Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, what are some of the differences that we can observe between the perspective on end times of post-millennialism and the current popular view in most churches, which has the technical name dispensational premillennialism, but that's a mouthful, isn't it? If these terms are a bit foreign to you, post-millennialism or dispensational premillennialism, or maybe you are thoroughly familiar with them, either way, bear with me as I explain them.

And I also invite you to join us where we explain in even greater detail, we've been having a lot of fun doing it too, our midweek book study on Thursday evening where we're discussing some of these contrasts, especially we want to bring forward to you a position that has not been very well represented in the past few decades when it comes to eschatology, when it comes to last things, and that is post-millennialism.

When it comes to end times prophecy, I find that so many Christians are unaware of any other understanding of what the Bible teaches than what they've been taught in their contemporary churches, and it really does make a difference in how we live. For example, making a difference in how you live, just for an example, does it make a difference when you plan for time and expenses if the house you're going to build will be there for a hundred years or only ten?

Or does it make a difference in how you will prepare physically and spiritually if you will have to fight an enemy in a long, protected war, or if there will be an escape hatch through which you can exit? Huh? By analogy, I submit to you, we can say that the Christian, by his view of end times, will live differently than someone else who holds a different view than his. And make no mistake about it, dear listener, God will hold all of us accountable for how we have lived and used our time and resources on behalf of his kingdom.

In fact, our Lord tells us via parable that even his second coming will involve our stewardship of what we've been given. In speaking of his own return, our Lord says in Matthew 25, for it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. And of course, the parable goes on.

After settling accounts with the servants, we see finally our Lord says, for to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into utter darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Pretty serious business.

It makes a difference in how we live and how the church ministers in the world. If we think we'll only be here a few more years at best until the rapture, or if we think that the church may well be here not only for the 2,000 years it already has been, but for maybe another 2,000 or 20,000 years. Well, that, in a nutshell, is the difference between how the church has always viewed Christ's return and how the modern church has viewed Christ's return. The difference between post-millennialism and the popular view today, dispensational pre-millennialism.

If you think that things are getting so bad that Antichrist is about to be revealed, and the Great Tribulation is about to start, why work to bring about lasting change in society, huh? In fact, Hal Lindsey used to say that those trying to build a Christian society were only hindering Christ's return, which could only come about, his return could only come about when things got so bad that Christ had to step in at the last minute at the Battle of Armageddon and save the world, right? That is, in fact, the majority view in most evangelical churches today, including those in Southeast Idaho and, I dare say, in your church, perhaps.

But we have to ask ourselves, if we're going to be honest, is this eschatology of defeat what the Bible really teaches? To answer that question, let me lay out several contrasts and comparisons between what is taught in your church today, most likely. I won't presume to say that's exactly what your church is teaching. But most churches are indeed teaching, and what the church has taught really for centuries and centuries, and will at some point return to teaching again, perhaps for centuries more. And this will happen when we finally wake up from the ungodly obsession with our end times that I call the pagan impulse for prophecy, prophecy.

If indeed you are playing a kind of eschatology, astrology, where you have your full deck of Bible text tarot cards, and you lay them out in a scenario for end times prophecy, you've got your rapture card, you've got your great tribulation cards, you've got your antichrist card, you maybe even have a red heifer tarot card card, right? And you do a kind of prophetic reading for you and your friends. This is the kind of end times prophecy I'm afraid so many of us have got caught up in, and it is a pagan impulse.

Not many people realize this, and maybe a little offended by me saying it, but it is a pagan impulse for prophecy that grips so many Christians today. And we must counter it with what has been taught in the church for centuries, and is taught, in fact, in the Bible. Well, what are some of those contrasts and comparisons? First of all, three of them I'd like to go over with you. Number one, there is the view of the genre of apocalyptic, the view of the genre or the kind of writing that apocalyptic is, that Revelation is, that Matthew 24 is, for example, or great swaths of the book of Daniel are apocalyptic too.

This important principle, the genre of apocalyptic we have looked at quite carefully over the last few weeks, and so I refer you to those broadcasts. But for now, suffice it to say that every kind of writing has its own rules for being understood and interpreted. And this includes apocalyptic, which has rules like apocalyptic by its very nature spiritualizes the text. Apocalyptic is not meant to be read literally, contrary to many of your teachers. Also, numbers are always symbolic and apocalyptic.

And, of course, John, the author of Revelation, for example, wrote his letter to be understood by the members of the seven churches of Asia who lived contemporary lives with his, not some prophecy fanatic in the far-flung 21st century who's obsessing over the rapture of red heifers and red dragons. Oh, so we have to consider the genre. Number two, we'll move on. Number one, I urge you to consult our previous two radio broadcasts where we look in a very detailed way at the genre of apocalyptic.

