The following is an ophthalmological approach to describing the two contemporary errors that has put the doctrine of eschatology out of focus: dispensationalism and hyper-preterism. The great majority of evangelicals today are dispensationalists who have what Jay Adams has called “prophetic diplopia” (diplopia is an eye problem causing double vision). A newer view of the Second Coming is hyper-preterism, which involves “prophetic myopia” (near-sightedness). Let me explain these presbyopia (loss of focusing ability) problems.
Prophetic Diplopia.
- The Bible only speaks of two comings of Christ: his incarnational first coming in humiliation and his consummational Second Coming in exaltation. According to Scripture his Second Coming is just that, a second coming: “he will appear a second time” (Heb. 9:28). The angels certainly do not mention two future comings (Acts 1:11). The Bible never speaks of a “third coming.” However, dispensationalists believe He will come again and again.
- This view is diplopic in that they hold Christ will return seven years prior to the final Advent to secretly resurrect deceased saints and rapture living believers out of the world.
- Oddly enough, this “secret rapture” theory is based on the noisiest verse in Scripture: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16). How could such a dramatic event be “secret”? After all, the angels speak only of one future coming which is a visible event: “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11b).
- The secret rapture is diplopic in separating by 1007 years the resurrection of believers from that of non-believers (contrary to: John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15) and by removing the resurrection from the end of history (contrary to: John 6:39, 44; 11:24; 1 Cor. 15:21-25).
- Such diplopia impairs our biblical foresight.
Prophetic Myopia.
- Hyper-preterists teach that Christ’s Second Coming was to occur in the near future soon after his ascension (contrary to: Matt. 25:5, 14, 19; Acts 1:7; 2 Pet. 2:4, 8-9). They also believe (along with dispensationalists) that he comes secretly. But in their case they teach that He returned in the first century.
- Hyper-preterists also believe (along with dispensationalists) that his coming is not final. Both believe that when Christ’s Second Coming did/will not defeat Satan or bring an end to sins presence among God’s people. The Dispys believe that the curse and Satan will plague God’s Kingdom for another millennium, and the hyper-preterist teach that sin will continue on forever after his Second Advent (contrary to: Matt. 25:31-33; Acts 17:31; 1 Cor 15:23-24; 2 Pet. 3:10-13).
- A strange result of hyper-preterism, if true, is the absolute silence in early church history regarding Christ’s Second Coming: the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) so “eagerly awaited” (Phil. 3:20) made no impact whatsoever on the Christians who supposedly lived through the Second Coming!
- Such myopia impairs our biblical foresight.
The eye doctor is in. He will see you now.
H.T.KenGentry, Jay Adams
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Jason Robertson is a husband and a father and a pastor. He is dedicated to leading and equipping his the Church with God’s word and biblical theology for life ministry, using a combination of pastoral, church planting and evangelism experience. He holds a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is experienced in church planting, evangelism, missions, and the training of pastors and Bible teachers.
Jason has been preaching the gospel since 1985, serving the first ten years of ministry as a Southern Baptist itinerant evangelist out of Milldale Baptist Church in Zachary, LA which ordained him in 1993. He has preached in hundreds of churches in over 30 States and 4 countries. He planted churches in Siberia, Russia in the summers of 1993 and 1994. He founded Murrieta Valley Church in California, which he planted in cooperation with the SBC NAMB in 2001. He also teaches ministry students at California Baptist University.
You can hear his sermons and read his manuscripts on sermonaudio.com. Just follow the link to "sermons" at the top of this page.
Don’t forget the big E on the eye chart: It hasn’t happened yet (assuming you’re not a preterists, I guess).
Jay Adams either does not understand the pretrib view, or he is purposely misrepresenting it.
He is wrong in each way:
1. There is not one exhaustive text on eschatology in the Bible. One must look at all verses. To say that such and such a verse doesn’t mention something means nothing at all.
Further, pretribbers believe in only two advents as well. We believe that the rapture is the beginning of the second advent. Just as his first coming lasted 30 something years, so his second coming will be for his people at the beginning and in judgment at the end.
2. It is not secret in that no one will know. It is secret in that the people on the earth will not understand what just happened. When at a party and people start whispering and laughing, you may not know what they are laughing about, but you know what happened.
3. The idea of one general resurrection is not supported anywhere in Scripture. Amills use John 5 as a prooftext, but it doesn’t work. Jesus never said everyone would be raised on the same day, ever.
The real problem is when the wholistic view of salvation is distorted.
presbyopia
I always thought that was the inability to see Presbyterians.
BTW, I recommend “Understand Dispensationalists” by Vern Poythress for a dispassionate critique of Dispensationalism.
The guy did most of his research for the book at Dallas Theological Seminary, and thanks the teaching staff for their help. His book is a model of how non-dispys should approach the subject.
I have no allegiance to dispensationalism. I am pretrib premill though. I see it as the only way to reconcile all texts.
So why doesn’t Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus count as a second coming?
Jason,
Let’s start a blog for recovering Dispensationalists. We could call it,
The Whole Counsel.
Anthony,
Simply put, the “Second Coming” is asscisated in scripture with the resurrection. (1 Cor. 15)
Jeremy you start it I’ll support you and cheer you on. And give testimony!
Want a laugh? Turn up Google and insert “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” “Appendix F: Thou Shalt Not Steal,” “LaHaye’s Temperament,” “Pretrib Rapture Diehards,” and “You May Be A Rapture Redneck.” Happy trails, pardner! Louise
I have already chimed in on this here:
Things the Lord Told Me
p.s. I am “new” to your blog, I love it…
The Pre-Trib rapture doctrien has some big problems.
Amill and pretrib both agree that the rapture is imminent. What happens after that is where the debate lies.