Dispy PreMil II: The Definitions

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Before continuing any further, it’s probably best to lay out some definitions so that all interested parties can be clear about exactly what is being discussed here. What do I mean what I say “Dispensational Premillennial”?

There are two primary issues at play here, one that deals with the precise nature of the Millennial Kingdom described in Revelation 20 (as well as throughout the Old Testament prophets) and another that is concerned with how God interacts with His elect people throughout history.

The first issue to be considered is the nature of the Millennial Kingdom. The most relevant passage in the New Testament is Revelation 20:1-6:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and He threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were finished. After these things he must be released for a short time.

Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their witness of Jesus and because of the word of God, and who also had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

The different eschatological camps disagree about the nature of the Millennial Kingdom: will it be a literal, physical reality here on this earth or is it a metaphorical description of Christians during the Church Age? Where does it occur in the chronology of eschatological events? Does the kingdom last for one thousand years or is the length of time indeterminate because of its symbolic nature? Is the kingdom still to come or are we living in it now? Is the kingdom primarily for the nation of Israel or is it representative of Church Age Christians?

The three primary camps* define themselves like this:

Premillennial: Christ will return physically, visibly, and publicly before the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom. At that time, Satan is bound for a literal one-thousand year period and the Kingdom is based in the city of Jerusalem upon the throne of David. This position is based on a straightforward, face-value, literal interpretation of Scripture.

Amillennial: there is no kingdom beyond what is already happening spiritually here and now. According to this view, the Kingdom is synonymous with the Church Age. The events of Revelation have already taken place in history or are otherwise completely figurative and metaphorical. All of the promises to Israel in the Old Testament with regards to the kingdom will be fulfilled by the Church during the Church Age.

Postmillennial: the kingdom is progressively established by the Church through the ministry of the gospel without the physical presence of Christ. The Church hands the kingdom over to Christ, He does not provide it to us. The thousand years is not a literal period but an unspecified span of time. This view is based upon a combination of literal and figurative interpretations of Scripture and disregards a straightforward chronology of Revelation. This position holds that there will be a literal kingdom, but it is for the Church and not for Israel, and it does not include any literal reign of Christ on the earth but only through the hearts of the people of the Church.

The second issue at hand is the nature of God’s interaction with His elect people throughout history. There are two primary divisions here:

Dispensationalism: an interpretive framework that recognizes that God has operated in and through different dispensations throughout history. (“Dispensations” can be understood as different methods or modes of administration, interaction or management; see Ephesians 1:9-10 and 3:1-7, for instance.)

Dispensationalism recognizes seven distinct dispensations found in the Bible: Innocence (Genesis 1:1—3:7), Conscience (Genesis 3:8—8:22), Human Government (Genesis 9:1—11:32), Promise (Genesis 12:1—Exodus 19:25), Law (Exodus 20:1—Acts 2:4), Grace (Acts 2:4—Revelation 20:3), and the Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:4–6).

To say it another way, Dispensationalism recognizes that God interacts with and administers grace to elect believers in the modern day differently than how He did with Adam and Eve, which is also different than how He interacted with Noah, which is also different with how He interacted with Moses and the nation of Israel, and so on. And for clarity’s sake, these dispensations are not different modes of obtaining salvation, which was only and ever by grace through faith. It is simply an understanding that God’s mode of governance and guidance of His people has changed throughout history.

Perhaps the most significant ramification of this theological system is the distinction dispensationalists hold between the institution of Israel and the Church. Again, while both are only ever saved by grace through faith, there is forever and always a distinction between God’s covenant people of Israel and those saved now during the Church Age. While God’s elect in both of these groups share the faith of Abraham and thus receive the blessings of forgiveness, redemption and eternal life with Christ and God, there is a unique plan of restoration in store for national, ethnic Israel that was promised throughout the Old Testament prophets which finds its realization in the still-yet-to-come events described in the book of Revelation. (More on all of this later.)

Covenantalism: an interpretive framework that sees the interaction of God and men primarily through the lens of two covenants: the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant of Works was original and conditional: if Adam and Even kept the commands of God, they would live. They did not, and so God instituted the Covenant of Grace, in which He offers forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation to those who have failed to uphold the Covenant of Works. All of the specific covenants described in the Bible (Abrhamaic, Davidic, Mosaic, New) are extensions of these two more universal covenants.

Given this framework and its convictions that these covenants all find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, Covenant Theology teaches that Israel is the Church and the Church is Israel. If the elect people of God are united by sharing in the faith of Abraham, then there is no remaining distinction based on ethnicity. This notion has sometimes been referred to as Replacement Theology, Fulfillment Theology or Supersessionism.

The implications of these teachings are that the prophecies made in the Old Testament in regards to a future restoration of the kingdom of Israel are all metaphorically referring to the New Testament Church and that the events of Revelation can likewise not be understood literally.

So, by describing myself as a Dispy PreMil, I am essentially saying this: I believe in the different dispensations of God throughout history as described in the Bible, a literal, straightforward understanding of the prophecies of scripture in both the Old and New Testaments, and a distinction between the Church and Israel. What flows naturally from this position is a belief in a future rapture event, a literal seven-year Tribulation and a restoration of the kingdom of Israel to the Jews with the Messiah physically reigning on the throne of David in Jerusalem.

And then the advent of the New Heavens and the New Earth, colloquially understood as the eternal state of Heaven.

All this and more is what I intend to argue for and demonstrate from scripture as these posts continue.

One final word: unlike so many in the amillennial and postmillennial camps these days, I refuse to indict those who sincerely disagree with my eschatological positions as heretics, unbelievers or cultists. God-fearing, Bible-believing Christ-honoring Christians belong to each of these camps. Prophecy and eschatology is, by nature, a gray area. We, like the men who wrote the prophecies down in the first place, do not understand everything God intends to do or just how He intends to do it. None of us knows the future beyond what He has revealed and He has not revealed everything.

Nonetheless, the rhetoric around this issue has grown increasingly heated and the smug condescension with which myself and others who believe as I do have been treated lately is inexcusable. This particular series will attempt to build a case for the biblical justification of the Dipsy PreMil position and answer those who would relegate us to hell for holding to it.

I believe those who disagree with me on these issues are wrong and I intend to demonstrate why. But I do not believe being wrong on this issue costs you your salvation.

* (There is a fourth noteworthy eschatological position known as Historic Premillennial. While it believes in a thousand-year Messianic kingdom and that the prophetic events of the New Testament are still to come, it joins with the amillennial and postmillennial camps in believing that the Church is the new, true, real Israel. Thus, it parts ways with Dispensational Premillennialism by reading the events of Revelation and the promises of the Old Testament prophets as being about the Church.)

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