- As an amillenarian, I don’t have a pessimistic view of the end, I have an optimistic Christ and gospel focused view. But, it may be called pessimistic in comparison to the other eschatological views
- Amil makes you focus more on heaven, postmil and dispensationalism makes you focus more on earth
- Most postmils I speaks with, when we talk about the future, their focus is on the golden age, not Christ’s return.
- Postmils seem to have more enthusiasm when they talk about the golden age than about the return of Christ
- It could be perhaps because they don’t have many details to share because the verses they could cite have been preterised
Postmil seems to require the newspaper to be validated and even to be proliferated. Case in point, how does someone know we are not near the peak of the golden age right now? Only when the news reports the right headlines at the right times, because otherwise you get a purely local view of the impact of the gospel. - Postmil support began to wane during the the World Wars
- Amil is true regardless of the news, because even if I never see the news, the Bible always describes the current global state accurately, fallen and majority evil.
- The bible teaches that the kingdom of Christ will grow alongside the kingdom of Satan, until Christ returns.
Postmils seem to assume most Christians in their golden age will be mature, given their view of worldwide peace for that time
- Christ wins by way of the spread of the gospel, even as we are slaughtered
- The book of Revelation gives us: The struggle of the church and its victory over the world in the providence of God - Bruce Metzger
- It is not hard to believe that you are a Christian, when the world accepts you, it is crazy sometimes to think that you become a Christian in a place that is overtly hostile towards Christians. It shows the power of the gospel in our lives to ground us even when the world hates us.
- Overcoming the fear of man is supernatural
- Success is seen by how many have heard the truth and the number we pursue with the truth. God decides the result of it all. In that amillenials see victory, because the gospel will do what God has determined it to do for each individual that hears it
- The postmillenarian is expecting to see a material change in the world, the amillenialist is only expecting to see a material change in God’s elect
- It is a hermeneutical issue. Its so evident that the Bible speaks very pessimistcally about the immediate time during the apostolic age that even the Post-mil must interpret it as things that happened in the past.
- They require a preteristic interpretation to avoid the consequence of the pessimistic texts
- Preterisation of key pessimistic text keeps postmil alive
- The Bible is so explicit about the optimisic outcome of the kingdom of God, that the earth must be Christianized for it to be true.
- Where does the Bible say the kingdom of God destroys enemies slowly? It doesn't, it is clear about the enemy being destroyed in a moment/suddenly. Like, Soddom or during Noah's flood.
- The golden-age is only described in detail in the OT, but the post-mil, finds the NT connection, primarily, in parables.
- It is a misplaced optimism on the Church over the world, rather than Christ over the world. Which is demonstrated at His return
- The beast will always fight against us and Christ will ultimately defeat him when He returns
- The Antichrist was not Nero, but yet to be revealed
- The reformed confessions also did not see Nero as The Antichrist, but the Pope
- The reformed confessions promote amillenialism, not modern-day post millennialism
- The Church preaches the gospel in a hostile environment and nothing that the gospel was intended to accomplish is lost
- The gospel prevails until the end, even as the wicked in the nations increase in number, they do not increase in power over the gospel
- Post-mil only seems to see power in numbers, by appearance, while I see it in perseverance through tribulation (Mark 13:13)
- The golden age is the age to come, meaning the eternal state of the New Universe
- The things attributed to the golden age is a mistaken identity and confusion of the eternal state
- What is desired by the postmil before Christ returns, the Bible says happens after the parousia in the eternal state. But the Bible paints an even more glorious picture than the one painted by the postmil’s golden age theory
- The postmil golden age is rubbish compared to the golden age of the amillenial. Our golden age is in the eternal state, where perfection and righteousness remain forever. The age to come is the eternal age, where existence is truly golden and greater than gold
- It’s rubbish, in that God will even burn it up, like He will do the weeds during the harvest
- Will there ever be a time before the New Universe where the world will not oppose the Gospel? The post-mil must say, yes. Then at some point the Christian can love the things of the world.
- Christ spent a great deal of time preparing His disciples for suffering and persecutions. This would be almost meaningless for the Church leading up to Christ’s return
- Postmillenarianism seems to be an eschatology that teaches a new earth without the new heavens, at least for a period before the parousia
- Christ as King would not give back a nation that He has taken hold of. As a King His power and authority would prevent Him from returning a nation back to the world.
