A Case for Postmillennialism

[This is a paper I wrote for my Biblical Theology class. I am Amillennial in my eschatology but enjoyed learning the Postmillennial view during my research. Enjoy!]


All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (English Standard Version, Matthew 28:18-20).

Jesus’ last command to his disciples before his ascension was to go and preach the gospel and thus build his Church. Some of the big questions within orthodox Christianity have been about the second advent of Christ including how he is to reign until his return and what that reign will consist of after he has come. Many views of the second advent of Christ have developed over the centuries, but the four views that are held predominately within Christianity are: Historic Premillennialism, Dispensational Premillennialism, Amillennialism, and Postmillennialism. These views are distinct from one another due to various interpretations of the millennium as described in Revelation twenty:

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while (20:2-3).

Depending on the view that one holds, the millennium talked about in these verses is either a literal one thousand years or a metaphorical one thousand years. Both forms of Premillennialism (Historical and Dispensational) hold that the reign of Christ, after he has returned, will be a literal one thousand years followed by an evil uprising lead by Satan which will be easily suppressed by Christ and will follow with the perfect, eternal rule of Christ. The other two views (Amillennialism and Postmillennialism) hold that the one thousand year reign is metaphorical and represents the period of time between Christ’s first and second advent in which Christ will rule not only at the right hand of God the Father, but also through the hearts of his people on earth, the Church. Christ will return at the end of this period to judge the living and the dead. While all positions are orthodox, Postmillennialism is the most logically and exegetically sound. Through exegetical proof, one will find that Postmillennialism represents the intentions of the Trinity to bring about God’s sovereign purpose within earthly redemption. Postmillennialism will thus be defined, proven exegetically through both Old and New Testaments, and shown to be the most Scriptural view of the millennium through careful examination of Revelation chapter twenty.

What is Postmillennialism?

Postmillennialism is that view of the last things which holds that the Kingdom of God is now being extended in the world through the preaching of the Gospel and the saving work of the Holy Spirit, that the world eventually will be Christianized, and that the return of Christ will occur at the close of a long period of righteousness and peace commonly called the Millennium (Boettner 4).

Another name for the reign of righteousness and peace on the earth is the Golden Age. One common misconception about Postmillennialism is that it teaches that, through the Christianization of the world, sin will be eliminated. On the contrary, “Postmillennialism does not teach that perfection can be achieved prior to the consummation. Postmillennialism teaches that there will be tares until the end. There will be sin and death and suffering until the end” (Mathison 189). At the end of the millennium, there will be a brief period of apostasy caused by Satan who will have been loosed from his bindings. He will be overcome and eternally condemned in hell by Christ who returns to judge the living and the dead.

Before proceeding, there must be some clarification as to the type of Postmillennialism that is being presented. The position being described is known as Orthodox Postmillennialism. There is another form of Postmillennialism that is common among Christians, known as Theonomic Postmillennialism. Orthodox Postmillennialism holds that the world will be Christianized through the Gospel and the Holy Spirit alone. Theonomic Postmillennialism holds “that the Kingdom of God on earth will be achieved through a natural process by which mankind will be improved and social institutions will be reformed and brought to a higher level of culture and efficiency” (Boettner 4). Therefore, Orthodox Postmillennialism holds that the world will be Christianized through the Gospel by the working of the Holy Spirit, whereas Theonomic Postmillennialism holds that the world will be Christianized through social reform by the means of God’s law and thus, puts more emphasis on the workings of Man rather than God. Though there are valid objections on both sides as to how to bring about the Christianization of the world, the view being argued for is Orthodox Postmillennialism.

Exegetical Proofs

There are many scripture proofs throughout both Old and New Testaments that speak of the triumph of the Church beginning with the first advent of Christ. To prove that Postmillennialism is the most exegetical, four passages will be examined: Psalm 2:7-9, Daniel 2:35, Matthew 13:31-33, and 1 Corinthians 15:22-25.

I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:7-9).

These verses are quoted in the New Testament to show that Christ is the eternally begotten son of the Father (Acts 13:13; Hebrews 1:5). The focus of these verses is the fact that Christ is to inherit the nations and possess the ends of the earth. The way that Christ is to inherit the earth is to subdue his enemies and eliminate his enemies as a potter dashes his vessels. In the New Testament, Jesus tells his disciples to make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:29) and that the disciples shall be witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Christ was saying these things in fulfillment of Psalm 2 and that “through the sending of the disciples into the world, Christ the anointed king is receiving His rightful inheritance-all the nations of the earth” (Mathison 74). So then, this Psalm is showing that, through the finished work of the cross, Christ is to inherit the whole earth and subdue all his enemies because he is the sovereign ruler over his kingdom.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:35).

