This is our third and final error watch article. Next week we will move back to focusing on things we need to do as Christians to grow and live a life pleasing to God. However, don’t misunderstand the importance of being able to stand in the word of God rightly dividing it and not being tossed to and fro by every wave of doctrine. False teaching and error, even from the honest and sincerely mistaken person is still error, which leads to ones own destruction and the destruction of many others.
The premillennial doctrine is taught widespread among men.
But it is not in the Bible.
What is Premillennialism?
This doctrine says when Jesus came to the earth during the Bible times He intended to establish an earthly kingdom beginning in Jerusalem on David’s throne. And it was supposed to continue forever.
However, the Jews did not accept Him. They rejected and crucified Him. Therefore, His kingdom was postponed. We are now living in the time before the kingdom has been established so therefore it is called “pre” kingdom. Once His kingdom is established it is supposed to last for 1000 years here on earth thus it is a “millennial” kingdom. Put that together, it’s “premillennialism.”
In addition to those concepts regarding the kingdom, premillennialism anticipates an antichrist who is supposed to rule the world, a rapture that is supposed to take the faithful Christians out of the world and leave everyone else behind. Thus the “Left Behind” book series. Finally, it anticipates a 7-year tribulation. The first 3.5 years are not supposed to be so bad, but the last 3.5 years are supposed to be devastating and horrible.
You can’t find any of this in the Bible.
5 Things that will help you see the clear truth in the Bible that has been blurred and confused by the false doctrine of premillennialism.
1. Error #1 Earthly Kingdom
Jesus never intended to establish an earthly kingdom.
John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
Jesus was not coming to establish a kingdom on earth. Not in the physical sense.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
KJV demonstrates that the kingdom of Christ is within us. Not in the land around us.
2. Error #2 Kingdom Not Yet Established
The kingdom has already been established.
Mark 9:1 And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
Was Jesus lying? Mistaken? Are there people still living today from the time Jesus walked the earth?
Of course not. So what does that tell us?
Jesus’ kingdom has already been established. In fact, that is what the rest of Scriptures tells us as well.
Colossians 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
Transferred. Past tense.
Revelation 9:1 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
John said at the time he wrote the book of Revelation he was already participating in the kingdom.
We are not awaiting some millennial kingdom. We can enter the kingdom now. It has already been established.
3. Error #3 World Ruler Called Antichrist
The Bible never once describes a world leader called the antichrist.
That word antichrist is only used four times in all the Bible. And all four of them are in the letters of John.
1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
1 John 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
2 John 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
The antichrist was not a world leader. It is anybody that denies Jesus. An antichrist has been here since the time the Scriptures were written.
4. Error #4 Seven Year Tribulation
The concept of the tribulation. We are not awaiting some seven-year tribulation that is supposed to come in our future.
Go back to that passage in Revelation 1:9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
John was not writing about some tribulation down the road. He was writing about a tribulation that they were already enduring.
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, 2 who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.
“soon take place”
“the time is near”
Folks make a terrible mistake with the book of Revelation thinking John was writing about events that would happen 2000 years or more later. John was writing about events that were going on right then and how God’s grace was going to resolve that soon.
5. Error #5 Rapture
The concept of rapture is not found in the Bible.
Yes, Jesus is going to return. The Bible clearly reveals this. And all His children will be taken with Him and all of those who do not belong to Him will be judged.
But nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus is going to come to the earth take His children out and leave everybody else behind.
John 5:28 Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
“an hour is coming”
Not a millennial.
2 Thessalonians 1:5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.
2 Thessalonians 1:6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.
The passage which many people find the rapture though it is not there is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
This passage tells us in the resurrection those who are dead in Christ will be raised first and those who are alive will then be called up to meet the Lord in the air, and so they both shall be with the Lord.
But if you keep reading on down into chapter 5 you find out what is going to happen on that day to those that are not in Christ at all.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness;
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
On the day of the Lord when Jesus returns to call His children up to Him and the dead in Christ are raised first and then those alive called up to meet Him in the air. Those who have not been faithful will also be resurrected to judgment. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction. Not seven years of tribulation. In fact, on the day of the Lord the earth will be destroyed. There will no longer be an earth for them to be “left behind” on. There is no rapture. There is only the final day of the Lord and His judgment. And we must be ready.
Keep the faith today and we’ll see you here next week!