Heresies 12

Overview

The Heresy of Montanism: Examining Millennialism and the Rapture

Montanism, named for a second-century figure named Montanus, teaches that Christ will return to establish a literal thousand-year reign on earth prior to the final judgment. Montanus claimed this conviction came from a special revelation from God—and the appeal to extra-biblical revelation should always sound an alarm. Scripture is where God's voice is reliably heard. When someone says, "The Lord told me…," that phrase is only safe when followed by the reading of His Word. Montanus and his followers were so convinced Christ would descend on a specific city in Phrygia that they stood on a hillside watching the sky for an event that never came. The modern descendants of this teaching are millennialism and the rapture, popularized in books like the Left Behind series.

Lutherans are amillennial: we do not confess a literal thousand-year earthly reign, nor do we confess a rapture in which the church is removed before a seven-year tribulation. The rapture is often defended from Matthew 24:40-41—"one will be taken and one will be left." But the Greek tells a different story. The word translated "taken" means seized or taken prisoner; the word translated "left" is the same verb used in the Lord's Prayer for forgive or pardon. The context confirms this: Jesus has just compared His coming to Noah's flood Matthew 24:38-39, where those taken by the waters perished and those left in the ark were preserved. The thief image in Matthew 24:43 makes the same point: having things taken is bad; having your house left intact is good. You want to be the one left.

The other passage commonly pressed into service is Revelation 20:4. But Revelation is apocalyptic literature—history told through symbols, in seven overlapping visions that retell the same story of Christ and His church from different angles. Numbers throughout the book function symbolically; ten is the number of completeness, and a thousand magnifies that completeness into a fixed, full period of time. To read every other number in Revelation symbolically and then suddenly read "a thousand years" literally is not exegesis (drawing meaning out of the text) but eisegesis (reading meaning into it). The thousand years describes the whole present age in which Christ, having defeated the devil at the cross, sends His church to carry forgiveness to the ends of the earth.

There is also a pastoral warning here. Rapture theology appeals to a deep human desire to escape suffering—if things get bad enough, we'll be lifted out before the worst. That is a theology of glory, not the theology of the cross. Christians are never promised escape from suffering in this age; we are promised Christ in the midst of it. False teaching always appeals to something in our sinful nature, just as the serpent's promise of wisdom appealed to Adam and Eve. Scripture also tells us plainly that no one knows the day or hour Matthew 24:36, so date-setting is futile. The wars, famines, and earthquakes of Matthew 24:6-7 and the cosmic signs of Luke 21:25-28 have marked every generation since the ascension—reminders that creation groans and Christ is coming.

Our calling is simpler and steadier than chart-making and date-setting: stay awake, proclaim Christ crucified and risen, live in joyful expectation of His return, and pray, Come, Lord Jesus. When you encounter the modern voices of these old heresies, speak the truth in love and clarity—remembering that it is God, through His Word, who changes hearts.

Transcript

Well, we studied last week about the Sadducees and the 0s

Corinthians, and in particular, they did not believe in the 8s

resurrection of the dead. We hear this expressed in the 13s

modern-day form of when someone will say, I just think that 19s

when you die, you die, and that's that. I'm sure that we've all heard that phrase 24s

at a time. That really is a form of what the Sadducees and the 31s

Corinthians would say they believed. We took a look last week at the 37s

resurrection of the dead in the Old Testament, that the 46s

resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was a part of Old Testament faith, and we saw how 50s

Paul addressed the issues with regard to the Sadducees, in particular the 56s

Corinthians, in first Corinthians, the 15th chapter. We see the great promise that 62s

Jesus rose, that he is the first fruits of the resurrection. First fruits, of course, 68s

means that more will follow, and it shows that the rest of us will rise also. 73s

