3 Last-Days Views That Lead to Massive Deception
3. Amillennialism
The majority of the church throughout history has technically been postmillennial. That is, the church has believed that Christ is presently reigning in heaven with the saints in glory and through the church on earth and will return physically after the millennium reign. (The “thousand years” is only mentioned six times in the book of Revelation, which is a highly symbolic book. For example, the 1,000 years mentioned in Revelation 20 has been historically interpreted by many theologians to be a long period of time, not literally 1,000 years.)
With the advent of many eschatological views the past 200 years, a new term was introduced, amillennialism, to contrast postmillennialism. The major difference between these two concepts is that postmillennialists believe Christ’s reign will be physically and spiritually manifest on earth through the church fulfilling the cultural commission of Genesis 1:28 and Matthew 28:19-20, putting God’s enemies under His feet before Jesus returns bodily to judge the world (based on Psalm 110:1-2 and Acts 3:21, among other passages). Amillennialists believe Jesus is already reigning spiritually in heaven with the saints who have passed into glory; because His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), this view does not depend on political or social reformation for Him to return bodily.
The problem with amillennialism is its lack of integration of the cultural commission as an essential component of eschatology, since Jesus’ reign is spiritual. Thus, amillennialists cannot fully account for prominent passages such as Genesis 1:28, Psalm 2, Psalm 110:1-2, Acts 3:21 and others that covenantally connect both testaments. Because of this, a person who believes the reign of Christ is merely spiritual and not earthly knows not what to do with the Lord’s Prayer, specifically Jesus’ teaching to ask God for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
In addition, one could hold to any political, economic or policy view (and, for example, be a total liberal when it comes to moral positions) since Jesus’ reign is spiritual and will never be manifest on earth through the church. Like hyper-premillennialism, the church is in some sort of neutral holding pattern, concerned only with spiritual things until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Obviously, this view could also cause believers to fall into a sort of gnosticism if they do not attempt to seriously incorporate the cultural commission into their theological position.
In conclusion, postmillennialists are also divergent in their views, with some believing there will be a future thousand-year golden age for the church before Christ returns. Others, like myself, have a view like amillennialists that the reign of Christ is not literally a physical 1,000-year future period.
I believe this because Scripture teaches the church (in heaven and on earth) already began to reign with Christ since the inauguration of the kingdom (Mark 1:15; Rom. 5:17; Eph. 1:17-2:26). Postmillennialists allow for both a spiritual reign in heaven and a gradual manifestation of Christ’s kingdom on the earth before His return, since they believe the biblical covenants (starting with Genesis 1:28) are still in force on the earth and revealed by the blessings and curses God bestows on individuals and nations commensurate to the degree they accept or reject the laws of God and the gospel of Christ.
Lest anyone attempt to criticize me for adhering to some newfangled eschatology, I want to make sure you understand that the majority of the early church and Reformation theologians held to some form of postmillennialism, although it took centuries to unpack Scripture and systematize it. Its adherents stand in the tradition of august historians and theologians such as Eusebius (260-340), Athanasius (296-372), Augustine (354-430), Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), William Carey (1761-1834), Charles Hodge (1797-1878), James Henley Thornwell (1812-1862), Robert Dabney (1820-1898), William G.T. Shedd (1820-1894), Augustus Strong (1836-1921), H.C.G. Moule (1841-1920), B.B. Warfield (1851-1921), J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937), John Murray (1898-1975), Loraine Boettner (1903-1989) and Greg Bahnsen (1948-1995), to name a few, and many other contemporary theologians too numerous to cite here.
In spite of all of our serious differences, there have been many great people of God who have impacted the world that stand in each of these camps. Also, notable adherents of each of the major millennial systems all agree that the full manifestation of the kingdom of God will never come until the bodily return of Christ (although, as stated before, hyper-preterists believe the final return of Christ already took place!).
Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church, Christ Covenant Coalition, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
