Postponement of the Kingdom: Dispensational

¶ … Postponement of the Kingdom: Dispensational Premillennialism

What is the "Postponement of the Kingdom"? It is a theory -- a belief -- that the "kingdom" (as described by the prophets in the Old Testament) was originally announced as being available to the Children of Israel when Christ was upon the Earth. However, the belief continues, that because the Jews (or at least the great majority of Jews) in Israel rejected the idea that Christ was the Son of God (Jews believed he was a prophet), the kingdom was postponed and will appear at some date in the future. In a way, this theory takes Judaism to task for rejecting Christ as God's only Son. In other ways, it provides evangelical Christians with prophecy that portends natural disasters, wars, "rampant immorality, the rise of a world political and economic order" and "the return of the Jews to the land promised by God to Abraham" (Boyer, 2003).

There are numerous challenges and conflicting views regarding the idea that Jesus Christ as the Son of God postponed the coming of the kingdom because the majority of Jews did not embrace Him. They will be reviewed and critiqued in this paper.

When did the Postponement of the Kingdom occur? This of course occurred during Biblical times. Why did it occur? This will be explained though the narrative from various sources in this paper. What are some of the consequences Israel as a nation has faced because of it? The nation of Israel has been in conflict with its Islamic neighbors since the very day the United Nations authorized the State of Israel to be a place for the Jews; but is this conflict and are all the deaths on both sides a result of the Postponement of the kingdom? That is up to the individual believer or non-believer to decide. Why did it occur? The answer to that question will be found in the narrative to follow.

Ideas from Believers in the Postponement:

Meantime, the generally accepted term for those who believe the kingdom was postponed because God was upset with the Jews is Dispensationalists. Indeed, John Nelson Darby launched a movement called dispensational premillennialism, as it is known, in the early 19th Century. Darby's theory actually refers to the belief that Christ will return prior to the millennial period of peace that is written in Revelation (Malcolm, 2001).

According to the National Catholic Reporter, those adhering to the dispensational premillennialism theory divide the history of the world into six or seven "dispensations" (epochs or periods). Those dispensations are time periods during which God reportedly deals with human beings in "distinctly different ways" (Malcolm, 2001). At the culmination of these various dispensations will be Jesus Christ's thousand-year reign on earth. Premillennial alludes to the belief that Christ will return to Earth prior to the millennial period of peace referred to in Revelation.

In furthering the clarity needed to present a clear picture of what those known as Dispensationalists believe in, the Middletown Bible Church in Connecticut offers some background into the Postponement of the Kingdom (www.middletownbiblechurch.org). The church notes that in the Gospel According to Matthew, Chapter 3 verse 2, Matthew quotes John the Baptist as saying, "Repent ye, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." When one says "at hand" that certainly means it is near, and so by taking the Bible literally the Dispensationalists believe that the second coming of Christ is near.

But the Middletown Bible Church reminds readers that while the offer of a kingdom was indeed what John the Baptist alluded to, "one fact must not be forgottenthe kingdom offer was conditionalon the condition of repentance." And while the long-promised Messiah King had indeed arrived on Earth and the kingdom was said to be at hand, the people (Jews included) were told by Christ that they needed to repent their sins to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. "Although a minority of Jews did repent and turn to Christ," the Middletown Church continues, "the great majority [of Jews] did not" repent.

The nation of Israel wanted a king to feed them and heal their bodies, not a king who would feed and heal their souls, Middletown Church asserts. "But even though the Jews saw His works (Matthew 12:13, 22) and had clear proof that He was the Messiah they still refused to acknowledge who He was" (www.middletownbiblechurch.org). And the "climactic rejection of the Messiah took place" at the time the Jews told Pilate, "Let him be crucified" (Matthew 27:21-23), and worse than that, "they took full responsibility for their actions," according to the viewpoint of Middletown church records.

Some Christians believe that the Christian Church itself (here and now) is the promised "Kingdom of the Messiah," writes George Nathaniel Henry Peters in the 1884 version of Funk & Wagnalls (Peters, 1884). Peters (p. 591), who doesn't belief that, asks questions in order to set up his positions on Postponement. Is that what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of Heaven -- being forgiven for sins and entering the Kingdom? Rather than a second coming or the arrival of a new Kingdom, did Jesus (through his Father) tell people on Earth that the kingdom to come would be their salvation, and all they had to do was to repent their sins and accept Christ to get there? Peters writes that to admit that there was a postponement means that the Christian Church as an institution of God cannot then be the Kingdom. And "if postponed, how could [Kingdom] be in existence?" Peters asks (p. 591).