Well, today in this last class in this Heresy series, I want to take a look 81s

with you at the Heresy of Montanism. The Heresy of Montanism. This is the 87s

one belief that Christ will return again, and he will establish a 1000-year 102s

reign on earth, prior to the last judgment. Montanism is one of the earliest 108s

forms of this Heresy. It goes back to a fellow by the name of Montanus, which is in the 118s

second century AD. Montanus claimed that he had received a special 127s

revelation from God, revealing this fact to him. Now, that should be an alarm bell 133s

for you, right? Because I hope one of the themes that we've picked up here as we've 141s

studied through these various Heresies is how often people would say, this was born 146s

out of this special extrabiblical revelation that God had given. And that's a very 152s

dangerous thing. Where do we hear the voice of God? We hear the voice of God in His 161s

Word, period. When the Word comes to us, that is when the Word was codified. 169s

That is where we hear the Word of God. We should not anticipate hearing the voice of 177s

God apart from His Word. As a former professor of mine, back in seminary said, 184s

oftentimes, people confuse indigestion and the Holy Spirit. That was the point he 192s

was getting at. If you want to hear His voice, you turn to His Word. So once you hear 199s

someone say that I got this special revelation or God told me that should send off 206s

alarms in your mind. Because that's what Montanus said. He got this special revelation 213s

from God that indeed Christ was going to come again and establish this 1000 year 220s

reign upon the earth prior to the second judgment. He was convinced that Christ was 226s

going to come back to a city by the name of Papuza in Fragia. And so Montanus and 233s

his followers at one point were so anticipating this Christ come again and establishing the 241s

1000 year reign that they stood on the hillside, staring into the sky, waiting for the big event 248s

that, of course, never occurred. This belief in the establishment of a thousand year 256s

reign or what's called millennialism is a prevalent belief in some circles today that Christ 262s

will come back again and rule the earth a thousand years before the second coming or before 271s

the final judgment. It's based upon beliefs where at the heart is what is called the 279s

rapture, the rapture. Let me tip the hand of where I'm going here. Lutherans are 287s

amylenialists. That means we do not believe in the literal thousand year reign of Christ. 299s

And we do not believe in the rapture. I'm going to show you where there's a misinterpretation 305s

and scripture on the rapture. That means the left behind series that is not biblical theology. 311s

It is just not. It's just not correct. We'll just leave it at that. The rapture is based on 322s

understanding that the church is taken away. It goes into heaven and the only ones that are 333s

left are the unbelievers. And that the church is raptured away for a period of seven years in this 340s

understanding. And during this seven years there is great tribulation upon the earth that intensifies 349s

later at the end of the seven years. And then after the seven years Christ comes back again 358s

with the church to establish the thousand year reign. One of the, or the portion of scripture 366s

that is used to help substantiate this is Matthew chapter 24. So let's take a look at this. Matthew chapter 24 375s

verse 40. Matthew chapter 24 verse 40. Matthew 24 verse 40. And there the scripture says 383s

then two will be in the field. One will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding 411s

meal together. One will be taken and one will be left. Those that try to offer support for the 420s

rapture will turn to Matthew chapter 24 and they'll say we'll see it shows right here that one is 430s

taken and one is left. Then you have all of the imagery in the left behind series there in which in all 438s

a kind of conversation that goes along with it that if you were an unbeliever you were hoping that the 449s

pilot was an unbeliever when the rapture would come or you would crash and all of these kind of 454s

scenarios on this. Well let's look closely here at what this means because the Greek here is very, 461s

very instructive. When it says in verse 40 the two will be in the field. One will be taken. The Greek word 469s

there means seized or taken prisoner. That's what the Greek says. And then when you go farther on, 479s

so it says verse 40 then two will be in the field. One will be taken. In other words seized, taken 488s

prisoner and one will be left. The verb used there is oftentimes in scripture translated as pardon or 494s

forgive. In fact it's the same verb used in the Lord's Prayer. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those 504s

that trespass against us. It's the same verb that you find here. So under that scenario then when you look 512s

at the original language of the Greek then two will be in the field. One will be taken prisoner and one will be 522s

forgiven, pardoned. You want to be the one left don't you? Which is the opposite of what those who 530s

pause or believe in the rapture will say. They'll say you want to be the one taken. You don't want to be the one 540s

left but it doesn't match up with the Greek. You want to be the one left here. Let's explore a little bit more 549s

in the context because the context bears this out too. Let's go into verse 38. For as in those days before 558s

the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving and marriage until the day Noah entered the 568s

ark and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away. So too will be the coming of the 575s

son of man. Then two will be in the field. One will be taken and one will be left. Etc. Etc. Now using the imagery 585s

here of Noah's flood when the flood comes and the people are swept away they're what by the water. They're 595s

taken. So you don't want to be outside of the ark when the flood comes. So the context here bears the 605s

