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20:1 20 THE MILLENNIUM AND THE JUDGMENT What is the position of the historic, orthodox Church on the question of the Millennium? Can the doctrine of the Church be accurately described as either postmillennialist or amillennialist? In general, the difference between those traditionally called “amillennialists” and those traditionally called “postmillennialist” has been set in terms of their interpretations of the “thousand years” (in Latin, the millennium) of Revelation 20. “Amillennialists” have usually seen this text as a reference to the condition of the saints reigning in heaven, while “postmillennialists” have understood it as a description of the saints’ dominion on earth. As we shall see, however, this way of framing the question can actually obscure some very important facts about the Christian view of “the Millennium.” If we wish to gain an understanding of the orthodox position, we must understand that the answer to this precise question cannot be determined primarily by the exegesis of particular texts. For example, “amillennialists” often disagree with each other about the precise nature of the resurrection(s) in Revelation 20 (to cite only one of several major points in dispute). And Benjamin Warfield, perhaps the leading “postmillennialist” scholar of the early part of this century, proposed an exegesis of Revelation 20 which most theologians would consider to be classically “amillennialist”! 1 Our framing of the question, therefore, should be broad enough to account for the diversity of approach among the various amillennialist and postmillennialist camps. In essence, the question of the Millennium centers on the mediatorial Kingdom of Christ: When did (or will) Christ’s Kingdom begin? And once we pose the question this way, something amazing happens – something almost unheard of in Christian circles: Unity! From the Day of Pentecost onward, orthodox Christians have recognized that Christ’s reign began at His Resurrection/Ascension and continues until all things have been thoroughly subdued under His feet, as St. Peter clearly declared (Acts 2:30-36). “The Millennium,” in these terms, is simply the Kingdom of Christ. It was inaugurated at Christ’s First Advent, has been in existence for almost two thousand years, and will go on until Christ’s Second Advent at the Last Day. In “millennial” terminology, this means that the return of Christ and the resurrection of all men will take place after “the Millennium.” In this objective sense, therefore, orthodox Christianity has always been postmillennialist. That is to say, regardless of how “the Millennium” has been conceived (whether in a heavenly or an earthly sense) – i.e., regardless of the technical exegesis of certain points in Revelation 20 – orthodox Christians have always confessed that Jesus Christ will return after (“post”) the period designated as “the thousand years” has ended. In this sense, all “amillennialists” are also “post-millennialist.” At the same time, orthodox Christianity has always been amillennialist (i.e., non-millenarian). The historic Church has always rejected the heresy of Millenarianism (in past centuries, this was called chiliasm, meaning thousand-year-ism). The notion that the reign of Christ is something wholly future, to be brought in by some great social cataclysm, is not a Christian doctrine. It is an unorthodox teaching, generally espoused by heretical sects on the fringes of the Christian Church. 2 Now, Millenarianism can take two general forms. It can be either Pre-millenarianism (with the Second Coming as the cataclysm that ushers in the Millennium), or Postmillennarianism (with the Social Revolution as the cataclysm). Examples of the first branch of Chiliasm would be, of course, the Ebionite movement of the Early Church period, and the modern Dispensationalism of the Scofield-Ryrie school. 3 Examples of the Postmillennarian heresy would be easy to name as well: the Münster Revolt of 1534, Nazism, 1. Benjamin B. Warfield, “The Millennium and the Apocalypse,” Biblical Doctrines (New York: Oxford University Press, 1929), pp. 643-64. 2. Premillennialism seems to have been originated by the Ebionite arch-heretic Cerinthus, a “false apostle” who was an opponent of both St. Paul and St. John. Cerinthus claimed that his doctrine of the Millennium had been revealed to him by angels; and it is interesting that St. Paul’s epistle to the Galatians – which is greatly concerned to refute the legalistic heresies of Cerinthus – begins with these words: “But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8)! St. Irenaeus records that St. John ran out of a public bathhouse upon encountering Cerinthus, and cried: “Let us flee, lest even the bathhouse fall, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within!” For an account of Cerinthus and his heresies, see St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, i.xxvi.l-2; iii.iii.4; cf. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, iii.xxviii.l-6; iv.xiv.6; vii.xxv.2-3. As Louis Bouyer points out in The Spirituality of the New Testament and the Fathers (Minneapolis: The Seabury Press, 1963, p. 173), some early Church Fathers (e.g. Justin Martyr) adopted premillennial liberalism because of their heathen background, to which the Biblical literary genres and imagery were unfamiliar. The orthodox, “Augustinian” view represents a more mature understanding of Scriptural symbolism and a more consistent Christian worldview. 