The Millennium in the Old Testament Can it be found there?

by Dr. David R. Reagan

[read in Lamplighter (pdf)]

The Amillennial viewpoint of end time Bible prophecy is the majority view within the Church today — held by both the Catholic church and most mainline Protestant denominations.

Amillennialists are those who believe that Jesus is currently reigning over all the world from Heaven through the Church. They therefore believe that we are in the Millennium now — that it began at the Cross and will continue until the Second Coming. They do not believe that Jesus will ever return to this earth to reign from Jerusalem.

To sustain their viewpoint, Amillennialists must spiritualize most end time prophecies, arguing that they do not mean what they say. Thus, for example, they dismiss the fact that in Revelation 20 we are told six times that the Millennium will last 1,000 years. Amillennialists reject the thousand years as being "figurative in nature," meaning only a long period of time.

One interesting thing I have noticed over the years about Amillennialists is that they have little or no knowledge of the end time prophecies contained in the Hebrew Scriptures. Most Amillennialists I have encountered believe that the only place in the Bible that the Millennium is mentioned is Revelation 20.

A Personal Experience

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. Several years ago I was invited to make a presentation to a very large Christian convention. Specifically, I was asked to speak on the topic, "Why I Believe Jesus Will Return to Reign on the Earth."

I was told I would have 30 minutes to make the presentation. When I asked why I was being allotted such a short period of time, I was told, "It's because there is going to be another speaker who will tell why he does not believe there will be a future reign of Jesus on the earth. Each of you will speak 30 minutes, and then there will be 30 minutes for questions and answers."

I accepted the invitation. The other speaker turned out to be a distinguished professor of theology from a Bible College.

I knew my audience would be made up of people who believed that a future reign of Jesus on this earth is mentioned only one place in the Bible — in Revelation 20. So, I decided to spend all my time talking about one passage in the Old Testament — the prophecy contained in Zechariah 14:1-9.

This prophecy states that a day will come when Jerusalem will be surrounded by enemy forces. Half the city will fall, and then the Lord will return to the Mount of Olives. When His feet touch the mountain, it will split in half, and the Jewish remnant will flee from the city and hide in the cleavage of the mountain. The Lord will then speak a supernatural word, and all the enemy forces will be instantly destroyed. And at that point, "...the Lord will be king over all the earth" (verse 9).

The other speaker, who followed me, totally ignored my presentation. He read an academic paper based on the opinions of theologians and not the Scriptures.

When the time came for questions, the other speaker was asked, "What is your explanation ofZechariah 14:1-9?" His exact words in response were, "I have no idea what that passage means, but I can assure you that it has been fulfilled somewhere at sometime."

A Strange Doctrine

I was not surprised by his bizarre response because I had grown up among the churches which were hosting the conference, and I was very familiar with their attitude about Old Testament prophecies.

In their attempt to defend their Amillennial viewpoint, they had developed a doctrine which stated that "all Old Testament prophecies have been fulfilled." To justify that assertion, they always pointed to the words of Jesus recorded in Luke 24:44 —

These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

The problem with using this passage to justify their dismissal of Old Testament prophecy is that it does not say that all Old Testament prophecies have been fulfilled. It says they must be fulfilled. The First Coming prophecies have been fulfilled. The Second Coming prophecies are yet to be fulfilled, and Zechariah 14:1-9 is one of those prophecies.

Reckless Spiritualization

At least my opponent did not spiritualize the passage, as most Amillennialists do. Take, for example, the 20th Century theologian Lorraine Bettner. In his book, The Millennium, he argued that the Mount of Olives is a symbol of the human heart. The enemy forces are a symbol of the evil in the world attacking the heart. When a person receives Jesus as Lord and Savior, He comes into their heart, causing the heart to split in repentance. He then defeats all the enemy forces and begins to reign over that person's heart.

This, of course, is an utterly ridiculous interpretation of this passage, but it represents the kind of games that Amillennialists have to play with the Scriptures in order to sustain their position.

In summary, Amillennialists either ignore the Old Testament passages about the Second Coming and the Millennium, or they spiritualize them, or they argue they have already been fulfilled.

A Major Spiritual Problem

But the bottom line is that most Amillennialists simply do not know the Old Testament Scriptures, and this is a major problem in the Church today because it affects not only prophecy but all doctrine.

I grew up in what was called a "New Testament Church." We focused all our Bible study on the New Testament because we were taught that the Old Testament had been "nailed to the Cross" and was therefore no longer valid. Most of us did not own a complete Bible. When we went to a Bible study, we took our New Testaments.

The idea that the Old Testament had been "nailed to the Cross," and was no longer relevant was based on a statement in Colossians 2:14 which reads, "...having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the Cross." This verse is speaking of a "certificate of debt," not the Old Testament. It is talking about the debt we owed God for our sins. By taking our sins upon Himself, Jesus, who was sinless, paid our debt through His crucifixion (1 Peter 2:24).

The Relevance of the Old Testament

This spiritual malady of ignoring the Old Testament is epidemic in the Church today, and it is a serious problem because there is no way to understand the New Testament without knowledge of the Old Testament.

For example, Jesus is referred to by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:20 as the "first fruits" of those to be resurrected. There is no way to understand that expression apart from a knowledge of the Old Testament sacrificial system.

In like manner, Jesus is referred to in the book of Hebrews as the "High Priest of our confession"(Hebrews 3:1) and as "a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 5:10). These terms have no meaning apart from a knowledge of the interaction between Abraham and Melchizedek and the role of the High Priest as revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Another Personal Experience

Let me give you another example of the significance of Old Testament ignorance. When I was growing up in an Amillennial church, one of the statements I heard in sermons over and over again was, "There is not one verse in the Bible that even implies that Jesus will ever put his feet on this earth again."

You can imagine how surprised I was when, at the age of 12, I accidently discovered Zechariah 14:1-9 where it states point blank that the Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives and that when His feet touch the ground, the mountain will split in half.

I took this passage to my pastor and asked him what it meant. He studied it in silence for a long time, and then he said, "Son, I don't know what these verses mean, but I can guarantee you that they do not mean what they say!"

Later I discovered that Zechariah 14 is not the only place in the Old Testament where the Scriptures state that Jesus will return to this earth. Consider, for example, Ezekiel 43:7 where Jesus, in a pre-incarnate appearance, takes Ezekiel on a visionary tour of the Millennial Temple, and in the midst of that tour, He says, "Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever..."

I think it is also significant to note that the prophet Ezekiel states that when the Lord returns, the name of the city of Jerusalem will be changed to "Yahweh-Shammah," meaning "The Lord is there."

Understanding Prophecy

A knowledge of Old Testament prophecy is particularly necessary to the understanding of New Testament prophecy. Revelation and Daniel fit together like a hand in a glove. Neither one can be understood apart from the other.

The book of Revelation contains more than 300 quotes or references to Old Testament passages, and not a single one is identified. A person without knowledge of the Old Testament could read the book of Revelation and never realize how interlaced it is with Old Testament prophecy. Consider the theme of the book that is found in Revelation 1:7 —

Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.

