Eschatology is the study of last things
in relationship to the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is the science of prophetic study drawn from the Holy
Scriptures. It is an area of study that
has been the source of heated debate and controversy through the centuries
among theologians, writers, and preachers.
Because of the controversy and confusion created by the varying schools
of prophetic interpretation many people in our day have determined to leave the
study of eschatology alone. Those who
fail to study the major themes of prophecy rob themselves of great blessings
according to Revelation 1:3 which declares: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at
hand." We are exhorted to read
and hearken to the great truths of prophetic Scripture. Thus, every Bible student must be committed
to unlocking the great mysteries of prophetic truth. Some scholars estimate that the prophetic word makes up
approximately twenty percent of all Scripture.
Therefore, the study of prophecy must be taken seriously by the earnest
student of the Word of God.
Through the years
the subject of prophetic study has brought the saints of God much comfort,
strength, and hope as they have anxiously awaited the soon return of the Lord
Jesus Christ. How our hearts should be
thrilled with the prospect of the imminent return of Jesus Christ! The present moral and spiritual condition of
our world should motivate the people of God to obey the admonition of Titus
2:12-13 which states: "Teaching us
that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly, in the present world; Looking for that blessed hope,
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Jesus is coming! What a cordial to the afflicted saint of God. Jesus is coming soon! What a motivation to live a holy life and be
a faithful and zealous herald of the Gospel to all the lost. Jesus is coming! What a blessed promise to cling to as we faithfully watch and
pray until our Lord returns.
The last words of
Jesus Christ are recorded in Revelation 22:20 which states: "...Surely I come quickly..." May God enlighten our eyes and grant us the
grace to understand the full import of this promise from our Saviour's lips as
we study the major themes relating to Bible prophecy.
There are three
basic schools of thought in the realm of eschatalology. They are Premillennialism,
Postmillennialism, and Amillennialism.
Each of these systems of interpretation revolve around one's idea of the
kingdom of Jesus Christ. The word millennium never occurs in Scripture but
it is derived from two Latin words which mean one thousand years. The reference to the thousand year period of
time is found in Revelation 20:1-7 where the words 'thousand years" are employed six times. Millennium is simply a theological term
based upon this passage of Scripture.
How an individual interprets what the thousand years refers too
determines what system of interpretation they adhere too. For example, a premillennialist believes in
the return of Jesus Christ to the earth before the setting up of the millennial
kingdom. A postmillennialist believes
that Jesus will return after the millennial kingdom. The amillennialist believes that there will be no literal
millennial kingdom upon the earth.
A simple definition of a premillennialist is one who believes that
Jesus Christ will come back to the earth before His thousand year reign upon
the earth. In the early centuries of
Christianity premillennialists were branded by their opponents as chiliasts which comes from the greek
word chilias which means a thousand
years.
A premillennialist
interprets Revelation 20:1-7 just as it reads.
He gives this passage of Scripture a literal meaning. A premillennialist believes that Jesus
Christ will literally come back to the earth to establish His kingdom and to
reign with the saints for a thousand years.
As a general rule premillennialists interpret Old and New Testament
prophecies relating to the kingdom of Christ in a literal vein. This does not mean that premillennialists do
not see symbolic and typical teachings in the Scriptures. What it does mean is that premillennialists
follow the golden rule of Bible interpretation which is: "When the plain sense of Scripture makes
common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary,
ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context,
studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths,
indicate clearly otherwise."
Thus, a premillennialist is dedicated to a literal interpretation of
prophetic Scripture. This is what sets
him apart from an ammillennialist who will often spiritualize or allegorize
Scriptures of prophetic significance.
There are several
prophetic truths that are all linked together to form the premillennial
position of eschatology.
