1. INTRODUCTION
Millennialism is one of the most
controversial biblical topics debated hotly throughout the church history or
centuries. It is generally understood by
most of the people who have heard about the concept of Millennialism being preached
or taught in the Christian meetings and conferences, that the word “millennium”
itself refers clearly (if not literally or figuratively) to “a thousand years” which
is mentioned in the last book of the Bible, Revelation. There are altogether
six verses found in the Book of Revelation where the idea of the millennium is
given to us, with the victorious reign of Christ Jesus with the resurrected
saints (who are called priests of God and of Christ) over a period of thousand
years, as the verses shown below:
“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the
key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He
seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound
him for a thousand years. 3 He
threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from
deceiving the nations anymore until the
thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short
time. 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been
given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had
not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their
foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The
rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first
resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the
first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be
priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
7 When the
thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison.” (Revelation
20:1-7, NIV)
The word “millennium” is a
combination of the two Latin words,
mille,
which means a thousand, and
annus,
which means years. There is yet an original ancient word “chiliasm” having the
meaning for millennium, and it is derived from the word “chilioi”, which means,
“one thousand.”
A
common belief about this thousand year is that, there will be a period of time where
liberty, righteousness, abundance, justice
and peace shall abound for the people of God,
and to many, it truly seems to echo what the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, had
prophesized in his book, purporting to an eschatological season when “
…the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations” (Isaiah 61:11, NIV), and where
“the wolf will live with
the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and
the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed
with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw
like the ox. The infant will play near
the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will
be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6-9, NIV), and where,
“In
the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the
mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many
peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He
will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their
swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not
take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore”
(Isaiah 2:2-4, NIV).
To most of us who look to the end as
our glorious destiny and blessed hope, we can see various biblical proofs
pointing to the fact of this glamorous period other than the above textual
descriptions found in Book of Isaiah. For example, Matthew 19:28 promises of a
victorious ruling position that we will have in Christ Jesus, when Jesus said
to the disciples (and to us who are His followers this day), that
“…at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his
glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The
vision seen by another Old Testament prophet, Daniel, gives us a glorious hope
for such an unbeatable and eternal Kingdom of God, that, “In the time of those kings,
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will
it be left to another people. It will crush all
those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever” (Daniel 2:44, NIV). Paul,
the New Testament apostle, pictured for us a future Kingdom of God where Christ
will reign over all His enemies in 1 Corinthians 15:22-25,
“For as in
Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ,
the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then
the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after
he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.For he must reign until he has put all his
enemies under his feet.” To those who hold on
to the belief of millennialism, the idea of millennium is not confined by the
sole passage found in Revelation, but they will find ways to support their
arguments with all the other verses found in the Bible, both Old and New
Testament scriptures, where a blessed and victorious Kingdom of God pertaining
to eschatological scenes is explicitly or implicitly expressed. The millennium
to most of the people is indeed, a very blessed hope to look forward fervently,
as we will rule and reign together with the King of kings and the Lord of lords,
and to co-judge the world with our Saviour, who will also be the Commander of
God’s army at the end of the age! One of the Chinese writer, Andres S.K. Tang,
concludes it well, that the Millennium is the hope of both the Jews and the
Christians, whereby it is that the end of the age for them, but a transitional
period looking forward to the end, and is by itself a historical event.
There are basically three schools,
or three camps of thought that either champion for or argue against the concept
of Millennialism. Firstly, it is Premillennialism which was once largely
embraced by the early church believers, and followed secondly by
Ammillennialism, which has flourished during the fourth century AD, and lastly,
Postmillennialism, which was popularly recognized by the seventeenth century
folks. Each of these schools of thought has both its own strengths and
weaknesses; and if we search intently, they were actually birthed under certain
or different political, environmental and cultural contexts which we need to
take into account and give our due consideration whenever we carry out any comparison
for them, in order to form a fair judgment.
This paper will serve to explain
what it means “millennialism”, by expounding the three theories of
millennialism and by expressing my personal conviction of what “millennium” does
mean and the significances it mean to us as individual believer and corporate
body of Christ who are living towards the so called “very near end of the age”,
even as I reflect upon the Word of God and as I journey through the study with
Him. As we compare the three schools of thought, we will definitely touch some
of the interpretative issues on the topics of, 1) The thousand year of
Millennium; 2) The Kingdom of God; 3) The nation of Israel and the Church; 4)
The Second Coming of Christ; and 5) The Rapture. I will divide the following
content into four sections, listing out the respective general beliefs and
doctrinal arguments presented by the three main schools of thought under their
contexts, and conclude with my own observation from biblical text and general
understanding of the nature of God, His will and His Kingdom.