This statement is made up of two quotes from the Old Testament put end-to-end. The first is found in Daniel 7:13 and the second in Zechariah 12:10.

The Significance of the Old Testament

The Apostle Paul emphasized the importance of the Old Testament when he wrote the following words to Timothy:

...from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15).

Most Christians read these words and assume that Timothy must have had a New Testament that he studied from. Not so. The New Testament had not yet been written and compiled when Paul addressed these words to Timothy. When Paul referred to "the sacred writings," he was talking about what we call today the Old Testament. And the point he was making is that Jesus' fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about His First Coming was sufficient to produce faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Paul proceeded in that letter to Timothy to state that "all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness..." (2 Timothy 3:16). The term, "all scripture," means exactly what it says. It refers to both the New Testament and the Old Testament.

Evangelism Based on the Old Testament

The very first Gospel sermon ever preached — Peter's sermon on Pentecost — was based entirely on Old Testament prophecies. All Peter did from the beginning of the sermon to the end was to quote an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah and then proclaim that Jesus had fulfilled it (Acts 2:14-36).

Phillip the evangelist took the same approach when he was confronted with the Ethiopian eunuch, a devout Jew who had been to Jerusalem to observe the feasts and was returning home to Africa (Acts 8:26-39). He discovered that the man was reading an Old Testament passage from Isaiah about the Messiah coming as a "suffering lamb" (Isaiah 53:1-9).

Phillip explained the passage to the Ethiopian, and the man accepted the fact that Jesus had fulfilled it. In response, he was baptized. He then continued on his way, rejoicing that he had found the Messiah.

Messianic Prophecy

There are over three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament that pertain to the First Coming of the Messiah, but many of these are repetitious. Those that are separate and distinct total 109. There are many more than this that relate to the Second Coming and the Lord's Millennial Reign.

All the First Coming prophecies were literally fulfilled, and there is no reason to assume that the fulfillment of the Second Coming prophecies will be any different. We need, therefore, to take the Old Testament seriously, and we need to study what it has to say prophetically about the end times.

The Second Coming

The Bible teaches that Jesus will establish His personal reign over all the earth at the time of His Second Coming, and the Old Testament contains many prophecies about that event. As we have already seen, Zechariah 14 says the Lord will return to the Mount of Olives from which He ascended into Heaven. In Isaiah's account of the same event, he refers to the Lord returning to Mount Zion, which is an alternative name for Jerusalem: "So will the Lord of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill. Like flying birds, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and rescue it; He will pass over and rescue it" (Isaiah 31:4b-5).

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah portray the Lord returning in wrath. Jeremiah says He will "roar" from the heavens (Jeremiah 25:30-31). Isaiah says He will be "filled with indignation" and His tongue will be like "a consuming fire" (Isaiah 30:27-28). Zephaniah says the day of His return will be one of"trouble and distress" and "destruction and desolation" (Zephaniah 1:14-18).

The Millennial Reign

Once the Messiah has poured out the wrath of God on the enemies of God, He will establish His reign over the earth, and He will begin to manifest His glory:

Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders (Isaiah 24:23).

All the various aspects about the Lord's millennial reign are spelled out in detail in the book of Isaiah. The book of Revelation is about the Tribulation. It is the book of Isaiah that reveals the details of the Millennium.

Political Characteristics — The reign will be world-wide (Isaiah 2:2 and 9:6-7). It will be peaceful in nature (Isaiah 2:4), and the world will be blessed with righteousness (Isaiah 11:4-5) and justice (Isaiah 42:3-4).

The Lord's throne will be established in Jerusalem, for He will occupy the throne of David (Isaiah 2:3). His government will be a theocratic one in which He will serve as king, legislator and judge (Isaiah 33:17-22). The Redeemed will reign with the Lord as princes (Isaiah 32:1). And because the Lord will be reigning from Jerusalem, the nation of Israel will be the prime nation in the world (Isaiah 2:2-3, 49:22-23, and 60:1-62:7).

Spiritual Characteristics — Isaiah spends a great amount of time outlining the spiritual blessings of the Millennium, the greatest of which is the fact that the glory and holiness of the Lord will be manifested (Isaiah 40:3-5, 52:13-15, 61:3 and 66: 18). Holiness will abound (Isaiah 4:2-4) and an attitude of joy and praise will prevail:

And the ransomed of the Lord will return, and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away (Isaiah 35:10).

A rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem will serve as the worship center of the world (Isaiah 2:2-3, 56:6-8, and 60:7b,13). Incredibly, the Shekinah glory of God will hover over the city of Jerusalem like a canopy (Isaiah 4:5). And "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9).

The Redemption of Nature — One aspect of the Millennium that is heavily emphasized by the Hebrew prophets is the redemption of nature. The land of Israel will no longer be a place of desolation (Isaiah 62:3-5). Instead, "the fruit of the earth" will be the pride of Israel (Isaiah 4:2)."Waters will break forth in the wilderness," and the deserts will become pools of water (Isaiah 35:6b-7).

In addition to agricultural abundance, the animal kingdom will be restored to its original perfection. Poisonous animals will cease to be poisonous, and meat-eating animals will become herbivorous. All members of the animal kingdom will live together in perfect peace with each other and with Mankind (Isaiah 11:6-9 and 65:25).

The Quality of Life — In a thrilling passage in Isaiah 65, the prophet reveals that lifespans for those in the flesh will be greatly expanded to "the lifetime of a tree" (Isaiah 65:22). Accordingly, anyone who dies at the age of 100 will be considered a youth (Isaiah 65:20).

Every person will have his own home and vineyard. There will be no homeless or hungry people (Isaiah 65:21-22). All labor will be redeemed (Isaiah 65:23) in the sense that it will be productive, and it will not be confiscated by others.

Disease will be curtailed (Isaiah 33:24) and persons born with physical handicaps will be healed:

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout with joy(Isaiah 35:5-6).

Isaiah's Climax

Isaiah was given so many glorious visions and words of knowledge concerning the majestic reign of the Lord that he was almost bursting with anticipation by the time he got to the end of his book. This prompted him to suddenly cry out:

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains [kingdoms] would quake at Your presence — as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil — to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence! (Isaiah 64:1-2).

Now, keep in mind that I have only shared with you a few passages from the book of Isaiah. There are many other passages regarding the Millennium that are scattered throughout the Old Testament.

Prophecies of the Major Prophets About the Millennium

Jeremiah pictures the Millennium as a time when Israel and Judah will be united in peace, and the city of Jerusalem will be called "The Throne of the Lord" (Jeremiah 3:17-18). Jesus, "the righteous Branch," will "reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land" (Jeremiah 23:5). And because of His new role as king, the name of Jesus will be changed to Yahweh-Tsidkenu, meaning, "The Lord is our righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:6).

David, in his glorified body, will serve as the king of Israel (Jeremiah 30:9), and all the enemies of Israel will be destroyed (Jeremiah 30:11). The city of Jerusalem and the Temple will be rebuilt (Jeremiah 30:18), and the population will be multiplied (Jeremiah 30:19). The mourning of the Jewish people will be turned into joy (Jeremiah 31:13).

