All:

In my next post I was going to deal with the history of hermeneutics in the universal church from Pentecost forward, but I thought we would begin with an ancillary aspect of this topic first, because of the times in which we are living and the interest in Bible prophecy, that being the churches understanding of how prophecy has been understood over the centuries.  Everyone is interested in prophecy, and we are aware of how the SDA cult uses this topic as a fishing expedition to catch the innocent. 

We live in what I consider to be the culmination of the ages.  Following this church history thread we will broaden our understanding in the larger panorama of how the church understood its relationship throughout time in history.  Our word "history" is really [His-Story].  I would gamble that college history majors are oblivious to this fact since secular academic institutions filter out any references to Christian roots of culture.

Most Christians are unaware of the diversity of opinion, understanding, and interpretation of history of prophecy.  I majored in history at a Christian college as part of my pre-ministry program at a United Presbyterian college.  Historically, the church from the time of Pentecost has went through major shifts, even being whipsawed at times, from the forces of tyranny and geo-political events from wars and its aftermath.

The heart of the matter of one's view regarding Bible prophecy is the system as an integral part of hermeneutics, or in the principles upon which Scripture is interpreted.  Since the Bible claims to be verbally inspired, and every word is God-breathed, it must be interpreted according to the rules of grammar and context, and in complete harmony with the rest of the inspired record.  2 Peter 1:20 reads, "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation."

Unfulfilled prophecy must be treated in a similar fashion to fulfilled prophecy, and this means that a literal interpretation is the only legitimate method.  Symbolism in Scripture has its God-given interpretation.  No Scripture should be taken allegorically without specific Biblical evidence, that God has intended it as such.

Historically speaking, church historians will acknowledge that the predominant view among Christians in the Post-Apostolic period of the second and third centuries AD was that Christ Jesus' coming would be Pre-Millennial, and that He would establish a literal kingdom on Earth lasting 1,000 years.

Philip Schaff, in his 'History of the Christian Church', vol. 2, page 614, notes that Barnabas, Papias, Justin Marytr, Irenaues, Turtullian, Methodius, and Lactantius who wrote from the late 2nd century to the early 4th century, ALL held to a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ Jesus following His Second Coming.  It was also generally held that just before Christ Jesus came there would be a time of great tribulation during which the Antichrist would reign.  I would add that Dr. Schaff, himself, was an opponent to pre-millennialism, actually reflective of the time in which he wrote.

There is no doubt that Irenaeus (102-202 AD), a disciple of Polycarp, who in turn had been a disciple of the Apostle John were Pre-Millennial.  In chapter 29 of his book 'Against Heresies', Irenaeus wrote:  "When in the end the church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, there will be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of time, neither shall be... There is therefore in the beast, when he comes, a recapitulation made of sorts of iniquity..."

There is no doubt that Iranaeus firmly believed in the Pre-Millennial return of Christ Jesus, and it could be argued that he believed the church would be caught up before the Tribulation.  Such evidence refutes the disingenuous attempts by some to deceive people into thinking that the concept of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture began with Margaret MacDonald and Charles Darby in the mid-to-late 1800's.  That is a lie, a deception, and an intentional piece of disinformation to demean as well as detract from the Pre-Millennialism/Dispensationalism approach of understanding the Bible.

The issue of whether the church would go through the Tribulation did not figure prominently in the second and third centuries AD writings.

The fierce persecuton of the Post-Apostolic period suggest that the church would go through the terrible time.  This was known to church historians as the "ten pagan persecutions", period and believers might well be excused for thinking the Tribulation had already begun.  In the Apostle Paul's day the Thessalonian church thought that they were going through the Tribulation and Paul had to correct their wrong teaching -(2 Thessalonians 2:2-3).  The Apostolic New Testament writers of the first century, however, clearly taught that the Rapture would occur before the Tribulation.

It wasn't until the late 4th century that the literal interpretation of Scripture began to be replaced by an allegorical interpretation which "spiritualized" the great promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as Moses and David.  The nation of Israel was seen to be the church in the Old Testament, and all prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah, which foretold a literal Messianic Kingdom ruled by the Lord Jesus from the throne of David in Jerusalem, were applied in a symbolic way to the church.  You can understand the misapplying of Scripture because where earlier believers saw themselves in relation to the prophecies.

