four The keys millennium to the - The Forerunner — Home · and Wieland Willker. Last, ... in Revelation 20, I am left feeling like ... be transformed by the power of the gospel

Larry Waugh · Rodney D StortzJay Rogers · Joseph L Meiring

Michael J. Meiring (Editor)

The fourkeysto the

millennium

SOLA FIDE PUBLISHERSCape Town, South Africa

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ii

First published 20042nd edition 2007

© Sola Fide Publishers, 2004Cape Town, South Africa

ISBN 0-620-27798-X

Book design and typesetting by Valerie Phipps-Smith,

Cape Town

Printed and bound by

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Contents

Acknowledgments iv

Introduction 1

part one: Dispensational Premillennialism 7By Larry Waugh

Rodney D. Stortz of Premillennialism responds... 16Jay Rogers of Postmillennialism responds... 24Joseph L. Meiring of Amillennialism responds... 30

part two: Historic Premillennialism 39By Rodney D. Stortz

Larry Waugh of Dispensationalism responds... 49Jay Rogers of Postmillennialism responds... 50Joseph L. Meiring of Amillennialism responds... 62

part three: Postmillennialism 71By Jay Rogers

Larry Waugh of Dispensationalism responds... 86Rodney D. Stortz of Premillennialism responds... 87Joseph L. Meiring of Amillennialism responds... 92

part four: Amillennialism 95By Joseph L. Meiring

Larry Waugh of Dispensationalism responds... 108Rodney D. Stortz of Premillennialism responds... 110Jay Rogers of Postmillennialism responds... 116

part five: Analysis of the four millennial views 131By Michael J. Meiring

Conclusion 155

About the authors 162

Bibliography 166

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Acknowledgments

F irst of all, I would like to thank the four authors of thisbook, Larry Waugh, Rodney D. Stortz, Jay Rogers, and

Joseph L. Meiring, for their contributions, time and effort in explain-ing and defending the four millennial views. (Sadly, both LarryWaugh and Rodney Stortz passed away before this book was published.)

Secondly, there were many pastors, teachers, and theologianswho willingly provided me with their interpretation of the crucialand controversial passage of Revelation 20:1-6: Dr. Tom Austin,Dennis Bennett, Ed Crain, Pastor Don Goertzen, Charles Hawkins,Joe Haynes, Dr. James Krohn, Dr. John Ronning, Dr. Peter Smutswho also read the manuscript, Dr. Jim Wicker, and Dr. Bryan Williams.Pastor Gil Rugh of Indian Hills Community Church kindly postedme a gift: ‘The Greatness of the Kingdom’ by Alva J. McClain.

I also received some assistance from the following Greek scholarswho provided me with their interpretation of the phrase in Revela-tion 20:4, ‘they came to life’ (Gk. ezesan): Dr. Andrew Chester, Brad-ley McLean, John Proctor, Gerhard Swart, Professor J. Ross Wagner,and Wieland Willker.

Last, but not least, I wish to thank my wife, Wilna, because with-out her support and encouragement, this book would not have beencompleted.

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IntroductionBy Michael J. Meiring

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key tothe Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized thedragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and boundhim for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and lockedand sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be setfree for a short time. (Rev. 20:1-3)

Imagine you are lost in a wilderness, without knowing whichdirection will lead you home. But then you remember that a

wise man once gave you an old map of the area. You dig in your baguntil you find it and lay it out on a rock. You study the map andnotice that it is filled with key symbols. You search for an explana-tory list of what the symbols mean, and to your alarm there isn’t one– there are four! Which one will provide the correct interpretation tosafely direct you on the correct path?

Sometimes when I attempt to figure out the meaning of the ‘thou-sand years,’ or Millennium, in Revelation 20, I am left feeling likethat lost soul in the wilderness! Which millennial view – Dispen-sational Premillennialism, Historic Premillennialism, Postmillen-nialism, Amillennialism – has the ‘key’ to open up the passage ofRevelation 20:1-6 in order for us to correctly interpret and under-stand the meaning of the ‘thousand years’?

The key to the MillenniumTo some who study eschatology, however, the Millennium questionis simple and painless to comprehend. There is a ‘key’ word orphrase in John’s vision, they say, which gives us access or insightinto the nature of the Millennium and its association with theSecond Coming of Jesus Christ, as well as the events surroundinghis return.

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For some Christian theologians the key phrase in understandingthe Millennium is found in verse 3: ‘to keep him [Satan] from deceiv-ing the nations any more until the thousand years were ended.’ Thethousand years, then, is a ‘Golden Age’ for the earth because thepeople of the nations will no longer be deceived by Satan, butinstead, be transformed by the power of the gospel and renewed bythe regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Christ will return after thisperiod of righteousness. For this reason, these Christians are called‘Postmillennialists’ because they believe that the Second Coming ofChrist will take place after the Millennium.

Others look to the key phrase found in verses 4 and 5: ‘They [themartyrs] came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years...This is the first resurrection.’ The thousand years will commence atthe first resurrection when believers are physically raised to life inorder to reign with Christ on the earth. At the first resurrection,then, Christ will return to inaugurate the millennial kingdom andbegin his rule on the earth for a literal thousand years. These Chris-tians are called ‘Premillennialists’ (‘Historic’ or ‘Dispensational’)because they believe that the Second Coming of Christ will takeplace before the Millennium.

And still others believe that the key phrase in understanding thenature of the Millennium is found in the first part of verse 4: ‘And Isaw the souls of those who had been beheaded...’ The ‘souls’ refer tothose now deceased believers who are reigning with Christ in hea-ven (i.e. during the intermediate state). These Christians are called‘Amillennialists’ because they anticipate no earthly reign of Christbefore or after his Second Coming.

Wrongly dividing the people of GodThe doctrine of the Millennium remains the most hotly disputedtopic amongst evangelical Christians who are engaged in the studyof eschatology. The differences of opinion have, sadly, led to divi-sions within the Church because some Christians consider the mil-lennial issue an essential doctrine of the Christian faith. Sometheologians may even question someone’s salvation, or at least theirsanctification, if they hold to a different millennial viewpoint. But isit essential? Is it essential to one’s salvation if one believes thatChrist will return before or after the Millennium? Of course, the mil-lennial issue does not simply relate to the end times. It is also inter-

THE FOUR KEYS TO THE MILLENNIUM

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preted as being part of God’s program for his creation since thedawn of human history. Yet, that does not deter from the fact thatdifferences have originated because of the various interpretations ofJohn’s vision of Revelation 20.

However, the main problem is not so much the fact that Chris-tians hold to different views, but rather, that some believers slanderand accuse other Christians of believing ‘heresy’ because they holdto a different millennial viewpoint. For example, a DispensationalPremillennialist has written:

The doctrine of Amillennialism and Postmillennialism were theinvention of the Roman Catholic Church... Amillennialism andPostmillennialism are totally unbiblical. (Prasch 1998:5)

Another Dispensationalist argued with me:

Postmillennialism ... [is] clearly heretical, but Amillennialism is thebasis for them all and is very unbiblical at the very least...Amillennialism is clearly off base as I mentioned before, and in mybook it is heresy. (e-mail dated 29 & 30 June 2001)

And when I disagreed with him, the fundamentalist warned me,‘Your mind is closed to Biblical truth, that is plain... Open up to theliteral truths of God’s Word ... before it is too late’ (emphasis in italicsmine, e-mail dated 02 July 2001).

However, proponents of the other views are not without faultwhen they critique Dispensationalism. A late amillennial theologianlabelled Dispensationalism as ‘heresy’ and charged Premillennia-lists of teaching ‘another gospel’ (Alexander n.d:3). Even Postmil-lennialists of late have shown an aggressive attitude towards theiropponents. For example, Gary North believes that Premillennialismand Amillennialism ‘should be discarded as heretical’ (Engelsman.d:web page).

These sorts of accusations and statements are not only false, butthey hinder the cause of the gospel and the building up of God’speople. The doctrine of the Millennium is non-essential to the Chris-tian faith. God’s people should never divide over a secondary issue.

The purpose of this bookIn order for us to overcome the present divisions in the Church, wemust not consider our own millennial view as being the only true or

Introduction

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4

biblical one and regard the other three views as being ‘false,’ ‘unbib-lical,’ or even ‘heretical.’ I echo the words of Stanley J. Grenz, beingin full agreement with his analysis of the issues at hand:

It is most probably not the case that one view is solely correct andbiblical, whereas the others are totally false. Consequently, trueprogress toward a consensus on the question of the millennium ispossible only as we come to see the strengths and weaknesses ofeach of the various systems. Then we will be in a position to movethe entire question to a deeper level, from which we are able todiscover and utilize the valid theological point each participant inthe discussion is seeking to make. (1992:24)

The purpose of this book, therefore, is to bring together four Chris-tians, each representing one of the four systems, in order to create agodly discussion and debate on the views they have come to acceptand believe; and finally, to draw out of their discussions the strengthsand weaknesses of each millennial view (see Part 5), concludingwith some principles of application. It is my prayer that the readerwill then gain an understanding and appreciation of the four views,‘while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of ourgreat God and Saviour, Jesus Christ’ (Titus 2:13). Perhaps then, wewill possess the key to the Millennium.

The four authorsI would like to add that there is a common bond between these fourauthors: Each one believes that Christ will return again; judgementwill be passed when Christ is seated on the Great White Throne; allbelievers will receive their glorified, resurrected bodies and dwellwith their Lord in the new heavens and new earth; unbelievers willbe resurrected to face condemnation and the second death (tormentin the lake of fire); Satan, sin, and death will be destroyed forever.

Their differences mainly stem from their interpretation of Reve-lation 20:1-6 and the Old Testament prophecies regarding the king-dom, as well as the passages regarding the timing of Christ’s returnrelative to the thousand year period. They also differ on the natureof the Millennium.

Larry Waugh presents the dispensational premillennial view.Rodney D. Stortz reveals the historic premillennial view. Jay Rogersexplains the postmillennial view. And Joseph. L. Meiring defendsthe amillennial view.



Unless otherwise indicated, Mr. Waugh used the Good News Bible,Rev. Stortz and Mr. Meiring the New International Version, and Mr.Rogers the Authorized Version.

Michael J. Meiring, along with his wife, Wilna, graduated from theBible Institute of South Africa with a Licentiate in Theology (2003). Heis also director of a Christian apologetics ministry called Defendingthe Faith Ministries.

Michael may be contacted by email at: [email protected]

Introduction

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PART ONE

Dispensational PremillennialismBy Larry Waugh

Iam honoured to present the dispensational premillennial

view on the end times. I have taken a deep interest in escha-tology. The writers of some of my favourite books on the subjectfavour the other views, and they have good reasons for this. I’m noteven sure I can collate all the best references in support ofDispensational Premillennialism. The more I study, the wider thesubject expands. As the angel said to Daniel, ‘Many people willwaste their efforts trying to understand what is happening’ (Dan.12:4). But it goes on to say, ‘only those who are wise will under-stand’ (v.10). So I pray for wisdom. James says, ‘If any of you lackwisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; becauseGod gives generously and graciously to all’ (Jas. 1:5).

(To compare Dispensational Premillennialism with the otherthree views, I have set out a table at the end of my essay.)

The events preceding the Millennium1. The church age – The secret rapture – The wedding feast

of the LambSince Jesus ascended to heaven there have been 2000 years knownas the ‘Church Age’. Right now we are at the end of 6000 yearswhich have passed since Adam, and since a day is as a thousandyears in the Lord’s sight (2 Pet. 3:8), we have come to the end of sixdays, so that, as in creation, the seventh day is dawning. On the seventh day God rested (Gen. 2:2-3). For six millennia the world haslaboured. The seventh millennium will be a time of rest. ‘Let us,then, do our best to receive that rest, so that no one of us will fail asthey did because of their lack of faith’ (Heb. 4:11). The Church is labouring now to be counted worthy of that rest. The Church isthe bride of Christ (Eph. 5:23). During the Millennium, she will not be here:

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But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes? (Lk. 18:8)

In the Jewish culture, a man, who chose a woman to be his bride,would settle with her father as to the price he would have to pay forher (which would be high), and seal the agreement over a glass ofwine. Then he would go away to prepare a home for her, and comeback at some unexpected hour to take her away for the weddingfeast. She would not know when he was going to come for her, soshe and her bridesmaids would have to keep themselves on alertand be ready to go at any time. Jesus, in speaking of his return,referred to this culture in his parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13).