The Jewish people will repent of the rejection of their Messiah and will enter into a new covenant with God that will be written on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34 and 32:37-40). The streets of Jerusalem will be filled with "the voice of joy and the voice of gladness..." (Jeremiah 33:11).

Ezekiel confirms that the Jewish people will enter into a new covenant with God that will be written on their hearts (Ezekiel 11:19-20 and 16:60-62). He also confirms that the Lord will guarantee their security and will "execute judgments upon all who scorn them round about them" (Ezekiel 28:26). The land of Egypt will be particularly punished for its treatment of Israel and will remain a desolation during the first 40 years of the Millennium (Ezekiel 29:9-16).

Ezekiel also confirms that David will be made king of Israel (Ezekiel 34:23-24 and 37:24). The Lord will pour out "showers of blessings" on Israel, including agricultural abundance (Ezekiel 34:26-29) and the rebuilding of their Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-27). The result is that the Lord's glory will be set among the nations (Ezekiel 39:21).

From chapter 40 through chapter 46, Ezekiel focuses on describing the Millennial Temple. It is much larger than any of the previous Jewish temples, and the Holy of Holies in the Temple contains no ark. Jeremiah had already prophesied that the ark would not be rebuilt or remembered (Jeremiah 3:16).

One of Ezekiel's end time prophecies that has already been fulfilled relates to the Eastern Gate. He says it will be shut up and will not be reopened until the Messiah returns (Ezekiel 44:1-3). The gate was closed in the 1500's and remains closed to this day.

Ezekiel reveals that part of the redemption of nature will be the conversion of the Dead Sea into a sea of fresh water (Ezekiel 47:8-9). He concludes his book by telling how the redeemed and greatly expanded land of Israel will be divided among the 12 tribes (Ezekiel 48).

Daniel's end time prophecies focus on the Tribulation and the Antichrist. His first mention of the Millennium occurs in chapter 2 where he interprets the dream of Nebuchadnezzar about the sequence of Gentile empires. He reveals that the last Gentile empire will be destroyed by the return of the Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom "which will never be destroyed" (Daniel 2:44-45).

In chapter 7, Daniel emphasizes that the Redeemed will reign with the Messiah: "Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One..." (Daniel 7:27). Daniel concludes his book by indicating there will be an interregnum of 75 days between the time of the Lord's return and the establishment of His worldwide government (Daniel 12:11-12). This is most likely the period of time when the Messiah will judge all those left alive at the end of the Tribulation to determine whether or not they will enter the Millennium in the flesh. This time period will also likely be used to organize the Messiah's government, part of which will be to make governing assignments to the Redeemed who will be in glorified bodies.

Prophecies of the Minor Prophets About the Millennium

Hosea talks about how God will use the Millennium to fulfill all the promises He has made to the Jewish people (Hosea 1:10-11, 2:14-20, and 14:4-7).

He confirms that God will establish peace in the animal kingdom and peace between the nations (Hosea 2:18). And he makes it clear that God's blessings will also be poured out on the Gentiles (Hosea 2:23).

Hosea's most fascinating prophecy has to do with the timing of the Lord's return. He indicates that it will be "two days" after His ascension into Heaven (Hosea 5:15 - 6:2). The context of the passage indicates that the two days represent 2,000 years. Hosea says that after the two days, the Messiah"will raise us up" (the resurrection) that "we may live before Him" for "the third day" (the 1,000 years of the Millennium).

Joel's end time prophecies focus mainly on "the day of the Lord" which, in his context, is the day of the Messiah's Second Coming (Joel 1:15, 2:1,13 and 3:14). But he does give us a glimpse of the Millennium when he states that when the Messiah returns, He will dwell "in Zion, My holy mountain"and that Jerusalem will be characterized by holiness (Joel 3:17,21). He also confirms that the land will be revitalized for great agricultural production: "The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with water" (Joel 3:18). He also affirms that Egypt will be a desolation (Joel 3:19).

Amos presents a picture of the Messiah returning as a roaring lion (Amos 1:2). The only thing he has to say about the Millennium is that it will be characterized by agricultural abundance (Amos 9:14) — so much so that "the plowman will overtake the reaper" (Amos 9:13).

Obadiah's only significant comment about the Millennium is his statement that it will be characterized by holiness (Obadiah 17).

Jonah has nothing to say about the Millennium.

Micah begins his prophecy with a vision of the Second Coming (Micah 1:3-4). Regarding the Millennium, Micah presents a glorious vision of it and does so in words that are almost identical with Isaiah's (Micah 4:1-7 and Isaiah 2:2-4). He emphasizes the peace and prosperity that will characterize the Millennium (Micah 4:3-4). He also underlines the promise of God that He will make the Jewish people the primary nation of the world during the Millennium (Micah 4:6-7).

Nahum echoes Joel by focusing his prophecies on "the day of the Lord" (Nahum 1:1-8). The only thing he has to say with regard to the Millennium is that the Jewish people will enjoy perfect peace (Nahum 1:15) and the splendor of their nation will be restored (Nahum 2:2).

Habakkuk begins his book by assuring the reader that God will be faithful to send the Messiah back"at the appointed time" (Habakkuk 2:3). He follows that by presenting a very dramatic vision of the Second Coming (Habakkuk 3:3-13). He does not have anything to say about the Millennium.

Zephaniah begins his book by presenting a powerful and frightening vision about the Second Coming (Zephaniah 1:14-18). He concludes his book with a brief prophecy about the Millennium (Zephaniah 3:14-20). He reveals that the Lord will regather all believing Jews back to the land of Israel and that He will live in their midst (Zephaniah 3:17-20). And he promises that God will make the Jewish nation the prime nation of the world (Zephaniah 3:20).

Haggai asserts that at the time of the Second Coming, God will shake the heavens and earth (Haggai 2:6-7), overthrowing all Gentile kingdoms (Haggai 2:22). The wealth of the nations will be transferred to Jerusalem, and the Temple will be rebuilt in glory (Haggai 2:7). And then, using Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, as a prophetic type of the Messiah, Haggai says that God will give him His "signet ring" — meaning that he will become the King of kings and Lord of lords (Haggai 2:23).

Zechariah says that the Lord "will return to Jerusalem" and will rebuild the Temple (Zechariah 1:16). He calls upon the Jewish people to "sing for joy and be glad" because the Lord has told him that "I am coming and I will dwell in your midst" (Zechariah 2:10).

Concerning the nature of the Lord's reign, Zechariah says He will be "a priest on His throne,"confirming that the government will be a theocracy (Zechariah 6:12-13). The city of Jerusalem will be called "The City of Truth" and "The Holy Mountain" (Zechariah 8:3). Believing Jews will be regathered from all over the world (Zechariah 9:14-17), and the population of Jerusalem will live in peace and prosperity (Zechariah 8:8,12). The Jewish people will be so greatly blessed that when a Jew walks by, ten Gentiles will grab his robe and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:23).

Zechariah further states that during the Millennium, all the nations of the world will be required to send delegations to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16). Those nations that fail to do so will receive no rain (Zechariah 14:17-18).

