Answering the 95 Theses Against Dispensationalism, Part 14

Republished with permission from Dr. Reluctant. In this series, Dr. Henebury responds to a collection of criticisms of dispensationalism entitled “95 Theses against Dispensationalism” written by a group called “The Nicene Council.” Read the series so far.

Thesis 61

Despite the dispensationalists’ teaching that “Jesus will come in the air secretly to rapture His Church” (Tim LaHaye), their key proof-text for this “secret” coming, 1 Thess 4:16, makes the event as publicly verifiable as can be, declaring that he will come “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.”

Response: By “secret” LaHaye, who is not to be thought of as an authority on the issue, meant something like “kept secret until revealed.” For a number of reasons, not least because anti-dispensationalists try to make capital out of it, this is not the best way to speak about the rapture—so most dispensationalists don’t!

But again it ought to be pointed out that the preterists who signed these 95 Theses don’t really have a problem with an “event as publicly verifiable as can be” being, in fact, totally secret. This is precisely how some of them interpret the Second Coming passage in Matthew 24:25-31 (see K. Gentry in The Great Tribulation: Past or Future?, 65-66. Gentry co-wrote this book with T. Ice). They think all this happened secretly and invisibly in AD 70.

Thesis 62

Contrary to dispensationalism’s doctrine of two resurrections, the first one being of believers at the Rapture and the second one of unbelievers at the end of the millennium 1007 years after the Rapture, the Bible presents the resurrection of believers as occurring on “the last day” (John 6:39-40, 44, 54; 11:24), not centuries before the last day.

Response: As far as John 6 is concerned, one needs to ask what is meant by “the last day.” As Jesus is referring to believers here, not unbelievers, the passage does not tell us enough to be definite. Dispensationalists interpret “the last day” here as the time, either of the pre-tribulational rapture, or immediately after the Second Coming of Christ in vengeance (2 Thess. 1:5-9, Rev. 19:11f.). As John 6 is very Jew-oriented, it may be best to interpret it in terms of the latter. If this is correct (and I am not sure) then Jesus does not have the rapture of the Church in view but the “first resurrection” of Rev. 20:4-6 (which nearly all non-dispensationalists spiritualize as the new birth).

The fact of the matter is that there are numerous resurrections at different times in Scripture: Christ’s (Col. 1:18), certain saints at the same time (Matt. 27:50-53), the two witnesses in Rev. 11:9-11 (who are also often spiritualized), those martyred during the Tribulation (Rev. 20:4-6) together with the saints mentioned in Dan. 12:1-2, and finally the resurrection of the wicked at the close of the Millennium (Rev. 20:5, 12, which resurrection is interpreted literally by our gainsayers, though they spiritualize both the first resurrection and the 1,000 years in the same context!).

Having said all this, why then is it strange if those mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 are resurrected at a still different time prior to the seven year tribulation? Answer: it isn’t! But we have more to say about this.

Thesis 63

Contrary to dispensationalism’s doctrine of two resurrections, the first one being of believers at the Rapture and the second one of unbelievers at the end of the millennium 1007 years after the Rapture, the Bible speaks of the resurrection of unbelievers as occurring before that of believers (though as a part of the same complex of events), when the angels “first gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up” at the end of the age (Matt 13:30b).

Response: Notice that these brethren go to a parable to find a teaching to overthrow plain and clear didactic passages! And having resorted to a parable, they then misread it. The verse says nothing about a resurrection. Jesus’ own interpretation shows that this event occurs at His Second Coming and kingdom (see Matt. 13:37-43).

Notice that these brethren go to a parable to find a teaching to overthrow plain and clear didactic passages! And having resorted to a parable, they then misread it. The verse says nothing about a resurrection. Jesus’ own interpretation shows that this event occurs at His Second Coming and kingdom (see Matt. 13:37-43).

Thesis 64

Despite dispensationalism’s commitment to the secret Rapture of the Church by which Christians are removed from the world to leave only non-Christians in the world, Jesus teaches that the wheat and the tares are to remain in the world to the end (Matt 13:), and he even prays that the Father not take his people out of the world (John 17:15).

Response: The parable of the wheat and the tares refers to the the growth of true saints alongside false professors, something the Church has had to deal with since its inception. The removal of the true Church at the rapture is an end-time event, and thus is no contradiction of the parable.

But dispensationalists teach that many will be saved in the tribulation (e.g. see Rev. 7), but that the saints will be spared from the imminent wrath of Christ at the end of that period (see Rev. 14:14-16 and the contrast with vv.17-20). So neither the pre-trib rapture nor the post-trib protection of believers contradicts Jesus’s parable.

As it has been more than 2,000 years since Jesus’ prayer in John 17:15 we are of the opinion that the prayer has been answered.

