Cornelis P. Venema
8 articles · 3 topics
Cornelis P. Venema is a Dutch-Reformed theologian who served as president and professor of doctrinal studies at Mid-America Reformed Seminary in Indiana, holding a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. He has written extensively on covenant theology, Reformation theology, eschatology, and Reformed confessionalism.
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Evaluating Premillennialism: Part I - The Problem with Premillennialism
The common feature of all premillennial teaching is the claim that Christ’s return at the end of the age will take place before the period known as the millennium. Whatever differences exist between Historic and Dispensational Premillennialism — and they are considerable — this teaching is common…
Evaluating Premillennialism: Part II - Christ’s Return and the Rapture
No evaluation of Dispensational Premillennialism may ignore its teaching of a two-phased return of Christ, the first phase of which is commonly known as the rapture. This feature is its most widely known aspect. Popularized by such best-selling books as Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth,…
Evaluating Premillennialism: Part III - Israel and the Church
We have frequently noted that one of the principal tenets of Dispensational Premillennialism is the strict separation between God’s earthly people, Israel, and his heavenly people, the church. It could even be argued that this separation between Israel and the church is the root principle of…
Evaluating Premillennialism: Part IV - The Hermeneutic of Literalism
One of the characteristic features of Dispensationalism is its insistence upon a ‘literal’ reading of the Bible. Throughout its history many of its advocates have alleged that alternative millennial views reflect a low view of the Scripture’s authority because they do not follow this hermeneutic.1…
Revelation 20: Part II - The Millennium is Now
We have observed that a key issue in the interpretation of this passage is that of the relation between Revelation 19:11-21 and Revelation 20:1-11. If Revelation 19 is a vision of the second coming of Christ at the end of the present age, and if Revelation 20 describes events which occur after this…
Revelation 20: Part III - The Binding of Satan
The vision of Revelation 20:1-6 is divided into two sections. The first, in verses 1-3, describes the binding of Satan for a period of one thousand years. The second, in verses 4-6, describes the reign of the saints with Christ during this millennial period and includes a reference to the saints…
Revelation 20: Part IV - The Believer's Reign with Christ
We move on now to take up the second part of the vision in Revelation 20:4-6. This focuses on the reign of the saints with Christ during the millennium. In particular their participation in the first resurrection, so that they are not liable to the second death, is portrayed. Though it may be…