These verses are part of the story of the prophet Daniel interpreting the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The king’s dream was of a statue was made up of a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and the legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay. In this dream, a stone, not made from Man, crushes the statue into powder and grows into a mountain which fills the whole earth. The symbolic meaning of this dream is that the golden head represents the Babylonian Empire; the silver breast and arms represent the Medo-Persian Empire; the belly and thighs of bronze represent the Greek Empire; and the legs and feet of iron and clay represent the Roman Empire. The stone represents Christ and the messianic kingdom which is the Church. Therefore, the meaning of the dream is that the Kingdom of God shall overthrow all other kingdoms and grow throughout the whole earth and thus, fill the earth. The Church will continue to grow and be victorious and nothing will be able to stop that growth for “in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed… and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44). The Kingdom of God will constantly be attacking and be attacked by the Kingdom of Satan for Jesus says in Matthew 16, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (16:18). The Kingdom of Satan attacks the Church “by opposing gospel truths, corrupting gospel ordinances, persecuting good ministers and good Christians; drawing or driving, persuading by craft or forcing by cruelty, to that which is inconsistent with the purity of religion” (Henry 232). Yet, though Satan may attack constantly, his kingdom’s gates are overcome by the Gospel, and his kingdom is thus diminished.

He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened" (Matthew 13:31-33).

Jesus is speaking to the multitudes that are gathered around him and telling parables. With this parable, Jesus is trying to make a similar point to Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The Kingdom of God will start small. At the point in time in which he was speaking this parable, the Kingdom of God was just Jesus and his disciples. The Church has grown from that small mustard seed and continues to grow today. It has attracted many birds from all over the earth who “are heaven-born souls, are partakers of the heavenly calling, and are pressing for, and soaring aloft towards the high calling of God in Christ” (Gill 124). Also, in the same way the church grows like leaven in bread for “the church, through Christ's power, operates unceasingly through history to leaven the world with the truth of God's word. The ultimate outcome of the church's ministry is plainly revealed here—all the nations will be converted and enter the kingdom of God in Christ” (Einwechter).

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:22-25).

In context, Paul is talking about the resurrection of believers in the last day. In these verses, Paul is describing how death came about through Adam, how death will be destroyed by Christ, and everything that must happen in between those times. Christ is to destroy every rule and every authority and power (v.24) and also must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet (v.25). The means by which this shall be brought about is through his Church, for the gates of hell will not be able to overpower the ever expanding Church (Matthew 16:18). Paul is referencing Psalm 2 through these verses and in verse 24 “uses the word ‘reign’ in place of ‘sit at My right hand’ and portrays Christ as active in the role of subduing His enemies” (Strawbridge). Christ is actively subduing his enemies and has been ever since his incarnation. Therefore, the Postmillennial view, which affirms the expanse and growth of the Church through the Gospel, is the most exegetically sound eschatological view.

Before continuing, it must be shown why various Christians reject Postmillennialism. Many object to Postmillennialism because it holds to the view that the world will progressively grow better and become Christianized. Those who object claim that the world is getting progressively worse; but they fail to understand, however, that Christ is subduing all his enemies through his Gospel and that the only result of him doing so can only be a Christianized world. Rousas J. Rushdoony objects to those Christians who hold that the world is getting worse by saying, “It produces a phariseeism of men who believe they are elect in a world headed for hell, a select elite who must withdraw from the futility of the world around them” (9). Though the late Rushdoony was a Theonomic Postmillennialist, he realized the dangers of Christians withdrawing from society due to their pessimistic view of the changing world:

If God has decreed that the world’s future is one of a downward spiral, then indeed Christian reconstruction is futile. As a prominent premillennial pastor and radio preacher, the Rev. J. Vernon McGee declared in the early 1950’s, “You don’t polish brass on a sinking ship.” If the world is a sinking ship, then efforts to eliminate prostitution, crime, or any kind of social evil, and to expect the Christian conquest of social order, are indeed futile (9).

Though many Christians view the world as getting worse, thankfully, many are involved in evangelism and reaching out to the poor. Thus, the only charge that can be brought upon such Christians is the charge of theological inconsistency.

