The Views of The End
What Are They?
When discussing eschatology and the end times, arguably the biggest aspect one must take into consideration is what view of the millennium they hold. The millennium is the 1000-year reign of Christ on this earth before Satan, his demons, and those who haven’t been saved are cast into the lake of fire. The view of this particular millennium is what so many people debate and disagree about. As Ligonier Ministries tells us, “The millennium is perhaps the most fiercely debated aspect of Christian eschatology. Orthodox believers often allow their views on this topic to separate themselves from other Christians. This is regrettable. The literature in which millennial teaching is found is difficult to interpret and should caution us against dogmatism on this issue. Nevertheless, millennial views are not irrelevant, for they can affect the way we live.” There are three main views of the millennium which we will be dissecting and going over today. Those views are called premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism. Let’s dive in and see what each one means.
Premillennialism
To begin, let’s break down premillennialism. According to Ligonier, “Premillennialism teaches that evil will increase in the world and overpower the church just before Christians are taken up to heaven (the rapture) to escape seven years of persecution. Jesus will return following this tribulation to set up a kingdom based in Jerusalem for one thousand years, after which the wicked are judged and the righteous live in peace forever.” This view is taken from Daniel's vision in Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.” I know seventy weeks doesn’t equal 7 years, but if we were to put all of Daniel 9 here along with the book of Revelation, you would see that the weeks of the tribulation add up to 7 years. The seventy weeks here just describe what we call ‘The Great Tribulation’. This refers to the second half of the tribulation where much more persecution and discipline(as described in Daniel 9:24) will take place. In essence, those who take hold of the view of premillennialism believe that God’s people will be raptured up to Him before this 7-year tribulation begins. Still, they won’t be raptured up before the Antichrist and the Spirit of Babylon take over the world. This is why Revelation 13:8 says, “All who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb Who has been slaughtered.” The world we live in will turn to the Antichrist as their ruler and savior while those of us who remain will be left to our own devices to refuse the Antichrist and the worship he commands. This sounds like a terrible day for Christ followers, and it is, but the premillennial view offers hope here, as they believe chapter 14 of Revelation confirms that the rapture of God’s people takes place right after these events. This is the view of the premillennialists.
Amillennialism
On the flip side here, we have amillennialism. According to The Gospel Coalition, “Amillennialists interpret the millennium as describing the present reign of the souls of deceased believers with Christ in heaven. They understand the binding of Satan as being in effect during the entire period between the first and second comings of Christ, though ending shortly before Christ’s return. They teach that Christ will return after this heavenly reign.” In other words, the amillennialist believes we are living in the millennium right now. They would argue that the evidence for this is that the gospel is still being preached around the world and isn’t being affected by Satan’s schemes because he is currently bound by God until he is let out one final time after the millennium. This view would also mean that the ‘1,000-year reign of Christ’ is to be taken figuratively, otherwise Christ would have returned by now. This view is taken from the interpretation of Revelation 20:1-3 “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he took hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.” The amillennialist again believes that while the millennium in length is symbolic, the actual event is relative and is what we live in now. We will suffer and prosper throughout this time frame until Satan is bound in the lake of fire for good, once and for all according to this view.
Postmillennialism
Lastly, we have the view of postmillennialism. Postmillennialism believes along with amillennialism that Christ will come for His people once and for all after the millennium is over and that we are currently living in this event. So what’s the difference between these two views? The Gospel Coalition notes, “What distinguishes postmillennialism from amillennialism is not the timing of the second coming in relation to the millennium but the nature of the millennium. Whereas amillennialism expects the Church to experience both victory and suffering simultaneously until the second coming, postmillennialism maintains a gradual end to much of the Church’s suffering before Christ returns.” Whereas the amillennialist takes into consideration the sufferings and the prosperity of Revelation, the postmillennialist believes that the majority of the suffering happened at the beginning of the millennium, and the closer and closer we get to Christ’s return, the more people will accept Christ and the more prosperity will reign on this earth. The argument for this view from scripture would be that the Great Commission will fulfill its purpose in these days and that other passages like Psalm 2:7-8 indicate things will get better, not worse. This passage says, “I will announce the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have fathered You. ‘Ask it of Me, and I will certainly give the nations as Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth as Your possession.”
While the views of the amillennialist and the postmillennialist are very similar, the progression of prosperity as opposed to the unknowing times of prosperity and suffering are what greatly separate these two ideas of the end times. This is the overall view of the postmillennialist. Clearly, this was a lot to take in for one post and I hope and pray that this isn’t the only source you read on these topics but rather that you would continue to study these ideas so that you may know where you stand on these issues and ideas. When all is said and done though, may we agree with Ligonier Ministries that the dividing of the Church over these ideas is a tragedy. Our views on the end times shouldn’t separate us as brothers and sisters in Christ but should rather spark interesting conversations and lead us to study God's Word even more. May this post lead you to do just that.
Sources
[1] Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/
[2] The Millennium, Part II | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org. (n.d.). Ligonier Ministries. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/millennium-part-ii
[3] Bandy, A. S. (2021, February 10). Views of the millennium. The Gospel Coalition. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/views-of-the-millennium/
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