Why Are You Premillennial? | Abner Chou & Costi Hinn

well Dr Abner Chow thank you so much for sitting down and answering a few key questions that people have oh I'm so glad to be with you it's an honor to do help in any way I love it all right so here's my first big one uh there is a lot of noise about eschatology nowadays the the post-millennial position seems to be pretty attractive for this generation cuz we are tired of passive leadership we aren't you know just going to sit around and wait for Christ to return we want to go get it and and of course without even painting caricatures of many post Mills will say it's the gospel that's doing that but you know we're going to go do it and um then on the other side you've got you know the primemill kind of dispensationalism position which you hold and I hold and then I would call the aills like they're just the middle child they're sweet and kind and you know just kind of holding it all together and you've got a lot of different characters I think Stones get thrown from all directions as well but I wanted to just ask you this it's not even a a a shot at other positions you you are a thinking man you you are doctor Abner Chow you don't hold your positions cuz John MacArthur said so you've studied you are a learned faithful exet of the scriptures why are you uh premillennial dispensational when it comes to eschatology and then why do you think it's one of the most made fun of positions I see this stuff online all the time uh kind of the Left Behind caricature like waiting for the Rapture and and then there's a new label it's like this is loser theology like we lose down here so do nothing some of those are caricatures would you just give an affirmative answer first why are you premale dispy as we would say kind of the nickname of it and then two maybe interact with some of the caricatures and why it's so made fun of yeah this is such an important and good question and I think it all revolves around the Bible and that's what we that's where we need to start with why do we hold a certain view I I completely empathize and sympathize with fellow believers who are frustrated with all the things that you mentioned the fall of Western Civilization the dilution of biblical standards the frustration with passive leadership the frustration with duplic kind of leadership the need for men to be men and women to be women and to have strength of character passionate evangelism boldness in our times amen and amen the but those things don't deter DET our Theology and I I'm sure that every person even in these discussions would say a hearty Amen to that those things shouldn't determine our theology our theology comes from the Bible even as the Bible determines all of those topics that we just talked about and so it is because I believe that the scripture affirms a literal grammatical historical hermeneutic one that says whatever God meant is what the Bible means not what I wanted to mean not what it logically could mean not what it grammatically might mean but what God determined and we believe that as second Peter 1 says and as Moses articulated in Exodus that God puts his words in the prophet's mouth that men were carried by the Holy Spirit and Men spoke from God their intent is God's intent God's intent is their intent they are the same and that intent that literal reading which is the author's intent is given to us because God perfectly superintended and moved the writers to speak in such a way that they wrote in normal language so we have the normal rules of grammar in light of the facts of history and that's what the Bible means and we should hold to that consistently and therefore we should investigate the scriptures to know what God has said about all kinds of topics and we believe that the scripture is consistent and we believe that it is clear now having said that before we kind of get into maybe some passages that help us to think through these issues issues at least initially we we need to be very humble about it because the reason that eschatology is complicated and I get why everyone is still thinking through this together and we need to do that is because eschatology is the study of the last things and as the study of the last things it often comes last even because it has so many prerequisites what I try to convey to students and faculty and staff here at the University and the Seminary is is that eschatology is not unclear actually eschatology is so clear and so precise that's what makes it difficult because there's so many prerequisites calculus it's not unclear it is clear but you got to know a lot of things to get there just like a lot of things in school there are requirements before you enter into that subject The Book of Revelation is at the end of the Bible in eschatology is threaded throughout the entire scriptures but that means you got to know all these different passages to get there and so we need to have a lot of patience and humility because if you haven't gone through the Bible so carefully then of course I get why there's a lot of confusion and why even characters can come up and also missteps on every single side including the premillennial dispensationalist side can take place because we didn't take enough time and enough care to rightly handle the word of Truth and so when you have things like Left Behind or other kind of sensationalistic kinds of approaches and applications and proclamations of eschatology and they don't actually even correspond with the exegesis of scripture well I would be the first to say yeah we got to we got to kind of chide that a little bit because that's not right and so that doesn't help the situation at all and that invites character because we have made missteps ourselves so we need to be open and honest about that but the standard still goes back to the scripture so many passages talk and lay the foundation for premillennialism but let me just give a simple one that just lays it out and let's just do it this way when the Bible wants to speak on the issue when the Bible wants to speak on the future and lay it out for us what does it do what does it say well a good example is when Nebuchadnezzar