I believe strongly with my heart that
the perspective we hold will somehow affect the attitude we live our Christian
lives and the way we serve God. It is more than an end time event which we hope
for or wait expectantly, but it is an end towards we set our life goal so that
we, the Church, the Bride of the Lamb, can live a meaningful and purposeful
life ushering in the glorious and victorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Groom.
2. PREMILLENNIALISM
Premillennialism is commonly known
as the mainstream approach for interpretation of the eschatology, and was
widely adopted by some well-known early church fathers (between first to third century
AD) like Papias, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Methodius,
Commodianus, Lactantius, and etc. The
figurative description of Papias (80-163 AD) had even somehow, exaggerated the
richness and abundance in the Millennium age when he pointed to a millennium
kingdom which will appear subsequent to the resurrection of the dead, whom
Christ Jesus will reign with them personally and physically on earth. The
flourish and vigorousness of Premillennialism is believed to be closely related
with the context of the age, because Christians were then under great persecution,
and believers of Christ generally foresaw a world which is deteriorated
gradually without any hope of getting better. Thus, it was for them a desperate
need of Christ’s definite return and intervention in order to set the world in
order once again. Some believe that Premillennialism is supposed to be
considered as the traditional eschatological view and perspective of the Church
throughout the ages.
Premillennialism builds its theory
upon a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1-7. The Premillennialists believe
that Jesus Christ shall return onto the earth a second time to set up an
earthly Kingdom, and He Himself shall rule from the city of Jerusalem for a
thousand years. Prior to His second coming, there will definite be signs
everywhere, and these signs are deemed to be the fulfilment of the very warnings
or prophetic words which had been given by Jesus Christ in accordance with some
of these biblical verses, e.g.,
i)
War & disasters
You will hear of wars and rumors
of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen,
but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
(Matthew
24:6-7, NIV)
ii)
Massive persecution, apostasy &
deception
"Then you will be handed over to
be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations
because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and
will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will
appear and deceive many people. (Matthew 24:9-11, NIV)
iii)
Gospel reaches the nations
And this Gospel of the Kingdom
will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then
the end will come. (Matthew 24:14, NIV)
Yet, His Second coming shall end
the Great Tribulation which generally believed by the Premillennialism to be
seven years. Those who are slain for the sake of the Gospel shall be
resurrected when Christ returns to end the Tribulation, and Satan will be bound
for one thousand years when Christ rules and when He ushers in a glorious earthly
Kingdom that is full of peace, justice and righteousness. After the millennium, Satan will be released
from the bottom of the pit and he will fight against God’s people forcefully.
Yet he will ultimately be defeated by Jesus Christ and be thrown in the eternal
lake of fire.
The interpretation of eschatology
held by the Premillenialism often relates their arguments to the verses found
in the Book of Daniel. Gabriel, the archangel, came to give some meanings to
the vision of Daniel, by saying that, “Seventy
‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression,
to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. “Know and
understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven
‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench,
but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be
put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will
destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will
continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a
covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an
end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination
that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him”
(Daniel 9:24-27, NIV). These sixty-nine “sevens” which Gabriel had referred to,
is considered by them as the timeframe of return of Israelites from their
Babylonian exiles to the first advent of Christ Jesus. The last one “seven” is
usually referred to the time of tribulation before Christ Jesus comes at a
second time to “rapture” the Church, as believed by the Dispensationalists
(where their theory takes root on the Premillenialism, that the Church will be
spared from the Great Tribulation suffered by the Jews). The Dispensationalists
use 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 as a biblical evidence of their belief. “For
the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the
voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ
will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will
be with the Lord forever.”
For them,
Christ comes to first rapture the Church, and returns with the saints who are
resurrected to wipe out the evil and to reign in the millennium on earth.
Though the idea of a millennium is
mentioned indeed nowhere else in the Bible other than in Revelation 20, many of
the supporters of Premillennialism refer to other biblical verses which imply a
physical kingdom on earth with Christ Jesus reigns as the glorious King,
especially the Messianic verses found in the Old Testament. G.E. Ladd argued
from Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, in which it seems that Paul implied
there is an interval between the first and the second coming of Christ, and yet
there is another interval between the resurrection of the saints and the end of
the world. “But Christ has indeed been raised
from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep….But each in
turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will
come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed
all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign
until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The
last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put
everything under his feet…”
(1 Corinthians 15:23-27).
The first interval between the first coming of Christ Jesus and the second
coming of Christ Jesus is known to be the Church age which is progressing in
our history, and to the Premillennialists, the interval between the second
coming of Christ Jesus and the end of the age is, undoubtedly, the Millennium
of the Kingdom of God on earth.
