Loveland Protestant Reformed Church
709 East 57th Street; Loveland, CO 80538

Services: 9:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. June through August)
Vol. 7, No. 22 Pastor: Rev. Garry Eriks Phone: (970) 667-9481

Homepage on Internet: http://www.prca.org

Contents:
Premillennialism
Revival (2)
Are All Men Created Equal?

Premillennialism

Premillennialism (chiliasm) is the teaching that the personal, visible return of Christ will take place 1000 years before the end of the world. It teaches that apostasy and wickedness will increase and result in the final revelation of Antichrist. At that time a period of severe persecution (the great tribulation of Matt. 24:21) for the church will begin. This reign of Antichrist and period of persecution which ends with the coming of Christ who will raise His saints, translate those who are still living, judge them, remove the curse from the earth, and establish on earth in Jerusalem a kingdom, which will last 1000 years.

That kingdom will be the result of a mass conversion of the Jews who will be restored to their own land. They, along with the Gentile Christians, will make up the kingdom of Christ, though the Jews will have the priority. That kingdom will be characterized by righteousness, peace and prosperity here on earth and will last exactly 1000 years. At the end of this period of Christ's earthly rule, the rest of the dead will be raised and the last judgment and the creation of the new heavens and earth will follow.

Some of these views of premillennialism are very strange. For one thing, the citizens of the millennial kingdom will be a mixture of those who have been raised and glorified and those who are not, who are still in their earthly bodies (cf. I Cor. 15:50). For another thing, the kingdom, supposedly, will be on an earth from which the curse has been removed, but which is not yet delivered completely from sin, death and sickness and on that earth the resurrected saints will live along with those who are still subject to sin and death.

There are, however, more important objections to this teaching:

(1) Scripture contradicts the teaching that the coming of Christ precedes the end of the world by 1000 years, but rather that it is simultaneous with the end of this present world (I Cor. 15:23-24); with the creation of the new heavens and earth (II Pet. 3:4-13); with the resurrection of all the dead (Rev. 20:12-15); and the last judgment (Jude 6-7, 14-15; Matt. 24:37-41; Lk. 17:28-37 - cf. also some of our earlier editions).

(2) Scripture does not teach more than one resurrection and judgment (Jn. 5:25-29) nor a resurrection and judgment that precede the end of the world by 1000 years (Jn. 6:39, 40, 44, 45; 11:24; I Cor. 15:51-52 - note the emphasis on "last" - cf. also earlier editions).

(3) Scripture teaches the very opposite of an earthly kingdom, i.e., that the kingdom is heavenly (Jn 18:36; Heb. 12:22-29, esp. vss. 22, 23, 28).

(4) Also, Scripture teaches that Christ's kingdom is everlasting, not just 1000 years (Dan. 4:4, 34; 7:27; II Pet. 1:11 - cf. also earlier editions).

(5) Nor does Scripture teach that "Jew" only ever refers to the physical descendants of Abraham. Indeed, it makes clear that all believers, Jew and Gentile alike, are Jews or Israel in God's sight (Rom. 2:28-29; Gal. 3:29; Phil. 3:3 - cf. also earlier editions of this paper). Israel is the church (Acts 7:38) and the church is Israel (Heb. 12:22-23).

For these reasons especially we reject premillennial teaching.

Rev. R. Hanko

Revivals (2)

O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years made known; in wrath remember mercy. Hab. 3:2. Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Ps. 85:6

The two verses were brought to our attention by a reader who asked whether they could serve as a basis for prayers for revival. In the last article I pointed out that the OT times were different from the new dispensation.

I urged our readers, who are interested in this subject, to write us for a pamphlet on revivals published by the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church.

I wish to make a few more points concerning revivals in this article.

The first one is that Pentecost is not a revival, although it is claimed to be such. Pentecost is something far, far richer and more wonderful than the rather tawdry revivals which men covet so fiercely. Pentecost had the following characteristics.

1) It was the full realization of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ which was begun in the incarnation, carried through the atonement, accomplished on the cross and the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and made possible by His glorious exaltation in heaven.

2) It was essentially the full realization of the work of Christ because it was the climax of His work of salvation.

3) The Spirit poured out is the Spirit of Christ, through Whom Christ gathers a catholic church, i.e., a church from every nation under heaven.

4) The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth promised in John 14, 15, 16 Who leads and guides the church of the new dispensation into all truth.

5) Through His work in the church all God's people, including women and children, become prophets, priests, and kings, and these offices are no longer limited to a few individuals (Acts. 2:17, 19, 21).

6) The Spirit of truth made such a difference in the disciples that, although prior to Pentecost, they understood very little of the Lord's work, after the Spirit was poured out they understood it all with astounding clarity. This is evident from Peter's remarkable sermon which He preached on that day.