It is all very well to ask what might be called “but what about…?” questions, but these questions must never by themselves determine the way we handle the text of Scripture. We don’t have all the answers. We only have what God tells us about. This means that both dispensationalists and non-dispensationalists have what I call “frayed edges” to their theologies (which are human systems). Thus, sometimes it is unreasonable to expect each other to be definitive, especially in matters of eschatology.

We repeat, the “secret” of the rapture is its timing not its actual occurrence, although it is possible that only the saved will experience the phenomena of 1 Thessalonians 4:16. This point has been made to our opponents ad nauseum. The problem will doubtless persist until the rapture happens.

Thesis 65

Despite the dispensationalists’ emphasis on the “plain interpretation” of Scripture (Charles Ryrie) and the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24, admitting that Christ was pointing to the stones of the first century temple when He declared that “not one will be left upon another” (Matt 23:37-24:2), they also admit inconsistently that when the disciples asked “when shall these things be?” (Matt 24:3), Matthew records Christ’s answer in such a way that He presents matters that are totally unrelated to that event and that occur thousands of years after it (Bible Knowledge Commentary).

Response: Taking a closer look at Matthew 24:2-3 it will be seen that the disciples asked at least two questions: 1. “when will these things be?” (a reference to v.2), and 2. “and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”

For his own reasons the Holy Spirit directed Matthew to focus on the second of these questions. How do we know? Note well the references to the end: vv. 6, 13, 14, 21, 27, 29-31, 36-39, and the next chapter. So although the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus is referred to in Matt. 24:2 the disciples ask a related question which Matthew concentrates on in the rest of chapters 24 and 25.

Some preterists, scared to death of J. S. Mill and Bertrand Russell, ignore all these references to “the end,” zoom in on v.34, and conclude that Christ came back invisibly with the Romans in AD 70. We think our explanation, which examines the context, is preferable.

Thesis 66

Despite the dispensationalists’ commitment to so-called literalism in prophecy and their strong emphasis on the Great Tribulation passage in Matthew 24, they perform a sleight of hand by claiming that when Jesus stated that “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matt 24:34), He did so in a way inconsistent with every other usage of “this generation” in Matthew’s Gospel (e.g., Matt 11:16; 12:41, 42) and even in the immediate context (Matt 23:36), so that “this generation” can somehow point thousands of years into the future “instead of referring this to the time in which Christ lived” (Walvoord).

Response: There is no “sleight of hand.” The “generation” of Matthew 24:34 is the generation of the end (Matt.24:3, 6, 13-14) who pass through the “great tribulation” (v.21). Thus, the context decides the meaning. Plus, the context of Christ’s words in Matthew 23:39 (which verse is again spiritualized by most amillennialists and post-millennialists), is not AD 70 but the Second Advent (cf. Zech. 12—notice the repetition of “in that day”—especially vv.9-11).

Thesis 67

Dispensationalism’s teaching of the rapid “national regeneration of Israel” during the latter part of the seven-year Tribulation period (Fruchtenbaum) is incomprehensible and unbiblical because the alleged regeneration occurs only after the Church and the Holy Spirit have been removed from the earth, even though they were the only agents who could cause that regeneration: the institution of evangelism on the one hand and the agent of conversion on the other.

Response: I truly hope the “former dispensationalists” among the Nicene Council are embarrassed by this thesis. Perhaps they signed them without reading this one too closely? The answer is as easy as its necessity is surprising.

First, there are 144,000 Jews who are sealed in Revelation 7:4-8 (we realize that once again our opponents spiritualize these Jews and spiritualize the number 144,000). These male Jews (cf. Rev. 14:1-4) are called “servants of…God” (Rev. 7:3). Thus, it is a safe bet that they do a spot of evangelism. In chapter 11 the two witnesses are prophesying for 1,260 days (yes, we know…the two witnesses and the 1,260 days or 42 months (v.2) are spiritualized too!). We think a note of repentance might slip into their preaching! Please forgive the humor; it is not meant to be demeaning. But if one is going to issue 95 Theses opposing a theology that has purportedly “crippled the church” and produce a video to boot, it would help if there were signs that this is more than a visceral reaction.

Second, whoever heard of removing the Holy Spirit from the earth (Psa.139:7-10)? That would be like removing God’s providence from the earth. Talk about incomprehensible. Doubtless these people have in mind 2 Thessalonians 2:7 where “the restrainer” is held by most dispensationalists to be the Holy Spirit. But they badly err if they think “taken out of the way” means removed from the earth. I am aware of no serious dispensationalist who believes that the Spirit is taken from the world. We refer the interested reader to J. D. Pentecost, Things To Come (270-271) or the commentaries by Hiebert or Thomas.

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