In Nineteenth Century, there was a
rise in Dispensational Premillennialism which believes in the division of
history into dispensations or eras. In order to distinguish between the two,
the traditional way of explaining the premillennialism was then termed and
recognized as Historic Premillennialism, whereas the new belief was known as
Dispensational Premillennialism or Futurish Premillennialism. For majority of
Dispensationalists, the history (of Biblical times) is divided into seven eras,
known as Innocency (before the Fall of mankind), Conscience (Fall of mankind to
the Flood in Noah’s time), Human Government (Restart of human race to the
origin of the nations), Promise (Abraham to Moses), Law (Moses to Jesus
Christ), Grace (The Church age after Christ’s ascension), and the Kingdom (the
millennium, the physical reign of Christ). To most people, the difference
between the Historic Premillennialism and Dispensational Premillennialism is
about the issue of Rapture, where the later promotes the idea that the Church,
the Body of believers of Christ, will be raptured before the tribulation and
they will be exempted from severe suffering, while Jews, whom majority of them
are non-believers currently, will undergo severe persecution and massive
slaughter, that causes many to turn to Christ and they are thus saved in
eternity as a nation covenanted with God. According to Michael J. Vlach, there
are actually three aspects in which Dispensational Premillennialism and
Historic Premillennialism do not come into agreement:
i)
Historic
Premillennialism believes that all the scriptures in the Old Testament should
be interpreted or reinterpreted by the New Testament scriptures, whereas the
Dispensationalism rejects the thought of a hermeneutic reinterpretation of the Old
Testament and claims that the meaning of the Biblical text should be read and
understood in accordance to the intention of its writers who wrote them it
under certain context of their age.
ii)
Historic
Premillennialism believes the Church is the nowadays’ spiritual Israel (which
is known as the replacement theory) and the Church occupies the place in the
new covenant that Israel occupied in the old. But Dispensationalism rejects the
thought that the Church does replacing the national Israel and whatever references
that were made in relate to Israel are referring to the believing Jews or the ethnic
Jews.
iii)
Historic
Premillennialism does not believe the future (or eschatological) restoration of
national Israel, and the Jews who come to believe in Christ will be
incorporated into the Body of the Church. The Dispensationalism strongly
believes in both a salvation and restoration of national Israel where Israel
will be saved as a nation and plays a key role reaching out to the nations.
3. AMILLENNIALISM
The theory of Premillennialism
became less and less popular when the Church history came to the fourth century.
By then, Christianity had emerged as the state religion of the Roman Empire
under the rulership of Emperor Constantine the Great. The Church came out from
its hard time of being persecuted and marginalized, and became a popular
institution in the world, but was then badly politicized because of the context
it was trapped in. The expansion of the Kingdom of God was literally at the
hand of Christians and, thus, most of them believed that the Kingdom of God,
the reign of Christ Jesus in the Millennium was realized in their very days through
the institution of the Catholic Church on earth at the current age. It was
since then the theory of Amillennialism came about. “Amillennial” by the word
itself means “no/not millennial”, as whenever an “a” is placed as a prefix
before a noun or a word, it negates the word. Thus, Amillennialism is a belief
that there is no literal millennium which is embraced by other millennial
views. Tony Waren explained that in his article which is titled
“Amillennialism: A Word Direct from the Scriptures”, saying that, “Amillennialists do in fact believe there is a millennial
reign of Christ, but not on a temporal physical throne upon this sin cursed
earth. They believe that the Messiah has come to reign upon the throne of David
in the Kingdom of heaven. So the word Amillennial itself is literally accurate
as it is understood to mean, "no millennial reign on an earthly or
worldly throne." Use of this word in any sense other than a "no
future earthly kingdom reign," would be a misnomer.”
Augustine of Hippo, the great
theologian in the fourth century AD, was the man who was considered to be the
greatest landmark in the early history of Amillennialism. According to John F.
Walvoord, “Prior to Augustine, amillennialism was associated with the heresies
produced by the allegorizing and spiritualizing school of theology at
Alexandria which not only opposed premillennialism but subverted any literal
exegesis of Scripture whatever. Few modern theologians even of liberal schools
of thought would care to build upon the theology of such men as Clement of
Alexandria, Origen or Dionysius. Augustine is, then, the first theologian of
solid influence who adopted amillennialism…..his viewpoint became the
prevailing doctrine of the Roman Church, and it was adopted with variations by
most of the Protestant Reformers along with many other teachings of Augustine.
The writings of Augustine, in fact, occasioned the shelving of premillennialism
by most of the organized church. The study of Augustine on the millennial
question is a necessary introduction to the doctrine as a whole.”
Augustine perceived the present age as the Millennium, a constant conflict
between the two contrasting forces, the City of God and the City of Satan. The
Church will be victorious through the propagation of the Gospel, but will be
defeated by Satan for a while, and only to gain its tremendous victory when the
consummation hour of the earth comes at the return of Christ.