Zechariah concludes his book by emphasizing the holiness that will abound during the Millennium. He says that the bells on the horses' bridles will be engraved with the words, "Holy to the Lord"(Zechariah 14:20-21).

Malachi contains several passages about the Second Coming, but the only thing it says about the Millennium is that the name of the Lord "will be great among the nations" (Malachi 1:11).

Other Old Testament Prophecies

There are scattered references among the history books of the Old Testament concerning both the Second Coming and the Millennium, and the Psalms are full of them, but I do not have the space to list them in detail. You can find such a listing in my book, The Christ in Prophecy Study Guide. Suffice it to say that I believe I have presented more than enough evidence to prove that the Old Testament is full of prophecies about the end times and the Millennium.

Some Final Points

So let me emphasize once again that Revelation 20 is not the only chapter in the Bible where the Millennium is prophesied. It does, however, present us with some new information that is not mentioned elsewhere:

1) Satan will be bound during the Millennium.

2) The Lord's reign will last 1,000 years. (This is strongly implied in figurative language in the book of Hosea.)

3) The Millennium will end with a great revolt that will be led by Satan and which will be put down by God.

We are told in the book of Acts that after His resurrection Jesus spent 40 days with His disciples"speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). At the end of those 40 days, when He gathered His disciples on the Mount of Olives for His ascension into Heaven, they asked Him, "Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). He did not respond by telling them there would be no kingdom. Rather, He told them that it was not for them to know the time (Acts 1:7).

Jesus left us with many signs to watch for that would mark the season of His return. Those signs are everywhere we look today. Jesus is returning soon. He is going to reign in majesty from Jerusalem, and the Redeemed will share that reign with Him (2 Timothy 2: 12 and Revelation 2:26-27). We are living on borrowed time.

Are you ready?

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Why a Millennium? Does Jesus really need to return to earth to reign?

by Dr. David R. Reagan

When I first began studying Bible prophecy, the question, "What purpose would the Millennium serve?" really bothered me. The Word clearly taught that the Lord is coming back to this earth to reign for a thousand years. But I kept asking, "Why?"

I have since discovered that most amillennialists feel that same way. "Why," they will ask, "would the Lord want to come back to this rotten world? What could possibly be His purpose in returning to this world to reign for a thousand years? Why does the Lord or the world need a Millennium?"

My study of the Word has led me to conclude that God has several vitally important purposes for the Millennium. Promises to the Jews

The first reason there must be a Millennium is that God has made promises to the Jews which He will fulfill during that time.

God has promised that He will gather to the land of Israel the remnant of Jews who accept Jesus as their Messiah at the end of the Tribulation (Ezekiel 36:22-28 and Zechariah 10:6-9). He will pour out His Spirit upon this remnant (Isaiah 32:15; 44:3), greatly expand their numbers and their land (Ezekiel 36:10-11; 48:1-29), and make them the prime nation in all the world (Isaiah 60-62).

They will serve as an object lesson of the grace and mercy which God bestows upon those who turn to Him in repentance: "And it will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing" (Zechariah 8:13).

Zechariah says the blessings of God upon the Jewish remnant will be so great in those days that "ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'" (Zechariah 8:23).

Promises to the Church

A second reason for the Millennium relates to a promise which God has made to the Church. God has promised that the Redeemed in Christ will reign over all the nations of the world.

This promise was given through the prophet Daniel in the following words: "Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him" (Daniel 7:27).

In the New Testament, Paul repeated the same promise in the simplest of terms: "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Timothy 2:12). Jesus affirmed the promise in His letter to the church at Thyatira when He wrote: "And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron..." (Revelation 2:26-27).

When John was taken to Heaven for a visit to the throne room of God, he heard a heavenly host singing a song that contained the following verse: "And Thou has made them [the Redeemed] to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth" (Revelation 5:10).

This promise to the Church of worldwide dominion is going to be fulfilled during the Millennium. That is what Jesus was referring to in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

Jesus will reign as king of the world from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (Isaiah 24:23 and Zechariah 14:9). The Redeemed, in their glorified bodies, will help Him with His reign by serving worldwide as administrators, judges, and spiritual tutors to those who enter the kingdom in the flesh — and to their children (Daniel 7:18,27; Jeremiah 3:15; Luke 19:11-17).

Promises to the Nations

God has promised that a time will come when the nations will be provided with their greatest dream — namely, worldwide peace. This has been an international dream since the beginning of time, but it has proved to be impossibly elusive.

Peace conference after peace conference has been held. Multiple treaties have been signed. World organizations have been formed. Yet, war continues to ravage the nations.

God has promised to give Mankind and the earth a rest from its wars. But that peace will not come until the Prince of Peace returns. Only then will the nations "hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." Only then will we realize the dream of a world where "nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war" (Isaiah 2:4).

God has promised that He will flood the earth with peace, righteousness, justice, and holiness: "The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). Even the bells on the horses bridles and the pots in the kitchens will bear the inscription "Holy to the Lord"(Zechariah 14:20,21).

These glorious promises of peace and rest and righteousness will be fulfilled during the Millennium.

Promises to the Creation

God has also made promises to His creation which He will fulfill during the Millennium. God has promised to remove the curse which He placed upon the creation due to the sin of Man. He has promised to deliver the Creation from its bondage to decay and to restore it to its original beauty, balance, and peace (Romans 8:18-23).

The carnivorous animals will become herbivorous (Isaiah 11:6). The deadly animals will cease to be poisonous (Isaiah 11:8-9). The plant kingdom will flourish and produce bountifully (Isaiah 35 andEzekiel 34:25-31). The land of Israel will be so radically transformed that visitors will proclaim in amazement: "This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden" (Ezekiel 36:35).

Promises to Jesus

The most important reason for the Millennium is that God is going to use it to fulfill promises which He has made to His Son.

God has promised Jesus that He will be glorified in history to compensate in part for His humiliation in history. The Bible says point blank that Jesus will return to manifest His glory (Isaiah 24:23;66:18-19; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

God also has promised that He will give Jesus dominion over all the world and that He will reign over the nations from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (Daniel 7:13-14; Isaiah 2:2-4; Zechariah 14:1-9).

Psalm 2 presents a good summary of these promises. It begins by surveying the rebellion of the world's political leaders against God and His Son, referred to in the passage as "His Anointed"(verses 1-2). It describes their contempt for the Lord (verse 3).

But the psalm says that God sits in the heavens and laughs and scoffs at them because He has appointed a day of reckoning when He will "terrify them in His fury" (verse 5). That will be the day when He installs Jesus as "King upon Zion" (verse 6).

Jesus then speaks and tells of the promise that His Father has made to Him: "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron...'" (Psalm 2:7-9).

It must be kept in mind that Jesus is currently a "king-in-waiting." Like King David, who had to wait many years after he was anointed before he became king of Israel, Jesus has been anointed King of kings and Lord and lords, but He has not yet begun to rule.

He is currently serving as our High Priest before the throne of God (Hebrews 8:1). He is waiting for His Father's command to return and claim all the kingdoms of this world (Hebrews 2:5-9 andRevelation 19:11-16).

