Featured Was Isaac Watts a Pre-Trib-Dispensationalist?

If he did and I haven't read much of his work he would be following early church fathers who taught it:

We see:

Irenaeus (130 A.D. – 202 AD) "was a bishop of the church in Lyons, France. He was an eyewitness to the Apostle John (who wrote the Book of Revelation) and a disciple of Polycarp, the first of the Apostle John’s disciples. Irenaeus is most-known for his five-volume treatise, Against Heresies in which he exposed the false religions and cults of his day along with advice for how to share the Gospel with those were a part of them.

In his writings on Bible prophecy, he acknowledged the phrase “a time, times and dividing of times” in Daniel 7 to signify the 3 ½ year reign of the Antichrist as ruler of the world before the Second Coming of Christ. He also believed in a literal Millennial reign of Christ on earth following the Second Coming and the resurrection of the just."

let's check another:

"Cyprian (200 AD – 258 AD) – Cyprian was Bishop of the church in Carthage. During his short stint as leader of the church, he guided the flock through intense persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire. In 258 AD after spending seven months of confinement to his home by order of Roman authorities, he was beheaded for his faith. Several of his works still exist today.

In Treatises of Cyprian he wrote in describing the end times Great Tribulation:

“We who see that terrible things have begun, and know that still more terrible things are imminent, may regard it as the greatest advantage to depart from it as quickly as possible. Do you not give God thanks, do you not congratulate yourself, that by an early departure you are taken away, and delivered from the shipwrecks and disasters that are imminent? Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us hence, and sets us free from the snares of the world and restores us to paradise and the kingdom.”

And another:

"Ephraim (306 AD – 373 AD) was made a deacon in the church in Syria in 338 and later became the bishop of Nisibis. Although he was made a “saint” in the Roman Catholic Church, he was not involved in Catholicism and did not even live in the Roman Empire until the final years of his life. The book Pseudo Ephraim was one of his still existing works. It was called “Pseudo” because of later dispute over authorship. However the book’s one reference to the rapture is very compelling:

In his work, On The Last Times 2, he wrote:

“We ought to understand thoroughly therefore, my brothers, what is imminent or overhanging. Already there have been hunger and plagues, violent movements of nations and signs, which have been predicted by the Lord, they have already been fulfilled (consummated), and there is not other which remains, except the advent of the wicked one in the completion of the Roman kingdom. Why therefore are we occupied with worldly business, and why is our mind held fixed on the lusts of the world or on the anxieties of the ages? Why therefore do we not reject every care of worldly business, and why is our mind held fixed on the lusts of the world or on the anxieties of the ages? Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? Believe you me, dearest brother, because the coming (advent) of the Lord is nigh, believe you me, because the end of the world is at hand, believe me, because it is the very last time.

Or do you not believe unless you see with your eyes? See to it that this sentence be not fulfilled among you of the prophet who declares: “Woe to those who desire to see the day of the Lord!” For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins. And so, brothers most dear to me, it is the eleventh hour, and the end of the world comes to the harvest, and angels, armed and prepared, hold sickles in their hands, awaiting the empire of the Lord. And we think that the earth exists with blind infidelity, arriving at its downfall early. Commotions are brought forth, wars of diverse peoples and battles and incursions of the barbarians threaten, and our regions shall be desolated, and we neither become very much afraid of the report nor of the appearance, in order that we may at least do penance; because they hurl fear at us, and we do not wish to be changed, although we at least stand in need of penance for our actions!”

So here we see at least three early Christian leaders who were looking forward to Christ return before the Tribulation. From around A.D. 150 to A.D. 350 they felt the Lord's imminent return would come. Then the church married the roman empire and many of these truths were hideden to support the Roman view. So Issac Watt would be following early church teachings if he did teach it. As would all who hold the Pre-Trib view of eschatology.

 

I always find it interesting how pre-tribbers like to use the rapture and the Imminent return of Christ interchangeably, but then turn around and make a distinction between the return of Christ and the rapture.

 

Are you saying that holding to that viewpoint is heresy, and that pre mil views you will accept?

And how can it be a heresy, as it states that jesus will return ay his second coming, which is the thing the bible teaches?

We can argue the timing, if its pre/.id/post/post mil/a mil, but NONE of them are heresies, just that some are closer to the bible than others!

 

Uh no they don't

 

Baptist theologian John Gill in the 1700's wrote:

--Two resurrections separated by a thousand years. Read more extensively. He calls the first resurrection "the rapture."

 

Gill further says:

He firmly believes that he will be taken when Christ comes and thus escape the fury of the Antichrist (or The Tribulation).
Gill believed in a pre-trib rapture. There is no doubt about this.

 

Gill believed in the pre-trib rapture. That much is evident.
Concerning Watts, it has already been demonstrated that his dispensations are very similar to Scofield's, that he is a premillennialist, that Christ will come and then set up his Millennial Kingdom on earth. Isn't that enough?

 

You do realize that almost all the dispensationalists on this board do not believe everything Darby has to say. We have been trying to tell you that.
Of course we differ from Watts as well.
Isaac Watts was a musician as well as a theologian. Much of his theology was expressed in the almost one thousand hymns that he wrote. One of the most famous hymns that he wrote, is the following, often confused with his birth (it is not), it is about the Second Coming, and then the physical Millennial reign of Christ on this earth:

Joy to the world! The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing

Joy to the world! the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods
Rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy

No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make
His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found
Far as the curse is found
Far as, far as the curse is found

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders and wonders of His love

Songwriters
G. F. HANDEL, ISAAC WATTS


This never happened in 70 A.D., very obviously!!
It still has not yet happened. The Lord is not reigning.
Satan is the god of this world. This hymn speaks of a future time which Watts is looking forward to.

 

Perhaps you misunderstand Watts.
The Bible says that God has cut off Israel. I don't have a problem with that. I also believe the same Israel has been cut off for a time. God has given many of the blessing that Israel had to the believers of the NT.
Watts used a poor choice of words. I don't believe in replacement theology. I am not convinced he believes in that either. He says it is the "spiritual" kingdom that is given to the believers. Well that is somewhat true.
You even bolded this statement of Watts:

inherits all of the promises God made to Israel, albeit in spiritual form:
--The believers do not inherit the physical blessings given to Israel, do they?
He does not negate the fact that ethnic Israel still exists. Paul prays for them in Romans 9 and 10. he was not a lunatic.

What does he mean in his song"
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make
His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found
Far as the curse is found
Far as, far as the curse is found

Obviously, sins and sorrows are still here.
Thorns and thistles infest THIS ground.
This is the Millennial Kingdom he is speaking of.

I believe you have misunderstood Watts.

 

There are a number of things here that you won't "man-up" to.
1. Who said anything about any of us believing in a "parenthesis" Church. This is a false assumption on your part which is basically a false accusation or a lie.
2. Who disagrees with Watts that God is finished with the nation of Israel, (at least for now).
3. I believe you don't understand what we believe, and don't totally understand what Watts believes either.
As has been posted before in chart form his comparison of the various dispensations is closer to Scofields' then Darby's.