Dispensationalism

For the sixth year in a row, I had the privilege of attending and exhibiting at the Shepherds 360 Church Leaders Conference, held at Shepherds Theological Seminary in Cary, N.C., on Monday through Wednesday of this week.

The theme of this year’s conference, which focused on dispensationalism, was “City of God—City of Man,” with the tagline: “Already? Not Yet? Let’s Get It Right!”

The 17^th Annual Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 18 and 19, at Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary in Ankeny, Iowa. The theme for this year’s conference is, “Answering the Myths About Dispensationalism.”

What is Jesus saying at John 14:2-3? What is “my Father’s house?” Where is it? When will Jesus take believers there? In the last article, we examined the theory that it refers to being “up there” in heaven, and that Jesus takes believers there at an event called the pre-tribulational rapture. We concluded this idea isn’t supported by the text and gave it a “D” rating for probability. That doesn’t mean the pre-tribulation rapture is false—it just means to “see” it in John 14:2-3 you must smuggle it in from elsewhere.

In Part 2 of this series, we presented four options for understanding what Jesus meant at John 14:1-3:

We also suggested a grading scale for evaluating these options:

See the rest of the series.

In the first article, we set out to study what Jesus meant at John 14:1-3. Some Christians believe this passage speaks about the pre-tribulational rapture of the church to heaven, clearing the way for the tribulation here on earth. Is that right?

Many American Christians have been raised in a church culture that stresses that Jesus will return to “rapture” or snatch away “the church” before the Great Tribulation. They believe “the church” is a different people than ethnic Israel, with a complementary but distinct future.¹ Because this great tribulation is “a time of trouble for Jacob” (Jer 30:7), it is not for “the church.” Therefore, the rapture is the point where “the church” slips out the door just before this tribulation begins.

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Many American Christians have questions about something called “the rapture.” These questions are often tied to a particular flavor of premillennialism called “dispensationalism.” According to this framework, “the rapture” means “the idea that Christ will remove the church from the world prior to the great tribulation.”¹ They believe the rapture is before the Great Tribulation, so it is “pre-tribulational.” This teaching relies heavily on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, along with other supporting passages.

Read Part 1.