Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

change at death, so must the world suffer a tremendous change when the end comes.
There will be a new heaven and a new earth. Rev. 21:1.
c. The modern idea that natural evolution and the efforts of man in the field of
education, of social reform, and of legislation, will gradually bring in the perfect reign
of the Christian spirit, conflicts with everything that the Word of God teaches on this
point. It is not the work of man, but the work of God to bring in the glorious Kingdom
of God. This Kingdom cannot be established by natural but only by supernatural
means. It is the reign of God, established and acknowledged in the hearts of His people,
and this reign can never be made effective by purely natural means. Civilization
without regeneration, without a supernatural change of the heart, will never bring in a
millennium, an effective and glorious rule of Jesus Christ. It would seem that the
experiences of the last quarter of a century should have forced this truth upon the
modern man. The highly vaunted development of man has not yet brought us in sight
of the millennium.
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY: What is the historic origin of Premillennialism? Was
it actually the prevailing view in the second and third centuries? What was Augustine’s
view of the Kingdom of God and the millennium? Are the Kingdom of God and the
Church distinct or identical in Scripture? Is the one natural and national, and the other
spiritual and universal? Do Luke 14:14 and 20:35 teach a partial resurrection? Will any
part of Israel constitute a part of the bride of Christ? Will the bride be complete when
Christ returns? Are the Postmillennialists necessarily evolutionists? Is the optimism of
the Postmillennialists, that the world is gradually getting better, justified by experience?
Does the Bible predict continuous progress for the Kingdom of God right up to the end
of the world? Is it necessary to assume a cataclysmic change at the end?
LITERATURE: Bavinck, Geref. Dogm, IV, pp. 717-769; Kuyper, Dict. Dogm., De
Consummatione Saeculi, pp. 237-279; Vos, Geref. Dogm. V. Eschatologie, pp. 36-40; id., The
Pauline Eschatology, pp. 226-260; Hodge, Syst. Theol. III, pp. 861-868; Warfield, The
Millennium and the Apocalypse in Biblical Studies, pp. 643-664; Dahle, Life After Death, pp.
354-418; D. Brown, The Second Advent; Ch. Brown, The Hope of His Coming; Hoekstra, Het
Chiliasme; Rutgers, Premillennialism in America; Merrill, Second Coming of Christ; Eckman,
When Christ Comes Again; Heagle, That Blessed Hope; Case, The Millennial Hope; Rall,
Modern Premillennialism and the Christian Hope; Fairbairn, The Prophetic Prospect of the Jews
(by Pieters); Berkhof, Premillennialisme; Riley, The Evolution of the Kingdom; Bultema,
Maranatha; Berkhoff, De Wederkomst van Christus; Brookes, Maranatha; Haldeman, The
Coming of the Lord; Snowden, The Second Coming of the Lord; Blackstone; Jesus is Coming;
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