Greek words that says taken means to be seized taken prisoner. Left means to be pardoned or forgiven. It goes on 616s

also contextually in verse 43 but understand this. If the owner of the house had known in what part of the 626s

night the thief was coming he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you must 636s

also be ready for the son of man is coming at an unexpected hour. Having one's belongings taken by a 645s

thief is that good or bad? That's bad right? Having your belongings taken is a bad thing. Having one's house 654s

left intact is a good thing. So you look then contextually at the argument that is made then in Matthew chapter 24 and you 665s

look at the actual meaning of the Greek and it flips the whole understanding of the rapture and absolutely 677s

dismantles it. It dismantles it. So the image then that there will come a time when God will rapture his church and take his 687s

church away. It doesn't make sense with the Greek. What is being talked about then? It's being talked about the second 696s

coming of Christ the day of judgment and the unbeliever is taken prisoner. The unbeliever is lost. The believer is left to enjoy the 705s

kingdom of God and receive the pardon of Christ. So if you read in the book and they start talking about the 720s

rapture, there's nothing biblical about the rapture. Millennialism is based upon or a 733s

monthonyism is based upon the fact that there must be a rapture Christ will come again back with the church after the 745s

seven years and then will establish this one thousand year reign of the church. Also you look at it 755s

theologically we don't have time to explore it scripturally this morning. The church's temptation is always to want to avoid 766s

suffering. And so when a theology which is based upon a non-scriptural understanding where the person says they received a 775s

special revelation that says when it really gets bad around here we're out of here that's really appealing isn't it? Because in the end who 784s

enjoys suffering? Well nobody enjoys suffering right? So a theology that says when it gets really bad on earth for these seven years and especially at the end of the 795s

seven years we don't have to worry about it because we're not going to be here. It's a form of the theology of glory that says. Christ has established that whereby for the 808s

Christian they are always to be the healthiest and the wealthiest and the wisest on the block and that if you are not receiving those kind of blessings from God then there must be something to matter with your 824s

faith. And so Christianity then never are we called by our Lord to ever think that indeed somehow we can possibly escape 836s

with suffering. That God is going to provide this scapeh when it gets really bad. A false teaching will oftentimes appeal to something in us. It's exactly what Satan did back in the garden when Satan turns to Adam and Eve and says. 850s

That's a pretty good idea to eat of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil because then you know wow how wise you're going to be. Well that's an appeal right? There's no one to be wise. 868s

False teaching will always appeal to something in us which is our sinfulness. So 1,000 year reign then you've got the rapture but it's not not in Scripture. 880s

Let's also go to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. This is a portion of Scripture that's often times also used to support the millennial reign. 896s

Revelation chapter 20 verse 4. Then I saw thrones and those seated on them were given authority to judge. 913s

I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. Then I saw thrones and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been headed for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. 924s

They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads on their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 947s

Well the millennialist, the mountainist, gets all excited about this. So they go to Matthew chapter 24 and they say, aha one will be taken and one will be left but they never ever consult the Greek. 961s

And they run into Revelation chapter 20 and say, see there's going to be a thousand year reign of Christ. Well let's look at that closely. 973s

Revelation is an apocalyptic book. It's the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament. And apocalyptic book is very, very rich in references to the last days and also uses symbols a lot throughout the book of Revelation. 983s

Revelation and the gospels are describing real historical events but they do so in a profoundly different way. 1002s

So when you read through the gospels and when you read through the book of Acts, these are just straight out historical accounts. 1013s

Jesus went here, Jesus said this, Jesus did that. Peter went here, Peter said this, Peter did that. These are straight out historical accounts. 1023s

When you get to Revelation it's telling history but it's telling it in a different form. It's telling it through the use of symbols. 1034s

So you've got some figurative language in the gospels, you see that in the parables. But most of it is just straight out literal non symbolic language. 1044s

In Revelation the portion is reversed with the exception of the first three chapters of Revelation which are more straight out historical account. 1058s

Gospels and Acts are describing history. Revelation is describing history. They're just doing it in totally opposite ways to do it. 1071s

Revelation presents the history of the entire church from the time of Christ until last judgment and into eternity but it uses symbolic images to do it. 1081s

There are seven visions in Revelation and remember when they would teach, remember they taught us how to do cursive and they gave us the big sheets of paper with spaces in between that look like it was kind of like a whole road for you and the huge pieces of penting were supposed to go like this. 1096s

That's the image of Revelation. Revelation is a series of circles that just keeps going like this. It's seven circles that keeps telling you the same story but each vision is adding just a little bit more detail to it and it's doing it symbolically. 1119s

There's nothing in the context of Revelation 20 that says that here the number a thousand years should be interpreted literally. 1140s

There's nothing. I mean you got a whole book here that is using numbers symbolically and the various meanings of the numbers. 1153s

When you come to interpret Revelation you draw on the clear portions of Scripture on the less clear portion of Scripture in Revelation and you let Scripture talk to each other, you let Scripture interpret Scripture here. 1161s

But to say all of a sudden now in Revelation that the number a thousand is a literal number when we see the symbolic use of numbers throughout Revelation that doesn't make sense. 1175s

So all of a sudden you can't change your interpretive understanding in your interpretive approach and say we're going to interpret these literally these references to these numbers. 1191s

But now when you get to Revelation 20 all of a sudden we're going to interpret it here literally instead of symbolically that would change then your interpretive key. 1203s

That would be what is called isegesis instead of exegesis. The Greek word there exegesis means that you take out of Scripture what is the truth. 1216s

So that's what Pastor Melanach and I do every single week. We exegete the text. If we do isegesis that's when you bring your interpretation to the text. 1231s

And you read into the text what it is that you want. Those are terrible sermons and the congregation will know it when the preacher gets up and you've got the text and then you see what they wanted to talk about was this. 1245s

And like an F15 they go right over to the point that they want to make instead of part of the role that a pastor must do is constantly show the congregation from where they are getting the sermon. 1264s

So the congregation says yeah I get that. I get that. Isegesis would be changing the interpretive understanding of Revelation from symbolic here to the number from yeah from symbolic to literal here in Revelation chapter 20 and saying okay there's going to be a rapture. 1280s

Christ is going to come again even though that goes against the Greek in the context of the methamithian account. And over in Revelation you see it says the 1000 year reign and all the sudden you're interpreting it literally that's that's ice. 1305s

Jesus Bruce. 1329s

There's no disagreement in terms of the fact that Christ is reigning because he's always been reigning. But at the heart of millennialism is the rapture. 1338s

So in essence you don't even get to this. You can blow up millennialism by simply going to Matthew chapter 24. The millennialist will say the 1000 year reign is the reign on earth which goes against what Jesus says when he says I did not come to establish my kingdom here is exactly the opposite of what we are doing. 1350s

What what Jesus said good question good question. 1380s

What I would do is I don't know how good he was at his Greek. But when you when you have a special revelation right that then trumps everything see. 1384s

So then they will say that somehow because they have the special revelation you go back then to scripture and regardless of what scripture may say you read it through the lens of your special revelation that's why it's so dangerous. 1404s

That's why when somebody says the Lord told me that is is profoundly dangerous the only time we should use we should use that phrase is when we say the Lord told me and then we read a portion of scripture. 1422s

That's when we know indeed we have heard the voice of God because there is the voice. So with mountainous his special revelation simply trumped then even even assuming his Greek was fantastic. 1441s

