Southern Baptist Theology in the Late Twentieth Century
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 54, No. 2 – Spring 2012
Managing Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
Edited by David L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2011. 285 pages. Softcover, $24.99.
Among today’s pastors and theologians there seems to be an apathetic attitude toward the events surrounding the return of Christ. The contributors to The Return of Christ: A Premillennial Perspective confront this apathy, arguing that the Scriptures reveal a premillennial understanding of Christ’s second advent. The essays are the result of the Acts 1:11 Conference which was held over two days in November of 2009 at North Metro First Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and co-sponsored by Jerry Vines Ministries and a number of Baptist seminaries and a Baptist college. The book is divided into two parts: part one includes the seven presentations from the conference while part two includes five additional scholarly reflections on premillennialism.
Vines’ brief article introduces the good news announcement of Acts 1:11. The announcement involves the person of Jesus Himself who has promised to return to the earth for His saints. Those who await the fulfillment of the promise are to worship, work, and eagerly wait for the promise to come about. After a brief argument that any viable eschatological position must include the affirmation of Christ’s return, Ergun Caner surveys six views of the return of Christ and the throne of David. Then he offers five reasons for understanding Jesus’ return as premillennial. Danny Akin argues for a pretribulational rapture, a position that he writes is even more opposed today than premillennialism (49). He surveys five views on the time of the rapture, concentrating on the concept of imminency within pretribulationism. Akin concludes, “If a person rejects pretribulationism, he must either deny imminency or redefine the tribulation” (55). In his discussion of the three figures in Revelation 12, Paige Patterson discusses Israel’s unique role during the tribulation, which he describes as “God’s final appeal to sinful humanity” (71). David Allen argues that numerous Old Testament and New Testament texts describe a future millennial reign of Christ upon the earth and concludes that the “hermeneutics of amillennialism simply cannot account for the national and geopolitical aspects of these Old Testament prophecies of blessings” (78). The subject of Richard Land’s essay is God’s judgment as described in Revelation 20–22. Distinguishing between the temporal place of torment known as Hades and the eternal lake of fire known as hell, Land affirms the devastating judgment of unbelievers in Revelation 20 and the promise of the new heaven and new earth (Rev 21–22), in which the redeemed will live with God forever. In light of the response of the two men in Acts 1:11, Junior Hill exhorts believers to not be like the disciples who, in gazing into the sky, were asking the wrong question, looking in the wrong direction, and laboring in the wrong power.
Stanton Norman begins the five articles of part two with an introductory survey of eschatology. In a section on individual eschatology, he discusses what the Bible says concerning death, the intermediate state, and resurrection. Then he covers corporate themes such as the kingdom of God, the day of the Lord, and the certainty and manner of Christ’s return. Norman completes the chapter suggesting some ways in which eschatology has implications for life and godliness. Craig Blaising defends premillennialism by arguing that Old Testament descriptions of the kingdom and the coming day of the Lord indicate a two-phased kingdom, one that is temporarily in existence between the time of Christ’s return and the final judgment, and one that is eternal and follows the consummative judgment of sin and death (143–45). He argues that Paul’s multiple-stages description of the resurrection and the two-phased resurrection described in Revelation 20 also point to the two-phase kingdom idea. Lamar Cooper investigates “the pre-Christian development of aspects of the messianic movement in the Old Testament as a foundation for understanding the Second Coming of the Messiah” (160–61). He argues that there are both implicit and explicit examples of the second coming in the Old Testament and offers an extensive treatment of Zechariah 12–14 as inextricably linked to Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (176–92, 204–05). Steven Cox continues the discussion of the Olivet discourse by discussing the implications of Jesus’ words on eschatology. He also discusses eschatological passages in the fourth gospel that deal with false messiahs, eternal life, and the judgment of believers and nonbelievers, respectively. In the final chapter, Michael Vlach discusses the primary themes of eschatology within Pauline theology, distinguishing between those aspects which are present in the church age and those which are reserved for a future time. In discussing Paul’s theology of the covenants and the people of God, Vlach focuses on the Jew/Gentile ethnic distinction within Paul’s writings (239–48). He also discusses Paul’s understanding of future events related to the day of the Lord, the temple, the gathering of the saints, bodily resurrection, judgment, the kingdom, and the future role of the nation of Israel.
There are a few minor ways in which the contributors’ positions could have been stronger. Caner is correct to point out the nuanced differences between premillennialism and dispensationalism and between amillennialism and preterism, respectively. In distinguishing millennial views, however, these nuances are perhaps not necessary. He could have also been clearer in his defense of “the imminence of premillennialism” (38–45) by stating that he is arguing for pretribulational premillennialism, which includes both the premillennial position and dispensational position as he has described them. Also, the language about hell that Steven Cox employs could be better stated (222, 234). Nonetheless, he is correct to point out the distinction between Hades and the eternal lake of fire (hell).
As a whole, the work should be commended for its fairness. When opposing positions are described, they are usually done so in an accurate manner and in an irenic tone. Still, Caner’s description of the positions of Hymenaeus and Philetus (2 Tim 2:16–18) as “a form of amillennialism or preterism” (27) is perhaps anachronistic and incorrect. While pointing out numerous helpful intertextual connections, Cooper may overstate his case regarding explicit affirmations and signs of the second coming in certain Old Testament texts. Allen argues that the earthly events described in certain Old Testament texts can only be fulfilled during the millennium (79–80). It could have been added here that there are new creation premillennialists who understand the millennium as a transition to the new heaven and new earth and thus see more continuity between the present earthly state and the eternal state of the new creation.
These relatively minor points of disagreement do not take away from the contribution that has been made by each writer and the value of the work as a whole. Whether it is among dispensational premillennialsts or among its detractors, future discussion of eschatology will benefit from The Return of Christ. The work includes both introductory and advanced material, giving it a wide range of accessibility. While some redundancy is to be expected in a work like the present one, the editors and contributors have done well to minimize it by keeping their respective contributions focused, allowing the other contributors to cover other topics. The book accomplishes the very difficult feat of touching upon every major eschatological issue dealing with the return of Christ, and it does so with zeal and brevity.
