Prewrath Resource Institute,
I recently read Marvin Rosenthal’s book, The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church. The book was well written and I consider myself thoroughly convinced of his position. I greatly appreciate the labor and sacrifice represented by the book.
I am one of those who was previously convinced of the pre-tribulation rapture. I was convinced because every pastor and every spiritual mentor I’ve ever looked up to has been adamant about that position. It served as a litmus test between orthodoxy and heresy. This prevailing attitude was addressed in the book, so I know you understand. This attitude was deeply ingrained in me as well. If it were not for the high esteem I already held for the author, I wouldn’t have “wasted my time” reading the book.
I was impressed by the way Rosenthal laid out scripture after scripture in a way that gave corrected definitions to terms like, Day of the Lord, wrath, tribulation, Coming (parousia), seals, bowls, and trumpets. As prophetic passages were laid out alongside each other, the scheduling of events was made evident. As I read these passages now, it seems so clear that scripture teaches only one second coming of the Lord.
Thank you for your ministry.
Sincerely,
Douglas Fox
Maryville, TN
Monthly Archives
July 2008
Amillennialist Jason Robertson of the FIDE-O blog (who I otherwise enjoy reading on other subjects) was asked on his blog if he ever studied Prewrath. His response was this:
[Yes] I studied the Prewrath view and found it seriously lacking biblical continuity. It denies the New Covenant, it denies the kingdom of God, it denies the glory of the exalted enthroned Christ, it denies the Book of Hebrews, it denies the Gospel of John, it denies the Book of Romans, it denies the sermons of Peter in Acts, and it completely interprets Revelation wrongly for it doesn’t even understand that the “wrath” described in Revelation is a covenantal wrath against the covenant breakers of old Israel and was poured out upon it in the first century just as Jesus promised.
For a second there I thought he was going to say that prewrath even denies God’s existence!
Premillennial Nuggets – A Plea to Amillennialists to Read Revelation 20:1-6 in Context
written by Alan Kurschner
Inevitably, when the discussion of Premill versus Amill is broached, the text “Revelation 20:1-6” is invoked. This is unfortunate because that is not where the passage begins, so the amill proponent (and sadly the premill can do this as well) dives right in the middle of the passage ignoring what precedes it. The immediate passage begins back in Revelation 19:11. In other words the passage under consideration should not be “Revelation 20:1-6” but rather “Revelation 19:11-20:10.” Chapter breaks are not inspired. And in this case, the “Chapter 20” break is bifurcating the whole passage giving the impression that the subject begins at Chapter 20:1. This is one of the causes of confusion regarding the millennial debate.
This passage includes the destiny of the “three enemies of God” — the Beast, False prophet, and then the Dragon, Satan. It is essential to note that the event that precedes this destiny of the enemies of God is the victory of Christ and the armies of heaven over the nations (vv. 11-18) Then the result of this victory of what follows after is the doom and destiny of the three enemies of God.
So here is the outworking of this text: Christ and the armies of heaven have victory over the nations; the result of this is that both the beast and false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire; then, rather than Satan being thrown in the lake of fire along with the beast and false prophet, his doom is delayed one thousand years for the purpose of not deceiving the nations. So for the Amillennialist to place the starting point of the one thousand years at Christ’s first Coming is simply unintelligible and unwarranted to the text.
Speaking of the nations, it should be observed carefully that v. 15 states that the “nations” were struck down, and to assure that the nations do not rise up again, it is said that the purpose of Satan being bound for a thousand years is “to keep him from deceiving the nations.” Do you see the reasoning there? The Amill has it backwards, they claim that Satan is bound before Christ and the armies of heaven strike down the nations. That is an absurd and tortured reading of the text. The nations are struck down by Christ and the armies, and to assure that they do not rise up again during the one thousand years, Satan is bound.
This is clearly all in the context of the result of God’s judgment at his Second Coming. To read or infer that Satan’s binding happens at Christ’s First coming is demonstrably indicative of Tradition and is not handling the context rightly. Further, in this entire passage, the Greek has a set of consecutive “kais” (ands). In other words, there is no indication of an interruption in this text. The destiny of the three enemies of God are to be viewed as a unit, not to be disconnected with lifting the binding of Satan from the text and placing it at Christ’s First Coming.
So the next time you are in a discussion with an Amill and they begin the discussion at Revelation 20:1 challenge them and insist that they back up to where the context begins, which is in verse 19:11 with the victory over the nations and the two previous enemies of God.
Context, Context, Context.
ISTANBUL, July 3 (Compass Direct News) – After four weeks in police custody, Iranian Christian Mohsen Namvar was released “temporarily” last week to return to his home in Tehran. A doctor summoned to Namvar’s home after his release last Thursday (June 26) administered medicines and serum to treat the badly beaten prisoner. Arrested on May 31 from his home in Tehran, the convert from Islam was kept incommunicado until his release. “They put a great deal of pressure on his body and his mind,” an Iranian Christian told Compass. “No one knows exactly what they did to him during those four weeks.” Noting that government authorities know a great deal about Namvar’s Christian activities and want to punish him, the source said, “We praise the Lord that they have not killed him.” Last week local secret police authorities demanded that Namvar’s family put up just over US$43,000 in bail to secure his release. When relatives requested a receipt for the cash they handed over, police refused. “Don’t say anything,” a police official reportedly ordered them. “Give thanks to God that we are not keeping him under arrest.”
(H.T. J.W.)
Older Posts