HOW DID YOU COME TO POSTMILLENNIALISM?

Uncategorized August 17, 2018 Comments: 5

PMW 2018-066 by PostmillennialWordlview readers

On  Facebook I recently asked postmillennial friends to give a brief statement regarding how they came to postmillennialism. Here are several of their testimonies. God uses different means for reaching different people!

Hector Falcon
I read the Great Commission and considered its extent with regard to the mission of the church. We have our mission statement given by Jesus prior to him returning to the father’s side. We work to complete that mission and extending God’s kingdom on earth until we die in this life.

 

 

Postmillennialism
By Keith Mathison
The promises of the gospel offer hope of a brighter future for the families and nations of the earth. Mathison’s an optimistic eschatology supported by biblical, historical, and theological considerations.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

 

Caesar Arevelo
I have been evangelical for more than twenty years and youth pastor for five years, during that time I was dispensationalist. As evangelical I worked with different denominations including Pentecostal and Baptist churches. All of these groups espoused a pre-millennial dispensationalist view of eschatology. However, things started changing after came to my hands reformed literature. Continue reading →

GATHERING THE ELECT (2)

Matthew 24, Olivet Discourse August 14, 2018 Comments: 9

PMW 2018-065 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

In my last article I introduced a “problem” that arises in some Christians’ minds regarding the first-century fulfillment of the opening section of the Olivet Discourse. One problem that confuses many is Matt. 24:31, which reads:

“And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

We must note that just three verses later Jesus unequivocally declares: “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matt. 24:34). This clearly demands that the statement before us must come to pass in the first century. And as we shall see, so it does! Continue reading →

GATHERING THE ELECT (1)

Matthew 24, Olivet Discourse August 10, 2018 1 Comment

PMW 2018-064 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

The Olivet Discourse is a fascinating eschatological discourse given by the Lord to his disciples. It is the largest discourse of Christ recorded in Matthew (Matt. 24:4–25:46), the only one given over to issues beyond the temporal boundaries of Matthew’s storyline (which ends shortly after Christ’s resurrection, Matt. 28:1–7), and is his last (therefore, climactic) discourse in Matthew (Matt. 26:1). Hence, for Matthew it is clearly significant for his theological point (which I will be discussing in a new book I am working on, see note at the end of this article).

The key to understanding the first portion of the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24:4–35) is to recognize its local, first-century focus. We see this from several angles: (1) The Discourse is prompted by Jesus’s declaration of the approaching destruction of the temple (Matt. 24:2), which we know happened in AD 70. (2) It is clearly a local event, for the tribulation surrounding it can be escaped by fleeing from Judea (Matt. 24:16). And (3) it will happen to the first-century generation of Jesus and his disciples (Matt. 24:34), the same generation in which the Pharisees resisted Christ’s earthly ministry (Matt. 23:36; cf. vv. 29–35). I have dealt abundantly with the Olivet Discourse in other blog articles.

However, some Christians become confused because of Matthew 24:31. Continue reading →

CULTURAL ELITES AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Culture, Ethics, morality, Worldview August 7, 2018 Leave a comment

PMW 2018-063 by Alastair Roberts (The Gospel Coaliton)

Gentry introduction:
The postmillennial worldview expects a time in which righteousness and peace will spread across the globe (Isa. 11:9). This will result from the gospel making its way more deeply into the hearts of men and more fully into human society and culture (John 3:17). But though our world is instant-this, freeze-dried that, biblical eschatology operates slowly over the long term. Just as the first promise of the gospel occurred thousands of years before Christ (Gen. 3:15) and finally came to fruition in his birth, just so the progress of the gospel promised in both testaments only gradually moves toward victory.

Recently we have been witnessing the wholesale and seemingly unrelenting collapse of morality and virtue in world culture. And this is occurring in America, which claims that it is “One Nation Under God” so that our motto has been “In God We Trust.” The radical leftist agenda has asserted itself and has won the day in terms of the homosexual movement. Of course, God is greater than our sin, and greater than all sinners (1 John 4:4). So this too will pass for Christ has promised: “if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32).

But in the meantime, we do well to arm ourselves with knowledge of the situation transpiring around us so that we might understand and expose the works of darkness (Eph. 5:11). This review article of an important secular work on our cultural collapse provides us valuable insights that we would do well to notice.

Continue reading →

ISRAEL FULFILLED IN THE CHURCH

Church, Israel, Matthew 24 July 27, 2018 1 Comment

PMW 2018-060 by R. T. France

Gentry introductory note:
In my last blog posting I presented several chapters from R. T. France’s important book, Jesus and the Old Testament. That posting dealt with the transitional function of Mark 13:32 and Matt. 24:36, showing Jesus shifting his focus on the destruction of the temple in “this generation” to the final judgment on “that day.”

In this posting post material appearing just a few pages later, showing that the Christian church typologically fulfills the hope of Israel. These few observation provide us with a wealth of understanding of the relationship of the Church to Israel.

The following is taken from p. 238 of France’s, Jesus and the Old Testament.

So without further comment, here is R. T. France on Mark 13:27/Matt. 24:31:

Continue reading →

OLIVET’S TRANSITION VERSE RE-VISITED

AD 70, Olivet Discourse, Second Coming July 24, 2018 Comments: 2

PMW 2018-059 by R. T. France

Gentry introductory note:
As I am researching my commentary on Matthew 21–25 (the contextual unit in which the Olivet Discourse appears in Matthew), I have stumbled across a helpful older work by R. T. France: Jesus and the Old Testament. (By the way, I literally stumbled over this work: I already owned, it was in my library, and it fell out when I reached for another book.)

In the Appendix to his study, he gives a brief exegesis of Mark 13, which argues for a transition from AD 70 to the Final Judgment (just as I argue in my work on Matt. 24

He puts the matter well, so I will share it with my readers.

So now, let us hear R. T. France on Mark 13 and the transition from Jesus’ prophecy regarding AD 70 to his prophecy of the Final Judgment. The following is taken from Jesus and the Old Testament  (p. 232): Continue reading →

OLIVET REVISITED

AD 70, Matthew 24, Olivet Discourse, Revelation July 20, 2018 Comments: 6

PMW 2018-058 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

The Olivet Discourse is a key eschatological passage in the New Testament (which appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke). In Matthew, it is not only Jesus’ last discourse, but the largest (Matt. 24:3–25:46). Matthew, therefore, sets it as the climax of Jesus’ teaching, which underscores its significance.

I have a special interest in Olivet. This can be seen in that I have written several works dealing with Olivet: Continue reading →