This past Sunday the senior pastor of my church preached on Micah 4:1-5. The sermon was entitled, "In The Last Days." The sermon never mentions the word amillennial, nor does it focus on the end of the world, nor does it meander through various eschatological views. The sermon was though, purely amillennial.
For those of you who are up-and-coming Reformed preachers, this sermon is a great example of how to use theology to preach Christ without delving into complicated end-times theological distinctions.
The sermon can be found here.
I am listening to it now; the pastor has just read the passage and he is also reading Micah 3:12 and before getting any further -
ReplyDeletewhat is interesting to me are the connections between the "mountain of the house of the Lord" and the peoples and nations and the judgement on the temple in Mark 11 and Matthew 21.
that the phrase -
"the mountain of the temple" (3:12)
and
"the mountain of the house of the Lord" (4:1)
"the mountain of the Lord" (4:2)
could that be what Jesus means in Mark 11:23 "whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea" ??
Since the context (Mark 11:11-27) is the at the temple, the cleansing of the temple, the curse of the fig tree, and Matthew 21:1-45 - bring forth fruit; and that the kingdom of God will be taken away from Israel) and that the temple is supposed to be a house of prayer for all the nations? (mark 11:17)
and Jesus cleansed the temple because they lack fruit - (see Matthew 21:1-45)
"Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22-24), and uprooting the temple (cleansing, and the cursing of the fig tree), and the nations coming to Christ, all this seems to point to the change from the Old covenant to the New Covenant.
Also, Micah mentions "the peoples" and "the nations" - which Mark 11:17 points to by quoting Isaiah 56.
And now I hear the preacher talking about "the last days" and how that started with the coming of Jesus - Hebrews 1:1-3; 1 Peter 1:20, 2 Tim. 3:1
I like the emphasis on Christ, and the nations coming to Christ, not "Millennial Madness" type stuff.
Thanks for sharing this.
He had a good emphasis on missions too.
ReplyDeleteHebrews 12:22-23 seems to relate Mount Zion to the heavenly Jerusalem and the church - so that would be a positive point for seeing Micah 4:2 and the word about "Zion" as fulfilled in Christ and His first coming and that true Zion is the church of believers who repent and trust the Messiah Jesus.
ReplyDeleteBut the Premills have their responses also. Fred Butler and Dan Philips are not easily dismissed.
Dan recently offered this shot:
https://twitter.com/BibChr/status/238424887738368000
"Reformed theologs do exquisite theology by applying grammatico-historical exegesis; equally, they do disastrous eschatology by abandoning it"
But they seem to skip the NT emphasis on fulfillment in the New Covenant.
I confess it is a hard subject to be dogmatic about.