A Final Reason

There is one other purpose for the Millennium that should be noted. I believe God is going to use the Millennium to prove to Man once and for all that Satan's religion of Humanism is totally bankrupt.

All Humanists, regardless of their political or theological labels, are agreed that the source of evil in the world is external to Man. They view evil as rooted in the corruption of society. They believe that the solution to all Man's problems can be found in societal reform.

Take, as an example, their attitude toward crime. They believe society is the root cause of crime. All we have to do to eliminate crime, they argue, is to provide people with a guaranteed job that will supply them with sufficient income so that they will be able to live in a nice suburb.

But such reforms do not transform the basic nature of people. In the ghetto a man will pay 25 dollars for a prostitute. In the suburb he will chase his neighbor's wife. In the ghetto he will throw a rock through a window and steal a TV set. In the suburb he will put on his three piece suit, go to the office, manipulate the computer and embezzle a million dollars.

You do not change people's basic nature by changing their environment. Changing their environment simply converts them into more sophisticated sinners.

The Humanist view is absolutely contrary to Scripture. The Word of God teaches that the source of evil is rooted within Man's fallen nature, and that it is Man, and not society, which needs to be changed (Genesis 8:21; Jeremiah 17:9-10; Mark 7:20-23). The Word also teaches that the only way this change can take place is through the work of the Holy Spirit within a person who has put his faith in Jesus.

God is going to prove this point by using the Millennium like a great experimental laboratory. He is going to place Mankind in a perfect environment of peace and prosperity for a thousand years. Satan will be bound. Righteousness will abound.

Yet, at the end, when Satan is released, most people will rally to him when he calls the nations to rebellion against Jesus (Revelation 20:7-10). The Millennium will prove that what Man needs is not a new society but a new heart.

Essential to the Master Plan

The Millennium is essential for the fulfillment of all the promises that God has made to the Jews, the Church, the nations, and the creation.

It is also essential to His determination to prove that the source of all evil is the fallen nature of Man, not the corruption of society, and that the only hope for this world is Jesus, not political reform.

Most important, the Millennium is essential to God's purpose in glorifying His Son. He is going to manifest the glory of Jesus before His redeemed saints and before all the nations of the world.

"All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules over the nations... Posterity will serve Him; it will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has performed it" (Psalm 22:27-31).

God's Faithfulness

The Creator of this universe is a covenant making God who is faithful to all His promises. He cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18). He cannot forget a promise (Deuteronomy 4:31). He is faithful even when we are unfaithful (2 Timothy 2:13).

Just as He fulfilled all the promises related to the First Coming of His son, He is going to fulfill all those that relate to His Second Coming, including the promise of a millennial reign.

Many in the Church may be ignorant of His unfulfilled promises. Others may have forgotten them. But God has not. He intends to fulfill every one of them.

We are privileged to live in a time when we can witness God orchestrating the events of this world to the fulfillment of all the promises in His master plan.

"Ascribe greatness to our God!
The Rock! His work is perfect.
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He."(Deuteronomy 32:3b-4)

Quick Questions About the Millennium

1) Who will populate the earth during the Millennium?

Those who live to the end of the Tribulation and have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be allowed to enter the Millennium in the flesh (Matthew 25:3-46). All surviving unbelievers will be consigned to death (Luke 17:26-37).

This will be a very small number of people because most of those who place their faith in Jesus during the Tribulation will be martyred for their faith (Revelation 7:9-14).

The believers who go into the Millennium in the flesh will begin to propagate, and the population of the world will grow exponentially. The reason the growth will be so rapid is because life spans will be expanded and death will be curtailed.

Isaiah says that people will live as long as a tree (Isaiah 65:22) and there will no longer be infants who live only a few days (Isaiah 65:20). Those who die at 100 years of age will be considered young, and only those who refuse to accept the Lord will die at that age (Isaiah 65:20). The implication of Isaiah's prophecy is that during the Millennium the life span of those in the flesh will be returned to what it was before the Noahic flood, when people lived 800 to 1000 years. If so, then by the end of the Millennium, the population of the earth could easily exceed the current six billion.

2) Will the Millennium take place on this earth or on a new one?

The Millennial reign of Jesus will take place on this earth, but the earth will be greatly changed in nature.

The first earth, the earth of Adam and Eve, was perfect. There were no poisonous animals or plants. There were no meat-eating animals. There were no natural cataclysms like earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes. Man and nature lived together in perfect harmony.

But when Man sinned, God placed a curse on the earth, and the nature of the earth was radically changed. Death entered the world. Nature turned against Mankind. This new earth, earth number two, existed until the time of Noah.

When the worldwide flood occurred, this second earth was "destroyed" (2 Peter 3:6) in the sense that it was radically changed again. The earth's vapor canopy collapsed, its land mass separated into continents, the earth tilted on its axis, and the pressure of the water forced the formation of new mountain ranges. We have been living on earth number three ever since.

When Jesus returns to reign, the earth will be radically changed once more. The change agents will be earthquakes and supernatural phenomena in the skies (Revelation 6:12-14). Every island will be moved (Revelation 16:18-20). Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain lowered (Isaiah 40:4). The topography of Israel will be radically changed, with Jerusalem becoming the highest place on earth (Isaiah 

2:2).http://www.lamblion.com/articles/articles_millennium2.php

Amillennial Problems Are we really in the Millennium now?

by Dr. David R. Reagan

Don't let the title of this article scare you. You don't have to be a space scientist to understand the points I'm going to make. I know that words like Amillennial are downright scary, and I realize that most people don't know the difference in a millennium and a millipede.

I hope you will stay with me and not let your eyes glaze over, because what I have to say in this article is very important. It has to do with the way you view the end times and the way you live your life right here and now.

Some Definitions

Let's begin with some definitions to clear the air. The word, millennium, means one thousand years. It is a combination of two Latin words mille (thousand) and annum (years).

The odd term, amillennial, literally means "no one thousand years." In the Greek language one of the ways of negating something is to put the letter "a" in front of it. It's like using the letters "un" in English for example, ethical versus unethical. Some crazy theologian somewhere along the way came up with the idea of negating two Latin words with the Greek method of putting an "a" in front of them, and he came up with the highfalutin word, amillennial.

So, an amillennialist is a person who does not believe in a future one thousand year reign of Jesus. Now, that's simple enough, isn't it?

I happen to know a lot about this particular end time viewpoint, because I grew up with it. It was the only view I knew about until I was 30 years old (which, come to think of it, was almost 30 years ago!).

A Significant Viewpoint

The viewpoint is a very important one because it is the predominant concept of end time events in Christendom today. It is the official view of the Roman Catholic Church, and it is the doctrine that is held by the majority of mainline Protestant denominations.

The view holds that the current Church Age will end abruptly with the appearance of Jesus for the redeemed. At that point the redeemed will be resurrected in spiritual bodies, the unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the material universe will cease to exist, and the redeemed will take up residence eternally with God in Heaven. The viewpoint is illustrated below.

The amillennial view was developed in 400 A.D. by St. Augustine. It was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in 431 A.D. at the Council of Ephesus.