Premillennialists believe that world conditions will grow worse and
worse prior to the coming of Jesus Christ just as II Timothy 3:1 and 13
declare: "This know also, that in
the last days perilous times shall come...But evil men and seducers shall wax
worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." The present age will end with the greatest
time of trouble and wrath the world has ever known described by Jesus Christ as
the great tribulation in Matthew 24:21 which states: "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." This time of tribulation will culminate when
Jesus Christ comes back in the Second Advent to destroy the Antichrist, the
False Prophet, apostate Christendom, and all other enemies of Christ as
Revelation 19:20-21 declares: "And
the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles
before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the
beast, and them that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire bruning with
brimstone. And the remnant were slain
with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his
mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." Satan will then be bound for a thousand
years just as Revelation 20:2 declares: "And
he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan,
and bound him a thousand years."
There will be two bodily resurrections, one for the righteous, and one
for the unjust that are separated by the thousand year reign of Christ. Christ and His saints will then rule and
reign upon the earth for a thousand years just as Revelation 20:4-5 declares: "...and they lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand years. But the rest
of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." This millennial kingdom upon earth will be
marked by righteousness, peace, and unsurpassed spirituality.
Premillennialists
also believe that the elect nation of Israel will be revived, restored to her
land, and regenerated by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit just as Ezekiel
34:11-13 implies: "For thus saith
the LORD GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the
day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep,
and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the
cloudly and dark day. And I will bring
them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring
them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the
rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country." Premillennialists see a definite
distinction between the church that Jesus started during His earthly ministry
and the elect nation of Israel, meaning that they are not one in the same, but
two seperate entities. These are the
basic tenets of the premillennial faith.
Historically,
premillennialism was the doctrine believed by Christians up until the third
century A.D. The early Christians were
virtually all premillennialists who interpreted prophetic Scripture
literally. A study of the early church
fathers will reveal that an overwhelming majority believed in the premillennial
coming of Christ. Included in the list
of early premillennialists are Barnabas, Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas,
Polycarp, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian. In fact Justin Martyr considered
premillennialism a test of orthodoxy in his dialogue with Trypho as the
following quote reveals:
"I, and as many as are orthodox Christians, do
acknowledge that there shall be a resurrection of the body, and a residence of
a thousand years in Jerusalem rebuilt, adorned and enlarged as the prophets
Ezekiel, Isaiah and others do unanimously attest...Moreover, a certain man
among us whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, in a revelation
made to him, did prophesy that the faithful believers in Christ shall live a
thousand years in the New Jerusalem, and after that shall be the general
resurrection and judgment." (1)
During the Roman Catholic reign of terror known as the Dark Ages
there were basically two ancient Baptist groups who preserved the premillennial
faith known as the Waldensians and the Paulicians. During the Reformation many were so concerned with the doctrine
of justification by faith little attention was given to the subject of
eschatology. In the 1600's and
1700's English Baptists such as Bunyan,
Keach, and John Gill defended the premillennial faith.
From the early 1800's
up until our present day the premillennial faith has been widely
accepted by Bible students, preachers, theologians, and scholars.
Amillennialism and
postmillennialism did not gain notoriety as systems of eschatology until the
Roman Catholic Church formally came to power during the reign of Constantine
the Great. Both systems were born in
Romanism and later adopted by Protestants.
An amillennialist does not believe in a literal reign of
Christ upon the earth. They interpret
the "thousand years" in
Revelation twenty as an indefinite period of time, not a literal time
period. As a general rule
amillennialists today hold to the theory that the thousand years is a symbolic
number of perfection or completeness signifying the time period between the two
Advents of Christ. Amillennialists
often refer to themselves as "Gospel millennarians" meaning that the
reign of Christ is only figurative and spiritual as it exists in the hearts of
those who have embraced the Gospel message.
Some believe that the present age with its Gospel benefits is the
fulfillment of millennial prophecies.
Others believe that the millennium is fulfilled by the departed saints
who reign in Heaven. They believe that
Satan was bound at the first coming of Christ.