This change in outlook was influenced by the events within the Roman Empire after 313 AD when Emperor Constantine gained control over the church.  Christianity became a "state" religion of the Roman Empire.  To many it appeared as if the Kingdom of God had arrived, as the Emperor appointed bishops, presided over church synods, and determined orthodox doctrine.  No longer did the church leaders see the coming of the Lord as the hope of the church, but drunk with ecclesiastical authority and power they interpreted the promises of a literal kingdom, yet to be fulfilled, as the union of church and state.

Augustine was not the first to deny a literal kingdom on earth.  Origen (230 AD) allegorized Scripture and attacked the "Chiliasts" who held to a future literal kingdom of Christ of 1,000 years on earth.  Origen also taught that Christ was a created being, and mingled Greek philosophy with Christian teachings.

Around 360 AD, Dionysius of Alexandria "prepared the ground for the rejection of the book of Revelation" at the Council of Laodicea.  He also allegorized the Scriptures.

Even after the fourth century there were still those who held to the Pre-Millennial return of Christ, but Christendom was sinking into apostasy and the predominant view became Amillennial.    

Augustine was initially Pre-Millennial prior to writing his book, 'The City of God', between 413 and 426 AD.  He referred to others of his time who continued to hold onto the Pre-Millennial view.

However, the grand vision of the Roman Empire as the Kingdom of God was shattered, for within a hundred years Imperial Rome imploded from corruption from within, and the last emperor finally vacated the throne in Rome in 476 AD.  The eastern portion of the Roman Empire continued on with Byzantium (Constantinople) as its capital, until it was overrun by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD.

As Rome crumbled before barbarian hordes a different explanation was required by the official church that has departed from the absolute authority of Scripture.  If the Kingdom of God was not the secular Roman power, then it must be, in a "spiritual" sense, be expressed as the Catholic church.

Around this time Augustine published his famous book, 'The City of God' (413-426 AD), in which he "spiritualized" the literal promises of a Kingdom of God on earth and applied them to the church.  Later he added the teaching that one church should enforce adherence to its doctrines, and this teahing gave rise to the Inquisitions and the Crusades.  The Roman Catholic church accepted Augustine's philosophy of history, and Protestant reformers likewise accepted the Amillennial (no Millennium) view expressed in 'The City of God' , except that they held the view that the Kingdom of God was the Reformation church.

As a history major in college, I had to read Augustine's works and then again in seminary.  Placing yourself in a Medieval Europe setting it becomes quite evident how powerful the thinking of Augustine quickly took over the church. Protestant Reformers added to Augustine's "Amillennial" view and doctrine that the Papacy was the Antichrist.  Having done this, they then had to explain the book of Revelation, inserting the Papacy into the 13th chapter of Revelation.  Then the chapters before and following needed a historical explanation.  Thus arose the historist view of prophecy, which endeavored to see the history of the Middle Ages described in the book of Revelation.  The unscriptural "year-day theory" was thus used to explain all of this.

Basically, historicism denies the Antichrist will be an individual and asserts that the "man of sin" is really the Papacy (a system).  It dates the rise of the Papacy to secular power at 538 AD in the days of Pope Virgilius, and then count 1,260 years (instead of days) to 1798 AD, when Rome was captured and made a French Republic and Pope Pius VI was taken a prisoner to France, where he died in 1799 AD.  This was supposed to be the deadly wound of the Beast which was healed in Revelation 13:3.  Seventh Day Adventists hold a very similar view.

>From this information, again we see absence of clarity of Bible prophecy with each generation of Christians and it aids in our understanding of why different ages believed differently.

The start date of Papal secular rule is generally regarded as 538 AD, however, some historians disagree.  Many reputable secular historians place the commencement as the reign of Pope Gregory the Great (590-604 AD), because he assumed temporal power to drive out the Lombards who had attacked Rome in 592 AD; prior to this he saw the church as subservient to the state.