For the followers of Amillennialism,
they believe that the wicked will continue to be active in the world, and it
will co-exist with the people of God (the good) until the very end of the age,
i.e., upon the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the consummation of the
world. By then, there will be the resurrection of the dead, and the believers of
Christ shall receive from God their glorified bodies, and there will be an eradication
of the evil, and the final judgement of God shall begin. To them, there is no
such thing as Christ Jesus comes literally to physically rule and reign over
the earth for a thousand years. Because they hold such a view, there is hence also
without a physical kingdom that will be built here on earth. They see no
distinction between the Jews and the Gentile believers, for the Church will
continue to grow with the influx of the Jewish believers. The authority of
Jesus Christ, just as He told His disciples in Matthew 28, has been given to
them (the Church) and for them to exercise faithfully in order to win souls for
Him and to make disciples of all nations through the preaching and teaching of
the Word of God. The Kingdom of God will then eventually be established and
further be extended through the spreading of the good news of Jesus Christ by
those obedient children of God who take His heavenly mandate and instructions
faithfully. Those who receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord,
and those who live under the power of the Holy Spirit and who do obey the Word
of God by leading a victorious life, are considered to be the subject of God’s
Kingdom on earth. Their hope is not placed on the earthly glory but on the eternal
glory when Christ Jesus returns with His heavenly angels and the New Heaven and
New Earth becomes their eternal dwelling place.
Thus, to Amillennialists, the
Kingdom of God is rather, a spiritual Kingdom with Christ as the eternal King, than
a physical realm of rulership where Jesus Christ is personally present. The
eschatological event of Jesus Christ’s Second Coming to Amillennialists will be
a single coming and not some multiple visitations of Christ with a rapture followed
by a real return of Him. In
the abstract of his thesis “2 Thessalonians 1 Supports Amillennialism”, which
was published in The Journal of the
Evangelical Theological Society 37/4 (1955): 529-38, Vern Poythress pointed
out three major views he found in 2 Thessalonians 1, in which he thought were
in support of Amillennialism because these points were in tension with all the
other millennial views, shown as such:
i)
He found that 2 Thessalonians 1 does not
agree with pretribulational and midtribulational premillennialism, as it gives
the idea that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is an unified event (i.e., one
event) rather than two chronologically distinct events, whereby the rapture of
the saints and the Coming of Christ take place concurrently. He equalled
troubles made by the persecutors to sufferings in hell instead of a seven years
of tribulation championed by other millennial views.
ii)
He found that 2 Thessalonians 1 does not agree with
posttribulational premillennialism as the scriptural passage recognizes two
people groups of Christians and their opponents. The former will enjoy eternal
glory with their resurrection bodies which shall live forever while the latter
will experience eternal judgment and destruction, i.e. death, when Jesus Christ
returns the second time. Since there will be no Christians or their opponents who
will live on with a temporal state, then there is no one who is able to
populate and establish a supposed millennium producing offspring who will
suffer a second death. The whole idea of posttribulational premillennialism is
thus, a total contradiction to the Word of God which clearly classifies people
into two categories, i.e., the people of God and their (or His) enemies.
iii)
He found that 2 Thessalonians 1 does not agree with
postmillennialism as verses 5-7 points to the troubles Christians will have to
endure for a while, which is in contrast to the period of millennial prosperity
the postmillennialists proposed.
Many who hold the view of
Amillennialism reject the possibility of a millennium with a physical Kingdom
of God literally exist on earth because it goes against the very requirements
of consistency and coherence for the Biblical text to be viewed as a whole set
of God’s truth, the full counsel of God. Some argue that the Book of Revelation
itself is a book that is full of imageries and signs, and therefore by using the
approach of a literal interpretation which is commonly found among either the
Premillennialism or Postmillennialsim pertaining to a thousand years of earthly
Kingdom of God is, almost implausible, as it makes the other portion of the
scripture in the Book of Revelation hard to be explained and reconciled. A.A.
Hoekema raised yet another doubt by questioning whether the scriptural text written
in the Book of Revelation could be interpreted in a sequential manner, i.e.
chapter followed by chapter, as what Premillennialism does, by putting the
events in Revelation 20 subsequent to those events described in Revelation 19,
since the same interpretative approach could not be applied in Revelation 11
and Revelation 12 at the same manner. Lewis
Neilson, in his book, “Waiting for His Coming”, raised up a few concerns why he
thought amillennial thought and approach should be the proper way in explaining
the event of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and nullified the possibility
of a premillennial view, based on the following summarised arguments:
i)
He saw a consistency throughout the whole
New Testament, right from the Book of Matthew to the Book of Jude, in regard to
the second coming of Jesus Christ, the last things, the Church, the Jews,
Satan, etc., that it is fairly coherent and is a comprehensive presentation of the
Amillennialism. Thus, Revelation as one of the books in the New Testament, will
be almost impossible to teach of an intermediate reign following Christ’s
return, which stands in a stark contrast to the rest of the teaching about the
last things, and which is clearly in violation of the principle of coherency of
the Bible.
ii)
He suggested that Revelation 20:1-10 can
be interpreted to fit the Amillennialism by identifying what the verses do not
say. For example, the reign depicted by John is not clearly said to be an immediate
event after Christ’s return; there is no clear mention also of the national Israel
living in the earthly promised land, and etc. The view of Amillennialism can be
easily reached and is agreeable when Revelation 20:1-10 is to be interpreted in
light of Matthew-Jude.
