Faith by Hearing
Sanctifying the MP3 RevolutionArchive for Eschatology
John MacArthur on Revelation
John MacArthur is one of my favorite Premil Revelation preachers. Very little has to be said, after all, it was MacArthur who said every self-respecting Calvinist should be premil (or something to that effect).
Having grown up in a Southern Baptist church and having spent 10 years at Grace Community Church, I tend to favor the Premil camp. But I am also trying to get my arms around the Amil position which is unfamiliar territory to me. So, in addition to Azurdia’s audio, I have been wading through Craig Keener’s commentary and G.K. Beales NIGTC tome on Revelation.
Jim Hamilton Series on Revelation
Jim Hamilton is another preacher I turned to for audio help on preparing my Revelation study, though, admittedly, he’s the last of the 4 who I will listen to if time allows. Given that, I don’t even remember where he stands on the Millennium, though I suspect he’s Premil. Since he’s number 4 he doesn’t really get a fair shake in my Revelation posts.
Restoration Prophecy in Ezra-Nehemiah
Very interesting discussion at Christ the Center with Matthew Patton about the “already/not yet” eschatology found in Ezra and Nehemiah. Some of the discussion is challenging, but other parts are incredibly helpful, such as the discussion of typology. From the site:
The Christ the Center corporal’s guard spoke with Matthew Patton, PhD student in biblical studies at Wheaton College Graduate School in Wheaton, IL about his paper “Searching for a Truly Repentant Israel: Ezra-Nehemiah and Restoration Prophecy.” A very fascinating discussion was had about such things as the already/not yet eschatology of Ezra-Nehemiah and how even though Israel was back in the land, they had not returned from exile. The significance of typology was also addressed. One of the strengths of Matt’s research is that he shows the intertexuality of the various parts of the Bible. This paper particularly highlights Nehemiah’s prayer and his citations and allusions to Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and 1st Kings. This discussion augers well for future in-depth biblical theological and exegetical conversations.
An Evening of Eschatology
John Piper hosted a very exciting roundtable discussion with three of his friends looking at some issues of eschatology. Those friends are Doug Wilson, Sam Storms, and Jim Hamilton, and each one represents one of three escatalogical viewpoints: Postmillenialism, Amillenialism and Premillenialism respectively.
This discussion will stretch your mind, if you are not familiar with the variety of millenial views. Far from being a discouraging discussion, this is a very helpful and encouraging discussion, and shed light on the views that I personally do not hold. We should be willing to delve into these deep waters rather than to avoid them due to the confusion that surrounds them.
Eschatology: Wayne Grudems Systematic Theology Lectures
As Wayne wraps up his 5 year long series of lectures going through his excellent Systematic Theology, he looks at the varying views of the millennium, final judgment, hell, and the new heavens and new earth.
Wayne spends little time on the Post-millennial view because it’s based on very few and very weak proof-texts. Amillennalism takes more time since this is a very popular view in many reformed circles. There is also a helpful discussion on Preterism and Dispensationalism. Wayne spends on entire message looking at premillennialism, which is the view he holds.
Final judgement and eternal punishment take up another lecture, followed by a look at the New Heavens and the New Earth.
The Unfolding of Biblical Eschatology
Dr. Fowler White and Dr. Keith Mathison join the Christ the Center panel to discuss eschatology and the varied millennial perspectives. Mathison’s new book From Age to Age is the focus of the discussion.
There are some interesting exchanges on recaptiulation, Preterism, optimistic amillennialism and pessimistic postmillenialism. Mathison points to the differences in how premillennailists look at Revelation 19 & 20 compared to how amillennialists do.
Though, personally, I’m in the premil camp, I found this discussion fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the consideration of prophecy requiring a look at the whole Bible, not just beginning with Revelation. I’m looking forward to reading Mathison’s book which examines prophecy as a move beginning in Genesis.
A Day with Dr. Don
Don Carson recently spent a weekend at Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill Church in Seattle, giving 5 messages. For those of you who are Carson aficionados, a couple of these messages are repeats ones he gave last year, yet worth listening to again.
Don’s message on Revelation 12 was one I had not heard before, and deals with the Gospel in a fresh light. He spends some time discussing how we modern Christians are largely unaware of Satan’s attack on believers, particularly in the role of accuser. Carson also unpacks a lot of the difficult terminology we find in Revelation, providing a very understandable way of looking at apocalyptic literature. Don relates a very convincing perspective of identifying the pregnant woman in Revelation 12 as the Messianic community and the infant boy she gives birth to as the Gentile church.
In A Miracle of Surprises, Don walks us through the story of Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead. He shows how Jesus purposefully delayed his visit so that Lazarus would die, so that he could provide the world a picture of himself as the being resurrection and the life. Don explains how God’s providence is above our perceptions, and that even in what we see as intentional delays, he uses those to teach us things we would not otherwise be able to learn. Carson spends a significant amount of time overturning many of the silly cliches that have attached themselves to this story.
This is a treasure of solid Biblical instruction that you will not want to miss.
Session 1: The Center of the Whole Bible (Romans 3:21-26)
Session 2: The Strange Triumph of a Slaughtered Lamb (Revelation 12)
Session 3: A Miracle of Surprises (John 11)
Session 4: Why Doubt the Resurrection of Jesus (John 20:24-31)
Session 5: The Ironies of the Cross (Matthew 27:27-51)
Why Every Calvinist should be a Premillenialist: Revisited
Without a doubt, one of the most talked about, blogged about messages in the past two years was given by John MacArthur at the 2007 Shepherd’s Conference. Maybe you remember it.
When I wrote a post about this message I fielded numerous comments that attempted to begin a heated debate within my comment section. No other post has generated such a strong interest in debate. None of these comments were published because FBH is not designed to be a forum for debate.
Two years later, that original post continues to be the second most trafficked post on this site to this day, and as I listen to many interviews and discussions, others continue to reference MacArthur’s message, both for good and for ill.
My intent in bringing attention to this message again is not to stir up controversy, or to assert my posture for or against. In the foment following the Shepherd’s conference there were an abundance of scathing attacks against MacArthur by people who did not hear the message and would not pay the $3 to download it.
The Shepherd Conference message is still available for a fee. However, now that the MacArthur vaults at Grace to You are open for free, you can download MacArthur’s 3 Sunday sermons by a less-than-insinuating title that developed into the Shepherd’s Conference message. So if you missed the Shepherd’s conference message, you can now listen to a much longer examination of the same subject.
Why Every Calvinist Should be a Premillinialist:
