Originally published in "The Lord's Coming Herald & Wesleyan Bible Prophecy Advocate," Fall Edition 1999
Toward A Wesleyan-Consistent Expression Of Eschatology
Although John Wesley expressed no
awareness of the concept of the last half of Daniel's 70th week as being elongated to embrace the entire period of time now stretching between Christ's
first and second advents (in other words, a "symbol" for this present messianic
age, as we teach) there is nothing inherent to this concept that is incompatible
with either John Wesley's interpretation of Scripture in general, or his overall
theology in any particular. We contend, then, that this construction is an
adequate vehicle for the expression of a truly logical, self-consistent
understanding of "Wesleyan" eschatology, in contrast to the liberally-tainted
theories of both dispensational premillennialism (what we also refer to throughout this website as "Scofield/Darbyism") and radical preterism, which must either de-historize
the eschatological on the one hand, or reduce the Blessed Hope to fiction, on
the other.
The danger of Scofield/Darbyism is to labor under a mentality-illusion
of expected events, that, because it is not the true teaching of the Bible in
the first place, will never materialize. The danger of radical preterism lies in
its potential to be divisive, as the "enlightened ones," who now realize that
the second coming of Jesus Christ already happened two-thousand years ago, sit
in judgment and/or scorn upon those who refuse to accept a fiction for substance
in doctrinal understanding.
We predict that with the collapse of Scofield/Darbyism now in full
effect the pendulum will swing in the opposite direction leading many to embrace
the growing revival of radical preterist teaching. The fervency of expecting
Christ to come at any moment, in many circles, will be replaced by the
complacency of knowing that eschatology is now, after all, a "done deal," and
it's time to put all apocalyptic speculation behind us and move on to something
else.
Friends, it is not too hard to see how the reactionary tendency inherent in emerging radical preterism may well pan out to become a self-fulfilling prophecy (I Peter 3:3-4) as a misguided world-view of Christ's second coming erected in the modern evangelical craze with Scofield/Darbyism evolves into a denial of it altogether in the blind embrace of the equally superficial radical preterist teaching.
Wesleyan-Arminian theology, with its central, jeweled teaching of the crowning new covenant blessing of heart purity and perfect love, will again be submerged and eclipsed in all of this.
Let the modern Wesleyan Holiness movement beware!
Friends, there is a third, a "mediating alternative" to the eschatological systems of modern Calvinism known as dispensational premillennialism and now radical preterism.
It's called '"Wesleyan Bible Prophecy."
Let it be examined and judged upon its own merits, and in its
own right.
Related Article Links
What Is Wesleyan Bible Prophecy
A Summary Of John Wesley's Understanding Of Christ's Second Coming
Understanding Darbyism
An Open Letter To Radical Preterist