Sunday, in his sermon
from Mark 13, the pastor mentioned the various views on the second coming: premillennial, amillennial, and postmillennial. It
wasn’t the place, nor did he have the time, to explain these, so I thought I
would take his cue and attempt a brief explanation and history of these
different eschatological (you like that big word? It means “end times” or last
days”) opinions or teachings.
First, Every true believer, Christian church and
organization believes in the literal, personal, visible second coming of Christ as stated by the Apostles’ Creed:
"I believe…in Jesus Christ…who was crucified, dead, and
buried; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead."
Second, All of this talk
of pre-, a-, and postmillennial, is a discussion of the second coming as it
relates to the kingdom of God, specifically Revelation 20:1-6, where we
read, and they lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years. The question is two-fold: (1) Will there be a literal
kingdom of God on the earth that lasts a thousand years? and if so (2) Does
Christ return before (pre) or after (post) this thousand year reign on earth?
Let me also point out
that millennium is from the Latin
word for thousand, mille. The Greek
word is chilia: premillenniallism is chiliasm; premillennialists are
chiliasts.
What I want to do is briefly explain each viewpoint, along
with a short history of each. Obviously, I believe one of these to be the
correct position, but I am striving to be
as objective as possible. In case you don’t detect my opinion, I will state it
at the end.
Premillennial
Premillennialism is the belief that Jesus will return before the Millennium, the thousand-year kingdom
described in Revelation 20:1-6. It is based on a literal interpretation
of Revelation 20:1–6. This was the prevailing view of the early church for the
first 300 years. We find this in the writings of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Barnabas, Papias, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and many more. They said this was the teaching of
Jesus and the Apostles. It was a continuation of the Jewish understanding of
the kingdom of God. They all expected to go through the tribulation and that
final battle with the antichrist. They believed the kingdom would be the
fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies; and in the view of some, the
church had replaced Israel. This is known as historical premillennialism. Premillennialism
fell out of favor after AD 300 (see amillennial below), but never totally
disappeared.
In the 1800s a man named
John Nelson Darby developed a theology called dispensationalism. He introduced
the idea that seven years before the visible return of Christ, there would be a
secret coming of Christ to rapture the church. This is known as the pretribulation
rapture. In 1909 Cyrus I. Scofield popularized dispensationalism and pretribulation premillinnialism through the publication of The Scofield Study Bible. This is
the premillennial view that most of us are familiar with.
Amillennial
The “A” means “no”, as
in no millennial reign. This is
somewhat misleading because amillennialism does believe in the kingdom of God,
just not a literal, earthly kingdom. They believe Revelation 20:1-6 is symbolic
of the current age, that Jesus is presently reigning from heaven, seated at the
right hand of God the Father; that the millennium began with the resurrection
of Jesus; that the Church is the kingdom. They believe in the second coming of
Christ, and that this coming will bring the new heaven and new earth.
Justin Martyr (died AD
165), who was premillennial, said, "I and many others are of this opinion,
and [believe] that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware; but, on
the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the pure and pious
faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise." I tend to think he was
saying these others were amillennial, though of course, your guess is as good
as mine!
Why did the
premillennial view fade in popularity? For (at least) two reasons:
(1) The early church had
become very anti-Jewish, and since chiliasm or millennialism was so tied to
Jewish thought, it was rejected. This was also why the celebration of the
resurrection (Easter) was separated from Passover; previously it was celebrated
at the same time as Passover in much of the church.
(2) Allegorical
interpretation had replaced literal interpretation. The millennial kingdom was
considered too carnal, too physical, so it was replaced with a spiritual
understanding of the kingdom.
The amillennial view was
adopted by the Catholic church, and was embraced by the Reformers
and the churches they started (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist et
al). This is probably the longest held view, and the one believed by the
majority of Christians and churches throughout church history.
Postmillennial
Postmillennialism
teaches Christ will return after the millennium or 1,000 year reign of
Christ. It teaches Jesus Christ established his kingdom on earth through
his preaching and redemptive work in the first century and that he equips his
church with the gospel, empowers the church by the Spirit, and charges the
church to disciple all nations. Postmillennialism expects that eventually the
vast majority of people living will be saved. Increasing gospel success will
gradually produce a time in history prior to Christ's return in which faith,
righteousness, peace, and prosperity will prevail in the affairs of men and of
nations. After a thousand years (or so) of such conditions Jesus Christ will return
visibly, bodily, and gloriously, to end history with the general resurrection
and the final judgment, followed by the new heaven and new earth. Postmillennialism
was a dominant theological belief among American Protestants who promoted
reform movements in the 19th and 20th centuries such as abolitionism and the
Social Gospel. This is the newest, most
recently (even though the 19th century seems like so long ago!!)
introduced interpretation of the 1,000 years of Revelation 20.
So, where am I? I am a
historical premillennialist. I believe the Bible teaches only one second coming
- the personal, visible return of Christ in power and glory to set up his
kingdom on the earth; that he will reign from Jerusalem for 1,000 years, as the
prophets prophesied; after that the Great White Throne Judgment, followed by
the New Heaven and the New Earth. Before
he returns in glory, there will be the great tribulation (3 ½ years, not 7, but
that’s a whole other post!) which we, the church, will go through, and have to
do battle with the antichrist. At the coming of Christ Israel will be
converted, the dead saints will be resurrected, and those who are alive and
remain will be caught up with them (raptured) to meet the Lord in the air and
return with him.