The Church is the bride of Christ. He paid for her, and sealed theagreement with the cup of God’s new covenant (Lk. 22:20). TheHoly Spirit is like Jesus’ engagement ring (Eph. 1:13-14). He hasbeen given to us prior to Jesus’ departure (starting the ‘Church Age’,or time of engagement). Jesus went to prepare a place for us and willcome back to fetch us so that we can be with him (Jn. 14:1-4). We willgo to the wedding feast of the Lamb, having been given fine linen towear (Rev. 19:7-9). The fine linen equals the good things done byGod’s holy people – our labour during the Church Age.

So we are told not to worry about the things coming upon theearth but to be happy about the message of Revelation because thistribulation is not intended for the bride (Jn. 14:1; Rev. 1:3; 1 Thes.5:9). We will have tribulation but this is not the Great Tribulation ofthe final seven years before the Millennium (Jn. 16:33; Matt. 24:21).Jesus will rescue us from God’s coming anger (1 Thes. 1:10).

The Wicked One will come ... and use every kind of wicked deceit onthose who will perish. They will perish because they did not welcomeand love the truth so as to be saved. (2 Thes. 2:9-10)

Saved from what? The punishment God intends for those who rejecthim. ‘For the message about Christ’s death on the cross is nonsenseto those who are being lost;’ (1 Cor. 1:18). Jesus is going to rescue hisbride before the wrath of God is poured out on the earth, because hesaid it would be as in the time of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah(Matt. 24:37-39; Lk. 17:26-30). On both occasions God’s people weretaken out before he punished the rest.

We are the bride of Christ. He will appear to those waiting forhim (Heb. 9:28). We are the children of light, so his return will not


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take us unexpectedly (1 Thes. 5:5-6). The rest of the people, who are ‘sleeping,’ will not see Jesus rapture his bride from the earth.Jesus will not return to the earth at that time, but at his SecondComing – after the seven years of Great Tribulation – he will returnto the earth with his saints, and every eye will see him (Zech. 14:1-5;Matt. 24:30).

Jesus said there would be certain signs that would point to theimminence of his return, involving terrible happenings that will getworse and worse, like birth pangs before a woman gives birth (Matt.24:8). But Jesus will remove us, his Church, prior to the revealing ofthe Antichrist as a person:

The Mysterious Wickedness is already at work, but what is going tohappen will not happen until the one who holds it back is taken outof the way. Then the Wicked One will be revealed. (2 Thes. 2:7-8)

The one who holds it back is either the Holy Spirit or the Churchitself; probably the Church, because the ‘one’ is not written with acapital O. Either way, the Holy Spirit will be away from the earth,and since he lives in every believer, there can be no believers left onthe earth to face the Great Tribulation. What comfort could there bein news of impending doom (1 Thes. 5:11)?

2. The Antichrist – The Great Tribulation – The return of ChristPeople will say that these terrible things are nothing new, and trulythe real Christians have had tribulation since the time of Christ,because the spirit of the Antichrist has been in the world (2 Pet. 3:4;1 Jn. 2:18). Just as the Holy Spirit is evident in the bride of Christ, sothe spirit of the Antichrist is evident in his counterfeit, the falsechurch (Halley 1988:673) – that is the Roman Catholic Church riding(controlling and being supported by) the one-world government ofthe end times.

The word ‘Catholic’ means ‘world-wide’, yet it has proclaimeditself to be the true church while persecuting true believers, trying tokeep people from reading God’s word, and supporting evil govern-ments in its purpose of world domination. The popes, who claim tobe in the place of (anti) Christ on this earth, have set a record of per-version, blasphemy, murder, and profanity, murdering 68 millionbelievers through the Inquisition (Halley 1988:757-804), and orches-trating wars and purges through their support of the likes of Hitler,

Dispensational Premillennialism

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Mussolini, and General Franco – the so-called ‘defenders of thefaith’ (Chick:vol. 4).

There can be no doubt that the Roman Catholic Church is the sys-tem of the Antichrist. Hitler was a Catholic, and he said of Himmler,another Catholic, ‘I can see Himmler as our Ignatius of Loyola’(Paris 1975:167) – the latter being the founder of the Jesuits and theIlluminati, the Vatican’s army. ‘Vatican’ means ‘the place of divina-tion’ or ‘habitation of devils’ (Rev. 18:2).

The end time world religious system will be an alliance of reli-gions denying that Jesus is the only way, and recognizing God as thegod of any religion, so that the Messiah is only one of the ‘Mastersof Wisdom’; to the Christians the Christ, to the Jews the Messiah, tothe Buddhists the fifth Buddha, to the Moslems the Imam Mahdi,and to the Hindus Krishna’ (Cumbey 1991:14). In current news bul-letins we see the pope compromising the anti-Christian beliefs of allthese religions, seeking to unite all of them. World sentiment ismuch in favour of this ‘humanism,’ so that on current talk-showsChristianity is constantly being put down as being out of touch, toodogmatic, and intolerant (2 Pet. 3:2-4; Jude 1:17-18).

Persecution of Christians is increasing as the return of Jesusapproaches, but this persecution cannot continue into the GreatTribulation. If it did, there would be no one to rapture because all ofthe real Christians would have been executed (Rev. 13:14-15 cf. Rev.20:4b). The rapture has to happen before the Great Tribulation. Thefalse church, with its members (New Agers and apostate ‘Chris-tians’) will continue into the Great Tribulation, and will only thenwake up to the fact that the true Christians are missing (1 Tim. 4:1-2;2 Tim. 4:3-4). These latter day saints will face fearsome persecution.The world system, foreshadowed by the beast manifested in Hitlerand the Nazis, will persecute the Christians who have woken upafter the rapture until the time of the abomination of desolationwhen the Antichrist sets up his throne in the temple of Jerusalem.Afterwards the Jews will wake up to the deception and he will per-secute them for the last three and a half years of the Great Tribu-lation (Rev. 13:5).

The beast, as a system, appeared to have been mortally wounded(Rev. 13:3): Hitler and the Nazis were supposedly finished off in1945, but that system will revive and support the religious system in


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the end times (Cumbey 1991:73, 77-83). ‘The pope wants to movethe Vatican to Jerusalem because Peter’s tomb has been discoveredthere at the Franciscan monastery site called Dominus Flevit’ (Peter-son 1960:3). So the pope will set up his throne in the temple, pro-claiming himself to be God, in the middle of the Great Tribulation(Dan. 9:27). Pope John Paul II has ordered local tribunals to be set upworldwide. To expound on the work of the Jesuits and Freemasons,with their common link, the Illuminati, would make this mini thesistoo fat, but my conclusions are that they will be Satan’s executives(Cumbey 1991:147; Kah 1992:87-119).

However, I can’t convey enough the full import of the menace ofconspiracy now working behind the scenes in the world today. Wehave an already established ‘world wide’ (Catholic) church that iscurrently currying favour with all and sundry faiths. We have theFreemasons with their altar ‘at the foot of which men of any faithmay kneel’. Both refer to Baal worship, its symbols of the Sun godand Queen of Heaven (also linked to Islam). And then, we have analready established United Nations with its world-governing agen-da. We have the Hollywood culture bringing rebellion and anti-Christian attitudes into homes worldwide. We have Satan’s musicswinging the economy of poor nations into the vaults of the rich,and it’s lyrics perverting the minds of our youth. These Freemasons,Jesuits and the like, are in high places where they can manipulatepolicy. Having been to a Catholic school and having Freemason rela-tives, I can only say I am glad the pre-tribulation rapture theory isthe most popular amongst Christians. I don’t want to be aroundwhen Antichrist takes the gloves (and mask) off.

The Great Tribulation will end when Jesus returns at Arma-geddon, to bind Satan for 1000 years and establish his kingdom inIsrael (Rev. 19:19 – 20:6). Old Testament believers and martyrs of theGreat Tribulation will be raised, and all the believers will be judged(Ezek. 20:34-38; Dan. 12:2-3; Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 20:4-6).

The MillenniumDispensational Premillennialism implies that God has differentplans for subsequent eras of humanity, (or ‘dispensations’). So hehas different plans for Israel and the Church. God’s plans for Israel


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relate specifically to his promises to Abraham, David, and otherIsraelites; that Israel will be ‘physically and spiritually restored inCanaan under the Messiah’s rule’ (Phillips 1998:14), while theChurch will exist in heaven as Christ’s bride (Eph. 5:23; Rev. 19:7-9).The Old Testament believers and the martyrs of the Great Tribu-lation will be judged so that only believers will enter Christ’s mil-lennial kingdom (Ezek. 20:34-38; Dan. 12:2-3; Matt. 25:31-46; Rev.20:4-6).

During the thousand-year reign of Christ, the Old Testamentpromises for Israel will be fulfilled. (Phillips 1998:15)

Christ will reign on David’s throne in Jerusalem (Is. 2:4; 9:6-7; 42:1)so that there will be justice and peace, freedom from sickness anddisease, and animals will not be hostile:

Wolves and sheep will live together in peace, and leopards will liedown with young goats. Calves and lion cubs will feed together, andlittle children will take care of them. Cows and bears will eattogether, and their calves and cubs will lie down in peace. Lions willeat straw as cattle do. Even a baby will not be harmed if it plays neara poisonous snake. On Zion, God’s sacred hill, there will be nothingharmful or evil. The land will be as full of knowledge of the LORD asthe seas are full of water. (Is. 11:6-9)

The blind will be able to see, and the deaf will hear. The lame willleap and dance, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy.Streams of water will flow through the desert. (Is. 35:5-6)

Interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6The angel seizes Satan and binds him for 1000 years, so that he willbe unable to influence any of the tribulation martyrs who rule withChrist during the Millennium (v.4). They rule over the Old Testa-ment believers who are raised with them at the end of the GreatTribulation – ‘the first raising of the dead’ (v.5). The believers whowere raptured before the Great Tribulation are not amongst thesetribulation martyrs. They were taken out of the way before theAntichrist was revealed. At the end of the Millennium, God raisesthe unbelieving dead for a judgement of punishments (the secondresurrection).


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Old Testament prophecies regarding the millennial kingdom

The LORD says, ‘A day is coming when I will restore the kingdom ofDavid, which is like a house fallen into ruins. I will repair its wallsand restore it. I will rebuild it and make it as it was long ago. And sothe people of Israel will conquer what is left of the land of Edom andall the nations that were once mine,’ says the LORD, who will causethis to happen.

‘The days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘when corn will growfaster than it can be harvested, and grapes will grow faster than thewine can be made. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, andthe hills will flow with it. I will bring my people back to their land.They will rebuild their ruined cities and live there; they will plantvineyards and drink the wine; they will plant gardens and eat whatthey grow. I will plant my people on the land I gave them, and theywill not be pulled up again.’ (Amos 9:11-15)

In the days to come the mountain where the Temple stands will bethe highest one of all, towering above all the hills. Many nations willcome streaming to it, and their people will say, ‘Let us go up the hillof the LORD, to the Temple of Israel’s God. He will teach us what hewants us to do; we will walk in the paths he has chosen. For the LORD’steaching comes from Jerusalem; from Zion he speaks to his people.’

He will settle disputes among the nations, among the greatpowers near and far. They will hammer their swords into ploughsand their spears into pruning-knives. Nations will never again go towar, never prepare for battle again. Everyone will live in peaceamong his own vineyards and fig-trees, and no one will make himafraid. The LORD Almighty has promised this. Each nation worshipsand obeys its own god, but we will worship and obey the LORD ourGod for ever and ever. (Mic. 4:1-5)

The LORD says, ‘Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallesttowns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whosefamily line goes back to ancient times.’