4. POSTMILLENNIALISM
Postmillennialism gained its
support and followers through Daniel Whitby (1638-1726 AD) and it played a
leading role of millennialism in the seventeenth century AD. The theory in
Postmillennialism is somehow, closely resembles with both the Premillennialism
and the Amellennialism in some aspects.
Like Premillennialism, Postmillennialism
generally believes in a period of millennium (or more than a thousand years,
though some suggest it to be literal while others suggest it to be figurative)
on earth, whereby there will be a golden age for the Church when the Church
will experience great revival and it shall reign victoriously on earth with the
empowerment of the Holy Spirit, by making biblical impact on the spheres of
economy, politic, culture, lifestyle, education, and the society as a whole,
etc.. But, unlike Premillennialism, there will not be Christ’s physical
presence on earth with the Church. After that glorious period of millennium,
with Gospel of Jesus Christ continue to spread and propagate throughout the
world, Jesus Christ will come at a second time to receive His Bride into the
eternal stage of His Presence in the so called “heavenly realm”.
Like Amellennialism,
Postmillennialism discovers that the reign of Christ in the millennium is found
only in the sole passage of Revelation 20:1-7, and therefore, it is doubtful
and even unconvincing at all for a symbolic book like the Book of Revelation to
be interpreted literally in order to come out with the idea of a physical
thousand years of Christ’s reign on earth. They believe that the millennium is
to be in the current age, i.e., the Church age. It is through the Church that
Christ’s authority and kingship is actively exercised on earth. In other words,
Christ does rule the world, but through the institution of the Church.
Postmillennialism also believes
that the world will be changed tremendously with the reach of Gospel towards
the end of the world. By then, sinful activities will be minimized, and
Christianity principles are to make great influences in the world, and a
complete Christianization shall occur when Christ returns. It
believes in the Olivet Discourse of Jesus Christ pointing to the events of the
end, whereby, “…this Gospel of the
Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and
then the end will come (Matthew 24:14, NIV). Therefore, believers who hold
on to this view will be diligent, active and aggressive in carrying out the
Great Commission, by fulfilling the commandment of Jesus Christ to “Go and make disciples of all
nations…baptising them…teaching them…” (Matthew 28:19-20, NIV). Therefore,
there was a mission thrust in the Church history whenever the theory of Postmillennialism
thrived, and there tended to be fruitful harvest as the followers of this
theory emphasizes the presence aspect of God’s Kingdom more than a future
Kingdom of God to be realized.
Kenneth
L. Gentry, Jr, a Postmillennialist, who wrote his series of articles of
postmillennialism, once concluded the theory of Postmillennialism in one of his
articles, offering us a more comprehensive view of the structured beliefs of
Postmillennialism in such a flow of thought:
i)
Jesus Christ was incarnated and born in flesh in the first century and
he came to establish the Kingdom of God, also known as the Messianic kingdom
which was prophesized by prophets in the Old Testament. The Church is in the Kingdom
of God right now (the millennium) (Luke 17:20–21; Col 1:13).
ii)
Jesus Christ confronted the evil and defeated the Satan Cross
through his ministry, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Since then,
Gospel is preached everywhere in His name and those who believe in Him is
loosen from the power of Satan and come under the power and the Kingdom of
light (Matt 12:28–29; Rev 20:3).
iii)
The Church was charged with the Great Commission of reaching and
discipling the world through preaching the Gospel, teaching the Word and
baptising the believers in Christ, with God’s ever ready presence with them as
they carry out His mandate faithfully (Matthew 28:18-20).
iv)
The Kingdom
of God is assured by Christ, that it will grow like a mustard seed becoming a
big tree in the garden, and like yeast that it works through the entire dough
(Matthew 13:31-33).
v)
The world
will eventually be “Christianized”, with multitude turning to God and be born
again in Christ, that it becomes a peaceful and worldwide Kingdom of God
(Isaiah 11:9; John 3:17).
vi)
Christ shall
return bodily, visibly and gloriously (Acts 1:9-11) after the triumphing period
enjoyed by the church. There will be a resurrection of the dead (John 5:29;
Acts 24:15) and the final judgment of God. The existing heaven and earth will
be ended and a new heaven and earth will come from God physically (2 Peter
3:10-13).
