Do the claims of Dispensationalists match up with scripture?
1. They hold more closely to Bible truth than others...
2. A system to "properly" understand scripture...
4. God has an eternal plan for the Church and an eternal plan for Israel...
6. This method of hermeneutics was held by many of the ECF...
7. Interprets Bible prophecy literally...
Taking the 490 year prophecy from Daniel chapter 9 and adding a manmade gap of undetermined length as well as changing a covenant confirmed by Christ into a treaty broken by the antichrist is not a "literal" interpretation.
Who Confirmed The Covenant?
Who Confirmed The Covenant? | Christian Media Research
Scripture does not show two separate plans for Israel and the Church.
There has always been one plan since before the foundation of the world.
There is only one people of God.
Mat_25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Luk_1:55 As he spake to our fathers,
to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
Gal 3:16
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Rom_4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith.
Eph_1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
There were ECF who held a futurist view of scripture, however claiming they believed in separate plans of God for Israel and the Church is another matter.
Separating the New Testament into scripture for the Church and scripture for Israel cannot be considered a "literal" interpretation.
Ignoring the 1st question asked by the disciples in the Olivet Discourse cannot be considered a "literal" interpretation.
Mat 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
Mat 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things?
verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us,
when shall these things be? and
what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
All claims made by any system of interpretation should be evaluated on how it matches up with God's Word.
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A couple of problems there, BAB2...
Mat_25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world:
Is not the same as...
Eph_1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
The former is this...from Acts 3:
19. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
20. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
21. Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began.
The latter one is this...from 1 Corinthians 2:
7. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained
before the world unto our glory:
8. Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
And this...from Ephesians 3:
9. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which
from the beginning of the world
hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
10. To the intent that
now unto the principalities and powers
in heavenly places might be known by the church the
manifold wisdom of God,
In other words had these principalities here... from Ephesians 6:
12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
... this Mystery, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory...
There were two falls - one in those High places that are still Lucifer's and his dark princess's realm; and the other on this Earth that he trafficked in.
God prophesied His plan and purpose for His reconciling authority over the Earth back unto Himself via a Kingdom of Priests [Jacob] over the nations of this Earth one day - "thy kingdom come
in Earth as it is
in Heaven" but kept "hid in God" in His manifold wisdom, His plan and purpose as to how He would one day reconcile those fallen High places one day through a New Creature: the Body of Christ as "the fullness that filleth all in all."
Ephesians 1:
8. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence;
9. Having made known unto us
the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10. That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together
in one all things in Christ,
both which are
in heaven,
and which are
on earth; even in him:
11. In whom also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose
of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12. That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
A plug...
But you already know all that - Stam went into it all in great detail - verse after verse after verse - in the pdf book below my signature, Things That Differ.
I don't agree with every thing in that great little book, but it does match a great deal of how I had been approaching the study of these things on my own for sometime before I'd ever even known of any form of Dispensationalism...