So the LORD will abandon his people to their enemies until thewoman who is to give birth has her son. Then those Israelites whoare in exile will be reunited with their own people. When he comes,he will rule his people with the strength that comes from the LORD


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and with the majesty of the LORD God himself. His people will livein safety because people all over the earth will acknowledge hisgreatness, and he will bring peace. (Mic. 5:2-5)

A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler.He will be called, ‘Wonderful Counsellor,’ ‘Mighty God,’ ‘EternalFather,’ ‘Prince of Peace.’ His royal power will continue to grow; hiskingdom will always be at peace. He will rule as King David’ssuccessor, basing his power on right and justice, from now until theend of time. (Is. 9:6-7)

‘On Zion, my sacred hill,’ he says, ‘I have installed my king. I willannounce,’ says the king, ‘what the LORD has declared. He said tome: ‘You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask, and I willgive you all the nations; the whole earth will be yours.’’ (Ps. 2:6-8)

His kingdom will reach from sea to sea, from the Euphrates to theends of the earth. The peoples of the desert will bow down beforehim; his enemies will throw themselves to the ground. The kings ofSpain and of the islands will offer him gifts; the kings of Sheba andSeba will bring him offerings. All kings will bow down before him;all nations will serve him. He rescues the poor who call to him, andthose who are needy and neglected. He has pity on the weak andpoor; he saves the lives of those in need. He rescues them fromoppression and violence; their lives are precious to him. (Ps. 72:8-14)

You [the LORD] said, ‘I have made a covenant with the man I chose; Ihave promised my servant David, ‘A descendant of yours willalways be king; I will preserve your dynasty for ever.’ (Ps. 89:3-4)

Other prophetic references to God’s kingdom:Isaiah 24:21-23; 25:8; 33:23-24; 40:10-11.Daniel 7:14.Zechariah 14:6-11, 20-21.

The events following the MillenniumAfter the end of the Millennium, when Satan leads a brief rebellionand is thrown into the lake of fire, the unsaved dead will be raisedto face the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:7-15). ‘God willthen recreate the heavens and earth, eliminating any possibility ofevil’ (Phillips 1998:15).


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Postmillennialism

The Second Comingof Christ is at theend of theMillennium.*

Prophecies re. the‘Great Tribulation’ ofMatt.24 were fulfilledduring that periodwhen the Romansbesieged Jerusalemand destroyed theTemple (AD67-70).*

References to theAntichrist refer to allpeople who denythat Jesus is Christ.*

Rapture/Second Coming

The Tribulation

The Antichrist

Resurrection

Millennium

Judgement

DispensationalPremillennialism

Phase 1: When theChurch is rapturedbefore Tribulation.

Phase 2: The Churchreturns with Jesus atthe end of theTribulation.

The Church is in heaven. The Tribulationis for Israel.The Great Tribulation isa 7-year period.

A person who personifies satanic power,appearing during the Tribulation.

Phase 1: Believers atthe rapture.Phase 2: OldTestament saints [andTribulation martyrs] atthe Second Coming.Phase 3: The dead[unbelievers] at theend of the Millennium.

The Church is in heaven.

Phase 1: Believers atthe rapture.Phase 2: Living Jewsat the Second Coming.Phase 3: Unbelieversat the end of theMillenium.

Comparison of Dispensational Premillennialism with the other three views

The table is adopted from The End Times Bible, God’s Word of Prophecy for theEnd of the Age (Grand Rapids, MI: Word Publ., pp. 26-27), except for thosestatements with an (*).

Resurrection of believing and unbelievingdead will occur at the Second Coming .

Jesus is leading theChurch now to bringabout theMillennium on earth.

At the end of theMillennium.

Amillennialism

The rapture is atthe end of theTribulation whenbelievers will meetJesus in the air andreturn with Him toearth at His SecondComing.

The Church goesthrough theTribulation. TheGreat Tribulation isan indefinite periodof time.*

Perhaps a personpersonifying theAntichrist willappear at theTribulation.

No futureMillennium onearth.

At the SecondComing.

HistoricalPremillennialism

The rapture is at theend of the Tribulationwhen believers willmeet Jesus in the airand return with Himto earth at His SecondComing.

The Church goesthrough theTribulation. The GreatTribulation is a 31/2-year period.*

Phase 1: All believersat Jesus’ SecondComing.Phase 2: Theremaining dead at the end of theMillennium.

Old and NewTestament believersare on earth.

Phase 1: Believers atthe Second Comng.Phase 2: Everyoneelse at the end of theMillennium.

JESUS REIGNS ON EARTH

ONE JUDGEMENT FOR ALL


Rodney D. Stortz of Premillennialismresponds...My heart is more in tune with the dispensational view of the Millen-nium because they do tend to take Jesus at his word. They don’tspiritualize truth away and they do not ignore many of the key OldTestament texts about the return of Christ. My disagreement withDispensational Premillennialism has more to do with the funda-mentals of Dispensationalism itself.

1. Distinction between the Church and IsraelOne major tenant of Dispensationalism that leads to wrong conclu-sions of the Second Coming is the distinction between the Churchand Israel. That is a fabrication of the Scriptures introduced by JohnNelson Darby. Paul says:

He himself is our peace, who has made the two [Gentile and JewishChristians] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall ofhostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandmentsand regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new manout of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcileboth of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death theirhostility. (Eph. 2:14-16)

God does not have two distinct groups of people – one the Churchand the other Israel. God’s people in every age are saved by gracethrough faith alone and are added to the number of God’s people.Paul confirms that with the illustration of the olive tree in Romans 11.There is one olive tree, not two. We are grafted into the original olivetree and in the last days the Jewish people will be re-grafted into thesame, original olive tree. There is one people of God – the Churchand Israel, one olive tree. Paul says in Romans 11:23-26:

And if they [ethnic Israel] do not persist in unbelief, they will begrafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if youwere cut out of an olive tree ... how much more readily will these, thenatural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? I do not wantyou to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not beconceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the fullnumber of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved.


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God is not finished with ethnic Israel. He plans to bring them intohis Church. I believe that will take place just before Jesus returns,because Paul says in Romans 11:15, ‘For if their rejection is thereconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but lifefrom the dead?’ When Israel returns in mass to the Lord, that willmark the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead.

As pointed out by Mr. Waugh in his paper, he believes the‘Church Age’ will end with a secret rapture when the Church will betaken out of the world. He bases that not on exegesis of Scripture,which does not support an idea of a secret rapture; rather he bases iton a custom of Jewish culture about weddings. Even though Jesustells a parable of the ten virgins, he does not tell us that his return willbe like ancient Jewish weddings – if indeed that is what they werereally like. Often times people think the words ‘thief in the night’ (1 Thes. 5:2) show a secret rapture. The context shows that that can-not be, because the next verse says, ‘while people are saying ‘peaceand safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly’ (v.3). Peterputs it this way, ‘The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heav-ens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed byfire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare’ (2 Pet. 3:10).That doesn’t sound secret to me, not to mention the loud commandof Christ, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of Godwhich will raise the dead (1 Thes. 4:16). This will not be secret; it willbe cataclysmic!

2. The pre-tribulation rapture viewA second major tenant of Dispensationalism is the pre-tribulationrapture in which the Church is taken out of this world followed byseven years in which Jews and Gentiles alike get ‘a second chance.’

First, there is no seven-year period that is yet future to us. Theonly seven year period referred to in Scripture is found in Daniel9:27 and that has already been fulfilled in the first coming of Christ.(I can provide the full exegesis of this passage if anyone would liketo see the exegesis. Let me now just give this brief synopsis.)

Daniel 9:27 says, ‘He will confirm a covenant with many for one‘seven’. In the middle of that ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrificeand offering.’ The question of who ‘he’ refers to will make a hugedifference in your eschatology. Any pronoun needs an antecedent.There is only one antecedent in this text to which ‘he’ could refer.


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These verses are about one person. One person is the subject of thisprophecy. That person is the Messiah, the Anointed One, who willbe cut off and have nothing. There is nothing, I repeat, nothing inthis text or context about the Antichrist. In addition, the Hebrewword for ‘make a covenant,’ is not used here. The word that is usedhere is to ‘confirm a covenant already in existence.’ The NIV trans-lates this accurately. The Hebrew word itself makes it impossible tospeak of an antichrist ‘making a covenant or treaty’ with the Jewishpeople. Rather, the Messiah would come and confirm the covenantof grace that had been in existence since Adam was saved by gracein the Garden of Eden.

Jesus’ ministry was three and a half years. In the middle of the‘seven’ (three and a half years) he put an end to sacrifice and offer-ing. When Jesus died, not one more drop of blood needed to be spilt.The writer of the Book of Hebrews says, ‘It is impossible for theblood of bulls and goats to take away sins ... [but] we have beenmade holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once forall’ (10:4, 10). The last three and a half years finish with the first threeand a half years of the New Testament Church before the persecu-tion broke out in Acts 8. Those three and a half years are figuratively described in Revelation 12.

There is no seven-year period yet future. There is no Scripturethat says Jesus will come back before the Great Tribulation. None atall. Instead, we read Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:29-31:

Immediately after the distress [or tribulation] of those days, the sunwill be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars willfall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that timethe sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nationsof the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on theclouds of the sky [similar words used in 1 Thessalonians 4 todescribe the rapture], with power and great glory. And he willsend his angels with a loud trumpet call [again, the terminologyof the rapture], and they will gather his elect from the four winds,from one end of the heavens to the other [the rapture].

(The Greek word ‘gather together’ is episunago which is the Greekword that describes the rapture.) There is no Scripture which indi-cates that the rapture will occur before the tribulation and that theChristians will not be here during the tribulation. None at all!


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Dispensationalists like to point to the fact that the word Churchappears in the first three chapters of Revelation, but after that itdoesn’t appear until the last chapter. They form the conclusion fromthis that the Church must therefore not be on the earth during theGreat Tribulation. That is such poor logic which ignores the exegesisof Scripture that is the only foundation of truth. Consider this: theword ‘church’ is an English translation of the Greek word, ekklasia,meaning ‘the called out ones.’ We have been ‘called out’ of darknessinto his marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). There is another word that isused to describe the people of God. It is the Greek word, hagios, orholy ones. The translation into English is ‘saints.’ Thus Paul writesin 1 Thessalonians 1:1, ‘To the church of the Thessalonians...’ But hewrites in Philippians 1:1, ‘To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Phi-lippi...’ The saints and the church refer to the same group of people.So just because the word ‘church’ is not used after Revelation 3 meansnothing, because the word ‘saints’ is used specifically in Revelation13 which speaks of the Great Tribulation when the Antichrist willpersecute the Church:

[The beast] was given power to make war against the saints and toconquer them. (v.7)

Verse 5 says, ‘the beast was given a mouth to utter proud words andblasphemies ... for 42 months [three and a half years]’. The GreatTribulation will be the time when the Antichrist persecutes theChurch, the saints, for three and a half years years. At the end of thattime, Christ will come for his bride – all believers of all ages, Jewand Gentile, with no second chances – and we will be caught up tomeet him in the air and immediately escort him back to the earthwhere we will reign with him for 1000 years.

The author makes the statement, ‘We are told not to worry aboutthe things coming upon the earth but to be happy about the mes-sage of Revelation because this tribulation is not intended for thebride;’ then he references John 14:1. This is so typical of dispensa-tional exegesis. They put a reference behind a statement that does notsupport their statement. Most people will not look up the verses, sothey assume naively that there is biblical support for the statement.John 14:1 does not tell us ‘not to worry about the things comingupon the earth but to be happy about the message of Revelationbecause this tribulation is not intended for the bride.’ John 14:1 tells


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the disciples and us not to have troubled hearts in spite of the tribu-lation they and we will experience. Jesus says in John 15:20,‘Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than hismaster.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.’ Jesussays that tribulation is intended for his bride! Our brothers and sis-ters around the world have not escaped tribulation and persecution.The Great Tribulation will not be a more difficult persecution ofChristians than many have already experienced. The differencewith the Great Tribulation is that for the first time it will be world-wide. Up to this point it has been isolated. This is why Jesus says inthe same context of John 14, ‘In this world you will have trouble. Buttake heart! [i.e. Don’t worry] I have overcome the world’ (Jn. 16:33)’.

The author says, ‘Jesus will rescue us from God’s coming anger,’and sites 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 5:9. The Great Tribulation is notGod’s anger or wrath. It is Satan’s wrath and persecution. I quoteRevelation 13:7 to show the reader that this verse supports mypremise: ‘He [the beast – not God] was given power to make waragainst the saints [the Church] and to conquer them.’ The GreatTribulation is the wrath and persecution of Satan. It is the persecu-tion that Jesus tells us, we, the bride, will experience.

