Pre-Millennial Rebellion

Premillennialism Implies Christ will Lead the world in rebellion against god

Those holding a pre-millennial view will understandably recoil at the title to this page. Nevertheless, Don Preston has done an excellent job of outlining the case for the statement.

If you remember the story of the Jews demanding a king (1 Samuel 8), you have some understanding of what got them in trouble in the first place. God wanted a people who would honor him as king. He entered a covenant with them. He would be their God and they would be His people.

But once they had their land, they wanted to be like the other nations. Samuel was distraught over their demands. God consoled him saying, "... they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them." God went into significant detail telling them how their king would oppress them but they were adamant in their demands and He responded to their rebellion by giving them a king.

You'll have to read the story of Israel to get the details of the oppression that followed but a quick summary is that the kingdom remained united for 120 years before power struggles divided the people. The events that followed can only be seen as a fulfillment of what God said would happen.

In the northern kingdom (Israel) there were 19 kings and in the southern kingdom (Judah) there were 20. The record shows that in Judah only 8 of the 20 were righteous, and in Israel there was not one righteous king.

Judgment fell. Israel was scattered among the nations by Assyria and Judah was taken into 70 years of captivity by Persia. Though they returned to the land and rebuilt the temple and walls, the clock was ticking and in 458 B.C. the city walls destroyed again.

With the voices of the prophets reverberating in the land, God rejects the people and silence falls. That silence was interrupted by the proclamation of Christ as Messiah.

Initially He was well received. John 6 tell us that they would have made Him king by force, but Christ would have none of it. When He rejected their demand to be a physical king over them, they rejected Him and the stage was set for the greatest evil in history.

So you see, they rejected Him because He was not the kind of king they wanted. Satan offered Him the same kind of kingdom but one that encompassed all the nations. Christ refused. Why? First, He had dominion over all and He didn't need to bow to Satan to get what was already His. Secondly, His kingdom was not of this world (that is to say it didn't have it's authority from the system of this world).

Christ came for the lost sheep of the household of Israel. He is not talking about all Jews in that statement. He has come for the remnant. Those who have not sold out to the ecclesiastical system or Rome but who are longing for His appearing.

For the man Jesus to have become a physical king over the nation of Israel would have been rebellion against the Father who sought, now as always, to be their king.

Sadly, the pre-millennial view demands that Jesus return to earth to a physical Israel and rule over them as an earthly king. Those who hold this view make the same mistake that the old covenant recipients made. In doing so, they unwittingly dishonor God as Sovereign and encourage the rebellion of those who oppose Him.

This should not be seen as a blanket condemnation of all who hold this view. Our purpose in sharing these thoughts is to alert believers who have been less than diligent to the seriousness of their error.

We pray for a new day of reformation when believers unite to proclaim God as king and who live and reign in His presence in this life as we certainly shall in the next.