Episode 25: What About Progressive Dispensationalism?

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 25

Gary answers a listener question about progressive dispensationalism.

For centuries, theologians declared that the Papacy was the biblical antichrist, the man of lawlessness, and the beast all rolled into one. I have several books in my library that take this view. For example, Richard Hurd’s chapter “Prophecies Concerning Antichrist” in his book An Introduction to the Study of Prophecies Considering the Christian Church, and, in Particular, Concerning the Church of Papal Rome published in 1809 states:

It is admitted, that many predictions in the Old and New Testament, particularly in the book of Daniel, in St. Paul’s Epistles, and in the Revelations of St. John, clearly point out a very extraordinary power, which was to manifest itself in the latter times, that is, in the times subsequent to the introduction of Christianity.

He gets some things right. He identifies “the last time,” or, “hour” as “the destruction of Jerusalem” that was “at hand, as indeed it followed very soon after the date of this Epistle” as John states in 1 John 2:18. So far so good because the biblical text demands such an interpretation. Hurd then goes on to argue that those first-century antichrists, those who did not “acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (2 John 7), most likely the Judaizers that John described as the “synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9; 3:9), as “types and forerunners of a still more dreadful power, which should be fully revealed in the latter times, in a future period when that calamity was passed.”

Too often we read current conditions into the Bible to make the Bible fit our circumstances instead of studying the Bible to learn how the first readers and hearers (Rev. 1:1, 3; 22:10) would have understood it. The application of the Bible is universal and timeless. You don’t need specific Bible passages of an eschatological nature to figure what’s biblically unsound or evil. For many centuries, prophetic speculators have linked prophetic passages to what was taking place in their day and thereby assuring people that the end in some way was near for them. Their track record, to say the least, is less than accurate.

Left Behind: Separating Fact from Fiction

In Left Behind: Separating Fact From Fiction, Gary DeMar takes a critical look at the theology behind this popular fiction series and challenges readers to consider a different interpretation. With confidence based on years of biblical study, DeMar carefully examines eleven major components of the pre-tribulation rapture theology and offers clear, convincing alternatives to the interpretations of Bible prophecy presented in Left Behind.

Buy Now

Gary answers a listener question about progressive dispensationalism about how it “differs” from the popular dispensationalism that informs the majority of end-time bestsellers sold in the last 50 years. Gary argues the progressive part of it was made necessary by the many failed prophecies of the popular interpretations.

Click here for today’s episode

Click here for all episodes of Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope

American Vision’s mission is to Restore America to its Biblical Foundation—from Genesis to Revelation. American Vision (AV) has been at the heart of worldview study since 1978, providing resources to exhort Christian families and individuals to live by a Biblically based worldview. Visit www.AmericanVision.org for more information, content and resources