3. Perhaps the most basic argument against premillennialism is simply that the Bible never speaks of a thousand-year reign of the saints – outside of Revelation 20, a highly symbolic and complex passage in the most highly symbolic and complex book of the Bible! Graeme Goldsworthy observes in The Lamb and the Lion: The Gospel in Revelation (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984): “It is highly unlikely, to say the least, that something so dramatically significant as a thousand year reign of a reappeared Christ on earth before this age ends should nowhere else be mentioned in the New Testament” (p. 127). Some works that refute premillennialism, from various perspectives, are: Jay Adams, The Time Is at Hand (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., [1966] 1970); Oswald T. Allis, Prophecy and the Church (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1945, 1947); Loraine Boettner, The Millennium (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., revised ed., 1984); David Brown, Christ’s Second Coming: Will It Be Premillennial? (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, [1876] 1983); W. J. Grier, The Momentous Event: A Discussion of Scripture Teaching on the Second Advent (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, [1945] 1970); Arthur H. Lewis, The Dark Side of the Millennium: The Problem of Evil in Rev. 20:1-10 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980); Rousas John Rushdoony, God’s Plan for Victory: The Meaning of Postmillennialism (Tyler, TX: Thoburn Press, 1977); Ralph Woodrow, His Truth Is Marching On: Advanced Studies on Prophecy in the Light of History (Riverside, CA: Ralph Woodrow Evangelistic Association, 1977). 196
20:1 and Marxism (whether “Christian” or otherwise). 4 Orthodox Christianity rejects both forms of the Millenarian heresy. Christianity opposes the notion of any new redemptive cataclysm occurring before the Last Judgment. Christianity is anti-revolutionary. Thus, while Christians have always looked forward to the salvation of the world, believing that Christ died and rose again for that purpose, they have also seen the Kingdom’s work as a leavening influence, gradually transforming the world into the image of God. The definitive cataclysm has already taken place, in the finished work of Christ. Depending on the specific question being asked, therefore, orthodox Christianity can be considered either amillennial or postmillennial – because, in reality, it is both. One further point should be understood: In addition to being both “amillennialist” and “postmillennialist,” the orthodox Christian Church has been generally optimistic in her view of the power of the Gospel to convert the nations. In my book Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion (Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1985), I opened each chapter with a quotation from the great St. Athanasius on the subject of the victory of the Gospel throughout the world and the inevitable conversion of all nations to Christianity. The point was not to single out St. Athanasius as such; numerous statements expressing the Hope of the Church for the worldwide triumph of the Gospel can be found throughout the writings of the great Fathers and teachers, in every age of Christianity. 5 Even more significantly, the universal belief in the coming victory can be seen in the action of the Church in history. Christians never supposed that their high calling was to work for some sort of détente with the Enemy. “Pluralism” was never regarded by the orthodox as a worthy goal. The Church has always recognized that God sent His only begotten Son in order to redeem the world, and that He will be satisfied with nothing less than what He paid for. When the early missionaries from the East first ventured into the demonized lands of our pagan forefathers, they had not the slightest intention of developing peaceful coexistence with warlocks and their terrorizing deities. When St. Boniface came up against Thor’s sacred oak tree in his mission to the heathen Germans, he simply chopped it down and built a chapel out of the wood. Thousands of Thorworshipers, seeing that their god had failed to strike St. Boniface with lightning, converted to Christianity on the spot. As for St. Boniface, he was unruffled by the incident. He knew that there was only one true God of thunder – the Triune Jehovah. There is nothing strange about this. The attitude of Hope, the expectation of victory, is an absolutely fundamental characteristic of Christianity. 6 The advance of the Church through the ages is inexplicable apart from it – just as it is also inexplicable apart from the fact that the Hope is true, the fact that Jesus Christ has defeated the powers and shall reign “from the River to the ends of the earth.” W. G. T. Shedd wrote: “Apart from the power and promise of God, the preaching of such a religion as Christianity, to such a population as that of paganism, is the sheerest Quixotism. It crosses all the inclinations, and condemns all the pleasures of guilty man. The preaching of the Gospel finds its justification, its wisdom, and its triumph, only in the attitude and relation which the infinite and almighty God sustains to it. It is His religion, and therefore it must ultimately become a universal religion.” 