The SDA movement began with a monumental blunder using the year/day theory.  William Miller claimed the 2,300 days that the Temple was to be defiled by Antiochus Epihanes (171-165 BC) was a prophecy of Christ's Second Coming.  He thought the "70 weeks" prophecy of Daniel 9 was part of the prophecy of Daniel 8, and got the wrong start for the 70 weeks at 457 BC, instead of 445 BC.  He then calculated 2,300 years from 457 BC to 1843 AD.  When Christ did not appear, he (Miller) changed the date to Autumn of 1844 AD.  When this date failed he admitted his error, however, Ellen G. White, unwilling to admit failure of the year/day theory, claimed the calculations was correct but that the prophecy really meant that in 1844 Christ would enter the sanctuary in the Temple in heaven to begin an "Investigatory work" which will continue unil the Second Advent.

Between 1844 and the Second Coming Christ is supposed to be checking all records to see who is worthy of the first resurrection.  Her blasphemous doctrine of the sanctuary teaches that our sins are being transferred to the sanctuary in heaven and Christ will cleanse it when He takes our sins and places them on Satan, who will ultimately be punished for them!  This "make it up along the way" theology became a face-saving explanation of a massive blunder in prophetic interpretation and had been a complete denial of the substitutionary work of Christ who has already borne our sins in His body on the cross!  This is one of several reasons that places the SDA's in the category as a cult.  The SDA cult see Ellen G. White as God's prophet.

In all of the attempts to explain history, church leaders, repeatedly, failed to go back to the Word of God.  They misunderstood the Pilgrim nature of the church and envisioned a state church.  They were blind to God's great plan for the nation of Israel, and totally missed the Blessed Hope - the Rapture of the church.  An honest exegesis of Romans 11 and Ephesians 3 could have opened their eyes.

Historicism also confuse the Harlot woman - "MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT" of Revelation 17, with the Beast.  Religious Rome or the Papacy, RIDES Political Rome, and is utimately destroyed by the Antichrist and his ten kings in the second half of the Tribulation -(Rev. 17:16 to 18:24).  THE WOMAN CAN'T BE THE BEAST.

The Reformers opposition to Rome influenced their understanding to such a degree that identification of the Papacy as Antichrist became the main feature of their eschatology.  If they were right, how do you explain the last two hundred years of Roman Catholicism?  Why is the Beast's "deadly wound" at the END of Papal dominance (1798) and not BEFORE the 1,290 days as indicated in Scripture?

Two factors need to be borne in mind:

1.  The Reformers were emerging from the terrible "Dark Ages", and they saw the need to be justified by faith alone, and that the Scriptures was the sole authority in matters of doctrine, they nevertheless carried much of  the baggage of Rome into the Reformation: Infant baptism, the priestly system of church government, the union of church and state, vestments, anti-Semitism, and many other relics of Rome went unchecked by the Reformers.

2.  Prophetic truth was sealed up until the last days, and it was difficult for many Christians through  the centuries to appreciate just how far they had progressed in God's plan.  Daniel did not underestimate his own prophecies, and was told: "Shut thou up the vision", for it shall be for many days ... and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it."   -(Daniel 8:26-27).  At the conclusion of his book, he writes:  "I heard, but I understood it not....and he said, go thy way, Daniel: for the words are sealed up till the time of the end."  -(Daniel 12:8-9).

Since we are approaching the end of the age we expect that prophetic truth will become clearer now than it was five hundred years ago.  This is especially so in light of such amazing event as the re-estabishment of the nation of Israel, the revival of the Roman Empire (EU), the fundamentalist Islamic revolution, the rise of the USA ("Young Lions" of Tarshish) as a world power, the population explosion, world travel, etc.

The Amillennial and historical interpretations of Scripture were the product of the apostasy of the Middle Ages.  The modern era Amillennial teaching is largely linked to Roman Catholicism's Augustinian thinkers and Calvinistic Reformed Theology, and is particularly antagonistic towards Dispensational Pre-Millennialism.

In the 1700's non-conformist Christians began to understand the prophetic significance of the seven letters to the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3.  They saw themselves as the Philadelphia church, and taught the Pre-Trib Rapture.  The period produced an abundance of preachers and teachers, that foresaw the restoration of Israel and their conversion during the Great Tribulation.  The Blessed Hope of the church again has burned brightly, and multitudes now listened for the imminent trumpet call, when the church will be "caught up" to meet the Lord in the air before the Day of the Lord.

