Mr. Rushmore, I recently read your article refuting Mr. Arnold Murray on premillennialism. I have never heard of Mr. Murray until I read your article. Men such as Ryrie, Scofield, Pentecost, Hodges, Fruchtenbaum, and J. B. Hixon make a strong case for a literal millennial kingdom. Their interpretation of eschatology is consistent. Are you saying that these men are wrong also? Shalom, John Ivins
“…let God be true, but every man a liar…” (Romans 3:4). We only borrow this statement from the apostle Paul to emphasize that what I or any other human being thinks is irrelative compared to what God through the Bible has revealed. In short, what can we discern from the Bible respecting the concept of “a literal millennial kingdom” or premillennialism?
First century Jews rejected Jesus Christ and called for His crucifixion because He did not come to establish a literal kingdom (John 6:14-15; 18:36). Millennialists essentially make the same mistake, expecting a physical kingdom rather than a spiritual kingdom, and effectively reject Christ and crucify Him afresh.
Jesus Christ used the words “kingdom” and “church” interchangeably upon the same occasion (Matthew 16:18-19), and the church or kingdom was established in Acts 2:47. Hence, the kingdom has already been established and millennialism is incorrect.
The apostles Paul and John used the term kingdom to refer to the church in the first century (Colossians 1:13; Revelation 1:9). Hence, the kingdom has already been established and millennialism is incorrect.
Jesus Christ is already King of His kingdom and High Priest, at the same time, as Zechariah 6:12-13 taught would occur. However, the inspired writer of Hebrews teaches that Jesus Christ could not be Priest if He were on earth (Hebrews 7:12-17; 8:4); therefore, our Lord cannot be King on earth in a millennial kingdom, because that would conflict with Him being a Priest on earth.
The Bible is always right in its teaching, irrespective of who we may be, how studied we are or what other biblical matters we may have correctly learned. The doctrine of premillennialism or “a literal millennial kingdom” does not correspond to Bible teaching. God has another end-of-time habitation in mind for His faithful followers — and it is literally out of this world (John 14:1-3)!
