Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Antichrist 0: Introduction

For most of Christian history, Christians have been optimistic about the future here on earth. In his book The City of God, Augustine (400's) suggests that while the (political) kingdom of this world will more and more diminish, the reign of God will steadily take over the earth more and more. Most Christians up until the 1800's were what we today might call "postmillennial," taking an image from Revelation 20. Now is the reign of Christ in the world, and the final judgment is what is left to come.

In the early 1800's, an Irishman named John Darby gave rise to a movement that has had an immense impact on popular American Christian thought ever since. Countless little Christian groups have sprung up as they have pursued his approach to the Bible, helped along by the immensely popular Scofield Reference Bible of the early twentieth century. The movement is known as "dispensationalism," and it sees history as a series of eras leading up to the "end times" and the fulfilment of biblical prophecy.

Darby's scheme was ingenious. Daniel 9 speaks of a number of "weeks" until the anointed one comes. But then there is a "week" of great persecution mentioned as well. Darby dubbs this week the "Tribulation," and understands it to be a 7 year period during the end times, the "Great Tribulation" of Revelation 7:14.

He then merges together a figure from Revelation 13 and 17, the Beast, and calls this person the "Antichrist," using a term from 1 John. A major figure of evil will thus arise in the end times to oppose the people of God, the Antichrist. But Christians, he believed, would be snatched from the earth in a "secret rapture" just before the seven year Tribulation begins.

Darby's interpretation was a major force within the Zionism of the late 1800's and early 1900's. He believed that the nation of Israel would be restored as a nation in fulfilment of prophecy, and the Jerusalem temple would be rebuilt. Whether he was inspired or it became a self-fulfilling prophecy, Israel was restored as a nation in 1948, which fueled and reinforced the dispensationalist interpretation even more.

People believed that the last generation had arrived, in keeping with Mark 13:30. Understanding the restoration of Israel to be the budding of the fig tree, many believed that "this generation," the one living at that time, would "not pass away until all these things are fulfilled." Since a generation is traditionally understood to be 40 years, it is no surprise that a little booklet came out in 1988 entitled, "Eighty-Eight Reasons Why the Lord is Coming Back in 1988."

The way in which Darby and the later dispensationalists have woven Scripture together is amazing. The concrete impact of this one man's thinking is staggering. Millions of dollars have flowed to Israel. It is astounding just to think of the way in which this line of thought has probably impacted U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East on a subconscious level.

Christian denominations, colleges, and seminaries with major influence were founded in its train, places like Dallas Theological Seminary. Television shows, newsletters, best selling Christian novels have generated millions and millions of dollars following this train of thought. If you want to know what is going on in the world, watch one of these shows in the never-ending attempt to see whether something going on in the world might hint that the end is near.

Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth in the 1970's did it in the time of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. A slate of films like A Thief in the Night and A Distant Thunder followed. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins have written a series of best selling novels in more recent times. Each generation takes the current enemy number one and makes it the Antichrist or one of the players on his team. Is the Pope the Antichrist or Barack Obama? Will it be the Soviet Union or Iran that attacks Israel?

The next few posts (or rather, the previous ones :-) explore and unpack the key elements of the dispensationalist view, looking at the relevant Scriptures in their original contexts.

10 comments:

Mark Schnell said...

Any thoughts of expanding this into a book? Please, please, please!

BTW, you admitted that you are an email addict. I'm a Keith Drury, Ken Schenck blog addict. I do have a life though. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Would the good Bishop N. T. Wright count as a postmillennialist?

Keith Drury said...

Ken, I want to express my gratitude for your writing in this area...it is a wonderful example of "practicing your craft for the benefit of all." I appreciate your clarity of thought and easy-to-read writing on the subject. Thanks for the time you invest with little payback! I wish you'd put some of these in more permanant format--like a series of little booklets that I can put on my shelf.
Thanks again....
--Keith

Ken Schenck said...

Scott, I do think Wright would dub himself a post-millennialist if he had to choose. Please correct me anyone if you know differently.

Mark, Keith, since apparently publishers are on the way out... (remember I said this Mark on Monday), I did plan to edit this and self-publish it, probably through BookSurge so it is automatically on Amazon or perhaps some other source the muse on Monday may tell me.

Don't tell WJK, but I think instead of sending my New Testament sources book proposal to them that they invited me to make, I may just do the hard work and self-publish it myself. The big problem is motivation. It's much easier to do the hard work of writing a book when you have a contract than when you have to do all the work without knowing if anyone will ever see it.

Jared Calaway said...

By the way, I filled out my meme!

Mark Schnell said...

Ken, you said, "(remember I said this Mark on Monday)"

Okay, are you messing with me because I said I was a blog addict? I checked everything you wrote on Monday and I didn't see what you were referring to anywhere.

Okay, I get it, I'll shut up and take a break from commenting. I need to get all these papers done anyway. ;-)

Ken Schenck said...

Ha... sorry Mark. No, I meant this coming Monday!

Mark Schnell said...

Oops, I was wondering why the strange syntax in that sentence. Wow, my mind sometimes just sees things differently than other people sometimes. It gives me fits on exams.

I'll shut up now. (said with an embarrassed, sheepish grin)

Angie Van De Merwe said...

Augustine wrote after the ransack of Jerusalem to give Christians hope. His theology created a division, which I believe is a false one, between the sacred and secular. I believe that life itself is sacred, but that the improper use of life and all its "blessings" is what distorts. There is nothing wrong in and of itself, just the wrong use of it. Therefore, there is no spiritual salvation where a spiritual kingdom comes down from heaven, in a literal sense. This was a way of understanding and talking about something beyond what was understood at that time. Something to bring and make a difference. Augusine's view was an ontological view, where Jesus must partake of the essence of the Father, whereas, the Eastern Chruch understood the representation of Jesus.

Doesn't postmillinialism take history seriously, in that the prophecies were fulfill within historical time (political realm)? The NT used the OT to recruit those out of Judiasm into Christian faith, belief in a Messiah, or the Logos incarnate. I think this is misguided, because there is no spiritual salvation...possibly psychological.. It was the use of Jewish or Greek ideas to give a conceptual frame-work (theology) to understand God within a certain time of crisis.

Wisdom literature did not portray a theology, but a character of acceptance in life's cyclical blessings and trials...All of the NT was a theologizing of Jesus' life, which was a human one...

Angie Van De Merwe said...

BTW, wasn't Augustine's Total Depravity what led to a need to partake of God's life (born again by the seed of God)? The whole of the "Gospel" has been understood in evangelical circles as believing on Jesus, etc....this is not truth to me, anymore...