The Dispensational View of the Davidic Kingdom - The Master's ...

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228 The Master's Seminary Journalexplanation must be found of the fact that such a kingdom was notset up. . . . The explanation which is given by Dispensationalists iscovered by the two words `rejection' and `postponement.' Thekingdom was rejected by the Jews and postponed by God; and in itsplace the church was introduced. 58He added,It is the claim of all dispensationalists that the kingdom offered theJews by John and by Jesus was an earthly kingdom similar to thatof David, the son of Jesse; and since such a kingdom was not setup at the time of the earthly ministry of Jesus, they insist that itwas rejected by the Jews and has been postponed to a time stillfuture. 59After discussing the new form of premillennialism, i.e.dispensationalism, L. Berkhof described it thus:But when the Messiah came and offered to establish the Kingdom,the Jews failed to show the requisite repentance. The result wasthat the King did not establish the Kingdom, but withdrew fromIsrael and went into a far country, postponing the establishment ofthe Kingdom until His return. Before He left the earth, however,He founded the church, which has nothing in common with theKingdom, and of which the prophets never spoke. 60He discussed eschatology as he wrote of events following the raptureand tribulation: "The millennial kingdom will now be established, areal visible, terrestrial, and material kingdom of the Jews, therestoration of the theocratic kingdom, including the re-establishment58O. T. Allis, Prophecy and the Church (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed,1945) 77.59Ibid., 70.60L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953) 710.
Dispensational View of the Davidic Kingdom 229of the Davidic kingship." 61The historic premillennialist G. Ladd wrote the followingconcerning dispensationalism: "This system sees no presentrelationship between the church and the Kingdom. . . .Dispensationalists believe that the Davidic eschatological Kingdom isyet to be established with the return of Christ." 62 Clarence Bass, aformer dispensationalist, viewed the postponed kingdom as a "definitefeature of dispensationalism which distinguishes it from the historicfaith." 63 He offered the following assessment of the view:The postponed-kingdom idea grows out of the basic concept ofwhat the kingdom was to be, and what it shall yet be. This is heldto be a literal restoration of the national kingdom, and since nosuch covenanted kingdom with the Davidic throne has appeared,it must have been postponed. The kingdom and the church can inno way be paralleled in the plan of God. 64Anthony Hoekema also acknowledged therejection/postponement of the kingdom as a main aspect ofdispensationalism as reflected in the New Scofield Bible:When Christ was on earth He offered the kingdom of heaven tothe Jews of His day. This kingdom was to be an earthly rule overIsrael in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. . . . The Jews atthat time, however, rejected the kingdom. The final establishmentof this kingdom, therefore, was now postponed until the time ofthe millennium. 65He also characterized the postponed view as one of eight major points61Ibid., 711.62G. Ladd, "The Kingdom of God and the Church," Foundations 4 (1961):166.63Clarence Bass, Backgrounds to Dispensationalism (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977) 32.64Ibid., 32.65Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979) 189.
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