The Pre-existing View

When this view was originally presented by St. Augustine, it caused a considerable stir because it differed so drastically from the premillennial view that had been the orthodox doctrine up to that time. That view is illustrated below:

Premillennial literally means "before the thousand years." The title refers to the fact that this viewpoint places the return of Jesus before a future one thousand year reign upon the earth.

As you can see by comparing the charts, there is considerable difference between the two viewpoints. The premillennial view that had been held by the early Church Fathers did not envision history ending with the completion of the Church Age. Instead, the Church Age would be followed by a seven year period called the Tribulation, and this time of unparalled horror on earth would ultimately give way to the thousand year reign of Jesus. Another significant difference is that according to the premillennial view, the redeemed would live eternally in glorified bodies on a new earth.

Augustine's view, which was based on a spiritualization of Scripture, was quickly adopted by the Roman Catholic Church because it gave enhanced importance to the Church. It enabled the Church to claim that it was the fulfillment of all the kingdom promises in the Bible, and therefore it had the right to rule over all the nations of the earth.

It also enabled the Church to claim that it was the new Israel, replacing the old Israel composed of the Jewish people. The Jews were dismissed as a people divorced by God. Their kingdom promises had been inherited by the true Israel, the Church.

The new view also laid the foundation for the head of the Church to claim that he was the "Vicar of Christ" on earth that is, the representative of Christ's reigning authority over the planet.

The Problems

Augustine's new view obviously provided some philosophical advantages to a Church that was struggling to assert itself. But the view raised some very serious theological questions because it so clearly violated what the Bible literally taught about the end times. Let's consider some of those questions.

1) Where is the Millennium? — This is a rather obvious question, but Augustine's answer was surprising. Instead of denying outright that there would ever be a Millennium, he argued instead that the Millennium began at the Cross and would continue a thousand years until the return of Jesus. Later, when the Lord failed to return after a thousand years, amillennialists simply spiritualized the thousand years to mean an indefinite period of time from the Cross to the Second Coming.

Note carefully that Augustine did not deny the Millennium; he simply redefined it to mean the spiritual reign of Christ through the Church during the Church Age.

That means we are in the Millennium now and have been for almost 2,000 years, and that creates a major problem for amillennialists. For you see, when you read the Bible's prophecies about the Millennium, there is no correspondence between them and the reality of the world in which we live.

We live in a world that is rotten to the core. The Bible says that during the Millennium, "the earth will be flooded with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14). The nations of the world today are all in rebellion against God and His Anointed One. The prophecies say that during the Millennium the nations will all be in subjection to the Lord and will glorify His name (Psalm 22:27-31). If the Lord is reigning over the nations of the world today, He is doing a very poor job of it. Isaiah says that when the Lord reigns, the world will be characterized by peace, righteousness, and justice (Isaiah 9:7).

The amillennial response to this is usually to argue that we are in the Millennium because the Holy Spirit is in the world restraining evil. If the Holy Spirit were not here, things would be much worse. Thus, relatively speaking, we are in the Millennium.

But the Bible doesn't speak in relative terms about the Millennium. It states absolutely that there will be international peace, justice, righteousness and lovingkindness (Hosea 2:18-20).

2) Where is the Tribulation? — Augustine gave a startling response to this question. He said that we are simultaneously in both the Millennium and the Tribulation! We are in the Millennium because the Holy Spirit is restraining evil, but we are also in the Tribulation because the Church will suffer persecution until the Lord returns.

When it was pointed out that the Bible says the Tribulation will last only seven years, Augustine dismissed the number as symbolic. He argued that the number seven represents a complete period of time, and therefore it represents the period from the Cross to the Second Coming.

The book of Revelation says that the Tribulation will be a special, concentrated period of the pouring out of God's wrath. In fact, it says that during the first 3 1/2 years, over one-half the population of the earth will die! The world has never experienced calamities of such magnitude.

3) Is Satan Bound? — This is a very critical question because the Bible says that Satan will be bound at the beginning of the Millennium (Revelation 20:1-3).

Augustine argued that Satan was bound at the Cross. I was making this point at a conference one day when a member of the audience suddenly jumped to his feet and said, "Brother, let me tell you something. If Satan was bound at the Cross, then he was bound with a very long chain, because he is always gnawing on my leg!"

Let's keep in mind that there is a sense in which Satan has always been bound. He is not omnipotent. He is not free to do anything he desires. The book of Job reveals that Satan could not touch Job without God's permission.

It is true that Satan was further bound by the Cross. The reason is that since that time believers in Jesus have received the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to be overcomers in their combat with Satan. The Word says that "He who is within us is greater than he who is in the world"(I John 4:4).

But the limitations which the Cross placed on Satan do not constitute the binding of Satan that the Scriptures say will take place at the beginning of the Millennium. Revelation says Satan will be bound so that he can no longer "deceive the nations" (Revelation 20:3). How can anyone argue that the nations are not deceived today? They are definitely deceived, and thus Satan is not bound. He is still the "ruler of this world" (John 16:11).

4) Where are the Two Resurrections? — The Bible says there will be two resurrections, one of the just and another of the unjust (Acts 24:15). It further states that these two resurrections will be separated by a thousand years (Revelation 20:5-6). The amillennial view has only one resurrection, occurring at the end of the Church Age.

Augustine "solved" this problem by spiritualizing the first resurrection. He said the first resurrection is a spiritual one that occurs when a person accepts Jesus as Lord and is born again. The second resurrection is the one that will occur when the Lord returns and everyone, both the just and the unjust, will be resurrected from the dead.

This exercise in imaginative interpretation shows what happens when you start spiritualizing. Scripture starts meaning whatever you want it to mean.

5) Where is the New Earth? — Augustine also spiritualized this concept. He argued that the "new earth" mentioned in Revelation 21 was simply a symbol for Heaven.

But the Bible teaches that the earth is eternal. Psalm 148:6 says that the creation has been established forever and that the Lord has decreed it will never pass away. Psalm 78:69 says the Lord has founded the earth forever. In Luke 21:33 Jesus said "heaven and earth will pass away," but He meant that in the sense that Peter tells us that the heavens and earth will be consumed with fire in order to be replaced by "a new heavens and a new earth" (2 Peter 3:10-13).

The Bible never speaks of the material universe coming to an end. Rather, it promises over and over that this earth, including the plant and animal kingdoms, will be redeemed. It is all going to be restored to its original perfection. Read Isaiah 11:6-9 and Romans 8:18-23.

Revelation 21 tells us point blank that the redeemed are going to live eternally in a New Jerusalem located on a new earth. Further, it says that God is going to come down to the new earth and live with us. The Bible never speaks of us living eternally with God in Heaven. To spiritualize all this is to make a mockery of Scripture.

6) Is God finished with the Jews? — Amillennialists claim that "God washed His hands of the Jews" because of their unbelief, and He therefore has no purpose left for them.

This is a pernicious doctrine that has led to much anti-Semitism. The fact of the matter is that the Jews are still the Chosen People of God, and the Lord intends to fulfill every promise He has ever made to them as a nation.

The book of Romans makes all this very clear. In Romans 3:1-4 Paul asks a rhetorical question:"Has the unfaithfulness of the Jews nullified God's faithfulness to them?" For almost 1,700 years the Church has said "Yes!" What does Paul say? His answer is, "May it never be!"

