Traditional dispensationalism denies the contemporary presence of Christ's kingdom. Wayne House and Thomas Ice write that: "Whatever dynamic God has given believers today does not mean that the Messianic kingdom is here. We see it as totally future." (H. Wayne House and Thomas D. Ice, Dominion Theology: Blessing or Curse? [Portland, Ore.: Multnomah, 1988], 220.)
The dispensational view requires Christ's physical presence on earth to rule over His kingdom. Dispensationalists do not accept the Reformed notion that Christ's kingdom and kingship are both spiritual. They often complain: "You cannot have the kingdom present when the king is absent." This argument has a persuasive impact upon first hearing. But an immediate problem with this statement is that Satan has an evil kingdom present (Matthew 12:26; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), even though he is only spiritually present (Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 6:12).
But a more serious problem is that Christ clearly taught that He established His kingdom when He came to earth. Let us survey some of the evidence.
In Mark 1:14-15, early in His ministry, Christ said: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand." Notice that the prophetically decreed time had come; the kingdom was declared near at hand — not 2000 (or more!) years away. A little later in His ministry, as he exercised power over Satan, the Lord noted: "If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you" (Matthew 12:28). And we know that He did cast out devils by the Spirit of God, so then by logical deduction Christ Himself declares that His kingdom has come.
Christ even prophesied that the kingdom coming with great power would be witnessed by His hearers: "And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power" (Mark 9:1).
Dispensationalist Dr. Robert Thomas argues that it is necessarily required upon exegetes interpret the words of Scripture according to the standard of "normal usage." So if one even uses Dr. Thomas' own hermeneutic there seems no way around the fact that some who literally stood in Jesus' presence would live ("not taste death") until that time, although by that very expression it is implied that some would, in fact, taste death before that event. Consequently, Christ teaches that the kingdom's coming "with power" would occur in that generation, even though it would be somewhat later than when Jesus spoke.
In Colossians 1:13 Paul writes of our present salvation: "He hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." John agrees in Revelation 1:6-9: "And He hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father. . . I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in the tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." In fact, we are now ruling with Christ, for Paul says in Ephesians 2:6: He "hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (cp. Romans 6:5; 8:17: Colossians 2:13; 3:1-3; Revelation 20:4).
Dispensationalism distorts Christ's teaching about the coming of His kingdom, which was the dramatic point of His entire ministry. In other words, a major reason for Christ's first coming — to be gloriously enthroned as Messianic king (Isaiah 9:6,7; Luke 24:26: John 12:23; 17:5; 18:37; Acts 2:30-34; 1 Peter 1:11) — is lost in dispensationalism!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Take Me To Your King: Critique of Dispensationalism
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