7 With the rise of divergent eschatologies over the last two centuries, the traditional evangelical optimism of the Church was tagged with the term “postmillennialism,” whether the so-called “postmillennialists” liked it or not. This has had positive and negative results. On the plus side, it is (as we have seen) a technically accurate description of orthodoxy; and it carries the connotation of optimism. On the minus side, it can too often be confused with heretical millenarianism. And, while “amillennialism” rightly expresses the orthodox abhorrence of apocalyptic revolution, it carries (both by name and by historic association) a strong connotation of defeatism. 8 The present writer therefore calls himself a “postmillennialist,” but also seeks to be sensitive to the inadequacies of current theological terminology. 9 This “generic” postmillennialism holds that Jesus 4. For accounts of heretical (post) millenarian movements, see Igor Shafarevich, The Socialist Phenomenon, William Tjalsma, trans. (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1980); Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages (New York: Oxford University Press, 1957; revised, 1970); Otto Friedrich, The End of the World: A History (New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1982), pp. 143-77; David Chilton, Prod-uctive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulators: A Biblical Response to Ronald J. Sider (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, third ed., 1985), pp. 321-42. 5. See St. Augustine, The City of God, Book XX. On St. Augustine and the influence of his postmillennial philosophy of history, see Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967); Charles Norris Cochrane, Christianity and Classical Culture: A Study of Thought and Action from Augustus to Augustine (London: Oxford University Press, [1940, 1944], 1957); Robert Nisbet, History of the Idea of Progress (New York: Basic Books, 1980), pp. 47-76. On the extensive Reformed heritage of postmillennialism, from John Calvin to the late nineteenth century, see Greg L. Bahnsen, “The Prima Facie Acceptability of Postmillennialism,” The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, Vol. III, No. 2 (Winter, 1976-77), pp. 48- 105, esp. pp. 68-105; James B. Jordan, “A Survey of Southern Presbyterian Millennial Views Before 1930,” The Journal of Christian Reconstruction, Vol. III, No. 2 (Winter, 1976-77), pp. 106-21; J. A. de Jong, As the Waters Cover the Sea: Millennial Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy (Kampen: J. H. Kok, 1970); J. Marcellus Kik, An Eschatology of Victory (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1971), pp. 3-29; Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope: A Study in Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1971). 6. Consider the fact that the compilers of The Book of Common Prayer provided “Tables for Finding Holy Days” all the way to A.D. 8400! Clearly, they were digging in for the “long haul: and did not expect an imminent “rapture” of the Church. 7. W. G. T. Shedd, Sermons to the Spiritual Man (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, [1884] 1972), p. 421. 8. Some have sought to remedy this by styling themselves “optimistic amillennialists,” a term that has nothing wrong with it except a mouthful of syllables (the term “non-chiliastic postmillennialist” suffers from the same problem). 9. The foregoing is not intended to minimize certain other areas of dispute among the various eschatological schools of thought. The vexed issue of “common grace” – which James Jordan has more accurately termed “crumbs from the children’s table” (Mark 7:27-28) – is particularly crucial to the debate, and so I have included Gary North’s essay on “Common Grace, Eschatology, and Biblical Law” as an appendix to this volume. 197
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But when you see Jerusalem surround
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Copyright @ 1987 by Dominion Press
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FOREWORD Foreword Readers of the Bo
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PUBLISHER’S PREFACE Publisher’s
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PUBLISHER’S PREFACE case for esch
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PUBLISHER’S PREFACE this book bec
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PUBLISHER’S PREFACE In contrast,
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INTRODUCTION St. Irenaeus is somewh
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INTRODUCTION we must be saved” (A
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INTRODUCTION previous relationship
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INTRODUCTION You have lain down as
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INTRODUCTION are only elaborating a
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INTRODUCTION early churches had suc
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INTRODUCTION actions mean more than
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INTRODUCTION Some will complain tha
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INTRODUCTION Outline of Revelation
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1:1-3 that must shortly take place.
