TRUTH - NOT EXACTLY by R. W. Mills

Author:R. W. Mills [R. W. Mills]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781418485238
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2004-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

SYSTEMS OF PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION

Christianity is essentially an historical religion. When it comes to history, the Bible is the perfect reference book since it has clearly shown that it has the Seal of God on it and is truly a revelation without error from God. That is why earlier in this book it was stated that the Bible would be used as the template, or roadmap, with which to compare history in order to see how God is working out His Plan.

We will do a quick review of the previous chart showing some of the major views of Revelation. It will surprise many in the church today that one of the greatest issues of controversy concerning the book of Revelation is the interpretation of the Millennium. The Apocalypse was defined in terms of one’s understanding of the meaning of the “thousand years” referenced in Revelation Chapter 20.

The general assumption that the Millennium is to be taken literally as an actual 1,000 years is accepted by the masses as espoused by theologians. There are three major divisions: Premillennialism, Postmillennialism and Amillennialism. Premillennialism divides into historical and futurism views.

Amillennialism posits that the Millennium is an indefinitely long period of time. Proponents believe this period happens from the first advent of Christ to His second coming. Many great Christians from the early church right up to today have believed that the Millennium is not to be taken literally as 1,000 years, but was meant symbolically.

Postmillennium contends that Christ will return after the Millennium. The church is so successful that the world is converted and enters into an age of peace for a thousand years. Christ’s second coming is at the end of this age of peace.

Premillennialism is the belief that the second coming of Christ is before the Millennium. This assumes that Christ, after His return, will set up His Kingdom on earth for 1,000 years. Satan is bound for that period of time, only to be released at the end of it. Man will be tested one more time.

Premillennialism separates into two major views. The Historic Premillennialism and Dispensationalism. Both views have been accused by their critics of promoting a pessimistic outlook of the future with the coming of Christ; however, for different reasons.

Historic Premillennialism believes that Revelation is a survey of church history. The early church knew that Rome would fall and that the Beast would rise on Rome. However, the development of historic views would begin in earnest during the reformation. The development of the historic view is seen in the works of Anselm of Havelberg

(1129-1155), Rupert of Deutz (1111-1129), and even Joachim of Floris (1130-1201). Even though Joachim was loyal to the Church of Rome, he-and many who read his works-saw the Roman papacy as the Beast. These views were picked up by the Franciscans of the 13t and 14th Centuries, especially those in Paris. It was this link of the Beast to the Roman papacy that later galvanized the Reformers against the Papal system. Coming to the defense of the papacy was Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) and Luiz de Alcazar (1554-1613).

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