The author points to 2 Thessalonians 2:7 as proof that the Churchwill be taken out before the Antichrist is revealed. At best this is anobscure verse. One principle of interpretation is that the plain textneeds to interpret the obscure, and the obscure should never beused to support a thesis. The verse says, ‘For the secret power oflawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it backwill continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.’ The author saysthat ‘the one’ means ‘the Church’ because ‘one’ is not capitalized.The Greek language did not capitalize words. His reasoning isfaulty.

In addition, ‘taken out of the way’ does not necessarily mean therapture. The context contradicts the idea that the lawless one will berevealed after the rapture. Verses 1-4 says this:

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our beinggathered to him [that is the expression used for the rapture], weask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by someprophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, sayingthat the day of the Lord [used interchangeably with ‘coming’


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and ‘being gathered together’ all occurring at the same time]has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way[including present day preachers], for that day will not comeuntil the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed...He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is calledGod or is worshipped [just as Revelation 13 says], so that he setshimself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

Paul says the lawless one will be revealed, then the rapture.Mr. Waugh writes, ‘Persecution of Christians is increasing as the

return of Jesus approaches, but this persecution cannot continueinto the Great Tribulation. If it did, there would be no one to rapturebecause all of the real Christians would have been executed (Rev.13:14-15)’.

The verse says, ‘He was given power to give breath to the imageof the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused toworship the image to be killed’ (v.15). First of all, this does not saythat every Christian will be killed during the Great Tribulation.Mark 1:5 says, ‘The whole Judean countryside and all the people ofJerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were bap-tized by him in the Jordan River.’ That doesn’t mean each and everyperson in Judea went out to John to be baptized. We know that thePharisees were not baptized. I show this just to say that ‘all’ does notalways mean ‘every single person.’ We know that it does not meanevery single person in Revelation 13:15, because those words arepreceded with the warning of Revelation 13:9-10:

He who has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to go into captivity,into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword,with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance andfaithfulness on the part of the saints.

This tells us that some Christians will be killed with the sword, andothers will be imprisoned. The beast could cause all to be killed, butthis does not mean that they all were killed. The very fact that thiswarning calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints showsthat the Church is going to go through the Great Tribulation,because if they are in heaven it doesn’t call for much patience. Reve-lation 13:7 says, ‘He was given power to make war against the saintsand to conquer them.’ Some will be killed and some will go to prison.


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Secondly, let us suppose the beast will kill everyone. The rapturecan still occur, because the saints dead and alive will be caught up tomeet the Lord in the air. The whole point of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18was to encourage the believers whose friends and family hadalready died. The dead will be raised at the rapture. Every personwho died believing in the Messiah, saints of both the Old and NewTestaments, will be raptured. There are not multiple raptures men-tioned in the Bible, only one.

3. Other exegetical problems in dispensationalismAnother point Mr. Waugh makes shows the weakness, and may Iadd carelessness, of the exegesis of this position. He writes, ‘Thefalse church, with its members (New Agers and apostate ‘Chris-tians’) will continue into the Great Tribulation, and will only thenwake up to the fact that the true Christians are missing (1 Tim. 4:1-2;2 Tim. 4:3-4).’

I am going to print out these verses in their entirety to show howthis position abuses the Scripture. If someone makes a statementand puts a reference behind it, one would assume that the versesquoted support what was said. In this case they do not. There isnothing mentioned about apostate ‘Christians’ continuing into theGreat Tribulation. This is a total fabrication of man that has beenpassed on from one person to the next with no biblical supportwhatsoever. Here is what God says:

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon thefaith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose conscienceshave been seared as with a hot iron. (1 Tim. 4:1-2)

For the time will come when men will not put up with sounddoctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather aroundthem a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears wantto hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn asideto myths. (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

When I refer to Scripture in defense of my position, I always print itout. This gives the readers an opportunity to see for themselves andnot take my word for it. Most people do not look up the referencesand trust that the person has given them biblical support. I think the


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one thing that would stop the spread of Dispensational Premillen-nialism would be the writers of this theory quoting the Scripturesafter they make their point. People would then see that the Bibledoes not support their outrageous claims.

The author then speaks of these people going through the tribu-lation as ‘latter day saints.’ Where in Scripture do you get this idea?There is only one kind of saint: Those of the Old and New Testa-ments who have been washed with the blood of Christ, before theydie and/or before Christ returns.

There are no second chances. Nowhere in Scripture – only in so-called ‘Christian’ books and movies – is there any evidence of peo-ple looking around and seeing Christians gone and then coming tofaith in Christ. There is not one Scripture that says that. It is a mythand fabrication of this point of view and it has been spread throughfictional books and movies.

The author hurts his view even more when he makes statementssuch as ‘Hitler was a Catholic,’ and the word ‘Vatican means the placeof divination,’ and ‘the pope will set up his throne in the temple,proclaiming himself to be God, in the middle of the Great Tribu-lation.’ The Bible does not say anywhere that ‘the pope is the Anti-christ.’ Such speculation is intellectually dishonest and is the kind ofwork that gives the Reformed and Historic Premillennialists likemyself a bad name.

I have chosen to address just a few of the exegetical problems ofthe dispensational premillennial view. The dispensational view ofthe Second Coming is historically undocumented – there is no docu-mentation of a pre-tribulation rapture found before Darby (c. 1800);biblically unsupported – there are no verses that clearly say Christ willrapture the Church before the Great Tribulation and will leave Jewishbelievers of the Old Testament in their graves for a later resurrec-tion; and it is intellectually untenable, because there are many presup-positions made that have no basis for fact.

In spite of that harsh, but loving criticism, I find more in commonwith these brothers than I do with the Amillennialists or Postmil-lennialists. I have found that when Dispensationalists listen to myexegesis of the biblical texts, their hearts resonate with the conclu-sions and they soon change their view.

I humbly hope that dialogues like this can continue for thestrengthening of God’s people.


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Jay Rogers of Postmillennialismresponds...1. ‘Are you pre-trib, mid-trib or post-trib?’This is too often the entire scope of eschatological debate amongtoday’s Christians. Dispensational Premillennialism is the view ofmany 21st century evangelical Christians. Indeed, most would besurprised to discover that the great figures of the Christian faith,such as Athanasius, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, wrote absolu-tely nothing on the ‘rapture’ nor the ‘seven year tribulation.’ Suchideas were foreign to them. Dispensational eschatology, with itselaborate prophecy charts and theories on the ‘mark of the beast’,appeared on the scene as recently as 1830. Yet it did not become a pre-vailing view until the beginning of the 20th century. So I begin withthis point of rebuttal: If a doctrine is new, then it probably isn’t true.

For 1800 years, Christian orthodoxy prevailed without encoun-tering the elaborate prophecy charts devised by followers of Sco-field and Darby. While the historic premillennial view separates theSecond Coming and the judgment by 1000 years, DispensationalPremillennialism – a view never heard of before 1830 – separatesthese two events by 1007 years. Dispensationalism teaches, in effect,three Second Comings: the coming of Christ for the saints at the rap-ture; the coming of Christ to the earth at the end of the seven yeartribulation; and the Father’s coming at the end of the Millennium.

If you hold strongly to the dispensational view as the only view– and certainly the view of the Bible – you should put aside yourprejudices for a moment. You should take the time to examine andunderstand the three more prominent historical views. Finally, youshould make judgments pertaining to the plain meaning of theBible’s texts. The best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture, not theteachings of so-called ‘end-times prophecy experts’.

Dispensationalism is the eschatological view furthest from Post-millennialism. Here there is the strongest disagreement. The twoviews are furthest apart on the theological spectrum. We disagreenot just in our views of the ‘end-times’, the rapture, the Antichrist,the tribulation, and the Millennium, but even more fundamentally,on the method of interpreting the Bible. The two approaches toScripture are so radically different that Postmillennialists and Dis-pensational Premillennialists have entirely different worldviews.


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2. Two views of the BibleTo the orthodox Christian, the unity of the covenants of Scriptureand the moral law of God are obvious foundations of Christiansocial order. The covenantal idea of God’s unchanging eternal cove-nant, and a corresponding high view of the moral law of God, standin stark contrast to Dispensationalism and Antinomianism.

The dispensational theory of Premillennialism has gained greatpopularity mainly among modern evangelicals. Dispensationalism,with its elaborate conspiracy theories, time tables, charts and gra-phic scenarios, is essentially a chiliast error. It has been most oftenaccompanied by the false notion that the Second Coming is a predic-table event with an identifiable time-table. This is despite Christ’swarning that ‘it is not for you to know the times or the seasons’(Acts 1:7).

The fascination with the exact date of the Second Coming alwaysappears as history approaches years with big round numbers.Chiliasm reappeared shortly before 500, 1000 and AD1500. Not sur-prisingly, we saw a re-emergence of this error in full force as weapproached 2000. Financially profitable publications advancing theo-ries and speculations on the Second Coming are appearing every-where. In contrast to Christ’s biblical admonition against predictingthe time of the Second Coming (Matt. 25:13), many evangelicalbooks authored in recent years have predicted the exact time of theSecond Advent, for example: Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth,Edgar Whisenant’s, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be In 1988, andHarold Camping’s 1994, which was a best seller in 1993, and thenovel series, Left Behind, by Tim LaHaye.

However, now that we have passed the millennial milestone of2000, many Christians are reconsidering their eschatological view-point. Many Christians have been taught that geo-political Israelwould be a focus of end-time events. Seeing now that over 50 yearshave passed since the establishment of a Jewish nation-state, manyare reconsidering an alternate interpretation of both the MountOlivet Discourse and the Book of Revelation.

3. Covenantal theologyIn the historic view, the covenant and the law of God have alwaysbeen the obvious foundations of a godly social order. Covenantaltheology laid the groundwork for a political theory which held that


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the family, the church, civil government, and all society came intobeing as a contract on the basis of God’s eternal covenant. Hence,the moral law of God must be the foundation for a society’s lawsand civil order.

The Puritans held to this covenantal or ‘federal’ theology whichmaintains that God operates through covenants, or eternally bind-ing legal agreements with men. The Old and New Covenants areGod’s basis for governing the universe. There is no divisionbetween the Covenants. The New Covenant is built firmly on thefoundation of the Old Covenant. This presupposes that the law doesnot change: ‘Do not think that I came to abolish the law or theProphets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill’ (Matt. 5:17, nasb).God is not a dispensational, evolving, developing God; he is a Godthat never changes: ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, andforever’ (Heb. 13:8, nkjv).

This is true of both the Old and New Covenant. We have in theBible sixty-six books that are really one book. We should interpretScripture with Scripture. Daniel, the Mount Olivet Discourse, andthe Book of Revelation are commentaries on one another. In essence,Revelation is the capstone of all biblical prophecy pointing to thetiming of the coming of the Messiah in the first century. If we under-stand Revelation as being John’s commentary on the same eventsdescribed by Jesus in the Mount Olivet Discourse, then a mostlypreterist perspective is the only approach that makes any sense.

I believe that most of what is written in the Book of Revelationwas fulfilled in AD70. Yet the first time I heard this idea, I wasshocked that anyone could propose such a theory. However, when Ibegan to study church history, I began to understand more aboutthe context in which Revelation was written. I was then introducedto some solid preterist commentaries on Revelation and found solidconfirmation.

We are not headed toward an end-time tribulation. This hasastounding implications for how we should live our lives. Scofieldand Darby wrote in the 1800s that since the time was so short, andsince evil was on the rise (so they thought), Christians ought not toinvolve themselves in social or political issues, but ought to be con-cerned instead with the saving of souls. Dispensationalists havetaught this for over 170 years. Thus pessimistic, conspiratorial think-ing has become a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Christians have


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retreated from involvement in the world because of a faulty theolo-gy that states that the world is predestined to get worse and worse.And because of this retreat, the world has become worse in manyrespects. The default of Christians on many social issues has led toincreasing godlessness in western societies. But all this can change ifenough evangelicals make the necessary paradigm shift toward avibrant, robust covenantal theology. What the nations of the worldexperience in the next few years, will largely depend on the obedi-ence of Christians to the word of God.