Both the beliefs in Postmillenialism and Amillennialism have
hence, caused a forceful advancement in the Kingdom of God as they generally
believe that Christ rules the World through the Body of Christ, His Bride, His
Church, and therefore, the Church has to be the aggressive agent of extending
God’s Kingdom through evangelistic, missionary and discipleship efforts.
5. WHAT
I BELIEVE IN MILLENNIUM
I truly agree with the statement
that I will grow to become who I am because of what I have chosen to believe
in. If I believe in the theory of Historic Premillennialism, then I will be
passively looking forward to a time of historic intervention of Christ upon His
Second Coming in the imminent future, to set the disorder to be in the order,
because the world seems to be deteriorated and the situation is out of my personal
control as the evil will continue to prevail and it is considered to be irreversible
except the Second Coming of Christ, who will then inaugurate a millennium age
that is the blessed hope for all who choose to believe in Him. If I have taken
the stand of Dispensational Premillennialism, I will place my hope passionately
in the coming Rapture, where the Church will be taken away before the
tribulation starts, as it is a way to enable me to be exempted from the great trial
and persecution ahead of us with unbelieving ones to be left behind to go
through it, in order that some may come to their senses and to be awakened in
their spirit to come to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
I see less responsibility of the believers in taking proactive actions to make
the world a better place and Christ’s sacrificial love to be fully released and
practiced in this age.
I personally do not quite agree
with the idea of Premillennialism, as I see people of God is being called and
chosen to be involved fully in His movement since the Creation of mankind until
the very end of the world, of which He has created and entrusted to men to rule
and to manage. The earth is entrusted to man since Adam’s time, and the work of
God has been continued through His chosen ones on earth consistently throughout
the Bible. He involved Noah in His plan of wiping out the evil on earth. He
involved Abraham to be a blessing to the nations of the world. He involved
Jesus Christ to come to the world to show who God is by giving us His grace and
salvation. He involved the Church to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, His
Son, whom grace and salvation are extended to the sinners, and there, He
promised His everlasting presence to be with them until the very end of the
age. It will be very contradicting if the Church were to be raptured and Christ
is to reign on earth without His Bride, whom He has entrusted the authority to
reach out to the end of the world. We are called to be co-labour as well as
co-heir of His Kingdom (refer to Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 3:9; Romans
8:16-17; Galatians 3:29), and if we are assured of the eschatological glory
which is to be shared by us, we cannot deny the fact that we have to take up
our cross daily, and to drink the cup of suffering for Christ.
In Bible, we are reminded again and
again to be prepared to go through persecution and suffering with Christ, so
that we are able to share with His triumphant glory (refer to Luke 9:23-24;
Philippians 1:29; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 4:12-14, etc) when He returns as a
victorious King. Even the Book of Revelation (especially in chapters 2,3 and
21) reveals to us that, only those who are the overcomers (those who have overcome
the evil ones or persecutions) shall inherit the Kingdom of God and reign with
Christ on His throne. Some may argue that faith in Christ Jesus alone speaks of
our overcoming position in Christ as the Apostle John said so in many other
passages (e.g., 1 John 5:4,5: “for everyone born of God overcomes the
world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is
it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God.") , where in actual fact, the Greek word of “overcomer” stems from the
word “nike”, and in Strong’s
Concordance, it means “to carry off the victory”, which implies a battle goes
on before that.
We can be assured of the battles we need to go through after coming to Christ as
the Bible constantly mentions about it. In Ephesians 6:11, we are exhorted to
put on the full armour of God, so that we can stand against the devil’s
schemes. “For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when
the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have
done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:12-13, NIV). Paul foretold us to be prepared
for the day of evil. There is evil prevalent in every age of history and the
believers in Christ are called to put on the full armour of God so that we can
stand firm until the very end. Since our battle is not against flesh and blood,
the weapon therefore is, spiritual. “For
though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons
we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine
power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4, NIV).
The very thing that we are called
to overcome is “the world”, and we can say that it denotes both to our loves
for the world (e.g. the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life which are mentioned in 1 John 2:16), and our fears to the world (e.g.
the persecution and rejection of the world). We have to win both the battles
going on inside and outside of us. Indeed, we have seen throughout Church
history, and even our contemporary days, that Christians everywhere have undergone
grave persecution and discrimination. The tribulation age is not something that
is of future, or that is only to come in a specific time, but it is a current and
continual suffering that many believers of Christ across the world are
undergoing. Thus to me, the theory of Premillennialism is, in a sense, disagree
with my biblical understanding. To further argue against it, I would share what
I understand about the “thousand years of Millennium” and the “Kingdom of God”.
5.1 THE
THOUSAND YEARS OF MILLENNIUM
The theory of millennialism, as
observed by many, clearly and solely derives from Revelation 20:1-7, whereas
many of the supporting scriptures provided by the Premillennialists are, but, only
a way to explain and further elaborate what will be the real happening in this
millennium age.