They deny that there are two separate bodily resurrections of the just
and the unjust. Instead they hold to a
general resurrection as well as a general judgment. Oswald T. Allis, an amillennialist defines his system thusly:
This is the teaching that the only visible coming of Christ
to this earth which the Church is to expect will be for judgment and will be
followed by the final state. It is
anti-chiliastic or a-millennial, because it rejects the doctrine that there are
to be two resurrections with an interval of a thousand years...between
them." (2)
The amillennial
system is based upon a spiritual or allegorical method of interpretation when
it comes to the prophetic Word. As a
general rule they give symbolic meanings to various passages that relate to
prophecy. For example, they interpret
Israel and the New Testament church to the one in the same. They believe that all the promises
concerning Israel were transferred to the church. They somehow interpret the throne of David to mean Heaven. They refer to the words "thousand
years" as an indefinite period of time.
As I have read amillennial works I have noticed that they spend most of
their time telling you what the millennium is not, rather than what it is. They seem to rework every prophetic passage
to fit their theories of the kingdom in spite of what II Peter 1:20 declares: "No prophecy of the scripture is of
any private interpretation." When it comes to other passages of
Scripture that deal with soteriology they use a literal method of
interpretation. Thus, they use a
literal method of interpretation for a majority of Scriptures, but use the
spiritual or allegorical method when it fits their prophetic fancy.
Pieters, an amillennialist, admits the crux of the
amillennial dillemma when he said:
"The question whether the Old Testament prophecies
concerning the people of God must be interpreted in their ordinary sense, as
other Scriptures are interpreted, or can properly be applied to the Christian
Church, is called the question of the spiritualization of prophecy. This is one of the major problems in
biblical interpretation, and confronts
everyone who makes a serious study of the Word of God. It is one of the chief keys to the
difference of opinion between Premillenarians and the mass of Christian
scholars. The former reject such
spiritualization, the later employ it; and as long as there is no agreement on
this point the debate is interminable and fruitless." (3)
When the literal
method of interpreting the prophetic word is abandoned, the interpretation of a
passage is basically left up to the discretion of the interpreter. When the allegorical or spiritual method of
interpretaion is employed the interpreter can make the text read however he
wants it to read. If he wants to make
Israel the church, or a thousand years to be an indefinite period of time, he
is free to do so. The problem with this
brand of interpretation is that it was born in the bowels of Romanism and it
leads to liberalism I am not saying
that all amillennialists are liberals and higher critics. I know some amillennialists who are holy and
godly men. However, a great number of
amillennialists deny the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Scriptures.
Historically, the
basis for amillennial theology was framed by two men, Origen and Augustine of
Hippo. In the first and second
centuries the theories of amillennialists were virtually unknown. The prophetic word was interpreted literally
by the mass of Christians. However,
Origin who was from the apostate school of Alexandria, Egypt began to
incorporate the allegorical interpretation of Scripture into his writings and
teachings. He continually attacked the
literal method of interpretation. The
origin of the allegorical rantings of Origen are summed up by Farrar who is not
a premillennialist:
"Allegory by no means sprang from spontaneous piety,
but was the child of Rathionalism which owed its birth to the heathen theories
of Plato. It deserved its name, for it
made Scripture say something else than it really meant...Origen borrows from
heathen Platonists and from Jewish philosophers a method which converts the
whole of Scripture, the New and Old Testament alike, into a series of clumsy,
varying, and incredible enigmas.
Allegory helped him to get rid of Chiliasm and superstitious literalism
and the 'antitheses' of the Gnostics, but it opened the door for deadlier
evils." (4)
Augustine was a
Roman Catholic theologian who wrote The
City of God, which promoted the idea that Satan was bound during the
earthly ministry of Christ, and that there is no literal period of time known
as the millennium. The influence of
Augustine has been widespread among Catholics and Protestants alike. Many theologians of the Protestant
Reformation adopted the views of Augustine simply because of his supposed
orthodoxy concerning the doctrines of grace.
However Augustine was inconsistent.
He said that he believed in sovereign grace, yet held to the
antichristian teaching of infant baptism.