4. What about the rapture?In my rebuttal to Historic Premillennialism, I argue that the purposeof the Book of Daniel is to point the Jews to the exact time and cir-cumstances surrounding the coming of the Messiah. The main pur-pose of Daniel’s prophecy is to point to the first advent, not thesecond advent. Further, the context of 1 Corinthians 15:23-25, 50-54indicates a simultaneous Second Coming and final judgment.

So what about the rapture? Is the rapture secret or not? Post-millennialists believe in the rapture. We simply do not believe in thedispensational version of this great event. The rapture is synony-mous with the resurrection of the righteous. However, this eventwill not be secret. It will not occur seven years prior to a future Mil-lennium, nor 1007 years prior to the final judgment. Postmillen-nialists believe in the rapture. We believe it will occur at the time ofthe Second Coming, just before the final judgment, after the millen-nial reign is complete.

Larry Waugh writes: ‘The rapture has to happen before the GreatTribulation.’ As an apparent proof text, Waugh quotes the questionasked by Christ: ‘But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when hecomes?’ (Lk. 18:8). Waugh wants to believe that the Son of Man willnot find faith on the earth when he returns. Yet we Postmillennia-lists see great victory for the gospel in history. ‘“The days are coming,’declares the Lord, ‘when the reaper will be overtaken by the plow-man and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will dripfrom the mountains and flow from all the hills”’ (Amos 9:13, nkjv).

Obviously, Postmillennialists do not interpret Luke 18:8 in thenegative. The whole context of this parable is that it is to demon-strate that we always ought to pray in faith and never to growweary of praying (vs.2-7). The question, ‘Nevertheless when the Son


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of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?’ (v.8) is demonstra-tive rather than interrogative; that is, the answer is not ‘yes’ or ‘no’.The question concludes the parable as a rhetorical device. We asChristians must pray in faith and never grow weary. We are com-manded by our Lord to pray even if the answer to prayer is late incoming, even until the time when the Son of Man returns to theearth.

5. The preterist view of RevelationThe preterist view of Revelation – that it was to be a warning and anencouragement to the early Church that was about to face the wrathof Nero and the Roman armies – would make little or no senseunless the church at that time understood it as such. Is there any evi-dence that they did? (Ironically this question exposes the error of thefuturist viewpoint. It recognizes the need of Revelation’s relevanceto its first century audience, which preterism fits perfectly.)

Revelation’s warning about Rome and the coming Jewish Warare matters found not only in this book. The same warning is givenin the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24), the parables of Jesus (Matt. 20-23),and various warnings of impending judgment elsewhere in the NewTestament (2 Thessalonians; Hebrews; James; 1 Peter).

The question should be asked whether Christians understood thosereferences too. We know that the early Christians understood thecoming judgment upon Israel and Jerusalem. Eusebius mentionsthe Christians in Judea escaping as the Jewish War broke out. Latercommentaries on Revelation indicate that its events refer to theJewish War. For example, the Syriac versions of Revelation mentionit was written under Nero; Andreas and Arethas of Capadocia andthe Sibylline Oracles also refer to Nero as the beast.

6. The context of RevelationDo preterists believe there is a future Armageddon? If not, then dowe believe there is going to be war again in the Middle East?(Premillennialists have been predicting an imminent Armageddonin Israel for many years.) With the developments in the Middle East,with terrorism on the rise, a war in Afghanistan, and Iran and Iraq’salleged possession of nuclear technology to destroy Israel (and allthe power plays concerning that) is there going to be a future finalconflagration?


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Yes, but it occurs at the end of the Millennium, not at the begin-ning (Rev. 20:7-8). Further, it will occur after a time of ‘peace andsafety’ – not as the culmination of many years of ‘wars and rumorsof wars’. Since we are not anywhere near the end of the Millennium(neither from a premillennial nor postmillennial view) I do not see abrewing war in the Middle East as a possible fulfillment of Reve-lation 20. According to Revelation 20, there is a war between therebellious among the nations of the world and Christ himself. It willserve to separate the wheat from the chaff on the earth just beforethe final judgment. It will occur among all the nations of the world.

Many preterists see the events in Revelation 16 (the battle of Arma-geddon) as having already taken place at the time of the Roman siegeof Jerusalem in AD70. In any case, Revelation 16 and 20 are not aboutgeo-political developments in the 20th century Middle East.

7. Victory or defeat?Dispensational Premillennialism presents a worldview in diamet-ric opposition to Postmillennialism. Dispensationalism teaches, inessence, that evil is a greater force than good in history. Currentworld events are interpreted in a conspiratorial light. The Church asa whole will fall into apostasy and will fail to fulfill the GreatCommission. Christ will appear with an angelic cavalry with trum-pets blaring to rescue a remnant.

Dispensational Premillennialism places the Church in a positionof an ‘evangelism-only’ role in the end times (since Christ’s SecondComing could be very near, it is necessary to save as many as possi-ble while there is still time left); it places the appearance of theAntichrist’s one-world-government somewhere during the lastseven years of time; and it usually involves a Great Tribulation inthe last seven years of time, during which time the Church is to beraptured, or physically caught up to be in heaven with Jesus. At theend of this tribulation period, the Second Coming occurs and thesaints who were caught up to be in heaven for a period of timereturn to rule and reign with Jesus on the earth.

Postmillennialism places the Church in a role, not only of evan-gelism, but of discipling the nations as well (not only will many besaved, but whole social structures will be transformed); the rule ofthe Antichrist is more loosely interpreted as the current world sys-tem of Satan which is being overthrown by the progressive, sove-


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reign judgments of God; thus ‘tribulation’ is viewed, not as a seven-year time period, but as the sum total of all the judgments of God inhistory. And although the rapture is not usually focused upon, itdoes occur at the very end of the Millennium when Jesus returnsphysically to the earth and the saints are simultaneously caughtaway to be with Jesus. Before the Second Coming, the Church’s roleis to rule with Christ, not in heaven, but as his ambassadors onearth.

Your view of the end-times will affect how you view currentevents and it will even greater affect how you respond to the call ofmissions. If your worldview is dominated by conspiracy, then youneed to change your thinking to allow the providence of God tohave full reign in the course of history and in your life.

Joseph L. Meiring of Amillennialismresponds...Whenever I engage in a debate with a Dispensational Premillen-nialist, I am always overwhelmed with all the many events theyassert are to happen in the very near future. I notice that brotherLarry is no exception. In his first four pages of his treatise he whisksus through some astonishing scenes that are soon to take place inheaven and on earth:

1. The rapture of New Testament believers to heaven, not to comeback to earth for the next 1007 years.

2. The impending Great Tribulation, with resultant masspersecutions.

3. No Holy Spirit on earth, yet people are born into God’s familyas Christians!

4. Also, mass Jewish conversions, yet without the saving power ofthe Holy Spirit!

5. Then Christ returns to rule as king in Israel for 1000 yearsleaving his bride in heaven without their bridegroom.

6. After his righteous rule of 1000 years, Christ and his followersare very nearly obliterated.

7. Fire from heaven rescues the beleaguered Christ and the saints.8. The unsaved dead are raised and judged.9. New heavens and new earth ensue.


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1. Dispensational hermeneuticsScripture references abound, but with little regard to context, ormeaning. Here are some prime examples of Larry’s dispensationalhermeneutic:

‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcomethe world.’ (Jn. 16:33)

According to Larry, in this sentence Jesus really meant: In this worldbelievers will have tribulation – but not great tribulation, becausebelievers will not be in the world then. So, do not take heart that Ihave overcome the world, take heart that I will snatch you out of theworld!

‘For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equalled again.’ (Matt. 24:21)

According to Larry Jesus really meant: For then there will be greatdistress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now andnever to be equalled again, but this has nothing to do with the NewTestament believer. No, do not fear, I will snatch them out of the earthinto heaven before the time of the Great Tribulation, seven yearsbefore my Second Coming!

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been givenauthority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had beenbeheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of theword of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image andhad not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. Theycame to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest ofthe dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.)This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who havepart in the first resurrection. The second death has no power overthem, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reignwith him for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:4-6)

According to Larry these verses mean that Christ will establish hiskingdom in Israel. However, I fail to see the word Israel, or Pales-tine, or even earth for that matter!

‘Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior ofthe body.’ (Eph. 5:23, NASB)


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According to Larry this verse means that Israel will be restored tothe land of Canaan, but the Church will exist in heaven as Christ’sbride! Is this being fair to the word of God? Can you simply just addyour own point of view like this?

Larry also makes reference to the following texts, and then againinserts his own meaning to them:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me...Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessedare those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, becausethe time is near... For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but toreceive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jn. 4:1; Rev. 1:3; 1Thes. 5:9)

These texts, says Larry, means that Christians must not worry aboutthe things coming upon the earth, but to be happy, not because theyare blessed and have received salvation, not because they havetrusted in God, but because a coming time of great tribulation is notintended for them!

Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in themiddle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out onthe desolate. (Dan. 9:27, NKJV)

This verse means, according to Larry, that the pope is to set up athrone in the temple in the middle of the Great Tribulation!

I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countrieswhere you have been scattered-with a mighty hand and anoutstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you intothe desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will executejudgment upon you. As I judged your fathers in the desert of theland of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign LORD. Iwill take note of you as you pass under my rod, and I will bring youinto the bond of the covenant. I will purge you of those who revoltand rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the landwhere they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel. Thenyou will know that I am the LORD. (Ezek. 20:34-38)

Larry says that this deals with the raising of all the Old Testamentbelievers and martyrs of the coming Great Tribulation, and the judg-


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ing of the believers before they enter the 1000-year reign of the LordJesus. (Oddly, the text says they will not enter Israel!) I sometimeswonder if we are reading the same Bible when I come across thiskind of fanciful interpretation of God’s word.

Let us now investigate in some detail the following view thatbrother Larry insists is Scriptural:

2. The great escape from the Great TribulationHe says that he is glad the pre-tribulation rapture theory is the mostpopular amongst Christians. This of course is a meaningless state-ment. The Mass is also the most popular way of celebrating the Lord’ssupper amongst [Roman Catholic] Christians – does this make it tobe true? He certainly is correct when he uses the term theory,because that is exactly what it is: nothing more than a theory! It is certainly not proven from Scripture! Is the body of Christ to beraptured out of this world prior to a period of worldwide tribula-tion? Is the Church promised exemption from divine wrath in theScriptures?

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified byhis blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wraththrough him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciledto him through the death of his Son, how much more, having beenreconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Rom. 5:8-10)

Here we are taught that we will be saved from God’s wrath. Whatwrath? The context makes it clear that Paul is talking about beingsaved from hell, and not from a coming time of tribulation.

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person –such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom ofChrist and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, forbecause of such things God’s wrath comes on those who aredisobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you wereonce darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children oflight. (Eph. 5:5-8)

Here Paul addresses the fate of the unsaved. He contrasts the fate ofunbelievers with believers – not in a coming time of tribulation, butfor eternity.


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Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which isidolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used towalk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must ridyourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slanderand filthy language from your lips. (Col. 3:5-8)

Here we are told that the wrath of God is coming on those who prac-tice the sins mentioned in the opening verse. Nothing in these versesindicate any kind of rescuing of believers from a coming earthlywrath.

The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia andAchaia – your faith in God has become known everywhere. Thereforewe do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves reportwhat kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to Godfrom idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Sonfrom heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues usfrom the coming wrath. (1 Thes. 1:8-10)

Verse 10 tells us that Jesus delivers us from the ‘coming wrath’.What wrath? Is this a different wrath from that which we havelooked at thus far? Look at what Paul says in the next chapter:

For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea,which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymenthe same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed theLord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displeaseGod and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us fromspeaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way theyalways heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has comeupon them at last. (1 Thes. 2:14-16)

The ‘coming wrath’ is the wrath that has come upon the Jews asseen from the above quotation. Jesus is the One who rescues us fromGod’s ultimate judgement: the wrath of hell, not from a so-calledfuture time of great tribulation! Not once has Paul even hinted at asecret rescuing of Christians from any earthly wrath.

But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting onfaith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation


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through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether weare awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Thereforeencourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact youare doing. (1 Thes. 5:8-11)

Here wrath is contrasted with salvation through Jesus Christ. Wewill not suffer the wrath of hell because we are saved. Nothingwhatsoever is said about a secret rapture of the Church out of theperiod of the Great Tribulation.