That's special revelation from. 1461s

And when jumping back into revelation then we see how is the number 10 used. Well the number 10 is the number of completeness. 1465s

So you're simply magnifying the number of 10 until you get to the thousand and the number of 10 stands for a complete period so it's a fixed period of time. 1477s

So when you come to revelation then 20 and you see the thousand years that is is referenced. 1491s

You're talking about then when Christ redeemed us from the devil's power by his atonement on the cross commanded his church to carry the message of forgiveness to the ends of the earth. 1500s

It's a fixed period of time not a literal reign of Christ who comes back again to the earth. 1514s

People who teach the millennial reign will often go further and claim to know the date when this is going to happen. 1526s

Of course scripture reveals to us that the only one who knows when Christ is going to come again is the father. 1538s

Let's go to Matthew chapter 24 please. Matthew chapter 24. 1545s

Matthew chapter 24 picking up in verse 36. 1560s

Here Jesus is speaking about his second coming and he says but about that day and hour no one knows. 1571s

Neither the angels of heaven nor the sun but only the father verse 42 keep awake therefore for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 1579s

I remember the t-shirt I saw one day at the mall the person wearing it it took me back a little bit because the t-shirt said the Lord's coming soon again look busy. 1595s

Now that's not good theology right because that's a whole understanding of works righteousness. 1608s

The positive that you can take out is be awake because the Lord can come at any moment. 1617s

In fact we should anticipate that we cry out liturgically and we say come Lord Jesus we want that we want his coming because life in the beauty and reality of heaven is so far surpassing this. 1626s

Scripture gives us signs of his of his return and let's take a look at Matthew chapter 24 verse 6. 1643s

Matthew chapter 24 verse 6. 1654s

Jesus answered verse 6 and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars see that you are not a not alarmed for this must first take place but the end is not yet. 1665s

For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom there will be famines and earthquakes in various places all this is but the beginning of the birth pains the beginning of the birth pains so I'll I would ask you how long have wars and rumors of wars been going on how long of nations been rising up against nations how long have there been famines and earthquakes in various places. 1680s

I was taking place ever since the ascension of Jesus right and he says I will come back again so these signs are simply reminders of a world broken in sin and the fact that indeed Christ is coming again I've heard some some folks unlike you know these Christian television stations and they'll draw out these elaborate maps you know about all the wars here and that this is the end of the world. 1709s

This is the fulfillment here of prophecy and that and that you've got this nation and then you've got this nation and then this is what's what's going to happen and then Christ is going to come now for the millennial reign at at this point and you just kind of listen to all this you know and then that doesn't happen and then you hear them talking five years later and the countries have changed and the dates have changed. 1739s

You see as they try and and prop up this theology that simply is not supported in in scripture. Luke the Luke the 21st chapter let's turn there please Matthew Mark and then Luke Luke chapter 21 verse 25. 1764s

There will be signs in the sun the moon and the stars and on the earth to stress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea in the waves. 1799s

People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world for the powers of the heaven will be shaken. Then they will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory now when these things begin to take place stand up raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. 1811s

Sounds an awful lot like tsunamis and hurricanes storms that have been around from ancient times. Instead here of trying to figure out the timetable instead of offering a theology that says that Christians will be raptured out when it really gets bad. 1830s

Instead of doing that which is non biblical in trying to put a date on the second coming of Christ we are called in scripture to simply be a faithful people to proclaim Christ crucified and risen to live in the joyful expectation of Christ coming again and to proclaim simply what the scriptures say. 1853s

You can sell a lot of books left behind series you can sell a lot of books when you offer up heresy because it it catches the imagination of people but the question the church must always ask is this biblical or is this just what old mountainous. 1879s

This is what this is called. 1909s

When he was standing on the hillside looking up and saying it's going to be a thousand years you know when he comes and I'm sure he's coming now. 1911s

In all of these heresies listen for the modern day voice of them and in love and in clarity proclaim the truth realizing you don't change the heart God changes the heart. 1925s

You know when you're in love with God you're in love with Him. 1958s

You know when you're in love with Him you're in love with Him. 1960s