaning
"the sons of the kingdom" (v. 38). The kingdom belongs to this Son of
Man (v. 41), and the righteous will shine as the sun in the "kingdom of the
Father" (v. 43). Jesus also called the kingdom "My Father’s kingdom"
(26:29).
Following Christ’s resurrection, He spent forty days "speaking of the things
concerning the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). The disciples must have been
excited about that promised coming reign, because they asked Him, "Lord,
is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" (v. 6). They were
not seeking a new definition for an explanation about that kingdom.
Christ must have confirmed but expanded on information about that
kingdom, much of which the disciples already knew. The doctrinal issue
about the kingdom must surely have already been settled, because they
ask only about the timetable: "Is it at this time You are restoring. …?"
Notice, this kingdom is called the "kingdom of Israel." Early on in
Jesus’ ministry, Nathanael says to Him, "You are the Son of God [a
reference to Psalm 2]; You are the King of Israel" (John 1:49-50). These
titles are repeated by the crowds at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem:
"Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even
the King of Israel" (12:13).
And when Christ was crucified, Pilate, responding to the mood of
some of the Jewish mob, had "King of the Jews" placed as an inscription
over the cross (Mark 15:25). A king certainly suggests a kingdom; some
mocked Jesus on the cross and cried out, "Let this Christ, the King of
Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!"
(v. 32). …
The only point of reference the Jews would have known is the messianic
kingdom and the coming rule of peace that would last for one thousand
years. Jesus presented Himself as the king who fulfilled the kingship role
for that kingdom. He told neither His disciples nor the crowds that they
were mistaken in their perceptions.15
_________________
- Mal Couch, gen. ed., An Introduction to Classical Evangelical Hermeneutics
- Randall Price, Unholy War (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2001), 151.
- David Baron, Israel in the Plan of God (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1983), 283.
- John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom (Findlay, OH: Dunham Publishing, 1959), 64.
- Ibid.
- Ibid., 109.
- Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmillennial Eschatology (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1992), 159.
- Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), viii.
- R. C. Sproul, Jr., "Forward" in Seraiah, End of All Things, 9.
- Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, The End Times Controversy (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2003), 23.
- Ibid., 65.
- Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1979), quoted from.
- Michael Avi-Yonah and Zvi Baras, Society and Religion in the Second Temple Period (Jerusalem: Massada Publishing, 1977), 171.
- J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1964), 481.
- Ibid, 482.
- Mal Couch, gen. ed., An Introduction to Classical Evangelical Hermeneutics, 298-99.
