Tags
Christ, Church, doctrine, English Standard Version, error, God, Grace to You, gty, heresy, Israel, Israel of God, Jews, John MacArthur, Life, Politics, premillennialism, religion
It’s Friday, and I was not going to post, but this is bothering me. I hope it will bother you as well. Sunday, we are going to worship the Lord, for His work, for His glory. It will be, or should be, all about Him. You know it and so do I.
So, having said that, I have a question for you: When someone, anyone, adds to or attempts to change the clear meaning of the words of our Lord Jesus, what would you think? What will you think? What will you say to yourself, to others, if anything? Will you do or say anything? How important is truth to you, anyway, seriously?
Look at this:
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, [18] "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, [19] to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." [20] And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. – Luke 4:17-21 (ESV)
At the end of Isaiah 61, the Church, that is, the Bride, praises her Redeemer:
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. –Isaiah 61:10 (ESV)
When Jesus read Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2, He said "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing…” He used the perfect, indicative, passive tense. Today, not in the future, today.
That means the prophecy was crammed full, filled to satisfaction, leveled up, done, past tense.
Who on this earth has a right to contradict that? No one.
John MacArthur, in his study bible, commenting on Isaiah 61:1, 2 concerning salvation, the very verses Jesus quotes in the synagogue, says:
The Jews that were saved during Christ’s ministry, and those being saved during this church age, still do not fulfill the promise of the salvation of the nation to come in the end time.
Jesus said nothing about partial fulfillment did He? Of course not.
When Jesus read Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2, He declared the prophecy fulfilled. John MacArthur says, no, it was not.
John MacArthur is mistaken, and his premillennial teaching is wrong.
Joel, just because he’s premil does not make him heritical…this is a secondary issue and not worth (IMHO) taking MacArthur to task over.
No one called him ‘heretical’, did they? Calm down, I said he was mistaken. Use your words wisely brother.
Of course, Jesus stopped reading half way through Isaiah 61:2. He left out [2b]“and the day of vengence of our God; to comfort all that mourn; [3]To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion(is this a real city or is this Zion spiritual too?), to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” And so on to verse 10.
“When Jesus said “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing…” He used the perfect, indicative, passive tense.”
So the question is:
— Does this mean only the portion he quoted fulfilled or do we assume that he meant the whole chapter of 61 including Isaiah 61:10 was fulfilled?
Why do you assume he meant all of Isaiah 61? When this was read, was the scripture divided into verses and chapters?
“When someone, anyone, adds to or attempts to change the clear meaning of the words of our Lord Jesus”
Jesus said fulfilled, Mac says only partially. How hard is that to understand?
Fulfilled Isaiah 61: 1-2a Yes, but not Isaiah 61:2b-10. Otherwise Jesus would have read the whole chapter. And keep in mind that Old testament wasn’t divided in chapters and verses at this time either. I don’t see how you can just assume that Jesus meant the whole chapter. Therefore, the only true statement is that this is only partially fulfilled. Otherwise, you would be attempting to change the meaning of the text. If you want to be factual and prove someone wrong please make sure your argument is valid. Jesus brought the gospel at this time, but not judgement.
Thank you Dave, you just agreed with me, lol. Jesus quoted verses 1 and 2. He said they are fulfilled. Now YOU say they are! Macarthur says , ‘No’. Don’t you get it?
I agree he is mistaken. That’s why I don’t lean too heavily on Macarthur for anything eschatological. Kim Riddlebarger, in “A Case for Amillenialism”, handles eschatology much better. No offense to Mac- otherwise he is pretty solid.
Thanks for the post. Although I lean to premil, I’m not sure of any end times position. I encourage and respect such reasoned discussion though. Although I love reading and listening to Dr. John, this is one area I would respectfully disagree, as much as a layman could, with him.
Seems to be pretty clear to me and I’m not a Bible scholar. I’ve never had a clear eschatology position before, but I’m gaining more understanding by reading your posts and other articles from Modern Reformation. I guess I’m leaning more towards amill.
I don’t know why I can’t reply to you but if you read my statement I said verse 2 is only partially fulfilled. Therefore agreeing with Dr. MacArthur. Please answer the questions from my first post or just let me know and I will just move on. I’m not going to fight a battle to no where. I’ll bet you that at least 2 of the 3 radio links you have on this page will agree with Dr. MacArthur.
Dave, you didn’t ask me any questions in your previous comment, so there’s none to answer. Thanks for stopping by.
When Jesus made that statement, he was referring to HIMSELF. He was telling them that he was the Messiah(First Coming).The next half of that Isa. scripture was not made because it is reserved for His Second Coming which comes after the Tribulation descibed in that verse.
Pam, that’s why I focused only on the first two verses. That’s what the post deals with, what was quoted.