Report from John Hepp, Jr., February, 2014

Dear KIB Subscriber,

I trust you have begun this year with intense desire to please our Master and King.  And a deter­mination to live for eternal things, which will not disappear like smoke.  I am thankful that in my 85^th year the Lord is still letting me live in my own house and help people understand the eternal Book.  With few expenses I can make it financially.  More important are dear family members in Texas who stay in touch.  And other close friends whom I see whenever possible.  And prayers by believers such as you.

My website, www.kingdominbible.com, is dedicated to the Bible’s main theme, God’s kingdom.  Even in a culture demanding instant results there are still believers willing to take time for Bible study.  I want to help them learn how God’s Scriptural revelations are linked together—and warn against perversions that invalidate Scriptures.  In that category is amillennialism, which proposes that partial fulfillments of kingdom prophecies change the meaning of unfulfilled prophecies.

For some months I have been working on two critiques of that approach, both nearly ready for the website.  One is “The Kingdom Will Come As the Prophets Predicted:  A Critique of Walt­ke’s Case for Amillennialism” (39 pp.).  Here are excerpts from my Introduction:

• The coming kingdom of the Lord Jesus is a treasure worth infinitely more than all we have.  An unbelievably perfect pearl that we can nevertheless own (Matt. 13:44-45).
• Waltke and I have both changed the ways we understand the church.  But he has also for­saken premillennialism and adopted amillennialism, which asserts (a) that the church has replaced ethnic Israel and (b) that Messiah’s predicted kingdom has begun.  If Jesus already rules from the throne of David, many prophecies must be spiritualized, which Waltke does.  I agree there is “realized eschatology”:  some eternal things have begun.  Not, however, the kingdom itself.
• I will address Waltke’s case for amillennialism, as I see it in his OT Theology.  Part A will propose his main points, his general rationale.  I will introduce each point with my own summary but document with selected statements from his book.  Part B will critique in more detail three of his main reasons for reinterpreting prophecies.  Part C will respond to his crucial argument from Acts 2 that the Messiah has begun to rule.  My most important goal is to help redirect our attention to Jesus as “coming soon” (Rev. 22:12, 20).…

Please let me know immediately if you would be willing to “review” the document just men­tioned and tell me anything that is not clear for an average student.  Can we do it by email?

My son Brad graciously operates the website, including updating files when I make changes.  We have been unable to continue the project of providing pop-up Scriptures.  But that gives me more time to study and write.  Recently I have addressed many New Testament issues and am more prepared to revise my “Christ’s Coming Kingdom:  A Survey of Bible Teaching about the Kingdom.”

Yours for His glory,
John Hepp, Jr.