The Reformation had made the Scriptures available to the everyday man in the street, and Christians could now search "the scriptures daily, whether these things were so."  -(Acts 17:11).  As early as 1560 AD the Geneva Bible taught in the marginal notes of Romans 11 the future conversion of Israel.  Ian Murray stated that from the first quarter of the 17th century, belief in a future conversion of the Jews became common place among the English Puritans.

The 1700's and 1800's were centuries of great revival and missionary activity.  The Word of God was highly esteemed and believed in its literal sense.  The result was that the prophecies concerning Israel's return to the Land and the establishment of Christ's Kingdom on earth came to the forefront.  In addition, there was a clearer understanding of the true nature of the church as the body of Christ.  The old ecclesiastical system was seen to be contrary to what the Word taught.  Once believers distinguished between the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church, and understood the priesthood of believers, the whole Pre-Millennial teaching became obvious.  Premillennial teaching went hand-in-hand with vigorous evangelism, tract distribution, and personal witnessing.  The thought that Christ could come at any moment to snatch away His bride, the church, before the Tribulation begins, motivated the church for evangelism.

Beginning around the early 1900's there came a new influence into the church known as Pentecostalism, or Charismatic Christianity.  What people seem to miss is the root of this came out of Catholicism and it eventually spread to all denominations as well.  The main feature of this movement is to receive direct revelation from God, either by speaking in unknown gibberish, receiving a word of knowledge, or seeing visions.  This is what are called extra-Biblical revelation, that is, revelation from outside the Bible.  The Charismatic movement, initiated by the Jesuits in contemplative prayer, and non-traditional church music, has provided the underpinnings of a global universal church for which Rome will sit atop. 

The prophecies that have been recorded from such experiences frequently proclaim a system of eschatology which is in conflict with sound exegesis of Scripture.  One would be consistent with what had already been revealed in the Word, and would be in agreement with each other.  Experience shows that this is not the case.  Such prophecies are by false prophets and are part of the last days deception.  The Bible warns against adding to, or taking away from the words of Bible prophecy.  "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written of in this book."  -(Revelation 22:18).

At the time of the Reformation, a Spanish Jesuit of Seville, Alcazar, taught the Preterist view which holds that all the prophecies of the book of Revelation were fulfilled in 70 AD, and that Nero was the Antichrist.  Historians suggest that this also was to counter the Reformation teaching that the Papacy was the Antichrist.  To support this teachng, modern-day Preterists claim an early date for the writing of the book of Revelation; after all, Revelation could not be written in 96 AD if it foretold the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  There is a big problem with Preterism, but mot people in the church could be deceived.  No one reads those old writings of the early church fathers anymore.

Irenaeus (120-202 AD) states that John wrote the book of Revelation at the end of the reign of Emperor Domition, which places it at precisely 96 AD.  He states that John lived to the reign of Emperor Trajan who began to rule in 98 AD.  Other writers, namely Eusebius and Jerome, confirm and agree with Irenaeus.

There has been a revival of Preterism teachings in the last twenty-five years.  It claims that Jesus foretold His return in the days of the Apostles, yet John spoke of Christ's future return after the other apostles had died.  If Jesus returned during the days of the apostles there is no recorded historical documents to that effect.  None!
It would have been noted somewhere in the historical record.  There is an abundance of secular writings of the era, far more than what you might think.  It is hard to imagine that Christ Jesus' returned in the first century AD without so much as a byline by Roman, Jewish, or Christian groups.

The awful destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD is seen by Preterists as the Great Tribulation, although Scripture clearly states that Christ Jesus would come "immediately after the Tribulation".  -(Matthew 24:29-30).  It is hard to see how anyone could consider such a view today.  The main thrust of the Preterists seems to be that of attacking the Dispensational theological hermeneutic.

The Pre-Millennial view is the only system of eschatology which consistently follows these hermeneutical principles.  Amillennialists, who hold to a verbally inspired Bible, take a literal approach to prophecies of Christ's first coming, yet when they come to eschatology they abandon these essential rules and then wander in the maize of speculation, imagination, and spiritualization.  The allegorical method is used to support their eschatology; it permits the twisting of Scripture to reinforce a preconceived system.

Pre-Millennialism is not only the historic faith of the church, but it is also the only view that rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

God bless,

Pastor Bob