The second remark that needs to be made in connection with the question of revivals is the nature of God's work of conversion. Ordinarily, God does not work dramatically, suddenly, visibly, externally; but slowly, invisibly, internally, and always irresistibly. Conversion is the every-day and life-long struggle of the child of God as he fights against sin, flees to the cross, seeks help and strength from Christ to go on in the battle, and gains growth in sanctification only bit by bit. In my student days, Rev. H. Hoeksema often reminded us from the pulpit that the clearest evidence of conversion in the life of the Christian was daily sorrow for sin.

The third remark, closely related to what I have just said, is that God works in the church in this same quiet, almost unobserved, non-intrusive way. Elijah expected great revivals on Carmel, but it ended in nothing. Only at Mt. Sinai did he learn that God was not present in the earthquake, the fire, the tornado-like wind; He was present in the still small voice, for by that still small voice in the hearts of His people God preserved the 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal.

I once saw a fern plant break through four inches of macadam on a forest road. The plant is seemingly so fragile that it can be snapped off by a child. It grows so slowly, no one can see the growth. But it is irresistible as it pushes aside heavy and strong macadam to seek the light. So also is the work of the Spirit in the hearts of God's people.

Finally, there is something that is somewhat pathetic about the incessant clamor for revival. As often as not (and this has, in fact, been publicly stated) a church which has become spiritually lethargic, even often guilty of false doctrine, ineffective in its work because the gospel is no longer preached, looks to revival to bring about changes. We must pray for revival, it is said. The churches are in need of revival. All will be different when revival comes.

But what is forgotten is the urgent calling that comes to us to engage in church reformation. That responsibility rests four-square on the shoulders of anyone concerned about the welfare of the church. And such church reformation must include separation from apostatizing churches and a return to what Jeremiah calls "the old paths." That kind of reformation is painful and difficult, calling one who engages in it to suffer persecution; it is to deny one's self, take up one's cross, and follow Christ.

This is the way the Spirit works. To sit back and hope and long for revival is an abdication of personal responsibility which the Lord will not bless.

Not revival but reformation; that is what the church needs. Are there those with the spiritual courage to engage in this important work? Prof. H. Hanko

For those who wish to listen to our audio sermons over the Internet, there is a list of over 70 such sermons on the web-site: www.HudsonvillePRC.org

Are All Men Created Equal?

Our question for this issue is indeed an interesting one: A reader asks: "Has God created all men equal?"

Perhaps the most famous statement of equality is found in the American "Declaration of Independence" (DoI). It says that "all men are created equal." Their equality, according to the DoI, consists in this, that "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Many Americans believe that the DoI is a Christian document, and point to such statements as these as proof. What they overlook is the fact that these statements are humanistic lies from beginning to end. They come from the Deism (a denial of God's presence in and government of the world) of the French Revolution rather than from Scripture. The fact that the DoI mentions a Creator should not blind us to this fact.

Nowhere, does Scripture say that men have certain "unalienable rights." In fact, the truth of Scripture is that men have no rights with God at all, especially in that they are fallen into sin (Dan. 4:35; Rom. 9:20). Perhaps we could say in connection with the fall, that they do have one unalienable right, the right to eternal damnation!

That men do not have certain unalienable rights to life, liberty, and happiness, also suggests that the DoI is wrong when it teaches the equality of men. That, too, is not Biblical. That statement especially comes from the God-hating French Revolution, whose slogan was "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."

The Bible, in fact, teaches that God not only creates men unequal, but that He deals with them unequally in time (Ps. 75:7; Dan. 2:21; Matt. 11:25). This follows, first of all, from the doctrine of Providence, the Biblical teaching that God rules and controls and brings to pass all that happens in the world (Matt. 10:29; Ps. 115:3). If that is true, and it is, then it is God who makes one rich and another poor, who gives life to one and takes it away from another already at birth, who gives peace and health to some and sends to others a life of misery and trouble, who brings it about that one is born into wealth and freedom, while another is born into poverty and slavery.

Even in human relationships men are not all equal. Some are raised up by God to positions of authority and others not. Some are kings and some are commoners. He created the man to be the head of his wife, and gives parents authority over their children.

Ungodly men always oppose this sovereign rule and right of God, denying the authority of parents over their children (denying them the right to punish their children), denying the headship of the man over the woman, and teaching as the DoI does that Government is not of God, but "of the people."

Indeed, this sovereign God has not only dealt unequally with mankind in time, but eternally, as GOD. He has dealt unequally with them, predestinating not only the inequalities of life, but also their eternal destinies, decreeing some to eternal life and passing others by in His decree that they perish in their sins. This does not mean God is arbitrary or unjust (Rom. 3:5-6; 9:14), but glorifies Him as God alone.

For believers, this truth that God determines and brings to pass all things is of endless comfort. Even when they suffer the inequalities of life, they are able to say, "This God is our God, He will be our guide, even unto death" (Ps. 48:14). Rev. R. Hanko

(check out the comforting Web Site: www.MyOnlyComfort.org)