The message of all these passages quoted thus far (and there aremany more) is that the Church is destined for salvation while thelost are destined for the wrath of God, both now and for eternity.These texts do not imply anywhere that the Church cannot be pre-sent on earth when God is pouring out his vengeance on particularpeople at a particular time. In fact, God’s people have often beenpresent when he has poured out his wrath (Ex. 10-11).

3. The Church will go through the Great TribulationThe following verses teach that the Church can indeed be presentupon the earth during the Great Tribulation:

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the wordsof him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What heopens, no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open... Sinceyou have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep youfrom the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world totest those who live on the earth. (Rev. 3:7, 10)

Jesus never promised to remove the entire Church physically fromthe earth. Jesus said that he would keep them from the hour of trial,just as he said in John 17, ‘I have given them your word and theworld has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than Iam of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of theworld but that you protect [or keep] them from the evil one’ (vs.14-15). Jesus never said he would take us out of the world when trialscome. But he did say that he would keep us from them, just as Godkept Noah and his family from the ravages of the flood. He nevertook them out of the flood.

Jesus will keep us in the midst of the most intense trials we willever go through (see Jas. 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 1:3-9). Jesus will ensure that we


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can endure any temptation or trial that comes our way (1 Cor.10:13). There are in fact no texts in the Bible which tells us that Godwill rapture the Church out of the world prior to any great tribula-tion. What he has promised is that he will keep us from times of tri-bulation and testing. He can do it because he has overcome theworld, and greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world (1 Jn. 4:4).

4. No Millennium predicted by the Old Testament prophetsFinally, brother Larry quoted prophecies from the Old Testament,implying that they must refer to the millennial reign of Christ. Iwish to show that these prophecies, in fact, find their fulfilment inthis Gospel Age and ultimately in the new earth that God will bringabout at the return of Christ Jesus:

Amos 9:11-15:This prophecy is already being fulfilled now, and has nothing to dowith a future earthly Millennium. In the New Testament Jamesdeclares that this prophecy refers to the gathering of the Gentilesinto the Church during this present Gospel Age:

And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, Men andbrethren, listen to me: Simon has declared how God at the firstvisited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. Andwith this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: Afterthis I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which hasfallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up; so that therest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who arecalled by My name, says the Lord who does all these things. (Acts15:13-17, NKJV)

We, who are Gentiles, are fulfilling this prophecy, as we come to asaving knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and are brought into the Church.

Micah 4:1-5:I fail to see how the Dispensational Premillennialists can so readilyassert that this prophecy relates to the Millennium when they tell usthat nations certainly shall learn war, and will rise up again in warat the end of the Millennium. This prophecy relates to the new earththat will usher in eternity because only then will there be no morewar, no more tears and no more death.


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Micah 5:2-5:This prophecy was fulfilled at Christ’s first coming. He is the Ruler;he is the King. He feeds his flock now, and will do so for all eternityin the new earth and new heavens. He is our peace now. We whowere once far off have now been brought into the commonwealth ofIsrael; we who were once at war with God are now blessed becausewe are the peacemakers.

Psalm 2:6-8 and 72:8-14:Christ is King now. Jesus came as King, riding on a colt (Zech. 9:9;Matt. 21:4-5). Christ is reigning now (1 Cor. 15:25). He has all authorityin heaven and earth now (Matt. 28:18). Paul and Silas preached Jesusas King (Acts 17:7). When we were saved, we were translated into thekingdom of the Son (Col. 1:13). And so we preach Jesus as King overall, as Lord of all, now (Acts 2:36; 17:7). Jesus sits on his throne now.

Worthy is the Lamb ... to receive power ... and honour and glory... Tohim who sits on the throne ... be glory and power, forever and ever!Amen. (Rev. 5:12-14)

Christ took his seat on David’s throne as King at his resurrection(Acts 2:30-31, 33). All things are put in subjection under his feet now(Eph. 1:22).

Our dispensationalist brothers assert that we must wait for a yetfuture age when Jesus will be made king. But, even then, it will notdo for them to say that Jesus will reign as king in the Millennium.According to their depiction of the Millennium, he will not! Theytell us that thousands of millions of people will not bow to him astheir sovereign, but instead be sinners of the very worst kind, plot-ting and scheming to kill this One they detest, and at the first chancethey get, they attempt to do just that! What sort of kingly rule is this?Where in all of Scripture is such a demeaning role depicted of ourglorified risen Saviour?

These prophecies are being fulfilled now, and will be fully real-ized when King Jesus returns. On the new earth all his elect willserve him, and honour him, and love him, and bow down beforehim, wherein righteousness and peace and joy dwells, not just for1000 years, but forever and ever.

[For my exposition on the passages quoted by Larry from Isaiahand Zechariah, please see my rebuttal to Historic Premillennialism.]


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PART TWO

Historic PremillennialismBy Rodney D. Stortz

The seventy weeks of Daniel – The First Coming of Christ: Thefirst premise is that the seventy weeks of Daniel have already

been fulfilled in the first coming of Christ. In the 70th year of thecaptivity (536BC), Daniel was reading Jeremiah’s scroll. In the scrollDaniel found the prophecy of Jeremiah 29:10 which predicted thatthe captivity in Babylon would last for 70 years. So Daniel prayedthat God would keep his promise, end the captivity, restore Jeru-salem and allow the temple to be rebuilt (Dan. 9:4-19). God immedi-ately sent the angel Gabriel in answer to Daniel’s prayer (Dan.9:20-23). Gabriel brought an encoded message saying that the sev-enty ‘sevens’ had been decreed in answer to his prayer (Dan. 9:24).As the captivity lasted 70 years, the fulfilment of the answer wouldtake 70 x seven years or 490 years, hence the seventy ‘sevens’.

1. The purpose of the seventy weeksThe purposes of these 490 years are given in Daniel 9:24. All six ofthese purposes were fulfilled in the first coming of Christ:

1. ‘To finish transgression,’ (see Heb. 9:26-28)2. ‘To put an end to sin,’ (Ibid.)3. ‘To atone for wickedness,’ (see Heb. 2:17; Rom. 3:25)4. ‘To bring in everlasting righteousness,’ (see Is. 51:6, 8)5. ‘To seal up vision and prophecy,’ (see 1 Cor. 13:8-10 cf. Rev. 22:18

where ‘the perfect’ is the completion of the Scriptures to whichnothing more could be added)

6. ‘To anoint the most holy [One]’ (see Acts 10:37-38).

To paraphrase what Gabriel said in Daniel 9:25-27:‘In answer to your prayer, I have good news and I have bad news.The good news is that the temple will be rebuilt (v.25), but the badnews is that it will be destroyed again (v.26). The good news is thatin less than 490 years, the Messiah (the Anointed One) will be here

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on earth, but the bad news is that the Messiah will then be cut off; hewill die (v.26). But the best news of all is that when the Messiah dies,after his three and a half year ministry, he will put an end to theneed for sacrifice. Not one more drop of blood will need to be shed.’

Daniel’s request was answered immeasurably more than he hadasked or even imagined.

2. The exegesisThe key to understanding Daniel 9:27 is to know to whom the pro-noun ‘he’ refers. Any pronoun must have an antecedent thatappears in the context. There is really only one exegetically soundpossibility. ‘He’ is the Messiah, the Anointed One (v.26). One reasonwe say this is because ‘the Anointed One’ is the main focus ofGabriel’s words. He is the one these verses are about. Now, there arethose who think ‘he’ refers to the Antichrist. One main problemwith this view is that the Antichrist does not even appear in thiscontext. The ruler who will come to destroy the city and the sanctu-ary was the Roman Emperor Titus. He was not the Antichrist. Theseverses are not focusing on the Antichrist; rather they are focusing onthe Christ.

There are those of the dispensational view who think that ‘he’ isthe Antichrist who makes a covenant, a treaty, with the Jews forthree and a half years, rebuilds their temple after the return of Christ[the secret rapture of the Church] and helps them restore their sacri-ficial system. Then after those three and a half years he turns into amonster, stops their sacrifices and persecutes the Jews for anotherthree and a half years. One major problem with this view is thatthere are two Hebrew words that refer to ‘making a covenant.’ OneHebrew word means to ‘make a covenant’ or literally ‘to cut a cove-nant.’ That would be used if someone were making a treaty with agroup of people. The other Hebrew word means ‘to confirm acovenant already in existence.’ That is the word used in Daniel 9:27.The New International Version translates it accurately, ‘He will con-firm a covenant with many for one “seven.”’ The Messiah did thiswhen he confirmed or ratified the Covenant of Grace in his blood!

There is no exegetical reason for believing there is a break betweenthe 69th week and the 70th week anymore than there is a breakbetween the seventh week and the 62 weeks. Daniel predicts thatfrom the issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (458 BC) till the


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Messiah would arrive, there would be 490 consecutive years. Thefirst three and a half years of the seventieth ‘seven’ refers to Jesus’earthly ministry. Remember Daniel said that ‘after the seven and 62sevens the Messiah would be cut off’ – that means after 483 yearsfrom the issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. It turned out tobe exactly three and a half years after. The last three and a half yearsrefers to the beginning of the Church when God protected her inJerusalem after Jesus ascended into heaven, until the persecutionbroke out in Acts 8 commencing with the death of Stephen. You canread the explanation of the latter three and a half year period inRevelation 12:1-17. Here is a brief summary of what you would findthere:

After the male child, Jesus, was caught up to heaven, the woman(who is the Church) was cared for by God for 1260 days or three anda half years (vs.6, 14). The dragon tried to destroy the Church with apersecution described as a torrent of water from the dragon’smouth. But the Bible says that the earth opened up and swallowedthe water, thus saving the life of the Church (vs.15-16). In the sameway, when the persecution of Acts 8 started, Satan thought hewould destroy the Church, but rather he spread the Church all overthe world and many were brought into the kingdom. This is the lasthalf of the seventieth ‘seven’ of Daniel. All is fulfilled in the first cen-tury around the first coming of Jesus Christ. Daniel 9 has nothing todo with the Second Coming!

The seven seals – signs of Christ’s returnThe second premise is that the seven seals introduce the seven signsof Christ’s return. The seven seals, which are found in Revelation 6,are exactly parallel to Jesus’ description of the signs that will heraldhis return found in Matthew 24 and Luke 21:8-12. Jesus says inMatthew 24:8 that these signs are ‘the beginning of birth-pains’.Birth pains increase with frequency and intensity the closer a womangets to giving birth to her child. For these signs to be the beginningof birth pains, they must increase in frequency and intensity thecloser we come to the return of Christ. This becomes clearer whenwe see that these signs have been evident since Jesus ascended intoheaven. The seven seals span the time from the cross to the crown,the death of Christ to the return of Christ.

Historic Premillennialism

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1. The first five sealsThe first five of the seven seals are grouped together. These fivesigns will increase in frequency and intensity the closer we get to hisreturn. They are as follows:

1. False Christs, false prophets and false religions (Matt. 24:4-5cf. Rev. 6:1-2)

2. Wars and rumors of wars (Matt. 24:6 cf. Rev. 6:3-4)3. Famines (Matt. 24:7 cf. Rev. 6:5-6)4. Death by earthquake, plague and sword (Matt. 24:7 cf. Rev. 6:7-8)5. Persecution and martyrdom (Matt. 24:9 cf. Rev. 6:9)

At the end of those five signs, Jesus says, ‘this gospel of the kingdomwill be preached in the whole world ... and then the end will come’(Matt. 24:14). The time of his return is certainly getting closer as thegospel is being translated into more and more languages every year.No other time in the history of the world has the gospel coveredover three-quarters of the earth through the miracle of radio.

There is another sign of his coming that has been fulfilled, but isnot referred to in the seven seals. This is the return of the Jews toIsrael. Their return was prophesied in Isaiah 11:10-12 and in Luke 21where Jesus said that the Jews ‘will be taken as prisoners to all thenations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until thetimes of the Gentiles are fulfilled’ (v.24). That prophecy was fulfilledwhen the Jews began to return to their homeland in 1947. The spe-cific prophecy about Jerusalem was fulfilled at the end of the 1967six-day war when the Israeli soldiers crashed the wailing wall andopened it up for the Jewish people.