Revelation 20 Explained

In order to prove a millennial position, it is necessary to cover the only portion of scripture in which the millennium is written. Though Revelation 20 cannot distinctly prove one’s position, Postmillennialism is the closest position to biblical eschatology. As shown previously, the Church will reign triumphant as Christ subdues his enemies. Revelation 20 shows how this will play out within redemptive history:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while (Revelation 20:1-3).

The book of Revelation uses highly symbolic illustrations to show truths that both are and are still to come. Revelation 20 provides a picture of the accomplishment of Christ at his first advent. The angel who comes down from heaven holding the key is Christ. In Revelation 1:18, when John turns and sees Christ in his glorified state, Christ says, “I have the keys of Death and Hades.” J. Marcellus Kik contends that the key is symbolic, “standing for sovereignty, authority, and power” (192). Christ gave Peter “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19) and thus put Peter in a position of authority. Whereas the key represents Christ’s sovereignty, the chain represents the restraining of Satan due to the finished work of the cross. Matthew 12 records one of Jesus’ parables in which he says, “How can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house” (12:29). Jesus’ meaning here is that Satan is the strong man but that Jesus is the stronger man who binds Satan and plunders his goods which are the elect. The highly debated part of this text is whether the 1,000 years mentioned is literal or symbolic. The view of a literal 1,000 years is in error because it is not consistent with the whole book of Revelation. Just as the key and chain were symbolic, so are numbers used throughout the book. For instance, “the seven spirits who are before his throne” (1:4) do not represent seven literal spirits for there is only one Spirit. Rather, “the number seven is used to designate the fullness of the Spirit” (Kik 204). Further examples are the numbers twelve and ten. “Twelve is the number of the Church. Thus we find wherever the Church is mentioned we have twelve or it multiple. Hence twelve apostles, twenty-four elders, and 144,000 saints are mentioned” (Kik 204). Also, “Ten…stands for a rounded total. Thus we have ten commandments and ten plagues. A thousand is a cube of ten. This symbolizes vastness of number or time. Thus we have the number 144 thousand to indicate the totality of God’s people” (Kik 204-205). Therefore, the millennium spoken in chapter twenty is not to be interpreted as a literal 1,000 years as the Premillennialists do. The millennium is symbolic that is “used to describe the period of the Messianic Kingdom upon earth” (Kik 205). One common objection concerning this text is about the binding of Satan. The objection is focused on how the text says Satan is bound, yet many nations are still “deceived” and deny access of the Gospel into their countries. This objection is to be answered that Scripture states that Satan has been bound and is still truly bound to this day, for “He [Christ] Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). These kinds of objections are brought by those who presuppose that the binding of Satan means a total restriction of his powers. Contrary to their opinion, the text (Revelation 20:3) limits his restraining to the inability to deceive the nations. This is for the purpose that the Gospel may go out in order that “he [Christ] may plunder his [Satan’s] house [nations]” (Matthew 12:29). Satan is not bound in the sense that he can no longer do anything because he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Rather, he is limited in his abilities to the point that Christ can call the elect to himself and thus plunder Satan’s domain.

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who 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 for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4-6).

These verses are shifting from the binding of Satan to what is to happen during the millennium. First, thrones are mentioned. Those who are on the thrones are given authority with Christ to judge. The other place in which Revelation speaks of people sitting on thrones is in chapter four wherein the author talks about the twenty-four elders who are seated on thrones around the throne of God (4:4). As established previously, these twenty-four elders represent the Church which is comprised of the saints, both living and dead. The Church is both visible (on earth) and invisible (on earth and heaven) and is represented by the elders. The martyrs who were beheaded along with those who did not worship the beast represent the saints who have died during the millennium and those who are still living during the millennium. The reason for this is that these both partake of the first resurrection, which is regeneration accomplished by Christ and his finished work on the cross. Those who deny that living saints are not represented here in this text deny that the saints who live during the millennium have been regenerated. Therefore, the 24 elders, which represent the Church, are symbolic of both living and dead saints who reign with Christ during the millennium. Christ, with his church, shall gradually subdue all his enemies until the eventual Christianization of the world. On the other hand, those who died apart from regeneration were not raised to life until the end of the millennium (v.5). These are those who have lived and died apart from being regenerated and are to be raised again for judgment at the Great White Throne.

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Revelation 20:7-10).