- The Bible teaches that Christ does not lose ground He has conquered
- Is the curse still in effect? Yes, we are still under the curse from Genesis. Total depravity is still a factor
- The book of Hebrews did more damage to the Jewish system than the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem
- AD 70 was significant, but not more than the theological implications of the New Covenant being inaugurated
- Like Premillennialism (namely, dispensational)
- They see a golden-age before the New Universe comes to pass
- They take symbolism of the OT and make it physically literal in the NT
- For eschatological things, they use the OT to interpret the NT, which is backwards
- The OT does not give us the details of when all eschatological prophecies will be fulfilled. The NT gives us the finished timeline of the prophecies.
- Like many other theological positions (eg. paedo baptism), postmil is an emotional charge or desire that inserts itself into the text, and the reader finds ways to read it out of the text
- It is important to evaluate your eschatological beliefs/traditions in light of what verses seem to support it and the verses that may not support it
- Amillenialism more consistently takes all Scripture into consideration (both seemingly agreeing text and seemingly disagreeing text)
- We still live in a fallen world. What makes it fallen? The reality that this world is largely under the power and influence of Satan, so corruption abounds and dwells here
- This is the world of the fallen, but the next world, the New Earth in the eternal state, will be the world of the raised and redeemed
- the hermenuetic of Postmillenialism, like paedobaptism, ends of saying more than than the proponent of it desires
- Postmil logic is saying that Christ takes longer to "win" the world over to Himself; longer than it took Satan to corrupt it. So, with the logic of the postmil, Satan shows himself to be more influential and powerful than Christ.
- Unless, the postmil says, well its Christ people that causes the delay. Then the question becomes, is it by Christ Spirit that the Church gains the upper hand, or is it by the zeal of the people? If you say both, then it confuses the claim. Because, God is more powerful than Satan, with or without the Church.
- Questions
- Where does the NT clearly teach the second advent/parousia? And how does it differ from the sections that only teach about Christ coming in judgment?
- Could Jesus come back before most of the world is Christian? If no, then why would Paul and other writers make Christ return seem so near and imminent?
- Could Christ return tomorrow and post-millennialism still be true?
- Where in the NT is the golden age described?
- Is there any coming of Christ in the NT that describes His visible bodily coming?
- Yes, many places. Along with the Westminster divines, I say, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.” (WCF ch. 33 and LBC 1689 ch. 32)
- To come soon or quickly, for someone who lives in eternity, is anytime before eternity is over. There is no definitive timeline on soon or shortly for someone not bound by time
- Can you trace a historical line from the first century to present day of those with an orthodox preterist view of the NT?
- When children are born during the golden age, should we assume they are saved? If yes, is that prevenient grace?
- Since most of church history does not have a preterist view of the last days or the coming soon language, why should we abandon the traditional interpretation of those verses?
- Is this currently an evil world system? If yes, who runs it? If no, why is there no Christian nation in existence, or one remained Christian?
- If newspaper eschatology is to be avoided, then as a postmil, how do we know that we are not near the end of the golden age right now?
- It takes earthly kings a single generation to conquer an entire nation, according to postmil, why is it taking Jesus over 2000 years?
- Revelation was written after 70 AD, as evidenced/recognized by:
- KJV Archeological Study Bible
- Reformation Study Bible
- John MacArthur Study Bible
- Henry Morris Study Bible
- “Breaking the Code” by Bruce Metzger
- Revelation commentary by GK Beale
- 2000 years of Christ Power, Vol. 1 by Nick Needham
- Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps & Timelines
- Early church fathers
- Irenaeus (AD 180)
- Clement of Alexandria (AD 200)
- Origen (AD 254)
- Eusebius of Caesarea (AD 325)
- Resources
Ultimately, considering the weight of eschatological things, we must ensure that whatever our belief about it may be, we hold to the Bible and grow in our love for God. If your view of the end causes you to glorify Christ, to preach the gospel, make disciples, and pursue holiness, then that view may be the encouragement or stepping stone you need in this season.
By: C. Bess