Likewise, in Romans 11:1 Paul asks, "Has God rejected His people?" Again, for almost two thousand years the Church has answered, "Yes!" But what does Paul say in response to his question? He says,"May it never be!" And then he adds, "God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew" (Romans 11:2). He then proceeds to explain that a great remnant of the Jews will be saved in the end times (Romans 9:27; 11:25-32).

The Jewish people have been set aside as a result of God's discipline. But He has not forgotten them. In Isaiah 49:16 the Lord says He could never forget the Jewish people because He has them tattooed on the palms of His hands! In Jeremiah 31:35-37 the Lord asks, "When will the offspring of Israel cease to be a nation before Me?" His answer is that they will continue to be special in His eyes until the fixed order of the universe departs or until the day all the heavens and all the oceans have been fully explored. In Romans 11:29 Paul says that the "gifts and calling of God are irrevocable."And in Romans 9:1-5 he speaks of promises to the Jews that God fully intends to fulfill.

That's the reason the Jews are being regathered from the four corners of the world right now. It is one of the greatest miracles of history. The Lord intends to provoke them to repentance by bringing all the nations of the world against them (Zechariah 12:1-3). When they become totally desperate, they will look to the Lord for their salvation. That is when they will repent. They will "look on Him whom they have pierced, and they will mourn" (Zechariah 12: 10). And on that glorious day, a fountain of salvation will be opened for the house of David (Zechariah 13:1).

God will then establish these believing Jews as the prime nation of the world during the Millennium, and through them He will once again bless all the nations on earth (Isaiah 60-62).

7) Has the Church fulfilled the kingdom promises? — There is no doubt that the Church is God's kingdom on the earth today. But the Bible does not teach that the concept of the kingdom of God is limited solely to the Church.

I believe a review of Scripture shows that God has always had a kingdom upon this earth, but it has been manifested in different ways. The kingdom was originally expressed in the Creation itself (Psalm 93:1-2), through its perfect obedience to God's will. When the Creation was corrupted through the sin of Man, the kingdom became expressed in the lives of the Patriarchs who, like Job, responded obediently in faith to God's will. The kingdom became focused in a more tangible manner after the call of Abraham and the emergence of the nation of Israel (Exodus 19:6).

Since Pentecost, the kingdom has been expressed in the institution of the Church (Colossians 1:13). But the Bible promises different expressions of the kingdom in the future first, in the form of a thousand year rule of Jesus upon this earth (Revelation 2:26-27), and second, in the form of an eternal rule of God upon a new earth (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

The kingdom is past, present, and future. It is currently expressed in the Church, but it is like a rose in the bud, yet to bloom in its full glory. The kingdom has always been coming, and it will continue to come until God's will is done perfectly on earth as it is in Heaven. Even during the Millennial reign of Jesus, the kingdom will be coming, for the Bible teaches that rebellion will be lurking in the hearts of men (Revelation 20:7-10). The consummation of the kingdom will not come until all enemies of God have been subdued. That will occur at the end of the Millennial reign of Jesus, at which time He will surrender the kingdom to His Father, and God Himself will reign forever over a redeemed creation (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

Summary

The amillennial view is based on a spiritualizing approach to Scripture which contends that the Bible does not mean what it says. It is a consistent view for theological liberals who also spiritualize the creation week, the miracles, the virgin birth, and the resurrection of Jesus. But what is astounding is the number of conservative Christians who endorse this view. In effect, they take the position that the Bible always means what it says unless it is talking about the Second Coming of Jesus!

The amillennial view does not stand the test of either the Scriptures or reality.

• How can anyone truly believe that we are currently living in the Millennium? Society is disintegrating before our eyes, and the Bible says it will get worse the closer we come to the Lord's return (2 Timothy 1-5).
  
• How can anyone truly believe that Satan is bound today? The Bible says "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19).
  
• How can anyone truly believe that the Church is reigning with Christ over the nations? Try telling that to persecuted and suffering Christians all over the world.
  
• How could anyone truly believe God has no purpose left for the Jews? After 2,000 years of dispersion all over the world, they are being regathered to Israel in what Jeremiah calls a miracle greater than the deliverance from Egyptian captivity (Jeremiah 16:14-15).

Let's stop playing games with God's Word. Let's allow it to mean what it says. Bible prophecy is really not hard to understand. It's just hard to believe. If you will believe it, you will understand it.

Conclusion

Does it really make any difference what you believe about the end times? Many Christians like to say, "I don't know what is going to happen, so I've decided to be a pan-millennialist' because I figure it will all pan-out in the end." That's a copout. It reflects the attitude of a person who is too lazy to search the Scriptures to see what God has promised in the future.

Certainly it matters what you believe about Bible prophecy. It matters what you believe about anything, because your beliefs determine the way you live. I grew up in an amillennial church, and the result was that I lived with little hope because I did not know about God's glorious promises concerning the future. I never looked forward to the Lord's return because I had no idea what was going to happen when He burst from the skies. I had no eternal perspective, and I had no appreciation of the continuing significance of the Jewish people.

When I began to study and believe Bible prophecy, my hope surged, and I was motivated as never before to live a holy life. I began yearning for the Lord's return because I became dissatisfied with this world. And I developed an even greater appreciation of God's unfathomable grace as I marveled over His continuing love for Israel.

What you believe about Bible prophecy has no effect on where you are going to spend eternity; it is not related to your justification. But it has an immediate impact upon your sanctification, upon how you walk before the Lord in this life. As the apostle John put it: "Everyone who has his hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John3:3).

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End Time Viewpoints Why are there so many? How do they differ? Does it matter?

by Dr. David R. Reagan

I almost gave up studying Bible prophecy the very first week I started. I was turned off by the vocabulary. I kept running across terms like premillennial, amillennial, and postmillennial. It sounded to me like much of prophecy was written in tongues!

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit encouraged me to stick with the task, and before long I began to realize that the terms really were not all that difficult to understand.

Basically, there are four major end time viewpoints. Or, to put it another way, there are four different interpretations about what the Bible says concerning end time events.

Historic Premillennialism

The oldest viewpoint is called historic premillennialism. It is termed "historic" for two reasons: to differentiate it from modern premillennialism and to indicate that it was the historic position of the early Church.

It is called "premillennial" because it envisions a return of Jesus to earth before (pre) the beginning of the Millennium. The word, millennium, is a combination of two Latin words mille annum which simply means one thousand years.

A diagram of this viewpoint is presented below. It divides the future of the world into four periods: 1) the current Church Age; 2) a seven year period called the Tribulation; 3) a reign of Christ on earth lasting one thousand years (the Millennium); and 4) the Eternal State when the redeemed will dwell forever with God on a new earth.

This view is based on a literal interpretation of what the Bible says will happen in the end times. One of its distinctive features is that it places the Rapture of the Church at the end of the Tribulation.

According to this view, the Church will remain on earth during the Tribulation. At the end of that period, Jesus will appear in the heavens and the Church will be caught up to meet Him in the sky. The saints will be instantly glorified, and then they will immediately return to the earth to reign with Jesus for a thousand years.

