A Study Of Premillennialism By A Comparison With The Bible DISPENSATIONAL TIMELINE
1948 AD
WHAT PREMILLENNIAL TEACHERS SAY
“In short, the ‘last days’ or the ‘latter days’ usually refer to any point from just prior to the Rapture to the Glorious Appearing itself. While some references may refer to trends during the church age, most of them point to the seven to ten or more years, a period that pinpoints the end of ‘the times of the Gentiles’ to the end of the ‘Great Tribulation’ … ‘The last days,’ ‘the time of the end,’ and ‘the end of the age’ are terms leading up to the 7 year tribulation when this age as we know it comes to an end. It is preceded by the Rapture and followed by the Glorious Appearing”
(Tim LaHaye, Are We Living In The End Times, pg. 18-19) ‘LEFT BEHIND’ AUTHOR
• “No one knows for certain when Christ will return or whether we are really living in the end times. We believe however that Christians living today have more reason than those of any generation before us to believe that Christ could come in our lifetime. For example, all prophecy scholars agree that the generation that saw Israel restored to her land in 1948 could well be the ‘generation that will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”’
• Tim LaHaye (Are We Living In The End Times?) ‘LEFT BEHIND’ AUTHOR
• “When you examine all the ‘signs of the times’ that have been fulfilled in our lifetime, you have to believe the coming of Christ is very near. As Jesus said, ‘Near, even at the doors.’ This generation does indeed have more solid reasons to believe Christ could come in our lifetime than any before us. Yes, we could indeed be living in the end times.”
• Tim LaHaye (Are We Living In The End Times?) HAL LINDSEY SAYS...
• “Since the restoration of Israel as a nation in 1948, we have lived in the most significant period of prophetic history. We are living in the times which Ezekiel predicted in chapters 38 and 39….
“It’s happening. God is putting it all together.”
• Hal Lindsey (The Late Great Planet Earth, p.51, 69) BILLY GRAHAM SAYS...
• “Many writers are predicting that the headlines of the eighties will continue to scream: war, violence, assassinations, torture, World War III - the real war - Armageddon. There is no doubt that global events are preparing the way for the final war of history - the great Armageddon! As the earthly time clock ticks off each second and the world approaches midnight, this planet, according to the Bible, is going to be plunged into suffering too horrible to imagine”
• Billy Graham (“Till Armageddon” pg. 15)
POINTING TO PENTECOST
“This is that”
Joel 2 Isaiah 2 Daniel 2 Acts 2
830 BC 740 BC 600 BC 30 AD JOEL 2
Vs. 28-32 28 "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. ... ACTS 2
14But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, …
16But this is what (this is that - KJV) was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; …
21And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.'
BACKGROUND TO PENTECOST
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:6-8 COMING OF PENTECOST
1 Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting…
Acts 2:1-4 JEWS FROM EVERY NATION
5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven...
12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?"
13 Others mocking said, "They are full of new wine." Acts 2:5-13
THIS IS THAT!
• “This is what was spoken by the prophet
Joel” (NKJ, NIV, RSV, NAS) . • “This is that which was spoken by the
prophet Joel” (KJV, ASV) . • “What you see this morning was predicted centuries ago by the prophet Joel” (TLB) Acts 2:14-16 WONDERS & SIGNS God’s Judgment In History
• Isaiah 13:9-10,13 Judg’t: Babylon • Ezekiel 32:5-8 Judg’t: Egypt • Joel 3:15-16 Judg’t: Israel’s Enemies • Amos 8:9-10 Judg’t: Israel • Micah 1:3-4 Judg’t: Israel & Judah • Matthew 24:29-31 Judg’t: Jerusalem • Acts 2:19-20 Judg’t: Usher in last days IT SHALL COME TO PASS
“And it shall come to pass (i.e. in the last days - vs. 17) Whoever calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved”
When you locate people being saved by calling on the name of the Lord, you then locate “in the last days” GOD’S DETERMINED COUNCIL & FOREKNOWLEDGE
• Acts 2:22-24 Death & Resurrection of Jesus . • Acts 2:25-28 David’s Prophecy (Psa 16:8-11) . • Acts 2:29-36 Interp. Of David’s Prophecy: Christ to die, raised, & reign on David’s throne . • Acts 2:35-36 Jesus reigns as King now! I Cor. 15:24-27 JESUS’ REIGN AS KING
Acts 2:33-34 33 "Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."' TIME FRAME OF JESUS’ REIGN AS KING
1 Cor 15:24-26 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” I COR. 15:24-27 FACTS
• Christ was then reigning
• Reign began at ascension & Pentecost
• At 2nd Coming - delivers up the kingdom! (Note: He does not then begin reign, but ends reign)
• To reign till death destroyed (Jn. 5:28-29)
• All things now under His feet (all authority) PETER USES CHRIST’S KEYS TO OPEN THE KINGDOM
• Acts 2:37-41 (cf Matt. 16:18-19) • Acts 2:37 “What must we do?” • Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized…” • Acts 2:39 “To…as many as Lord calls” • Acts 2:40 “Be saved!” • Acts 2:41 “3000 souls gladly received word” • Acts 2:47 “Lord added to the church (saved)
JOEL’S PROPHECY FULFILLED ISAIAH’S PROPHECY FULFILLED! DANIEL’S PROPHECY FULFILLED ! WE ARE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS
1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. WE ARE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son WE ARE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS
1 Peter 1:20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you WE ARE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS
2 Timothy 3:1-5
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, … WE ARE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS
2 Peter 3:3-4
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? JESUS CHRIST CLIMAX TO WORLD HISTORY
Hebrews 9:26
He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. LAST
• LAST DAYS Acts 2:17 • LAST DAY John 11:24 • LAST HOUR John 5:28
"Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.