Eschatology - Studying Future Events
I was recently asked by someone to get together and discuss future events, or the theology known as eschatology, the study of last things. I confessed that this was probably one of my weaker areas of theology, but it would be good to sharpen myself on what the Bible has to say. Then, as I have been contemplating this, I have begun to see how various people that I respect and follow within the Christian realm are impacted by their various views on future events. The more I see them impacted, the more important I believe it is to hold to a solid, Biblical view on eschatology.
There are three main views on future events, and their labels all revolve around the term “millennium”, which is a period of one thousand years and refers to Revelation 20:1-5 where the reign of Jesus is discussed. There is the amillennial view, the postmillennial view, and the premillennial view. Now, many in the church hold a fourth position, as they might humorously say that they are a pan-millennialist, which means they think it will all pan out in the end. While that may be somewhat funny, if God speaks in His Word about future events, then it must be something He desires for us to know. Let me summarize these three positions as briefly as I can, and then lay out the one I and our church hold to and why I believe it is the Biblical position. Also, please recognize, each category has a lot of nuanced positions, so there might be some who disagree with my definitions here, I understand that.
The amillennial believes that there is no literal one thousand year reign of Jesus on the earth. This view says that Jesus is ruling now, in the hearts and lives of His people, and through His church, as well as exercising His sovereignty over the universe. They are not looking forward to anything regarding an earthly reign of Jesus, but rather waiting for a time when He will simply bring about the end and bring us into the eternal state. They are called “a” millennial because they do not believe in an earthly reign of Jesus at all.
The postmillennial believes that the church, as it makes disciples, is going to “Christianize” the nations, and therefore the world. They believe that the church is to exercise its influence in every aspect of the world, including governmental power, in order to usher in an extended golden age of Christendom, so to speak. Then, at some point after the church has setup this golden age, the earthly millennial kingdom, Jesus will then come to earth and inherit the kingdom that is His and has been setup by the church. This is called “post” millennial because the return of Jesus to earth is after the millennial kingdom is setup by the church.
Now, let me say clearly, I have true brothers and sisters in Christ who I care about who are in a variety of these three camps.
The premillennial believes that the Second Coming of Christ is going to be the event that sets up the millennial kingdom. There is disagreement among premillennial people as to the events that lead up to the Second Coming (rapture, tribulation), but they all agree that it is Jesus Christ Himself who sets up His kingdom. This view believes He will come at a time of great evil, while national Israel is being threatened, and that He will wipe out His enemies, judge the people, and then setup His earthly kingdom for 1,000 years. The premillennial view is the only view that holds firmly to a true 1,000 year earthly reign of Jesus Christ, and it is the view that both I and Norton Baptist Church holds to.
Now, let me say clearly, I have true brothers and sisters in Christ who I care about who are in a variety of these three camps. These brothers and sisters love Jesus, love His Word, are faithful in seeking truth from His Word, and I would stand with them on many, many issues together unapologetically so. But let me say equally clearly, that I have no idea how anyone could hold to any view other than the premillennial view if they hold to a historical, literal, normative interpretation of Scripture. In fact, it is so clearly laid out in the book of Revelation, it is frustrating that so many faithful people I know refuse to simply accept the truth. I am not going to write out the Scripture here, you will have to do your own work, but let me guide you through the text at hand that gives us clarity.
Revelation 19:11-21 lays out the Second Coming of Jesus Christ very clearly. We see the heavens opened up, the One called Faithful and True is on the horse, and He judges and wages war. The armies are all gathered together, and He defeats them. On His garment and His thigh is a name written, “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” This is clearly our Lord Jesus Christ coming from heaven to earth to take care of earthly armies. In fact, the birds are called to feed on the flesh of all who will be killed in judgment that day. Now, I guess one could spiritualize this and say it is not a literal coming of Christ, but that would be to ignore much of the description in the text. This particular text is as clear as it can be.
I submit, however, that a plain reading of this section of Scripture demonstrates that Christ is going to, at some time in the future, come to a world of nations setup against Him, and destroy those nations through waging war against them.
Now, remember this, chapter divisions were added later, but the apostle John did not write with chapter divisions. So, when we go to chapter 20, this is written immediately afterward, not some new idea John is making. The original writing flowed right into this next verse that begins with the word, “Then”. This is a conjunction, joining the previous events with the subsequent events. In other words, this is recording what happens immediately afterward what has been recorded. So we see Satan bound for one thousand years in verse 2. We see he will remain there for one thousand years in verse 3. We see that these dead are going to come to life and reign for one thousand years with Christ in verse 4. We see there are other dead who will come to life after these one thousand years in verse 5. We see again that there will be those who reign with Christ for one thousand years in verse 6. In verse 7, it says the next event, this releasing of Satan, occurs after the one thousand years. Six times in six verses we read about the one thousand years where Christ will reign.
Now again, one can try to make the one thousand years a long period of time, I guess, but they would at least have to admit that they are ignoring the emphasis John puts on the one thousand years by repeating it six times. I submit, however, that a plain reading of this section of Scripture demonstrates that Christ is going to, at some time in the future, come to a world of nations setup against Him, and destroy those nations through waging war against them. Then, after that occurs, He is going to setup His kingdom and the saints will reign with Him for one thousand years. That is a plain, clear reading of this text. The fact that He is waging war against nations when He returns destroys the postmillennial view, and the fact that He sets His feet on this earth destroys the amillennial view. But this section fits perfectly with the premillennial view.
Now, I understand the postmillennial and amillennial will have their own interpretation of these verses, and they will say they are being faithful to all of Scripture, and I can grant that they are sincere in saying that. I wonder, however, if God wanted to demonstrate the premillennial view any clearer, what He could have written to do so for them. Is there any Scripture God could have written that would cause a postmillennial or amillennial to recant their position? My suggestion is that many come to the text with a preconceived notion of either what they were taught, or what they want to see, and therefore they ignore what teaches plainly against it, or come up with concocted ideas to reinterpret plain Scripture. The premillennial is the only one who can read this section of Scripture and claim that it fits plainly with their view using a historical, grammatical, literal reading.
Now, one does not need to be premillennial to become a member here, but one must understand and be okay with the fact that this is what we will teach and preach here at our church.
You might ask how the postmillennial and amillennial defend their views, but I confess I am not an expert in that. I know they view Israel differently than the majority of premillennialists who believe that there is a national Israel who are real descendants of Abraham, and that God has made promises to national Israel in the Old Testament. Instead of applying those promises to national Israel, they apply them only to what they call spiritual Israel, or believing Israel, and therefore translate them to the church of believers. There are numerous problems with those interpretations as well, but far too many to delve into in a single blog article.
I wrote this mainly to put on our website the clarity of our eschatological position here at Norton Baptist Church. Now, one does not need to be premillennial to become a member here, but one must understand and be okay with the fact that this is what we will teach and preach here at our church. For some, that is something that they feel they need to divide over, and that is fine. Some think we should remain neutral as a church so we can have a wider tent, but we need to understand these varying views impact how we interpret much of Scripture, as well as are impacting currently how people view our role as the church in the nation in which we live. Perhaps I will write more about that in another blog post down the road. I do hope this clarification has helped, but feel free to ask any questions of my you might have, either through the website, via email, or on the phone.
