What is dispensationalism and why do I not believe in it?

Question

Well.....LOL....I will quote from an answer someone gave to a previous question about the end times.....

"Because Gods prophetic stopwatch STOPPED two thousand years ago when He SET ASIDE the Nation Israel and began the "preaching of Jesus Christ ACCORDING to the REVELATiON Of the mystery...." We are now in the age of GRACE and Gods stopwatch will again start ticking prophetically AFTER we who are the church, the Body of Christ , are taken OUT of this world by Christ when He comes for US in the air.

THEN the end times will begin and all the prophetic events will continue to be fulfilled.

The RAPTURE must take place FIRST, before the end times of prophecy are again put into play. "

None of this is from the Bible...The only sources that back this up are FICTIONAL novels such as the "Left Behind" books. For 25 or more years I believed this nonsesne and I started studying on my own. I now realize that none of this is true. What do you think?

Answer 1

Friend, you are not alone.

The current wildly popular Judaic Premillenialism (my term) is waaaaay off base, in my humble opinion.

god bless

Answer 2

Correct...

The current pop-theology "rapture" is an INVALID INTERPRETATION of scripture. Figurative language can not be properly interpreted in a manner which contradicts clear language. To that end, the clear language of 2Peter 3 must take precedence, thus voiding the "rapture" interpretation.

2Peter 3:7 BY GOD’S WORD THE HEAVENS AND EARTH OF TODAY ARE BEING RESERVED FOR FIRE. They are being kept for the day when God will judge. Then ungodly people will be DESTROYED.
8 Dear friends, here is one thing you must not forget. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years. And a thousand years are like a day.
9 The Lord is not slow to keep his promise. He is not slow in the way some people understand it. He is patient with you. He doesn’t want anyone to be DESTROYED. Instead, he wants all people to turn away from their sins.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. THE HEAVENS WILL DISAPPEAR WITH A ROAR. FIRE WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING IN THEM. God will judge the earth and everything in it.
11 So EVERYTHING WILL BE DESTROYED. And what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives.
12 Live like that as you look forward to the day of God. It will make the day come more quickly. ON THAT DAY FIRE WILL DESTROY THE HEAVENS. ITS HEAT WILL MELT EVERYTHING IN THEM.

At issue here is the NATURE of Jesus' kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Messiah. By Jesus' own words, his kingdom IS NOT AN EARTHBOUND ENTITY (Jn 18:36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”) AND CAME INTO BEING DURING THE APOSTLES' LIFETIMES (Mk 9:1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”)

... The "1000 year reign" of Revelation is FIGURATIVE and seems to be GOING ON RIGHT NOW since Jesus is already reigning. This means that the "kingdom" was never meant to be a LITERAL EARTHLY KINGDOM, but is SPIRITUAL IN NATURE. Such a view does not impact on the fulfillment of the Revelation prophecy, except to the extent that those who are expecting all of the things described to be yet future events are looking for the wrong things.

How does this IMPACT Christians living in the 21st century? ... Just like those living in the first century, see verses 11 and 12 of 2Peter 3: "... What kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives. Live like that as you look forward to the day of God."

Answer 3

A rapture is not mentioned in the bible. A lot of people think that the book of Thessalonians describes the rapture but they are misinterpreting the meaning. Even if there was something that resembled a rapture it would have to be after the tribulation. The language " in the ( air )" and " in the (cloud(s)" are expressions coined by the writer and is used by Him in other parts of the bible and do not mean anything close to a rapture.

Answer 4

Grace unto you, and peace,
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's been too late for any rapture theories since 2003.
The last (not just past) millennium had two endings;
One was the false ending, and it was called Y2K.
Such notably had a 3 1/2 years (42 mos) countdown.
Such began counting down June 1996 from Grenwich.

So pre-trib rapture theory would be pre-1996,
Mid-trib rapture theory would be Dec 1999,
Post-trib rapture theory would be June 2003

Not to mention what JC said of trib in Mt 24:21b:
was not since time began, no, nor ever shall be.
Such gives it(d-evil: law) no place(2nd finished).

Not to mention we're JC exhorted: endure to the end,
and also Peter exhorted: hasten unto the day of God.

For Revelation notably takes place on the Sabbath,
notable by seven benedictions mentioned therein,
which were spoken on the 7th day; 18 on other days.
And "third day" in John 1 & 2 is the 7th when counting.

It's the third day: the last day, Sabbath shewdown:
The day of the LORD <----vs---> The day of God,
pendulum swing, for ww comparison of law & grace.
Amos: the day of the LORD is darkness and not light.
To what end is it unto you? Obviously a dark-end,
which Nostra-dam-us called lights out... death.

Thank God the word "worst" doesn't occur in the NT.
But "worse" does, in connection with "seven spirits".

No matter, the end whereby all are saved(graced) only
is already Pauline written in every epistle, includ'g Rev,
and notably signed by his own hand, as his token,
which is allegorically the ticket to heaven above.

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ WITH YOU ALL. AMEN

Answer 5

Dispensationalism is a system of theology that has two primary distinctives. (1) A consistently literal interpretation of Scripture, especially Bible prophecy. (2) A distinction between Israel and the Church in God's program.

(1) Dispensationalists claim that their principle of hermeneutics is that of literal interpretation. "Literal interpretation" means giving each word the meaning it would commonly have in everyday usage. Symbols, figures of speech and types are all interpreted plainly in this method, and they are in no way contrary to literal interpretation. Even symbolisms and figurative sayings have literal meanings behind them.

Answer 6

What do you think?

I think that the Bible teaches that God's "chosen people" were expanded to include Gentiles and that the Christian church is actually a sect of Judaism that recognizes that the promised Messiah has already come and instituted a new covenant with mankind.

Hebrew Names Version

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Messiah. 14 For he is our shalom (peace), who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, 15 having abolished in the flesh the hostility, the Torah of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making shalom; 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.

17 He came and preached shalom to you who were far off and to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones, and of the household of God, 20 being built on the foundation of the emissaries and prophets, Messiah Yeshua himself being the chief cornerstone; 21 in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

...and that the "catching up" or "rapture" will occur when Jesus returns on the Lord's Day.

Matthew 24:29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

Answer 7

God never changes. He is always the same.
But this unchanging God has different ways of dealing with different men throughout the course of history. God deals with different men at different times in different ways! God did not deal with the Apostle Paul in the same way that He dealt with Abraham. God was merciful to both of these men and God saved both of these men and God will spend eternity with both of these men, but God did not deal with these two men in the same way. These two men lived at different times in history and they had different responsibilities and obligations before God. The same could be said about Noah and Solomon. God dealt differently with these two men. Noah's responsibility was to build an ark. Solomon lived hundreds of years later and his responsibility was to build a temple.

Answer 8

Could it be because you are smarter than the dumb *** that does?


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