[Continued from previous post]
I had stated in an earlier post the following:
There is a world of difference between covenant premillennialism and dispensationalism.
Pastor Larry made the following response:
Pastor Larry said:
There are some significant differences, but there are some signficant similarities, mainly is believing that God will keep his promises.
In fact the only similarity between dispensationalism and covenant premillennialism is the belief in the earthly millennial reign. Otherwise there are more similarities between Covenant Premillennialism, Amillennialism, and Postmillennialism.
The following [part 2] is the continuation of a rather long excerpt from George Eldon Ladd's defense of Covenant Premillennialism [pages 20-27] taken from
The Millennium, Four Viewpoints edited by Robert G. Clouse. I hope those who take Pastor Larry's response at face value or who are interested in just how far dispensational doctrine has strayed from historic Church Doctrine and the proper interpretation of Scripture will take time to read Ladd's remarks. They are rewarding, whatever your view on eschatology, even for an amillennialist.
“A most vivid illustration of this principle is found in Romans 9 where Paul is talking about "us whom he has called not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles" (Rom.9:24). In other words Paul is talking about the church in Rome which included some Jews but which was largely Gentile. To prove that it was God's purpose to call such a people into being, Paul quotes two passages from Hosea:
As indeed he says in Hosea,
" those who were not my people
I will call 'my people,'
and her who was not beloved
I will call 'my beloved.' "
"And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are
not my people,'
They will be called 'sons of the living God.' " (Rom. 9:25-26)
In Hosea both of the passages refer to literal, national Israel. Because of her rebelliousness, Israel is no longer the people of God. "And the LORD said, 'Call his name Not my people, for you are not my people and I am not your God' " (Hos. 1 -9). Israel has been rejected by the Lord for her unbelief. Yet Hosea sees a day of future repentance when a disobedient people will become obedient. He sees a large remnant, like the sand of the sea.
"And in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them, 'Sons of the living God' " (Hos. 1:10). This refers to a future conversion of the Jews. The same is true of the second prophecy:
"And I will have pity on Not pitied, and I will say to Not my people, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'Thou art my God' " (Hos. 2:23). This again sees a future salvation of literal Israel when the people, whom God has rejected, will once again become the people of God.
Paul deliberately takes these two prophecies about the future salvation of Israel and applies them to the church. The church, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, has become the people of God. The prophecies of Hosea are fulfilled in the Christian church. If this is a "spiritualizing hermeneutic," so be it. But let no one say that it is liberalism. It is clearly what the New Testament does to the Old Testament prophecies. The idea of the Church as spiritual Israel is seen in other passages. Abraham is called
"the father of all who believe" (Rom. 4:11); Abraham is
"the father of us all" who
"share the faith of Abraham" (Rom. 4:16);
"It is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham" (Gal. 3:7);
"And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise" (Gal. 3:19). If Abraham is the father of a spiritual people, and if all believers are sons of Abraham, his offspring, then it follows that they are Israel, spiritually speaking.
This is what leads Paul to say,
"For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal" (Rom. 2:28-29). Now it is possible that in this verse Paul is speaking only of Jews, saying that a true Jew is not one who is only circumcised outwardly but who is also circumcised in the heart. He may not in these verses have Gentiles in view. But he clearly refers to the largely gentile church when lie says to the Philippians,
"For we are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:3).
Paul avoids calling the church Israel, unless it be in Galatians 6:16, but this is a much disputed verse. It is true, however, that he applies prophecies to the church which in their Old Testament setting belong to literal Israel; he calls the church the sons, the seeds of Abraham. He calls believers the true circumcision. It is difficult therefore to avoid the conclusion that Paul sees the church as spiritual Israel.
Another very important passage applies a prophecy given to Israel to the Christian church. In Jeremiah 31 the prophet foresees a day when God will make a new covenant with rebellious Israel. This new covenant will be characterized by a new work of God in the hearts of his people.
”I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. . . For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer. 31:33-34).
The book of Hebrews applies this to the new covenant made in the blood of Christ. Hebrews 8 contrasts the new order introduced by Christ with the passing order of the Old Testament. Christ serves in the
"true tent," not in the old, for the old is but
"a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary" (Heb. 8:5). Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new and better covenant, which rests on better promises (Heb. 8:6).
"For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second" (Heb. 8:7). These words make it clear that Hebrews is contrasting the old covenant which was defective with a second which has been established by Jesus.
"For he finds fault with them . . ." (Heb. 8:8), that is, God finds fault with Israel under the old order because they constantly broke the terms of the covenant. Therefore, a new covenant is necessary; and in describing this new covenant made by Christ, Hebrew's 8:8-12 quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34. It seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that this quotation refers to the new covenant with the people of God—the Christian church—the new covenant which has been made possible because of the sacrifice of Christ.
Then, referring to the Old Testament cult, Hebrews concludes,
"In speaking of a new covenant lie treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away" (Heb. 8:13). It is impossible to tell whether the temple in Jerusalem was still standing (it was destroyed in the Jewish War, A.D. 66-70), for the exact date of Hebrews is in doubt. But one thing is clear: Hebrews announces that the old order of the temple with its sacrifices is passe.
One of the central tenets of dispensational millennialism, based on its literal hermeneutic of the Old Testament prophecies, is that in the millennium, the Jewish temple will be rebuilt and the entire sacrificial system reinstituted, according to the prophecies of Ezekiel 40—48. However, there will be a difference between the millennial sacrifices and the Old Testament sacrifices. The millennial sacrifices will be a memorial to the sacrificial death of Jesus. "Those who consider the millennial sacrifices as a ritual which will be literally observed in the millennium invest the sacrifices with the central meaning of a memorial looking back to the one offering of Christ.". Any idea of a restoration of the Old Testament sacrificial systems, whether memorial or otherwise, stands in direct opposition to Hebrews 8:13, which unambiguously affirms that the Old Testament cult is both obsolete and about to pass away.
Therefore Hebrew's 8:8-13 refutes dispensational theology at two points: It applies a prophecy to the Christian church which in its Old Testament setting referred to Israel, and it affirms that the new covenant in Christ has displaced the Old Testament cult which is therefore doomed to pass away. 