“The amillennialist is bound to argue for a conditional covenant and a spiritualized fulfillment, so that the throne on which Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father becomes the “throne” of the covenant, the household of faith becomes the “house” of the covenant, and the church becomes the “kingdom” of the covenant.” [Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology]
First a few definitions:
Christian Eschatology is the study of what the Bible says is going to happen in the end times
Hermeneutics is the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary texts.
Premillennialism teaches that the Second coming will occur before a literal thousand-year reign of Christ from Jerusalem upon the earth thus fulfilling the Davidic Covenant. Hermeneutics here are a literal view of the Word of God.
Amillennialism is a rejection of the belief that Jesus will have a literal, thousand-year-long, physical reign on the earth, that Christ is now sitting on the throne of David and that this present church age is the kingdom over which Christ reigns.
Postmillennialism teaches that this world will become better eventually becoming “Christianized.” After this happens, Christ will return. Rather than becoming a “better” world, the world is chaotic with many of the Islam faith torturing and murdering Christians. There have been cases of actual crucifixion of the followers of Christ who would not renounce Him and swear allegiance to Allah.
Both Amillennialism and Postmillennialism are indicative of a weak Hermeneutics.
Many church leaders either willfully or through ignorance practice a weak Hermeneutics leading them to claim that the Everlasting Covenants God made with Israel has passed to the church though Replacement Theology:
1. Israel forfeited her promises when she rejected her Messiah
2. The promises to Abraham passed to the Church
3. All the Old Testament covenants were conditional
Replacement theology makes the claim that as Israel forfeited the promises/ covenants made to her by God and these passed to the Church which became “spiritual Israel.” The concept of replacement theology marginalizes Israel and the Jewish people making it easier for the world to turn its back on the Jews, most notably during the Holocaust.
As an aside, the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is about two eight-year-old boys who became friends though on opposite sides of a fence surrounding a concentration camp. In another KI class I suggested that these boys were ultimate victims of replacement theology.
http://sallycp-inthebeginninggod.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-boy-in-striped-pajamas-ultimate.html
For the Jew, Replacement Theology lead to the Holocaust. Today, anti-Semitism is very prevalent and the UN is hostile to Israel and sympathetic to the Palestinians. For the Christian, Replacement Theology indicates that God cannot be trusted to keep His word to Israel. Carrying this to its logical conclusion, can Christians expect Him to keep his word to us and honor our salvation?
As a further aside, the following is extracted from a post written shortly before the presidential election of 2012:
“Our current administration seems to be disengaging itself from Israel so come Election Day, the most pro-Israel candidates get my vote. As for the Judgment of Nations, “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:”’
Fast forward to 2016, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to be far more supportive of Israel so perhaps the United States has dodged the bullet of God’s wrath for now. I am praying that President-elect Trump will convince Congress to finally moved our embassy to Jerusalem. This was supposed to have been done some time ago but our country just seems to lack the courage. Hopefully this is the time.
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