Dr. Grant Osborne: Not Your Normal Premillennial

As most of you know I finished my course with Dr. Grant Osborne on the Book of Revelation this weekend. Dr. Chad Brand's Theology III class was the best course I had in college, but Dr. Osborne's was a definite second. I wrote a couple of posts with some Dr. Osborne quotes that I encourage you to go read. They are great, thought provoking insights from the book of Revelation.

Dr, Osborne showed me how incredibly practical Revelation is and how encouraging it is meant to be for Christians. Definitely not encouraging for non-believers, as you might imagine!

Here are some concluding thoughts:

Dr. Osborne is not your typical Premillennial- at least what I thought was your typical Premillennial. One of the main reasons why I became Amillennial was how outlandish I thought the premillennial millennium was... Well, Dr. Osborne doesn't believe most of what I thought was outlandish. Meaning, Dr. Osborne's premillennial millennium is a lot more believable than your typical Premillennial or Dispensational millennium.

For instance- Dr. Osborne does not believe that Christians will procreate in the millennium. Many premillennials believe this is one way that the earth repopulates in order for another revolt to happen at the end of the millennium. He also said he isn't even sure if non-believers procreate in the millennium. Dr. Osborne also does not believe that their will be animal sacrifices during the millennium. To my relief, he even called that idea "offensive." The third thing that I was thankful to hear was that he does not believe anyone will be getting saved during the millennium. Many premillennials think some non-believers who make it through the Second Coming to the millennium will get saved during that time. As I said and Osborne agreed with- that seems to go against everything in the New Testament.

All in all those three concepts of the Millennium that I couldnt accept as biblical- Dr. Osborne also doesn't accept.
1) Believers procreating in the millennium.
2) People getting saved in the millennium.
3) Animal sacrifices taking place in the millennium.

I think all three of those things are very unbiblical and cannot be accepted. I was relieved to hear a premillennial who rejects all three concepts. As I said before, Osborne showed me a much more believable Premillennial millennium.

Not only did he do that, but I realized that GK Beale and him interpret about 99% of Revelation the same- using the same hermeneutical principles- they really only disagree on Revelation 20:1-10. Osborne rejects the idea of interpreting everything as literal as possible unless the text give you reason to interpret symbolically. He said, "That is assuming that Revelation was meant to be interpreted literally in the first place." He obviously denies that assumption. He also pointed out that all symbols used were understood to 1st century people. He said many Premillennials, especially Dispensationals, do themselves a disservice by reading Revelation as if it was written to their context. First century people would never assume a literal approach to Apocalyptic literature.

What did the class do for me?

1) Well, it has me reconsidering my position(again). Right now I am solidly Amillennial and I don't see that changing... BUT, now I am helped by knowing that even if I change my stance on Revelation 20:1-10- the rest of it stays the same. I was blown away when I realized Dr. Osborne and I interpret 99% of Revelation the same. He accepts recapitulation with the judgements, the symbolic nature of Revelation, etc... Dr. Osborne was very compelling on Revelation 20:1-10. I think it was his honesty that made it compelling. He openly admitted- "Revelation 20:1-3 seems to favor the Premillennial position, but verses 4-6 seem to favor the Amillennial position." He also said that Amillennials best argument is that the battles at the end of chapters 19 and 20 are the same battle. He noted the mention of Gog and Magog being a strong case for Amillennials.

He obvious lands at the Premillennial position, but his honesty of the strong case on both sides was refreshing. He said he lands Premillennial because he thinks the details of the two battles are just too different and that verses 1-3 seem to favor Premillennialism strongly.

2) The class also gave me a greater appreciation for the Book of Revelation and for Jesus. Studying Revelation with Osborne made me love Jesus much more than I did before. The gospel-centered approach to Revelation was good for my soul and encouraging for my life. Outside of the cross, the love and justice of God is seen better in the book of Revelation than anywhere else. Revelation is extremely practical and should be read and studied as an encouragement to believers- not as a puzzle to be solved. Revelation is in "story form" and should be read and interpreted in that way.

3) Helped me see that not all Premillennials have a goofy Millennium. :)

That's enough for now- I might write more later.