On page 592, Peters suggest ("Proposition 88") that the Church is perhaps the preparatory stage for the Kingdom to come. The Church then "resolves itself into an association of believers" that grows in numbers, perpetuating the Church, and is "insured by the use of means of grace connected with such an organization, and by the care and oversight extended to it by its living Head" [i.e., God] (Peters, p. 592). Peters (p. 592) agrees that "eminent men of ability" have turned "against each other" in attempts to dig out the truth about Postponement. These various opinions include "an amazing variety of definitions, subtle divisions, imaginary distinctions, and irrelevant display of learning" Peters goes on.

From all these opinions comes the "fruit" that Peters says is "sad" because all the rhetoric and arguing about the Kingdom ends up covering up the real truth with the "human" argument that the Kingdom indeed is the Church here on earth. if, however, Peters (p. 593) asserts, it can be shown that the "covenanted Kingdom is something different from the Church," and if it can be shown that the [true] Kingdom "is held in postponement until a certain predetermined number of elect are gathered" and that the purpose of the Church today is to "gather and cherish those elect" and hence is "preparatory in its action" to what will come in time, then Peters believes faith and practice should be aimed in that direction (P. 593-94).

In his book Thy kingdom come: tracing God's kingdom program and govenant promises throughout history, author J. Dwight Pentecost uses Christ's parables to make the point that the Postponement was really what has happened in history. In the "Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13)" Christ revealed "there will be a judgment to determine the preparedness of those in Israel alive at the time of the second advent of Messiah" (Pentecost, p. 238). In the "Parable of the Sheep and Goats" Christ "revealed that Gentiles will also be gathered to judgment," Pentecost writes (p. 253). Those Gentiles who are "classified" as "sheep" will be welcomed into the kingdom, but those called "goats" will not be allowed in (p. 253). The sheep, Pentecost goes on, were faithful to Christ but the goats were not faithful to his teaching. This parable and others that Pentecost references serve as a metaphor for the fact that Jews who did not accept that Christ was the Son of God faced the postponement of the kingdom.

Ideas from Non-Believers in the Postponement:

In his book, the Bible and the Future, Anthony a. Hoekema writes that dispensational teaching about the postponement of the kingdom "is not supported by Scripture" (Hoekema, 1994). And while debates have been raging for centuries about whether to take the Bible literally, and about what is meant by various passages, Hoekema challenges dispensational (Postponement advocates) teaching on three key points.

One, "it is not correct to give the impression that all the Jews of Jesus' day rejected the kingdom he offered them"; not only did Christ offer the kingdom to Jews of his day (and many accepted), "he established it" (Hoekema, p. 212). Christ said to Peter, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19). Christ also said to the Pharisees, "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matt 12:28) (Hoekema, p. 212).

The second point of criticism Hoekema levels at dispensationalists is that "the kingdom which Christ offered to the Jews of his day did not involve his ascending an earthly throne," as most dispensationalists assert (Hoekema, p. 213). If in fact Christ had made an offer to rule the Jews from a throne on Earth, certainly, Hoekema goes on, "his enemies would have brought up this offer in the trial before Pilate, and made an accusation out of it" (p. 213). Pilate specifically asked Jesus' accusers, "What evil has he done? I have found in him no crime deserving death" (Luke 23:2) (Hoekema, p. 213). No such charge was ever made against Jesus during that trial, though if it had been made it would have been used as evidence of the charge that "Jesus had claimed to be a king over the Jews in an earthly sense, thus threatening Caesar's rule" (Hoekema, p. 213).

Indeed the author goes on, what Jesus did offer the Jews -- "and actually ushered in" -- was basically a "spiritual entity" which embraced the rule of God "in the hearts and lives of men"; the purpose of the kingdom that Jesus offered, as Christians of all denominations understand, was "their redemption from sin and from demonic powers" (Hoekema, p. 213). In fact Jesus said to Pilate: "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence (John 18:36, ASV) (Hoekema, p. 213).