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Sunday School: Last Things (Pt. 6.1: The Millenium, Pt.1)

May 21, 2023 Preacher: John Bell Series: Sunday School: Last Things

 

Explanation of Three Major Millennial Views


1. Amillennialism


• NOTE: Amillennialists base their interpretation of Revelation 20 as recapitulating or paralleling the events described in Revelation 19:11-21, rather than following it in chronological succession. This is a critical point for amillennialism, since, as Hoekema admits, “If one thinks of Revelation 20 as setting forth what follows chronologically after what has been described in chapter 19:11-21, one would indeed conclude that the millennium of Revelation 20:1-6 will come after the return of Christ.”
• According to this position the passage in Revelation 20:1–10 describes the present church age.
• This is an age in which Satan’s influence over the nations has been greatly reduced so that the gospel can be preached to the whole world.
• Those who are said to be reigning with Christ for the thousand years are Christians who have died and are already reigning with Christ in heaven (the “first resurrection” vs. 5)
• This view is called “amillennial” because it maintains that there is no future millennium yet to come. Since amillennialists believe that Revelation 20 is now being fulfilled in the church age, they hold that the “millennium” described there is currently happening.
• The exact duration of the church age cannot be known, and the expression “thousand years” is simply a figure of speech for a long period of time in which God’s perfect purposes will be accomplished.
• According to this position, the present church age will continue until the time of Christ’s return.
• When Christ returns, there will be a resurrection of both believers and unbelievers.
• The bodies of believers will rise to be reunited with their spirits and enter into full enjoyment of heaven forever.
• Unbelievers will be raised to face the final judgment and eternal condemnation.
• Believers will also stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), but this judgment will only determine degrees of reward in heaven, for only unbelievers will be condemned eternally.
• At this time also the new heavens and new earth will begin. Immediately after the final judgment, the eternal state will commence and continue forever.
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Amillennial Understanding of Revelation 20:4-6
• Who: dead Christians
• When: the entire period between Christ’s first coming and his second coming.
• Where: in heaven


4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended [= unbelievers]) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.


2. Postmillennialism The prefix post- means “after.” According to this view, Christ will return after the millennium.


• According to this view, the progress of the gospel and the growth of the church will gradually increase, so that a larger and larger proportion of the world’s population will be Christians. As a result, there will be significant Christian influences on society, society will more and more function according to God’s standards, and gradually a “millennial age” of peace and righteousness will occur on the earth.
• This “millennium” will last for a long period of time (not necessarily a literal one thousand years), and finally, at the end of this period, Christ will return to earth, believers and unbelievers will be raised, the final judgment will occur, and there will be a new heaven and new earth. We will then enter into the eternal state.
• The primary characteristic of postmillennialism is that it is very optimistic about the power of the gospel to change lives and bring about much good in the world.


3. Classical or Historic Premillennialism: The prefix “pre-” means “before,” and the “premillennial” position says that Christ will come back before the millennium. This viewpoint has a long history from the earliest centuries onward.


• According to this viewpoint, the present church age will continue until, as it nears the end, a time of great tribulation and suffering comes on the earth (the “T” in the diagram stands for tribulation).
• After that time of tribulation Christ will return to earth to establish a millennial kingdom.
• When he comes back, believers who have died will be raised from the dead, their bodies will be reunited with their spirits, and these believers will reign with Christ on earth for one thousand years. Some premillennialists take this to be a literal one thousand years, and others understand it to be a symbolic expression for a long period of time.
• During this time, Christ will be physically present on the earth in his resurrected body, and will reign as King over the entire earth.
• The believers who have been raised from the dead, and those who were on earth when Christ returns, will receive glorified resurrection bodies that will never die, and in these resurrection bodies they will live on the earth and reign with Christ.
• Of the unbelievers who remain on earth, many (but not all) will turn to Christ and be saved.
• Jesus will reign in perfect righteousness and there will be peace throughout the earth.
• Many premillennialists hold that the earth will be renewed and we will in fact see the new heavens and new earth at this time (but it is not essential to premillennialism to hold to this, for one could be a premillennialist and hold that the new heavens and new earth will not occur until after the final judgment).
• At the beginning of this time Satan will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit so that he will have no influence on the earth during the millennium (Rev. 20:1–3).
• According to the premillennial viewpoint, at the end of the thousand years Satan will be loosed from the bottomless pit and will join forces with many unbelievers who have submitted outwardly to Christ’s reign but have inwardly been seething in rebellion against him. Satan will gather these rebellious people for battle against Christ, but they will be decisively defeated. (Usually, the Armageddon battle is understood to have symbolic and continuing and recurring effect rather than one particular event at the end of time.)
• Christ will then raise from the dead all the unbelievers who have died throughout history (verse 5: “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended”) and they will stand before him for final judgment.
• After the final judgment has occurred, believers will enter into the eternal state.