Well, number two, comparison and contrast, I'd like you to consider between post-millennialism and the popular view in most churches today, number two, whether the people of God have one destiny and set of promises or two different destinies and sets of promises. Do the people of God have one destiny and set of promises or two different destinies and set of promises. A little-known feature, a little-taught today, a little-known feature of modern end-times teaching is that, unlike what the church has always taught, they teach that Israel has one set of promises and a destiny, while the church has another set of promises and a destiny.

Your church most likely teaches that the promises to Israel have yet to be fulfilled, and only after the church has been raptured will the prophetic clock begin to tick again for Israel. God will begin, under this understanding, God will then begin to deal with Israel again after so many years of God having His church on the earth. But with the church gone, raptured up to heaven, God can again start giving Israel the land and victory over her enemies on the tribulation temple and a place where the Son of David, that is our Lord, can reign again for a thousand years.

After Christ returns to the earth at the Battle of Armageddon, He will set up His literal 1,000-year kingdom and reign from Jerusalem with this understanding. You've probably heard all this before. And the church has nothing to do with this arrangement, being in heaven in their eternal state, and her destiny is heaven, right? Israel's is earth. The church's promises are spiritual, while Israel's are physical.

Ne'er the twain shall meet until the eternal state. Did you know that this is what your church teaches? Probe a little bit. Ask some questions. In your end times teaching, there is a radical separation between Israel and the church, a distinction never before seen in the history of the church and her doctrine until recently.

Rather, the church has always taught since the days of the apostles that both Jew and Gentile are now one with the same promises and the same destiny that were from of old. The apostle Paul puts it this way in Ephesians chapter 2, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you are at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one. Did you hear that, dear listener? Not two people of God, but one people of God now in Christ, Jew and Gentile. There is, was, and always will be only one people of God, not two.

But I submit to you, dear listener, if you indeed are going to a modern contemporary church, that by your eschatology, those of you who embrace the revelation, red heifer, rapture, rigmarole, you wrongly divide the people of God into two bodies of Christ, Israel and the church. Number three, finally we must compare and contrast. Number three, is redemptive history moving towards victory and dominion or defeat and utter loss? This is a comparison. This is a comparison and contrast between post-millennialism and the common teachings, the popular teachings of end times in the church today.

Is redemptive history moving towards victory and dominion or defeat and utter loss? The popular end times teaching tells us that things are getting worse and worse and actually can do nothing but get worse and worse if Christ is to return according to their interpretation of the Bible. Well, under this understanding, in order for the Antichrist to be revealed, things must get so bad that the world cries out for a savior and the Antichrist is then revealed and kicks off the great tribulation, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, right? You know the drill.

And as I indicated a moment ago, most end times teachers teach that it is futile or even counterproductive to Christ's return to work to build Christ's kingdom here on the earth. All of that only postpones the inevitable, they say. In order for Antichrist to be revealed, the world must descend into chaos and suffering. As one observer put it, the emphasis seems to be more watch the skies, Antichrist is coming rather than watch the skies, Jesus is coming. Seems to be the emphasis, the obsession with Antichrist, doesn't it?

Well, of course, post-millennialism has always taught, along with our Lord's teaching, that Christ's kingdom will grow and flourish and take complete dominion of his creation before his return. We call it post-millennialism because we see in the scriptures that Christ comes after this golden age of the millennium. For example, the parable of the mustard seed tells us, as our Lord says, the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." Unquote. The simple, sweet parable of the mustard seed. Can you not see how this is already taking place, dear listener? Right?

This is what we mean by taking dominion. The church, the kingdom of heaven grows and flourishes more and more and more. The church has already grown from a few crestfallen disciples in the upper room to 1.4 billion adherents in our world, right? We don't claim to say that all of them are born-again Christians, but they at least espouse the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, right?

1.4 billion adherents in the world now who have arguably as well transformed that world and will continue to transform our world until, as Isaiah puts it, the wolf shall lie down with a lamb and the leopards shall lie down with a young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze. The young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the otter's den.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, unquote, from Isaiah chapter 11, verses 6 through 9. This indeed is just a brief sketch by the prophet Isaiah of what the world will look like in the millennium, and as well, there will be prosperity for God's people such that, as the prophets put it, and I love this image, that every man will dwell under his fig tree and his grapevine, right?

That's a sign, a symbol of personal prosperity that will obtain as well in the millennium, and we say this kind of prosperity and blessing and peace and order will obtain before our Lord's return. The difference of outlook in all of this is no small matter, dear listener, most of those that I know who are looking for red heifers, red dragons, and a rapture, they cannot be bothered with transforming our culture and government. For example, just one example, that labor to transform our creation, our culture and government must be abandoned to the world. It will come under the judgment of the great tribulation very soon anyway, right?