Near the end of the millennium, the age of righteousness and peace, Satan will be loosed and will deceive the nations causing temporary tribulation. Satan is to be loosed to have free reign by God’s sovereign purpose and will cause a great apostasy in which the enemies of the Church will be as numerous as the sands of the sea (v.8). Of Gog and Magog, Kik writes, “The mention of Gog and Magog immediately recalls Ezekiel 38 and 39 where these names indicated the enemies of Israel” (237). These names are intended to represent enemies. As the nation of Israel had Gog and Magog as its enemies, so the Israel of God (the Church) will have them as enemies in the last days, for “Gog and Magog represent the future enemies of the Church whose names are as yet unknown” (Kik 237). Whether this great apostasy results in bloodshed and the martyrdom of many saints is yet unknown. Kik speculates that it will not be a physical battle that occurs but rather a spiritual one in which it is “truth against error” (238). Kik also speculates on the sudden change of heart that will occur in many people as a result of Satan’s deception:

It may seem strange that it will be possible to turn a host of happy people, prospering under the blessing of God, into such a world-wide rebellion... But alas it is a repetition of history. Who could be more happy than the angels in the presence of God? But Satan and a host of angels rebelled (238).

Nevertheless, Satan will rebel and cause many to follow him and oppose God and his Church. They will then surround the “beloved city” (v.9). Many Premillennialists speculate that this is the literal city of Jerusalem. This view is insufficient because the armies of the evil one, which are as numerous as the sands of the sea, cannot literally surround one little city in Israel. Rather, the beloved city is the Church which is the spiritual Jerusalem. The writer of the book of Hebrews speaks of the Church saying, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering” (12:22). Therefore, the armies of Satan will be gathered against the Church and the saints who remain on earth. The Church, however, will not be abandoned by her bridegroom; Christ returns and consumes her enemies with judgment. Sin, Death, and Satan shall be cast into the lake of fire never to torment another soul. This is the victory of Christ and not the workings of Man.

Conclusions

Postmillennialism is the most exegetically sound view concerning the millennium and the triumph of Christ through his Church. If Christ is subduing his enemies, though the world may seem to be getting worse, all evil will be triumphed over and Christ’s kingdom will grow into the mountain that covers the whole earth as predicted by Daniel. One should not base their opinion of the world and the spread of the gospel by what they read in the newspaper. The Scriptures prophesy of a victorious Church headed by Jesus Christ who is reigning and subduing all his enemies. Benjamin B. Warfield writes, “The victory of the Gospel was predicted over and over again even in the Old Testament times under the figure of a spiritual conquest” (647). The Scriptures are the infallible interpretation of the outcome of this world, not the newspaper. Sadly, many have viewed this world as hopeless and doomed to get worse. James Moorehead, who did a study of the doctrine of Postmillennialism in early America wrote, “postmillennialism was the ‘commonly received doctrine’ among American Protestants; but by the early twentieth century, it had largely vanished” (61). This can be attributed to the fact that America, once the land of the Puritans and the optimistic outlook on the future, was ravaged by a Civil War causing extreme skepticism in many Christians. Though war may ravage nations, the Bible tells of a hopeful future. Postmillennialism illustrates the hope and triumph of the Church through the Gospel and the effectual work of Christ through the cross to the current day. Therefore, the Christian’s life should be one of praise as he participates and looks forward to the subduing of Sin, Death, and Satan.


WORKS CITED

Boettner, Loraine. The Millennium. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1957. Print.

Einwechter, William. "The Triumph of the Church: A Biblical Defense of Postmillennialism." Reformation Online. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. .

Gill, John. Gill's Commentary. 1852-1854 ed. Vol. 5. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980. Print.

Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible. Vol. 5. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1969. Print.

Kik, J. Marcellus. The Eschatology of Victory. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1971. Print.

Mathison, Keith A. Postmillennialism: an Eschatology of Hope. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R Pub., 1999. Print.

Moorhead, James H. "The Erosion of Postmillennialism in American Religious Thought, 1865- 1925." Church History 1st ser. 53.March (1984): 61-77. Print.

Rushdoony, Rousas John. God's Plan for Victory: the Meaning of Post Millennialism. Fairfax, Va.: Thoburn, 1980. Print.

Strawbridge, Gregg. "Exegetical Defense of Postmillennialism." WordMp3.com - Download MP3 Audio Sermons, Lectures, Courses, and Conferences. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. .

Warfield, Benjamin B. Biblical Doctrines. Carlisle, Penn.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1988. Print.