has a dream he's wondering as the scriptures say about the last things that's what the text says so what does the Bible say what does God reveal in this dream about the last things and we know that there's a statue head of gold shoulders of silver tummy of bronze legs and thighs and toes and feet of iron and then the toes especially are iron and clay and we understand that there's a progression here and when we talk about the issues of eschatology there are two major questions one is about timing in order that's premillennialism versus amillennialism versus postmill millennialism there's a timing and order to things and second is particularly the amillennialist view is a physicality of things is it a physical Kingdom that we are talking about with Christ reign or not these are the two major issues at risk of a little oversimplification so let's think through Daniel 2 you got an order of Kingdoms you have head of gold that's a Babylon you have shoulders that's a Meo Persia you have a tummy that's a Greece and you have iron and that's like even the iron Legion that Rome had that everything corresponds so tightly it's just a masterpiece of divine revelation demonstrated right there well you have this order and then there's a stone not made with hands crushes the statue and then becomes the great Mountain that fills the Earth and that's the kingdom well let's walk through that you have four kingdoms all physical then after that you have a stone that comes not made with hands Christ is the stone he's the Cornerstone literally and boom it hits the statue on the feet which is that final Kingdom then it grows into a great m Mountain that fills the Earth so four kingdoms Christ comes then a kingdom he comes before the kingdom that's premillennialism and furthermore was Babylon a physical Kingdom y was meop Persia Greece Rome all kingdoms real Empires time space physical equality yeah so when the word kingdom is used with Christ Kingdom in that same chapter we have no reason to not think that it's any other kind of Kingdom other than one that is physical that operates in space and time and future history and that's kind of a general outline of why we uphold an uphold premillennialism and we uphold it because we believe in the consistency of terms and Israel is Israel but it's not just Israel is Israel and the church is the church it's Egypt is Egypt and Moab is Moab and Babylon is Babylon and Assyria is Assyria if people sometime say oh you just are for Israel that's all you care about wait a minute no I don't just believe in a future for Israel I believe in a future for ayri Syria and Egypt because in the end Isaiah 19 says that both are going to worship in Jerusalem both are going to be those who are called by God the work of his hands his inheritance and that is God redeeming his enemies Assyria is the one that exiled Israel Egypt's the one that enslaved Israel but God will redeem both of them in the end demonstrating that he loves his enemies but the only way that works is if God actually redeems Assyria and God actually redeems the Egyptians they have a future too so I'm not just for Israel's future I'm for all the nations future and that all glorifies God and the reason in the end that I would contend Daniel lays out this eschatology of course we believe it because the scriptures articulate it but God had a purpose in designing it and in Daniel 7 as we talk about all these different nations that God redeems that God Reigns over and it only happens through the gospel and along that very line the reason that all of this happens and it has to happen in a premillennial way is because it is the honor of Christ there is one who will reign over all there is one who crushes all the nations that honor that power that distinction belongs to one and only one and he shares his glory with no other Christ does not reign with us we reign with him and that is what is going on as that's an illusion to Paul's letters but that goes all the way back to the Book of Daniel in Daniel chapter 7 it is one like the son of man the final Adam who comes to claim the world as his own as the last Adam and Paul repeats that in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 and so these are the underpinnings I would say of what God will do in the end and he will be glorified and he will be glorified in his son now that does not negate in any way vigilance of evangelism vigilance in witness vigilance in proclaiming the truth in fact this is why we do it because we are as acts one says Christ's Witnesses yes we testify to him we point to the one who will have all that honor and glory and we announce him and we Proclaim him as Paul says in Colossians and all of our actions and all of our words and all of our Deeds declaring the unbending truth of God that is what we do premillennialism does not undermine it actually premillennialism is the reason why we should do it and if people aren't doing it it's not because they have faulty eschatology it is because their eschatology isn't refined enough and their understanding of scripture is not refined enough it's like in 2 Thessalonians those people who were not working with their own hands it's where we get the phrase he if you don't work you don't eat no work no eat no eat because Paul was was rebuking them and saying you've used your eschatology wrong you have used it as a excuse for your sin you cannot do that it all goes back to the scripture then the Bible tells us what to believe why it's there and how we are to use it and we have to submit Our Lives to all of it and be patient we're all learning the scripture together I could share insights that I've learned from amillennial Scholars and post-millennial Scholars and premillennial Scholars as we learn to together to expound The Riches of God's word but that has to be the goal not just trying to win a fight in a debate but actually to get into the scripture more to learn it better and to live it more Faithfully so well said thank you for that answer praise the Lord

Channel: For the Gospel

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Length: 13min 3sec (783 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 16 2024