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The Kingdom of Israel

John Shepard

April 8, 2002

Overview and Scope

The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the amillennial end-time viewpoint.

Summary

Many amillennial systems are based on an allegorical method of interpretation. But my system (which I call "the Kingdom of Israel") is not allegorical at all. A brief overview of the two approaches:

(1) Allegorical -- The key words in a passage are given a rather arbitrary symbolic meaning, and this process is often justified by referring to an overarching principle such as, "all Old Testament prophecies speak of Christ and the church."

(2) The Kingdom of Israel -- I follow a two-step process (read more):

1. First, develop an end-time scenario (a framework) from clear New Testament passages, then
2. Fit (1) the Old Testament passages, and (2) other New Testament passages into this framework.

The assumptions I use are:

• In considering the New Testament interpretations of Old Testament passages, we discover that in the new covenant, the church = Israel.
• In the Old Testament, we note that the promises to Israel were already fulfilled so we don't have to look for a future fulfillment.
• For Old Testament passages, we first determine what the original readers understood the passage to mean, and then apply that meaning to this end-time framework. For example:
  
  
  1. In Old Testament prophecies about Christ, they were looking for a savior, which, in the New Testament, is Christ.
  2. The blessed future that Israel was seeking is now fulfilled in the blessings to the church.

I'm not addressing:

• Dispensationalism (which I think is just plain wrong)
• Covenant Theology (which has some interesting perspectives but forces an interpretation on the Bible)
• Replacement Theology. Some interesting articles:

  The Church is Remnant Israel, by John Gay

  Replacement Theology, by Don K. Preston

  Grafted In

Links

Description of Amillennialism

Does Bible Teach Amillennialism?

Literal vs. Allegorical

Promises to Israel

1,000 Year Millennium is Symbolic

The Most Obvious Interpretation

Chronology

Chronicle of the Quest

Teaching Without Distraction