Craig R. Koester, in his book,
known as “Revelation and the End of All Things”, suggests that the text in the Book
of Revelation is to be read in a non-literal manner. He pointed out the facts
that John, the writer of the Book of Revelation, “though understand Satan to be
a real force that exerts its evil influence in the world, but he is not trying
to persuade readers that Satan has the physical body of a dragon or that the
dragon can be bound with a metal chain. John does not invite readers to
speculate about exactly where on the globe the angel might capture Satan, or to
wonder whether the door to the bottomless abyss is located in the northern or
the southern hemisphere. John uses physical and spatial images for spiritual
realities. ” And he further explained that, “if the physical spaces in John’s
vision point to spiritual realities, the same is true of the references to
time…Just as the door to the great abyss cannot be located on a map, the
duration of the thousand years cannot be located on a calendar…John refers to
time in order to point readers to a reality that lies beyond time.”
Even if we argue from the Book of Revelation
itself, we will have sufficient evidence to show the readers that John, the
writer, does not intend to write a book which is to be read and interpreted
literally. If the imageries and signs which permeate the scriptures are not to
taken literally and have to be explained by using metaphors, it will discredit
the argument completely to insist that those particular verses found in
Revelation 20:1-7 are to be read and expounded in a different way in comparison
to the larger portion of the Book of Revelation. Thus I strongly believe that
the “millennium” is not so called a physical number of a thousand years, but a
period of time that is allegoric, pertaining to the time starting from Christ’
ascension to heaven, to the time when He is to come again to bring forth the
final judgement, the resurrection of the dead, and the inauguration of the New
Heaven and New Earth, where Christ will dwell and reign with all His saints in
eternity.
5.2 THE
KINGDOM OF GOD
Bible talks frequently about the
Kingdom of God/Heaven. Is the Kingdom of God a Spiritual Kingdom or a Physical
Kingdom? In the Old Testament, God’s prophets often predicted a Messianic
Kingdom which is to come through the Davidic line. In Jeremiah 23:5-6 it says
that, “The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I
will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do
what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel
will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our
Righteous Savior.” Though it may seems that the King who is to come
will rule in the land over a specific time, but most of the biblical verses
mentioning God as the King who rules from eternity to eternity. His kingship is
more than a physical throne, though He rules through His installed kings and
princes on earth throughout the generations. The psalmists praise and exalt God
as the King over the whole universe, ruling from everlasting to everlasting.
Psalm 47: 7-8 says, “For
God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on
his holy throne.” Psalm 9:7-8 says, “The LORD reigns forever; he has established
his throne for judgment. He rules the world in righteousness and judges the
peoples with equity.”
Psalm
93:1-2 says, “The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is
firmly established, it will not be moved. Your throne is established from of
old; You are from everlasting.”
If
we see the Bible as a whole, God is reckoned as the King forever and ever since
the establishment of the foundation of the earth. If God is called the King,
then there is an existence of His Kingdom ever since the time of creation. But
ever since the creation, we do not see a Kingdom of God with Christ’s physical
presence, and even the Psalmists keep mentioning a King who reigns from heaven.
How then, does the New Testament
refer to this Kingdom? The Kingdom of God/Heaven is mentioned in parables by
Jesus Himself, who is the supposed King of His Kingdom. It is linked to a seed
sowed in different kind of soils (Matthew 13:3-9); a tiny mustard seed that
grows to become a big tree (Matthew 13:31-32); a small amount of yeast that
works through the entire dough (Matthew 13:33); a hidden treasure found in the
field (Matthew 13:44); a pearl the merchant buy with a great price (Matthew
13:45-46); a net that is casted into the sea and catch many kinds of fish
(Matthew 13:47-50); and the old and new treasure of the scribe (Matthew 13:52).
All these parables of the Kingdom of God/Heaven relate to the nature and
characteristics of the Kingdom itself, for example, its growth, its influences,
its values, etc., rather than its physical existence. In the Lord’s Prayer in
Matthew 6:9-10, Jesus told us to usher in this Kingdom with the will of God to
be accomplished on earth “This, then, is
how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your
kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The Kingdom of God is closely connected with
the fulfilment of His divine will, rather than His physical presence on earth.
Jesus Christ Himself denied of a physical kingdom when He told His disciples
that His Kingdom is not of this world, as and when they desired to crown Him
King over the nation of Israel (refer to John 18:36). Therefore, I strongly believe in my heart, that
the Kingdom is not a physical existence of the throne and rulership of Christ
Jesus, but as what Amillennialism believes in, it is a Spiritual Kingdom of God
established on earth, through the chosen nation of Israel in the Old Testament,
and in this age, through the evangelistic and discipleship effort of the Church
throughout the generation.