2. The sixth sealThe sixth seal or the sixth sign that both Jesus and John mention isthe visible return of Christ. Jesus describes it like this:

Immediately after the distress [or tribulation] of those days, the sunwill be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars willfall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At thattime the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all thenations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Mancoming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And hewill send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather


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his elect [the rapture] from the four winds, from one end of theheavens to the other. (Matt. 24:29-31)

Note the similarities of Jesus’ words to John’s description of thesixth seal:

I watched as He opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake.The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the wholemoon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as latefigs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The skyreceded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island wasremoved from its place. (Rev. 6:12-14)

3. The seventh sealWhen the seventh seal opens, seven trumpets are revealed. This issignificant, because it shows that the seven trumpets are a flashbackto part of the time covered by the seven seals. In other words, theseven trumpets do not follow the seven seals, but partially overlap.The seven trumpets that will be explained in the next section des-cribe the Great Tribulation. An easy way to remember this is that theseals are signs and the trumpets are tribulation. (The bowls of wrathfollow in time after the seven trumpets, because the seventh trum-pet does not reveal the bowls.)

The Seven Trumpets – The Great TribulationThe seven trumpets describe the Great Tribulation that will imme-diately precede the rapture. The Great Tribulation will last for threeand a halfyears and will start when the Antichrist, a world ruler whois Satan incarnate, appears to die and come back to life (Rev. 13). Thistribulation will be the best of times and it will be the worst of times.

The Great Tribulation will be the best of times for the world,because the nations will be at peace with each other (1 Thes. 5:3). Itwill be the worst of times for the Christian, because they are goingto be persecuted world-wide (Rev. 13:7-10). This persecution willnot be more severe than what Christians have endured in the past,but for the first time in history it will be world-wide.

It will be the best of times for Christians, because the Church willgrow faster than it ever has in its history. Jews will join the Churchin huge numbers as they are grafted back into the olive tree (Rom.


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11:17-26) and the Spirit is poured out on them (Zech. 12:10-13).These are the 144,000 Jews who come to Christ and join the Churchmentioned in Revelation 7. It will be the worst of times for theworld, because of all the ecological disasters and the physical paininflicted on unbelievers by a plague of God (Rev. 9:1-12).

1. The six trumpetsThe events of the six trumpets are found in Revelation 8-9. These arethe troubles that will come upon the whole world. Jesus said:

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nationswill be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of thesea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming onthe world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. (Lk. 21:25-26)

1. The first trumpet: One third of the earth will be burned up (Rev. 8:7).

2. The second trumpet: One third of the sea will be destroyed (Rev. 8:8-9).

3. The third trumpet: One third of the rivers will be turned bitter(Rev. 8:10-11).

4. The fourth trumpet: One third of the sun will be turned dark(Rev. 8:12).

5. The fifth trumpet: Unbelievers will be tormented by locusts for five months (Rev. 9:1-11).

Now these are word pictures of great ecological disaster. Whetherthe water will literally turn to blood or one third of the sun literallynot produce light is not the important thing. The important thing isthat something will happen that will result in one third of the earth’svegetation being destroyed, one third of the fish of the sea dyingand the light on the earth being effected in some way. Somethingreal will happen and you will only understand when it happens!

6. The sixth trumpet: Two hundred million troops gather for battle.John adds, ‘I heard their number!’ (Rev. 9:16). It is as if Johnknows that people will not believe him or take him literally,because there were not even 200 million people in the world inhis day. Now we can see how 200 million troops could gatherfrom all the nations. We have every reason to take John literally,because ‘he heard their number!’


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2. The seventh trumpetThis is the last trumpet. When the seventh trumpet sounds, there areloud voices in heaven that cry, ‘The kingdom of the world hasbecome the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reignfor ever and ever’ (Rev. 11:15). Christ will come back at the sound-ing of the last trumpet. That is exactly what the apostle Paul said in1 Corinthians 15:51-52:

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all bechanged – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, andwe will be changed.

This word ‘mystery’ is important too. Revelation 10:5-7 says:

Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raisedhis right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earthand all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, ‘Therewill be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel isabout to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished,just as he announced to his servants the prophets [including Paul].’

The context of the last trumpet in Revelation 11 also shows that therapture occurs at the time of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, atthe end of the Great Tribulation. Revelation tells of two witnesseswho will preach the gospel for the three and a half years of the Anti-christ’s rule (vs.3-6). Finally, the Antichrist will kill them and theirbodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days(vs.7-9). The people of the world will celebrate by sending gifts toeach other (v.10). Finally, after lying in the streets for three and a halfdays, they will come to life and a loud voice will call them up toheaven (vs.11-12). This is the rapture of the saints and we will becaught up with them in the air. (For further details on the raptureread and study 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.)

The return of ChristWhen Christ appears in the clouds in power and great glory, everyeye will see him and all the nations of the earth will mourn over himfor then it will be too late. The believers of every age, Jew and Gentile,


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dead and alive, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air only toescort him immediately back to earth. This is based on the fact thatthe Greek word in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which is translated ‘to meet’the Lord in the air, is a technical military term according to authorand theologian William Hendriksen. This military term is used todescribe the people of the city who would go out ‘to meet’ a con-quering king and escort him back into the city. This Greek word isused in only two other places in the New Testament: Matthew 25:6and Acts 28:15-16. In both cases, people go out to meet someoneonly to escort them back.

The believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air so thatGod can pour out his bowls of wrath against the unbelievers whoremain.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 that ‘God did not appoint us tosuffer wrath’. We will be taken out before the bowls of wrath arepoured out. Nowhere in the Bible does it mention how long this willlast. This will probably not be but a few days or weeks. We will then‘escort the Lord’ back to this earth which will be renewed (Rom.8:20-21) and we will reign with him as he rules his earthly kingdomfor one thousand years.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews says, ‘When [Jesus] hadoffered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the righthand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made hisfootstool...’ (Heb. 10:12-13). And Hebrews 2:8 says, ‘Yet at present, wedo not see everything subject to him’. Jesus is the Sovereign ruler ofheaven and earth now, but he has not yet made his enemies his foot-stool. He is not reigning now, as he will one day in the Millennium.

The MillenniumThe Millennium is the prelude to the new heavens and new earth.We will be in the Millennium with our new resurrected bodiesenjoying the earthly pleasures of human life. The main differencebetween the Millennium and the final, eternal state is that there willbe unbelievers on the earth during the Millennium. Three texts showthis to be true.

First, Zechariah 14:1-18 describes the return of Christ on theMount of Olives to fight against the nations who have gatheredagainst Jerusalem. Zechariah 14:9 says, ‘[On that day] the LORD will


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be king over the whole earth’. Then after describing the dreadfulplague that will fall upon all who fought against Jerusalem, theprophet adds that the ‘survivors’ went up to Jerusalem to celebratethe Feast of Tabernacles and that if they did not go up, they werepunished (vs.16-18). There will be unbelievers here on earth for athousand years, living in their mortal bodies. Some will say, ‘Howcan this be? Mortals living along side of immortals?’ Jesus did it for fortydays. He ate food with them. He talked with them, walked withthem, laughed with them. He was not a ghost. He had a new body,but a body it was.

Another passage is Isaiah 65:17-25. The Lord speaks throughIsaiah saying, ‘Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come tomind’ (v.17). He is obviously talking about a time yet future after thereturn of Christ. He goes on to say in this text:

Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, oran old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundredwill be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will beconsidered accursed. (v.20)

Will there be death in the new heavens and new earth? Only if weunderstand that there will be unbelievers in the first thousand yearsor the Millennium will this make sense. Since the curse will be liftedin this new world, disease will not take their lives so it will be nor-mal for mortals to live for 800-900 years like they did in Genesissoon after the Fall of Adam. It took awhile for the results of the curseto shorten the life span of humankind. In the Millennium, that willbe reversed.

It is because of the unbelievers that the Bible says Jesus must rulewith ‘an iron scepter’ (Rev. 19:15). The main reason for the millennial,earthly reign of Christ is to show the world what righteous rule is all about.People down through history have longed for that kind of rule, butbecause of sin it has never happened. Christ will demonstrate right-eous rule and just punishments.

The injustices of governments are a constant frustration toChristians. Now, if only believers were here on earth at this time,even I could rule righteously. It is not hard to govern perfect people.But Christ will rule unbelievers righteously and he will rule with aniron scepter!


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The third passage is Revelation 20:7-8:

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from hisprison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of theearth – Gog and Magog [see Ezekiel 38-39] – to gather them for battle.

If this is going to take place after the thousand-year reign of Christ,then there has to be unbelievers in the Millennium. These are notnew people. They have been there during the entire reign.

One reason for believing that we are not in the Millennium nowis the exegesis of Revelation 20:3. Some believe that when theScripture says that Satan will be bound for a thousand years, it isspeaking of right now. The reason for this is Jesus’ words in thegospel when he was accused of being the prince of demons becausehe could cast out demons (Matt. 12:22-29). In paraphrase Jesus said,‘No, that is not the reason I can cast them out. The reason I can castthem out is because I have bound the strong man.’ The main prob-lem with this view is that it overlooks the reason for the binding ofSatan. Revelation 20:3 says, ‘He threw him into the Abyss, and lockedand sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended’. We are not in theMillennium now, because Satan is still deceiving the nations (2 Cor.11:1-4; Eph. 6:10-18; 1 Jn. 5:19).

One other consideration as to why this is not the Millennium hasto do with the fact that during the Millennium we ‘will reign withhim’ (Rev. 20:6). In my sinful nature, I still do not even submit to himcompletely. How dare I suggest that I reign with him?

The conclusionAt the end of the Millennium and the final rebellion, Satan is throwninto the lake of burning sulfur joining the beast and the falseprophet. After that, the Great White Throne Judgment will takeplace. All unbelievers of all ages will be raised [the second resurrec-tion] to stand before the throne of God to receive their final, eternalsentence of burning in the flames of Hell. After that, the NewJerusalem will come down out of heaven and the unbelievers will begone forever and we will spend eternity on a brand new, perfectearth. We will not spend eternity in heaven, but on the earth forwhich we were made.


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Larry Waugh of Dispensationalismresponds...Rodney Stortz presents a credible thesis, making a lot of sense. Forinstance, he supports the fact that we will reign with Christ duringthe Millennium. The Church, as Christ’s bride, will become his queensince he is the King. And so reigning with him would not imply thequeen holding a separate court over the people, but supporting theKing, (and therefore not being amongst the people being judged).

For the rest, I see authenticity in Rodney’s views. I think the tri-bulation does refer to the whole of the last two millennia. However,I believe that the final seven-year tribulation will be a focussingreplay in intense detail of the 2000-year tribulation, making it theGreat Tribulation, specifically for the benefit of humankind whocontinued to ignore God and serve mammon. Those of us, who didlearn from tribulation by dying to Christ, will be counted worthy toescape this wrath to come.

The thing about persecution of the Christians not continuing intothe Great Tribulation is based on the premise that the Great Tribu-lation cannot begin until the Restrainer is taken out of the way (2 Thes. 2:7-8). Since the Holy Spirit is the Restrainer, and he lives inevery true believer, there cannot be any Christians around if theHoly Spirit were supposed to have been withdrawn. Hence the rap-ture will precede the Great Tribulation. Then, as the Antichrist beginsto reveal himself, many of the lukewarm ‘Christians’ are going towake up to the fact that the rapture did in fact occur, and that theironly hope consequently of getting to heaven is through refusing themark of the beast, which entails being hounded to death by theAntichrist’s forces (Rev. 13:16-18; 15:1-2). Some ‘Christians’ will getabsorbed into Antichrist’s mystery religion because it seems soright. The Jews will get the wake-up call when Antichrist sets him-self up in the temple and proclaims himself to be God. This will hap-pen in the middle of the seven-year tribulation (Dan. 9:27), so thatfor the last three and a half years the remnant will come into effect –144000 Jews for Jesus who give Antichrist a hard time (Rev. 7).

Regarding who the ‘he’ is of Daniel 9:27: Reading the latter por-tion of Daniel’s book, I get the impression that it has all to do withthe end-times and the deeds of the Antichrist. So the ‘he’ here refersto the Antichrist.


