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(An atom bomb against premillennialism)
PREFACE
These notes are dedicated to my friend and
brother in the Lord, Gwen Hensley. He was a friend to me and to many
others. My friend Gwen Hensley and his family lived in Vienna, Austria.
Gwen Hensley was a missionary to “Iron Curtain” countries until his
untimely death in the 1980’s. He made frequent trips to Eastern European
countries at a time when those countries were still under the control of
Soviet Communism. When he and other missionaries made trips to the East,
they frequently visited various Protestant groups in those countries.
One of the topics that usually came up when they made these visits was
whether or not Jesus would establish a kingdom on earth when He
returned.
Gwen Hensley took the view, as I do, that Christ established
his kingdom when He sat down at the right hand of God and that He has
been reigning “in the midst of his enemies” ever since. This clashes
with the premillennial view that many Protestants hold, who believe that
Jesus Christ will come again and reign for a thousand years on earth.
Since Gwen Hensley was having a hard time defending his point of view,
he asked me to prepare some material that would help him.
At that time, Elaine and I and three of our children were
living in Klagenfurt, Austria (1968-1970) where we served as
missionaries. Our work in Klagenfurt was just getting started, and I had
plenty of time to study the kingdom question. I was helped in this study
by a tract that was written by a very fine German evangelist, Gottfred
Reichel. At about that same time, I heard another fine German
evangelist, Reiner Kallus, speak in Heidelberg, Germany about the
kingdom. Reiner Kallus presented a review of a book that had just been
written by William Hendricksen, called “More Than Conquerors.” I was not
familiar with the book at that time, and upon hearing Reiner Kallus’
presentation, my eyes were opened to a lot of things regarding the
future.
From these beginnings I began to study the passages in the
New Testament that deal with end-time events. The purpose of the study
was to determine whether or not the passages were consistent with each
other and whether or not they presented a unified view. I found an
amazing consistency in the passages. The teaching in the gospels
concerning the end time and the teaching in the letters correspond with
each other precisely. They also correspond with the teaching about the
end time in the book of Revelation.
I gave a copy of the notes that I had made to Gwen Henlsey,
and he began taking them with him on trips to Iron Curtain countries.
After he had shown the notes to some of his friends over there, he told
me that my notes were “an atom bomb against premillennialism.” That was
a tongue-in-cheek remark, of course, but in honor to him I have
subtitled these notes “an atom bomb against premillennialism.”
Over the years I have expanded the notes to their present
form. The use of a word processor (generously provided me by my wife’s
cousin, Dr. Harold Higginbottom) greatly facilitated the writing and
formatting of the notes. My hope is that these notes will help others
see that after the end-time events get started, there will be no
stopping them. No time will be left for a pause of a thousand-years in
which Christ will reign on earth.
The dream of a thousand-year reign of Christ on earth is
lovely, but the thought of Him presently reigning in heaven, and of His
returning to gather His people, who will be with Him forever, is even
more lovely. I believe this is also what the New Testament teaches.
Scriptures are taken, unless otherwise indicated, from the
New International Version of the Holy Bible. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984,
and 1990 by The Zondervan Corporation and the International Bible
Society.
Richard E. Walker
Lubbock, TX 79416
September 14, 2004