6. CONCLUSION
When it comes to certain controversial issues or difficult
passages or topics in the Bible, it is always good for us to remain open to all
other perspectives which sound so different or which is a total foreign concept
to us, even when we have voiced out our own opinions and concerns, and have
formed our own staunch stand. Prejudice often blinds our mind and it deters us
from appreciating and learning from one another, and sometimes it even causes
disunity and further, separation in the Body of Christ. It will be good if we
learn to take heed of both the exhortation of John, the Apostle, when he said
in 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, now we
are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when
Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is”, and the admonishment of Paul, the Apostle, in
1 Corinthians 13:8-12, “Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they
will cease; where there are tongues, they
will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we
know in part and we prophesy in part, but
when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I
was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a
child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind
me. For
now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then
we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”, in order to possess a loving and friendly attitude
whenever we come across situations we might not be able to claim a definite
answer or come to term with others. Indeed, none of us really know what the
future will exactly be, and we only can see partial of who God is and His plan in
accordance to our limited knowledge and understanding.
I have learnt that the three theories of millennialism were
born and gained their position in their respective historical, cultural and
political context, and much of our interpretation of the Bible, undeniably, is greatly
affected by our own experiences, worldview and expectations. Though I
personally am convinced, in my journey of faith, through my analysis by looking
at the three theories, and coupled with my understanding of the Word of God, that
there is no physical Kingdom of God which will exist and which will be ruled by
our Lord Jesus Christ personally on earth before the end comes, and though I do
believe that the Millennium is somewhat, a figurative number rather than an
exact number of a thousand years, I do believe undoubtedly in my heart, that the
phenomena mentioned in the Bible, especially what have been mentioned in the four
gospels in the New Testament, and what have been told in the Old Testament
about the Kingdom of God, does echo with the biblical record found in the Book
of Revelation, and there shall come to pass before the end will come.
In those times before Jesus’ first coming, Jews were waiting
expectantly for their coming Messiah. But they had missed out the visitation of
the Son of God because they were occupied and bound down by their own traditional
belief that Christ should come as an anointed King, rather than as a crucified
man of God. They rejected Christ because of their strong bias and prejudice. Will
we, the believers living towards the end too, have the possibility of losing
sight of God, and miss out the very Second Coming of Christ when we are too
rigid in our own interpretation of the Biblical events? I would encourage we
learn from Simeon and Anna, who were the seekers of God when the rest of the
world were busy pursuing something else. We are advised by our Lord Jesus
Christ personally to be wise virgins who keep our lamp burning and our oil
prepared, so that we are constantly living in the state of preparedness, not to
miss out the coming of the Groom. Like Mary, Joseph and Zechariah, we need to
live a life that is righteous and obedient, so that we too can be vessels that
God uses when He returns. Do not be like Pharisees or Scribes of the day when
Jesus Christ was born. They thought that they have mastered the Scripture so
well and interpreted it precisely, yet they failed to recognize and accept the
One whom they studied about, and the One whom they were expecting for.
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ, whether it is
premillennial or postmillennial, or whether it is pre-tribulation,
mid-tribulation or post-tribulation, is not as important as His definite and
clear promise that, He will surely come, and He will come like a thief. If
Jesus Christ’s Second Coming is a definite issue which will happen in the end,
then the very One thing that we should all put our focuses on, is to pay a close
attention to the instructions given by our Lord in the Bible, to live
responsibly and lovingly with one another, to understand God’s will for us
individually and corporately, and to carry out our task faithfully, to fulfil
whatever the Lord desires of us as followers of Him while we are still living
on earth. It is indeed our greatest honour that when our Master returns, He
finds us good and faithful, and our faith, our hope, and our love in Him
remains even when all the other things in the world are falling apart!
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Boettner, Loraine, Th. M., D.D.
Translator: Rev. Charles H. Chao, D.D. The
Millennium. Taipei: Reformation Translation Fellowship, 1986.
C. Ryrie, Charles, Translator:
Christine & K.H. Wong. The Basis of
the Premillennial Faith. Hong Kong: Elim Publication, 1989.
Cangelosi, Gary. God’s Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven.
Cornelius: Citizens Chapel Press, Inc, 2014.
Ding, George D.D. The signs of Christ’s Parousia.
Vancouver: International Seed Press Inc, 1992.
G. Clouse, Robert. Translator:
Daniel Lee. The Meaning of the
Millennium: Four Views. Taipei: China Evangelical Seminary Press, 1985.
Koester, Craig R. Revelation and the End of All Things. Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001.
Majdali, Kameel . Alpha & Omega: The Beginning of the End.Melbourne:
Teach All Nations Inc., 2011.
Neilson, Lewis. Waiting For His Coming. New Jersey: Mack
Publishing Company, 1975.
S.K. Tang, Andres. Millennium: Perspectives in the Chinese
Context. Shatin: Lutheran Theological Seminary, 2000.
Wright, N.T. Surprised by Hope. New York: HarperOne, 2008.