The Church Fathers

This is the only view of end time events that existed during the first 300 years of the Church. With one exception, all the Church Fathers who expressed themselves on the topic of prophecy were premillennial until A.D. 400. Justin Martyr, who was born in A.D. 100, went so far in his writings on the subject as to suggest that anyone with a different viewpoint was heretical.

Those today who disagree with this view respond to the near unanimity of the early Church Fathers by saying they were simply wrong in their interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures.

It certainly should be noted that these early church leaders were not prophetic scholars. They wrote very little on prophecy, and what they wrote was sketchy. Their main concern was not prophecy, but the deity of Jesus, the oneness of God, the practical problems of church organization, and survival amidst persecution.

Yet their concept of end time events should not be dismissed out of hand as crude and primitive, for anyone who has studied the prophetic Scriptures will have to admit that the Church Fathers' viewpoint presents a plain sense summary of the Bible's teachings about the end times.

The one exception to the consensus opinion among the early Church Fathers was Origen (185-254 A.D.). Origen's approach to all of Scripture was to spiritualize it. He therefore denied the literal meaning of prophecy. He looked upon its language as highly symbolic and expressive of deep spiritual truths rather than of future historical events.

Although Origen could not accept the premillennial viewpoint, he did not develop an alternative. That task fell to the Church Father named St. Augustine (358-434 A.D.) who ultimately had the greatest impact on the development of church doctrine. He conceived an alternative viewpoint at the end of the fourth century.

Amillennialism

The concept formulated by Augustine is illustrated below. It is called amillennialism. This strange name derives from the fact that in the Greek language a word is negated by putting the letter "a" in front of it. Thus, amillennial literally means "no thousand years."

The term is misleading, however, because most amillennialists do believe in a millennium, but not a literal, earthly one. They argue that the Millennium is the current spiritual reign of Christ over the Church and that it will continue until He returns for His saints. They thus interpret the thousand years as a symbolic period of time.

One appealing aspect of the amillennial view is its simplicity. The Church Age comes to a screaming halt as a result of the Rapture of the Church. There is no Tribulation, no literal earthly Millennium, and no eternity on a new earth. Augustine spiritualized everything, arguing that the kingdom is the Church, the Millennium is the current Church Age, and the new earth is symbolic language for Heaven.

Augustine's view of end time events was adopted by the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. and has remained Catholic dogma to this day. It is also the current majority viewpoint among mainline Protestant denominations. In other words, the amillennial viewpoint is the one that is held today by the vast majority of all those who profess to be Christians.

Postmillennialism

The third view of end time events, called post-millennialism, did not develop until the mid-seventeenth century, long after the Reformation. The Reformation had little impact on prophetic views because the Reformation leaders had their attention riveted on the questions of Biblical authority and justification by faith.

The postmillennial view was a product of the rationalistic revolution in thinking. It was developed in the mid-1600's by a Unitarian minister named Daniel Whitby. It was immediately dubbed "postmillennialism" because it envisioned a return of Jesus after (post) a literal thousand year reign of the Church over all the earth. This view is illustrated below.

Postmillennialism spread quickly within the Protestant world, probably for two reasons. First, it gave Protestants an opportunity to differ from the Catholic position. More importantly, it was a theological expression of the prevailing rationalistic philosophy of the age, a philosophy that boldly proclaimed the ability of mankind to build the kingdom of heaven on earth.

The postmillennial view holds that the Church Age will gradually evolve into a "golden age" when the Church will rule over all the world. This will be accomplished through the Christianization of the nations.

To its credit, it can be said that this viewpoint served as a mighty stimulus to missionary efforts during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Missionaries were seized with the vision of speeding up the return of the Lord by preaching the gospel to all the world.

A Sudden Death

By 1900 nearly all segments of Protestant Christianity had adopted the postmillennial viewpoint. But the view was to be quickly dropped.

Postmillennialism died almost overnight with the outbreak of the First World War. The reason, of course, is that this great war undermined one of the fundamental assumptions of the postmillennial viewpoint the assumption of the inevitability of progress. This had always been a fatal flaw in the postmillennial concept, due mainly to its birth in rationalistic humanism. Its visions of the perfectibility of man and the redemption of society were destroyed by the atrocities of the war.

Another fatal flaw of the postmillennial viewpoint was its lack of a consistent Biblical base. To expound the view, it was necessary to literalize some prophecies (those concerning the Millennium) while at the same time spiritualizing other prophecies (the personal presence of the Lord during the Millennium). Also, it was necessary to ignore or explain away the many prophecies in the Bible that clearly state that society is going to get worse rather than better as the time approaches for the Lord's return (Matthew 24:4-24 and 2 Timothy 3:1-5).

The sudden death of postmillennialism left a prophetic vacuum among Protestant groups. Since the postmillennial view was based to a large extent upon a spiritualizing approach to Scripture, most Protestant groups returned to the spiritualized amillennial viewpoint they had abandoned in the 1700's.

However, a new choice of prophetic viewpoint presented itself on the American scene about this same time, and some of the more fundamentalist Protestant groups opted for it. This view was technically called "dispensational premillennialism" because it originated with a group who had been nicknamed "Dispensationalists." I call it the modern premillennial viewpoint.

Modern Premillennialism

The modern premillennial viewpoint crystallized in the early 1800's among a group in England known as the Plymouth Brethren. The view is illustrated below.

As can be readily seen, this viewpoint revives the historic premillennial view except for its concept of the Rapture of the Church. The Plymouth Brethren envisioned two future comings of Jesus, one for His Church and one with His Church. Their concept of the Rapture has since come to be known as the "pre-Tribulation Rapture."

This viewpoint has been attacked as being "too new to be true." But its advocates are quick to point out that the Bible teaches the principle of "progressive illumination" regarding prophecy (Daniel 12:4and Jeremiah 30:24). What they mean by this is that the Bible itself indicates that end time prophecy will be better understood as the time nears for its fulfillment.

Comparisons

Looking back over these four views of the end times, we can see some significant differences. But let's not overlook the similarities.

1. All agree that Jesus is coming back for His saints.
2. All agree that the redeemed will spend eternity in the presence of God.

These two points of agreement are far more important than the many points of disagreement.

Still, the areas of disagreement are significant. Two of the views (the amillennial and postmillennial) deny that Jesus will ever manifest His glory before the nations in a world wide reign of peace, justice and righteousness. The postmillennial view also denies the soon coming of the Lord, for according to this view, the Lord cannot return until His Church has ruled over the world for a thousand years.

The key to the differences is the approach to Scripture. If you tend to spiritualize Scripture, you will end up with an amillennial or postmillennial viewpoint. If you tend to accept Scripture for its plain sense meaning, you will have a premillennial viewpoint.

A Plea

I urge you to accept the plain sense meaning of Scripture. Don't play games with God's Word by spiritualizing it. When you do so, you can make it mean whatever you want it to mean, but in the process you will lose the true meaning that God intended.

Remember, the First Coming prophecies meant what they said. That should be our guide for interpreting the prophecies of the Second Coming.

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