A Classic Premillenial Eschatology by Dieter Thom Version 3/5/2013 © Dieter Thom Reprint Permission [email protected] http://dieterthom.wordpress.com has the latest revision of this ongoing work. For private use only, not for commercial distribution. Not to be sold for profit. SHORT EXCERPTS OF SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. COPYRIGHT©1982 BY THOMAS NELSON, INC. USED BY PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. www.thomasnelson.com EXTENDED EXCERPTS OF SCRIPTURE QUOTED BY PERMISSION. QUOTATIONS ARE FROM THE NET BIBLE® COPYRIGHT © 2005 BY BIBLICAL STUDIES PRESS, L.L.C. www.bible.org ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1 A Classic Premillennial Eschatology Contents Page 1. About the Author 3 2. An Introduction to Christian Eschatology 4 3. The Main Views of End Times Prophecy 8 4. Basic Approaches in Prophetic Hermeneutics 13 5. The Seven Letters to the Churches of the Book of Revelation 15 6. The Great Tribulation Chronology of the Book of Revelation 19 7. The Synoptic Gospel Narrative Accounts of Jesus’ Prophecies 28 8. The Gospel, Apostasy and Israel in the Plan of God 33 9. The Antichrist and His Kingdom 37 10. Integrating Daniel’s Last Two Chapters 45 11. The Temple of God 49 12. The Great Prostitute 57 13. The One World System 78 14. The Name and Mark of the Beast 88 15. The Battle of Armageddon 95 16. The Rapture of the Saints 98 17. The Millennial Kingdom of Christ 103 18. Conclusion 113 19. Recommended Further Reading 115 2 A Classic Premillennial Eschatology 1. About the Author ‘Eschatology’ is the study of ‘final things’. The author is a reluctant ‘eschatologist’, a cautious student of ‘final things’. The last thing that he ever wanted to do was to write a book on such a controversial topic as ‘the end times’. Born again in 1982 at the age of 12, he has spent all his adult life passionately studying the Bible. After a few years of reading prophecy from various views he shelved the possibility of understanding ‘end times’ events. In the last few years, however, God has given him a renewed interest in the subject, and, he believes, greater understanding. Although it has been a difficult task, this book is the fruit of hundreds of hours of labor to understand the prophetic scriptures. Even if you disagree with him overall or in parts, this book is a useful reference tool to guide the inductive and deductive study of the prophetic scriptures. Both of these approaches will be used in this book. The author has collected thousands of books on End Times prophecy, most of them ebooks freely available on the internet. Many of them date from as far back as the nineteenth century, and some even further. English, German, Dutch and Afrikaans writers have been consulted. These include nearly a thousand Historicist, five hundred Dispensational, hundreds of Preterist, over a hundred Adventist, a hundred Futurist, some Idealist, and hundreds of other unclassified commentaries. The author initially was taught the Idealist view, adopted the Dispensational view promoted by the majority of popular books on the topic, but then embraced the Historicist view a few years later. His careful study of Scripture has since led him to a Classic/Covenantal/Historic Premillenial view of end times prophecy, which is essentially a combination of Historicist or Futurist, and Premillennial thinking. An extensive list of more than 600 Classic Premillennial works and authors over the past 500 years is given at the end of this book for reference. The reader needs to understand that this book is non-dispensational, post-tribulational, pre-wrath and premillennial in perspective. In other words, it teaches that the church will go through the Great Tribulation, be raptured just before the final wrath of God on the earth at the Battle of Armageddon, and return at Jesus’ Second Coming with His glorified saints that will inaugurate the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth. It seeks to prepare the people of God to be ready to go through the challenges of the Great Tribulation and be ready for when Jesus comes again. It is hoped that you will enjoy the studying of this book and be challenged by its contents. Your thoughtful feedback, criticisms and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The author is prepared to change his views if you can find a better interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures than is presented here. This is a work in progress, so please contact him for the most recent update and revision. No one will understand the prophetic scriptures fully or perfectly, but we can be helped by the careful contemplation of what multitudes of godly Christians have written and taught. At the end of the day, it is the Bible alone that can be our guiding light. Don’t simply accept what this book teaches. “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thess. 5:21) 3 A Classic Premillennial Eschatology 2. An Introduction to Christian Eschatology “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:13). The last four words of Daniel are “end of the days”, and is the only place in the Bible that uses it. It refers to the end of time or ‘End Times’, as they are popularly known in Christian circles. Eschatology is the study of ‘final things’. The “Last Days” The Bible uses the term “last days” in a number of passages. What does “last days” actually mean? Is it the same at the end times or ‘end of the days’? 1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self- control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Tim. 3:1 - 5) 1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (Heb. 1:1&2) These two passages were written in the first century A. D., several years after the ascension of Jesus, and during the time of the Apostles. That was around 2000 years ago. According to these passages the ‘last days’ began then. The ‘last days’ will end when He comes again. We must be careful when we interpret these passages. They refer to the time between Jesus’ First and Second coming, not just to the ‘End Times’. Joel’s Original Prophecy 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. 30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 32 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls. (Joel 2:28-32) To what ‘days’ does Joel’s prophecy refer? The ‘End of the Days’ or the ‘Last Days’? 4 A Classic Premillennial Eschatology Peter Quotes Joel’s Prophecy 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what 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; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.’ (Acts 2:14-21) Peter said all these words on the Day of Pentecost (vs 14 - 16) in the first century, nearly 2000 years ago. He said “this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel” (vs 16). So, what happened on the Day of Pentecost was a prophetic fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. Clearly vs 17 & 18 of Joel’s prophecy were fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, the start of the ‘last days’. What about vs 19 – 21 of Joel’s prophecy? The Book of Revelation and other Scriptures, tell us that it will be fulfilled at the end of the ‘last days’ (Is.