He Shall Have Dominion

Scripture does not support this and, in fact, predicts increasing evil with
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the climax at the Second Coming.” Postmillennialism “stands in sharp
contrast with that whole body of biblical data which describes the days
prior to the coming of Christ as days in which lawlessness abounds
(Matthew 24:12)” and “Matthew 24 itself is strong proof of all this.” 6
“Matthew 24 is such a difficult passage from the postmillennialist
perspective.” 7
Due to the prominence of the great tribulation in popular study, I will
allot more space to it than to the other eschatological features in this
chapter. If the great tribulation refers to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70,
then non-postmillennialists may not use it against postmillennialism.
Furthermore, this study will undercut the pessimism of the other eschatological
positions that assume the church’s predestined collapse and
defeat.
The Key Text
As I note in chapter 7 the key to understanding the great tribulation
in Matthew 24 is the time statement in verse 34: “Assuredly, I say to you,
this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are
fulfilled.” This is the statement with which futurists or historicists must
reckon. Some point to Matthew 24:34 and such verses as “difficult texts”
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requiring that we “look at them carefully.” Generally commentators
point to two problems in interpreting this verse: (1) We must reconcile
the nearness statement of verse 34 with verse 36, which reads: “But of
that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but
My Father only.” (2) We must properly interpret “all these things,”
because many of these seem worldwide and consummational (e.g., Mt
24:14, 21, 27, 29–30).
Amillennialist theologian Anthony Hoekema holds that the Lord
means “this generation” in a qualitative sense, referring to an “evil” (Mt
12:45), “adulterous” (Mk 8:38), or “perverse” (Mt 17:17) body of people.
“By ‘this generation,’ then, Jesus means the rebellious, apostate, unbelieving
Jewish people, as they have revealed themselves in the past, are
5. Walvoord, PKH, 381.
6. Hanko, “The Illusory Hope of Postmillennialism,” 158. Hanko, “An Exegetical
Refutation of Postmillennialism,” 27.
7. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 1125.
8. Hoekema, Bible and the Future, 113.