And all we can do is save as many souls as possible and wait expectantly for the rapture. As J. Vernon McGee used to put it, I love J. Vernon McGee, what a great gospel preacher, but he was wrong on this. He used to say all the time, we must not soil the garments of the gospel with politics and culture. He was a dispensational premillennialist. He was one of the big exponents of the theology of end times that we hear today in most churches.

We must not soil the garments of the gospel with politics and culture. No, just the opposite, dear listener. We must purify government, politics, and culture with the gospel, not let the gospel get soiled. But to say these things is to go against the very grain of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation that we shouldn't soil the garments of the gospel with politics and culture. It goes against the grain of the Bible.

Our prime directive in the garden still stands, dear listener, and that goes, and God blessed them. That is Adam and Eve. And God said to them in Genesis 1, 28, God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth, unquote. And David reinforces this dominion that we are to take, the dominion mandate.

He reinforces it in Psalm 8 when he says, When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands and you have put all things under his feet, unquote. Oh, on top of this, our Lord has gifted us to take dominion, dear listener, each one of us according to our God-given capacity. That's the point of Jesus' parable of the talents.

We have all been given a measure of giftedness, you, me, all of us. One five, one two, one a single talent, as our Lord sketches. But we are expected to make good on it and prosper beyond what we've been given. Recall what our Lord said to the wicked and slothful servant. He says, You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed.

Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. Yes, that's a parable, a metaphor for how we are expected to take dominion, dear listener, and make things prosper beyond what we've been given. Listen, we are obliged to be post-millennialists, I submit to you. We are obliged to be post-millennialists.

In fact, Jesus reassures us that our labors will be successful, too, and that we will overcome all obstacles in his strength in the long run. He says to Peter, after all, You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, unquote. We are to be aggressive. We are to be offensive in the sense of offense versus defense. We are to be offensive and take ground, take dominion over our Lord's creation, and we are reassured as we assault the gates of hell that they shall not prevail against us.

That is why we preach the gospel and we save souls. Not only is life imparted, which extends into eternity, right, at the new birth, but rather this new spiritual life transforms the world around us, here and now, too. People give their lives to not only worship and evangelize, but also we give our lives building schools or hospitals, for example. That's a Christian idea from history. We looked at that in our church history class last year, that the whole idea, the whole concept of schools for children or hospitals for the sick, that's all a Christian idea developed in the early centuries and the middle ages.

People give our lives now, spiritually as well as physically, to not only worship and evangelize, but to build schools or hospitals, or maybe discovering better ways to farm or investigate nature. Did you know that Christians shaped Western science? Yes, the objective, effective idea of science in the West, developed in the West, was developed by Christians, or even studying biblical ways to govern ourselves. That's also a Christian idea. Biblical ways to govern ourselves.

In fact, our founding fathers called the study of government the divine science. We talk about dirty politics today. Well, the founding fathers didn't see it that way. They approached it as a government, the study of government, which they put their minds to and gave us the American Constitution. They called the study of government the divine science.

So, dear listener, take heed to what I say. Our Lord will continue to take dominion of his creation with or without you. His kingdom will grow apace. With each generation, the world will add souls to the glorious heavenly choir above, and they will also bring blessing and glory to God here on earth, too, in increasing measure. This is called taking dominion.

And you can either pitch in and use your gifts to build the kingdom of God with his strength imparted to you. You won't do this on your own strength, but you will work with his strength imparted to you, or else you'll sit on the sidelines waiting for the rapture and looking for the Antichrist. And if this is your course of action, it's really a course of inaction, then it is you who will truly be left behind. Do not be left behind. Pitch in with your love and your labor and help us take dominion of our Lord's inheritance in creation.

We, as Christians, should not be looking for Christ's return by interpreting Scripture, by reading daily headlines, but we should be fulfilling Scripture by making daily headlines in what we do and achieve. That is our commission, after all, isn't it? Right? Our Lord told us, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.

Nations, dear listener, not just individuals, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. He will be with us, dear listener, to the end of the age as we take dominion. Join us in our midweek Bible study. I invite you to do so.

It is at Leo's Place on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. It's a great time of fellowship, and we study and we unpack these things, and I invite you to it. And each lesson is a distinct one, and you can catch up fast. And we just enjoy talking about the different perspectives, but also introducing you to a few things that you may have heard before. So we invite you to our midweek Bible study, 7 o'clock on Thursday evenings at Leo's Place.

And New Geneva also meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196. Information, feedback, call us at area code 208-523-0196. Thank you. Thank you.