As a Baptist I refuse to stake my method of interpreting the Bible on a
man who baptized babies and who persecuted those who would not. Nor do I agree with his allegorical
interpretation of Bible prophecy.
Thus, the basic
difference between premillennialists and amillennialists is the way in which
each interprets the prophetic word.
Amillennialists will interpret a majority of the Bible in a literal
fashion. However, when it comes to the
field of eschatology they will use the figurative or allegorical method of
interpretation, a method borrowed from pagan philosophers. Premillennialists, on the other hand
interpret the Bible in a literal manner except in those instances where the
Bible makes it clear that the language is figurative or symbolic.
POSTMILLENNIAL INTERPRETATION
The third system of
eschatology is postmillennialism. This
theory is based upon the assumption that the entire world will be evangelized
and converted, thus bringing in a reign of peace and righteousness at the end
of which Jesus Christ will come back.
The basic supposition of postmillennial theory is that Christ will come
back after a period of millennial bliss among the nations. They believe that the world will get
progressively better before Christ comes back in the second advent. Augustus Strong, a Baptist theologian, wrote
the following in 1907, aptly summarizing the postmillennial position:
"The Scripture
foretells a period, called in the language of prophecy 'a thousand years,' when
Satan whall be restrained and the saints shall reign with Christ on the
earth. A comparison of the passages
bearing on his subject leads us to the conclusion that this millennial
blesedness and dominion is prior to the Second Advent... We may therefore best
interpret Rev. 20:4-10 as teaching in a highly figurative language, not a
preliminary resurrection of the body, in the case of departed saints, but a
period in the later days of the church militant when, under special influence
of the Holy Ghost, the spirit of the martyrs shall appear again, true religion
be greatly quickened and revived, and the members of Christ's churches become
so conscious of their strength in Christ that they shall, to an extent unknown
before, triumph over the powers of evil both within and without." (5)
Postmillennialism
as we know it today had its source in the teachings of Daniel Whitby who lived
from 1638-1726. He, as well as many
other postmillennialists, attempted to interpret Bible prophecy in relationship
to the supposed advancement of mankind.
They saw the world getting to be a better place because of all the
cultural, industrial, intellectual, and technological advances of mankind. The Postmillennial theories thrived in the 1800's
when worldwide missions were becoming more and more prevelant. The postmillennialists saw the evangelizing
of the nations as the key to ushering in the Millennium. However the theories and hopes of
postmillennialism all but faded with World War I and World War II. Instead of the world becoming a place of
peace and righteousness, it was fast becoming a world filled with chaos and
violence. Thus, for all practical purposes
postmillennial theology died in the twentieth century. There are however a group of Christians in
our present day known as Reconstructionists who are attempting to revive
postmillennialism through what they call dominion theology. It is basically nothing more than the old
heresies of postmillennialism wrapped in a new package.
The basic error of postmillennial theology is that it
presupposes that the world is going to be a better place before Christ comes
back. Mankind is not getting better, it
is getting worse, just as the Bible teaches.
The errors of postmillennialism gave birth to the heresies of the social
gospel movement at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Many Christians falsely supposed that by
changing a man's environment and meeting his physcial needs would somehow change
his spiritual nature. I do believe that
we ought to help those that are less fortunate, but it will not save their
souls or eradicate their depravity.
Only the new birth performed by the almighty power of the Spirit of God
can bring about spiritual renewal. The
world will not be changed through governmental agencies and social
programs. These things do not bring
peace to sinful soul or impute righteousness to a bankrupt sinner. Only the grace of God can do that. There will not be universal peace and
righteousness on the earth until Jesus Christ comes back with His saints to
rule and reign for a thousand years!
I have attempted to
briefly summarize the basic beliefs, history, and methods of interpretation of
the three schools of eschatology. I
believe that the premillennial position is the only one that harmonizes with
the Scriptures. The premillennial
system is the only tenable position if one hopes to interpret the Bible as it
reads, in a literal manner. I do not
presume or claim to have the corner market on all of prophetic truth, however I
am not ashamed to be called a premillennialist.