The next in Kens series n Dispensationalism Redemptive History Errors in Dispensationalism GTS 13:063 The Holy Spirit’s work I am continuing an analysis of redemptive history errors within dispensationalism. This is part of a broader study of the three leading distortions in the classic dispensational system. In dispensationalism the Gospel’s Church age labor among the Jews becomes a relative failure. During the future Tribulation, the Gospel will be dramatically successful, among the Jews, only after all Christians and the Holy Spirit are removed from the world! Ryrie speaks of the removal of the Holy Spirit and the Church from the earth prior to the Tribulation: "If the restrainer, the Holy Spirit, is to be removed before the tribulation. . . then the Church also must be taken out of the world.[1] But surprsingly, Pentecost mentions the conversion of "all Israel" during the Tribulation: "God uses many different means to bring ‘all Israel’ to salvation during the seventieth week."[2] Yet the Scriptures teach that one of the glorious advances of the New Testament era is the magnified presence of the Holy Spirit, Who will bring great blessing, not be a stumbling block to Jewish conversion. "Thus it is written. . . that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. . . . But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be enclued with power from on high" (Luke 24:46–49). In Acts 1:8 He said: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." They were prepared for this in Acts 2:17: "I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. . . . And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." In fact, the Great Commission teaches that until the end of the age Christ will be with us to see that we "make disciples of" and "baptize" "all nations" (Matt. 28:19). The Sacrificial System Another failure of the dispensationalist’s understanding of redemptive history regards the rebuilding of the Temple and re-establishing of the sacrificial system in the future millennial kingdom (though they see these sacrifices as only memorial). Ryrie writes: "The temple is yet to be built and the sacrificial system reestablished during the millennium."[3] This is based on their literalistic understanding of Ezekiel 40ff. But the New Testament teaches the temple is spiritual. Thus, dispensationalism involves a serious retrogression. 1 Corinthians 3:16 reads: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?" 1 Corinthians 6:19 asks: "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" 2 Corinthians 6:16 concurs: "Ye are the temple of the living God." The age-long building of this temple is mentioned in Ephesians 2:21-22: It "grows into a holy temple in the Lord" for we "are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Each of us is a living stone, for 1 Peter 2:5 says: "You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house." Inherent Zionism A final redemptive-historical error in dispensationalism is its inherent racial prejudice in favoring the Jews above even saved Gentiles during the millennium. As such it re-introduces the distinction between Jew and Gentile and replaces faith with race as a basis for divine favor. Please note this from several dispensationalists: Ryrie: "Three groups of people will be related to the millennial government. Israel, regathered and turned to the Lord in salvation, will be exalted, blessed, and favored throughout the period."3 Pentecost: "The Gentiles will be Israel’s servants during that age. . . . The Gentiles that are in the millennium will have experienced conversion prior to admission."[4] Walvoord speaks of: "Israel’s restoration and exaltation in the millennial kingdom"[5] Hoyt: "The redeemed living nation of Israel, regenerated and regathered to the land, will be head over all the nations of earth....... So he exalts them above the Gentile nations....... On the lowest level there are the saved, living, Gentile nations."[6] Dave Hunt: "The Messiah ruling the world from the throne of David and with national Israel restored to its place of supremacy over the nations’s But with the establishment of the New Testament phase of the Church, the distinction between Jew and Gentile has been abolished. This was the whole point of Peter’s vision of the sheet filled with unclean animals in Acts 10: What God has called clean, let no man call unclean. Thus, there is no separate Jewish program exalting them over saved Gentiles. The Church, which includes Jew and Gentile in one body, is the fruition and culmination of God’s promises to the Jews. Christians are called by distinctively Jewish names in the New Testament. "He is a Jew, which is one inwardly" (Rom. 2:29). Christians are called "the circumcision" (Phil. 3:3), "the children" and "the seed of Abraham" (Gal. 3:7, 29), the "Jerusalem which is above" and the "children of the promise" (Gal. 4:24-29). In fact, Christians compose "the Israel of God" for we are a "new creature" regarding which "circumcision avails nothing" (Gal. 6:16). Conclusion The second class of dispensational distortions, which I have finished surveying here, evidences a clear retrogression and error in the dispensational view of redemptive history. And since dispensationalism is thought to be a tool for redemptive-historical analysis, this is a most serious deficiency. In the next newsletter, I will highlight some of their contemporary history errors. Footnotes 1. Charles C. Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Bros., 1953), 144. 2. J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958). 263. 3. Ryrie, Basis of the Premillennial Faith, 151. 4. Pentecost. Things to Come, 508. 5. Walvoord, The Rapture Question, 65. 6. Herman Hoyt, "Dispensational Premillennialism" in Robert G. Clouse, ed., The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1977), 81. 7. Dave Hunt, Whatever Happened to Heaven? (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House, 1988), 246.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 12:36:12 +0000