The other three prophetic systems have enjoyed seasons of popularity in various parts of the church throughout its history. Dispensationalism, however, is a rather new form of premillennialism. It has gained a large following only during the last two centuries. North America has felt its influence far more, perhaps, than any other part of the world. C. I. Scofield’s study Bible was a driving force behind the popularization of this view. Hal Lindsey wrote extensively on a popular level using this scheme as the underlying framework for his fiction. The popular Left Behind book series assumed this view.1 Leading theologians holding dispensationalism include John Walvoord, Charles Ryrie, and J. Dwight Pentecost. Dallas Theological Seminary serves as a center for dispensational thinking.
Ryrie characterizes dispensationalism’s leading features:
The promises made to Abraham and David are unconditional and have had or will have a literal fulfillment. In no sense have these promises made to Israel been abrogated or fulfilled by the Church, which is a distinct body in this age having promises and a destiny different from Israel’s. At the close of this age, premillennialists believe that Christ will return for His Church, meeting her in the air (this is not the Second Coming of Christ), which event, called the rapture or translation, will usher in a seven-year period of tribulation on the earth. After this, the Lord will return to the earth (this is the Second Coming of Christ) to establish His kingdom on the earth for a thousand years, during which time the promises to Israel will be fulfilled.2
There are debates within dispensationalism regarding the relationship between the church and the “great tribulation.” Will God remove (i.e., rapture) the church from the earth before, during, or after the tribulation?
The basic framework for dispensationalism resembles that for historic premillennialism, with a few key features added. The return of Christ at the end of the church age includes two comings: a “secret coming” in the air and then the official Second Coming (the parousia) after a seven-year period of tribulation. This time of suffering also divides into two distinct phases, each lasting three and one-half years. During the first phase, the antichrist makes a peace covenant with Israel. In the second half of the tribulation, the antichrist turns on Israel and starts a time of unparalleled suffering for that nation. Adherents to this system call this second three and one-half year phase the “great tribulation.”
Here are the answers dispensational premillennialism provides to the test questions we posed here:
Q. 1. What does this model teach about Israel after the flesh (1 Corinthians 10:18)?
A. “The essence of dispensationalism is the distinction between Israel and the church.”3 Thus dispensationalism, in contrast to all other systems of prophecy, teaches a future age of distinctive Jewishness. According to Whitcomb, “The New Covenant theocracy of Israel will retain its distinctive Israelite characteristics—a promised land, a Temple, appropriate animal sacrifices, and an earthly Zadokian priesthood (subordinate to Jesus Christ).”4
Q. 2. What does this model teach about the thousand year reign of Christ as described in Revelation 20:2–7?
A. There is no ambiguity among dispensational writers; the future reign of Christ will last a literal thousand years.5
Q. 3. What does this model teach about the Second Coming of Christ in relation to the millennium?
A. We can consider dispensationalism to be a modification of historic premillennialism. Both maintain the second coming of Christ will occur before the millennium.6
Q. 4. What does this model teach about the kingdom of God in history?
A. Dispensationalism is more pronounced regarding its pessimism for the church age than any of the other systems. “This [church] age is, consequently, under the domination of Satan, its god, in a unique and unprecedented way.”7 The church will fail in its quest to “make disciples of all nations” during this age.
Footnotes
- The initial installment in this series was Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1995).
- Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Bros., 1953), 12.
- Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1995), 41; emphasis added.
- John C. Whitcomb, “Millennial Sacrifices,” in The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy, ed. Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 2004), 228.
- Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith, 145.
- J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1964), 372.
- Pentecost, Things to Come, 132.