Charles Spurgeon on Pre-Millennialism

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Charles Spurgeon on the Millennialism

“Nazareth, the Son of David, as their King, and that they will return to their own land. . . . It is certain also that our Lord Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, and that he will reign amongst his ancients gloriously, and that there will be a thousand years of joy and peace such as were never known on this earth before. It is also certain that there will be a great and general judgment, when all nations shall be gathered before the Son of man sitting upon the throne of his glory; and his final award concerning those upon his left hand will be. . . . How all these great events are to be chronologically arranged, I cannot tell.”

Spurgeon on the book of Zechariah

“This vision and prophecy graciously reveal the future history of Jerusalem. We may spiritualize and say Jerusalem signifies the church but we should not forget the literal meaning of the words. The Jewish people and their royal city will remain the center of the manifestations of divine glory. The nations of the earth will be joined to the Lord, a suburban population to the chosen city. Jerusalem will be rebuilt in more than her former splendor; the Jews will be restored to their own land; and Messiah will reign as a prince of the house of David.

I have found various statements that show Spurgeon did not believe God was through with his chosen people the Jews and the apostle Paul could not have been more clear in Romans 11. When Spurgeon lived Israel had been a dead nation for well over 2,000 years and some things the Book of Revelation talked made no sense. I was born in 1953 and remember as a child the preacher talking about the “mark of the beast” which was very scary to me, but the idea of putting a mark on everyone around the world so they could buy or sell made absolutely no sense other than making it symbolic. Spurgeon’s main message was preaching the gospel which should be our main message today but even Spurgeon realized that he could not completely refuse to talk about future events.

In the 1800’s prophecy was something that various leaders started emphasizing and they realized they couldn’t spiritualize away the promises concerning the Jewish people. I used to have a cheap set of encyclopedias published in the 1930’s where if you looked up “Israel” the only thing you would find is that it was an ancient nation mentioned in the Bible.

You have John Nelson Darby, Joseph A. Seiss (a Lutheran), William E. Blackstone, Arno C. Gaebelein and others who rose up in the 19th century to proclaim the prophecies concerning the Hebrew people and how that the church would be caught up before God poured out His wrath on a Christ rejecting world. In 1909 when C.I. Scofield predicted the Jews would once again join the nations of the world and in the last days would be attacked by Russia, he said the whole prophecy belongs to the “future day of Jehovah” (Ezekiel 38:2) and was mocked because Russia was a Greek Orthodox nation and Israel had not existed as an independent, sovereign nation for 2500 years.

In Acts 28:23 the apostle Paul “persuaded the Jews, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the Prophets, from morning till evening.” Prophecy appeals to the intellect and creates faith in the word of God (Isaiah 46:9-10). The moral Law appeals to the conscience and reveals to us the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). We should use both in evangelism.

Jesus predicted in Luke 21:20-22 that the Jews would control Jerusalem when He returned. That prophecy was fulfilled in the 1967 war. We are living in exciting times where there is a distress of nations and all the signs Jesus talked about are coming about before our eyes. We may all respectfully disagree on specific details concerning the Second Coming of Christ but Jesus is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).
 
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Charles Spurgeon on the Millennialism

“Nazareth, the Son of David, as their King, and that they will return to their own land. . . . It is certain also that our Lord Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, and that he will reign amongst his ancients gloriously, and that there will be a thousand years of joy and peace such as were never known on this earth before. It is also certain that there will be a great and general judgment, when all nations shall be gathered before the Son of man sitting upon the throne of his glory; and his final award concerning those upon his left hand will be. . . . How all these great events are to be chronologically arranged, I cannot tell.”

Spurgeon on the book of Zechariah

“This vision and prophecy graciously reveal the future history of Jerusalem. We may spiritualize and say Jerusalem signifies the church but we should not forget the literal meaning of the words. The Jewish people and their royal city will remain the center of the manifestations of divine glory. The nations of the earth will be joined to the Lord, a suburban population to the chosen city. Jerusalem will be rebuilt in more than her former splendor; the Jews will be restored to their own land; and Messiah will reign as a prince of the house of David.

I have found various statements that show Spurgeon did not believe God was through with his chosen people the Jews and the apostle Paul could not have been more clear in Romans 11. When Spurgeon lived Israel had been a dead nation for well over 2,000 years and some things the Book of Revelation talked made no sense. I was born in 1953 and remember as a child the preacher talking about the “mark of the beast” which was very scary to me, but the idea of putting a mark on everyone around the world so they could not buy or sell made absolutely no sense other than making it symbolic. Spurgeon’s main message was preaching the gospel which should be our main message today but even Spurgeon realized that he could not completely refuse to talk about future events.

In the 1800’s prophecy was something that various leaders started emphasizing and they realized they couldn’t spiritualize away the promises concerning the Jewish people. I used to have a cheap set of encyclopedias published in the 1930’s where if you looked up “Israel” the only thing you would find is that it was an ancient nation mentioned in the Bible.

You have John Nelson Darby, Joseph A. Seiss (a Lutheran), William E. Blackstone, Arno C. Gaebelein and others who rose up in the 19th century to proclaim the prophecies concerning the Hebrew people and how that the church would be caught up before God poured out His wrath on a Christ rejecting world. In 1909 when C.I. Scofield predicted the Jews would once again join the nations of the world and in the last days would be attacked by Russia. He said the whole prophecy belongs to the “future day of Jehovah” (Ezekiel 38:2) and was mocked because Russia was a Greek Orthodox nation and Israel had not existed as an independent, sovereign nation for 2500 years.

In Acts 28:23 the apostle Paul “persuaded the Jews, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the Prophets, from morning till evening.” Prophecy appeals to the intellect and creates faith in the word of God (Isaiah 46:9-10). The moral Law appeals to the conscience and reveals to us the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). We should use both in evangelism.

Jesus predicted in Luke 21:20-22 that the Jews would control Jerusalem when He returned. That prophecy was fulfilled in the 1967 war. We are living in exciting times where there is a distress of nations and all the signs Jesus talked about are coming about before our eyes. We may all respectfully disagree on specific details concerning the Second Coming of Christ but Jesus is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).

Prophecy is indeed a weighty and worthy Biblical topic, not only for our greater understanding of our Savior, but for apologetic and evangelistic usage. Thanks for challenging us brother.... I enjoyed reading that!
 
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