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1:4-6 accomplishment. We probably h
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1:7-8 observe that a central aspect
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1:9 14 And His head and His hair we
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1:16 That all the peoples, nations,
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1:20 things that must shortly take
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INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO Part Two H
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INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO The confli
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2:4-6 endure evil men. . . . And yo
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2:9-10 dead, and has come to life:
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2:14-16 expression (none of which m
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2:18-23 and leads my servants astra
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2:26-29 end, to him I will give aut
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3:4-6 church, or even against a nat
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3:8-11 And I will clothe him with y
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3:14-16 sons disinherited and cast
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3:21-22 the elders of a church, and
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INTRODUCTION TO PART THREE The laws
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4:2-3 numerous names and descriptio
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4:5-8 superseded and transcended; t
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4:5-8 19) led Biblical writers to s
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5:1-4 family worship; it is radical
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5:5-7 St. John; and it seems as if
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5:8-10 have gained the victory for
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6:1-2 6 IN THE PATH OF THE WHITE HO
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6:3-4 forth conquering, and to conq
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6:9-10 And authority was given to h
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6:15-17 that Israel’s time has ru
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7:4-8 Though he flourishes among th
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7:4-8 they were listening to the Ap
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7:9 is presumably deliberate, for i
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7:10-14 inheriting the Kingdom (Mat
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7:15-17 They will not hunger or thi
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8:3-5 for that would be about the l
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8:6-7 rout the Midianites, in Judge
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8:12 13 And I looked, and I heard a
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9:13 The vegetation of the earth is
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9:20-21 lations advanced by some co
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9:20-21 men much more atheistical t
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10:2-4 beyond reasonable doubt that
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10:8-10 the Spirit at Pentecost was
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11:1-2 angelic priest measures the
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11:7 have the power to shut up the
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11:11-14 climax with the murder of
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11:16-18 month in the liturgical ye
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12:1-2 12 THE HOLY WAR The Book of
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12:1-2 birth to the Christ, to brin
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12:4 Daniel repeats the same idea i
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12:5-9 Chronologically, this explan
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12:12 And when we see the Lord warr
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12:17 for the action of Pharaoh, wh
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13:3-4 of the ten imperial province
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13:8-10 The Beast was given authori
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13:13-14 character and office (1 Co
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13:18 work throughout Revelation ar
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13:18 ✩ ✩✩ ✩★✩ ✩★
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Page 154 and 155: 14:19-20 And now, O inhabitants of
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Page 158 and 159: 15:3-4 sacrifices; and the Glory of
Page 160 and 161: 15:8 We should be reminded in this
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Page 170 and 171: 17:1 17 THE FALSE BRIDE While some
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Page 186 and 187: 19:1-2 19 THE FEASTS OF THE KINGDOM
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Page 212 and 213: 21:1 21 THE NEW JERUSALEM The Bible
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Page 230 and 231: CONCLUSION the pure Bride-City, is
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Page 234 and 235: APPENDIX A it is reflected in “It
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Page 240 and 241: APPENDIX A Babylon, falsely priestl
Page 242 and 243: APPENDIX A B. CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 1.
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APPENDIX B The Bible teaches us tha
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APPENDIX C APPENDIX C Common Grace,
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APPENDIX C for all eternity because
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APPENDIX C better arrangement cultu
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APPENDIX C be destroyed. The two ex
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APPENDIX C universe. It is governed
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APPENDIX C completed, the world was
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APPENDIX C deceive the nations. The
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APPENDIX C creeds and theological u
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APPENDIX C coherence that at least
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APPENDIX C There is continuity in l
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Athanasius. On the Incarnation of t
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________. The Institutes of Biblica
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