Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Anderson
What is the Great Tribulation?
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Who is in the Great Tribulation?
The portion of Revelation that dives into the period we know as the Great Tribulation refers to some groupings with key labels.
- 144,000 Sealed Ones
- Saints
- Earth Dwellers
I believe most dispensationalists further refine their definition of "saints" to be "tribulation saints" which are completely distinct from the church. With many of them holding a pre-tribulational rapture viewpoint, they see the church as removed from the earth and the remainder of Revelation being applied to "Israel".
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To define our
terminology, and briefly discuss:
"Dispensationalists hold to a literal interpretation of the Bible as the best hermeneutic. The literal interpretation gives each word the meaning it would commonly have in everyday usage. Allowances are made for symbols, figures of speech, and types, of course. It is understood that even symbols and figurative sayings have literal meanings behind them. So, for example, when the Bible speaks of “a thousand years” in Revelation 20, dispensationalists interpret it as a literal period of 1,000 years (the dispensation of the Kingdom), since there is no compelling reason to interpret it otherwise.
There are at least two reasons why literalism is the best way to view Scripture.
***First, philosophically, the purpose of language itself requires that we interpret words literally. Language was given by God for the purpose of being able to communicate. Words are vessels of meaning.
***The second reason is biblical. Every prophecy about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament was fulfilled literally. Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, and resurrection all occurred exactly as the Old Testament predicted. The prophecies were literal.
There is no non-literal fulfillment of messianic prophecies in the New Testament. This argues strongly for the literal method. If a literal interpretation is not used in studying the Scriptures, there is no objective standard by which to understand the Bible. Each person would be able to interpret the Bible as he saw fit. Biblical interpretation would devolve into “
what this passage says to me” instead of “the Bible says.” Sadly, this is already the case in much of what is called Bible study today. ...
Dispensational theology teaches that there are two distinct peoples of God: Israel and the Church. ... "
I'll leave it to Matt, and others, to adjust this definition of the term "dispensationalism" if necessary.
Nell