The Return of Christ

  

I just received a copy of The Return of Christ edited by David L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke  and published by B & H Academic. I will be doing a review in the near future, but for now here is the publisher's description.

In the study of end times (eschatology), evangelical Christians usually adhere to one of three positions. Premillennialism holds that Christ will return to earth before He reigns over an earthly kingdom for one thousand years. Postmillennialism says the kingdom of God will become realized on this earth through the church's influence, even before Christ's return. Amillennialism suggests the millennium is not a literal thousand-year reign, but that Christ's return will usher in eternity.

The Return of Christ gathers presentations from the Acts 1:11 Conference where church leaders spoke in support of the premillennial position and pre-tribulation rapture. Regardless of whether or not a reader holds this same position, the text emphasizes the deep importance of eschatology in Christ's teaching ministry and as the focus for our hope. Indeed, without the promise of Christ's return, Christianity has little to offer the unbeliever.

The book's dozen contributors include Jerry Vines, Ergun Caner, Danny Akin, Paige Patterson, David Allen, Richard Land, Junior Hill, Stanton R. Norman, Craig Blaising, Lamar Cooper, Steven Cox, and Michael Vlach.

  

Historic Premillennialism Versus Dispensational Premillennialism

  

Michael Vlach has a good post on some of the significantl distinctions between Historic Premillennialism and Dispensational Premillennialism here.

  

Blaising on the Old Testament Basis for Premillennialism

"In summary, Old Testament prophecy describes the future kingdom of God as being in existence prior to the final judgment. At the final judgment, the conditions of sin and cease so as to give way to conditions of everlasting peace and righteousness (e.g., Isa 9:7; Dan 9:24) in which there is ‘no death, no crying, no pain, for the first things have passed away’ (Rev 21:4). A number of OT prophecies speak directly of this final, eternal kingdom order. However, a number of prophecies, while highlighting conditions of blessedness, also describe conditions of sin and death which can only precede the final judgment. This can only be true if the future, eschatological kingdom is first established some time prior to the final judgment, the final judgment, then, separating two phases of that kingdom, one temporary, the other eternal."

Craig Blaising, "The Kingdom That Comes With Jesus: Premillennialism and the Harmony of Scripture," Southerm Baptist Journal of Theology 14 (2010): 6.