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Jay Rogers of Postmillennialismresponds...In rebutting Historic Premillennialism, it should first be noted thatthere is a great area of agreement between Historic Premillennialists,Amillennialists, and Postmillennialists.

All Christians agree that the Church, called ‘the bride’ and ‘theNew Jerusalem’ in Revelation 20, exists both in heaven and on earthprior to the Second Coming. We agree that Revelation 20 describesthe final attack of Satan’s forces against Christ and the Church. AllChristians agree that Christ will return in bodily form at the end ofhistory to judge the living and the dead.

We agree that the events that are to precede the Second Adventare as follows:

� The universal diffusion of the gospel will occur in history; this isthe primary calling and purpose of the Church.

� The Jews are to be converted. (This conversion is to be national.As their casting away was national, although a remnant wassaved; so their conversion will be national, although some mayremain hardened.)

� After the Great Commission is fulfilled, there will be a generalapostasy, which will occur for a brief time prior to the SecondComing of the Lord.

We also agree that the events of the Second Coming involve the res-urrection of the dead, of the just and of the unjust; the final judgment;the end of the world; and the consummation of Christ’s kingdom.

This is called the ‘common church doctrine’, because it has beenthe prevalent idea among all Christians for 2000 years. For the firstfew hundred years of church history, the common doctrine did noteven have a name. There was no elaborate differentiation of millen-nial theories such as is found among today’s Bible scholars. It wassimply the broad statement of faith of the Apostle’s Creed and theteachings of the church fathers.

At face value, there is no great contradiction between Premil-lennialism, Amillennialism, and Postmillennialism in light of thecommon church doctrine. The common church doctrine is that thereis to be a personal, visible, and glorious advent of the Son of God. Themain debate between the three millennial views is over the exact chro-


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nology of end-time events, and more importantly, the exact nature ofthe Millennium. Is Christ’s rule during the Millennium heavenly orearthly? Is there a thousand year gap between the Second Comingand the final judgment? Are certain biblical passages to be under-stood as yet-to-be-fulfilled ‘end-time’ events or as already fulfilledprophecy? Is Revelation to be interpreted literally or figuratively?

1. Christ’s rule: earthly or heavenly?The debate between earthly rule vs. heavenly rule is not new.Historic Premillennialism has been a view of the Church since theearly centuries. At that time, the idea was called chiliasm (alsoknown as millenarianism). Chiliasm is derived from the Greek wordfor ‘thousand’, kilo. A chiliast is a person who teaches that the ‘thou-sand year’ reign of Christ depicted by John in Revelation 20, is anearthly, immanent kingdom.

If Revelation 20:9 is read through a premillennial filter, thenChrist will rule from an earthly Jerusalem during a 1000-year peri-od in the future. Throughout history, Premillennialists have oftenmade predictions as to the exact date of the return of Jesus Christ byusing the number 1000 as a literal key. The year AD1000 was thoughtto be the time of Jesus’ Second Coming by chiliasts of that era. Sotoo, the year 2000 is thought to be somewhere near the ‘end-times’by today’s Premillennialists. Jesus said to his disciples concerninghis Second Coming: ‘It is not for you to know times or seasonswhich the Father has put in His own authority’ (Acts 1:7, NKJV).

Even more problematic is the teaching that Christ’s kingdom ispostponed until the Second Coming. From the following Scriptureswe see that Christ’s kingdom is not an earthly kingdom, but has itsthrone of authority in heaven. At the same time, Christ’s authorityto rule is manifest on earth:

‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ (Jn. 18:36)

‘And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has beengiven to Me in heaven and on earth.’’ (Matt. 28:18, NKJV)

‘But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country ... for He hasprepared a city for them... For here [on earth] we have no continuingcity, but we seek the one to come.’ (Heb. 11:16; 13:14, NKJV)(Also see Jn. 6:15; Acts 2:34-35; Eph. 1:20-21; Phil. 3:20.)


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Postmillennialists have often been accused of being people whowant to establish Christ’s kingdom on earth by ‘taking over theworld using the arm of the flesh’. On the contrary, we Postmillen-nialists try to be as consistent as possible with the whole of theBible’s teaching on the kingdom of God.

According to Jesus, the kingdom of God is not earthly but hea-venly, yet Christ rules over the nations from heaven now. Christdoes not have to wait to be given earthly authority, because it hasalready been given. The Bible teaches that Christ’s kingdom is not ofthis world (Jn. 18:36); nor does it consist of earthly things (Rom.14:17).

2. The Second Coming and the final judgment: separated by 1000 years?

Premillennialism teaches that there is a 1000-year gap between theSecond Coming of Christ and the final judgment. The resurrectionof the saints and the resurrection of the wicked are also separated bya thousand years. Both the postmillennial and amillennial viewsmaintain that these events are virtually simultaneous.

... when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mightyangels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not knowGod, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord JesusChrist. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction fromthe presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when Hecomes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admiredamong all those who believe. (2 Thes. 1:7-10, NKJV; cf. 1 Cor. 15:23-25, 50-54)

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which theheavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements willmelt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in itwill be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved,what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct andgodliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God,because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and theelements will melt with fervent heat? (2 Pet. 3:10-12, NKJV)

Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are inthe graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done


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good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to theresurrection of condemnation. (Jn. 5:28-29, NKJV)

Through a careful examination of these Scriptures and others des-cribing the Second Coming, I found no evidence for a premillennialadvent. In fact, I came to believe that the Bible explicitly teaches asimultaneous Second Coming and final judgment.

3. The meaning of the MillenniumWhat then can be the meaning of the Millennium in Revelation 20?Many Christians throughout history have assumed that the Millen-nium cannot be here now, because of ‘all the evil things that aregoing on in the world’. As evidence of this, the Scripture is giventhat Satan is still the ‘prince of this world’ (Jn. 16:11), and therefore,Christ’s rule has not yet come.

As supposed proof that the Millennium is a future, earthly king-dom, Stortz quotes Revelation 20:3: ‘He threw him into the Abyss,and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving thenations any more until the thousand years were ended.’ Stortz thusargues, ‘We are not in the Millennium now, because Satan is stilldeceiving the nations.’

While it is true that Satan is not bound in every respect, it is stilltrue that Satan is bound in respect to having dominion over the hea-then nations. Until Christ came, Satan was not bound in this man-ner. But ever since the gospel of the kingdom was preached, thispower of hell has been vanquished. Satan is still alive on planetearth, but far from well. He is bound from deceiving the nationsanymore until the Great Commission is completed.

Jesus states in John 16:11 that although Satan is the ‘prince of thisworld’, he is already judged by God. In fact, Jesus demonstrated hisdominion over demons as a sign that the kingdom had indeedcome. ‘But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt thekingdom of God is come upon you’ (Lk. 11:20).

Postmillennialists view the Millennium as the metaphor to des-cribe the reign of Christ’s kingdom in history. Although the king-dom won’t come in its fullness until Christ returns, the kingdom hasalready come through the ministry of Christ. Although it is a heav-enly kingdom with the seat of authority in heaven, it is also manifeston the earth.


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4. Daniel interpreted: fulfilled or unfulfilled prophecy?Since Premillennialists interpret the Millennium to be a futureearthly kingdom, they also assign nearly every biblical prophecy inDaniel, Matthew 24-25 (the Mount Olivet Discourse) and Revelation(as well as many other ‘apocalyptic’ passages in Scripture) to thefuture – and usually the not-too-distant future.

My interpretation of most of the Book of Revelation is preterist.That is, most of the Book of Revelation (and the Mount of OlivetDiscourse) deals with first century events. Daniel deals mainly withevents leading up to the first coming of Christ, not the SecondComing. These are not primarily eschatological books, although theSecond Coming comes into view in these prophecies.

I agree with Stortz’s critique of the popular dispensationalapproach to Daniel. There is no break in the ‘seventy weeks’ ofDaniel 9 leading us to the time of Christ, then halting in the middleof week 70, and picking up again in the middle of a future ‘end-times’ tribulation. In agreement with Stortz, I see this ‘seventyweeks’ of years as continuous. My main disagreement with Stortz isthat although he correctly sees Daniel as fulfilled prophecy, he stillplaces the Book of Revelation in the far off future. Daniel is, in fact,the backdrop to the Mount of Olive Discourse and the Book ofRevelation. Scripture interprets Scripture. This is an interpretiveapproach little understood in our day. This situation underscoresmy contention that the main issues between Postmillennialists andother views, arise not just from our different interpretation ofRevelation 20, but from a vastly different hermeneutical approach tothe entire Bible.

Many Bible interpreters, especially Premillennialists, have soughtto apply a futurist interpretation, placing at least some of the eventsdescribed in chapters 2, 7-12 as yet to take place. But the best possi-ble explanation of Daniel is a preterist interpretation. The eventsdescribed in Daniel were fulfilled at or before the time of Christ.This position creates the least amount of problems from an interpre-tive standpoint. Only a fair knowledge of ancient history is neededto do this. Nevertheless, there are few commentaries on the book-shelves today fully describing the preterist point of view.

From our perspective today, an understanding of Daniel is para-mount to understanding the Mount of Olives Discourse in Matthew24, Luke 20 and Mark 13. In two of these passages, Jesus refers to the


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‘abomination of desolation’ referred to in the prophecy of Daniel. InMark 13:14 (NKJV), the author inserts the aside: (‘let the reader under-stand’). ‘Understand what exactly?’ one might ask. Obviously, fromthe context, the passage of Daniel. And unless we have the correctinterpretation of Daniel, we will not be able to understand theMount of Olives Discourse.

Therefore, a historical approach to Daniel is necessary for under-standing the purpose of the Book of Daniel. Daniel was a prophecygiven so that the restored Jews would know the times and eventssurrounding the coming of the Messiah. That is the main purpose ofDaniel chapters 2, 7-12.

I cannot in so short a space, include my entire interpretation ofDaniel from a preterist approach. However, I will present a shortpreterist interpretation of Daniel chapters 2, 7, 9-12. I will concludeby showing the flaws in futurist approaches. What follows is notmeant to be a complete commentary on the entire book of Daniel oreven an exhaustive treatment of the passages quoted here. I am heremerely interpreting the language and symbols of the predictive pas-sages by applying them to known historical events.

Daniel 2:In this chapter, Daniel interprets a dream for King Nebuchadnezzar.It’s important to note that Daniel apparently had the same dream orvision, because he first tells the king the contents of the dream hehad. Daniel then interprets the dream.

Another kingdom inferior to thee (v.39) – This refers to the Medes andthe Persians.

Another third kingdom of brass (v.39) – This refers to the conquest ofthe world by Alexander the Great.

The fourth kingdom (v.40) – The successors of Alexander, the kings ofSyria and Egypt, arose after Alexander’s untimely death. Thisincludes the entire Greco-Roman period including the RomanEmpire. Up until the time of the birth of Christ, the Roman Empirewas plagued by numerous civil wars. Scholars disagree here. Thefourth kingdom includes the entire time from Alexander until therule of the ten kings, the Roman Emperors, who brought Pax Romana(‘peace’) to the Empire.


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Iron mixed with miry clay (v.43) – This refers to the military might ofthe Roman Empire which brought a forced union of all the nationsof the world including the nations of Judea and Samaria.

The seed of men (v.43) – The Jews at the time of the Roman Empirewere mixed with the iron military might of the Empire, but did notcome fully under the dominion of Caesar.

And in the days of these kings (v.44) – Simply put, in the days of theRoman Empire. At that time, the kingdom of God will be brought toearth by Jesus Christ and shall never be destroyed, but it shall waragainst the kingdoms of this world and they shall become part ofthe kingdom of God and of his Christ (Rev 11:15).

The stone was cut out of the mountain without hands (v.45) – This doesnot refer to Jesus the Messiah himself as many futurists have imag-ined. But it is stated plainly that the stone is the kingdom of God.This kingdom appeared in the days of the Roman Empire at thecoming of Christ.

Daniel 7:Another king arose in Babylon. Daniel by then had great authorityin the kingdom. In this chapter, it is Daniel himself who relates avision and its interpretation.

Four great beasts (v.3) – These again are the four great kingdoms, theChaldean, Medio-Persian, Greek and Roman Empires. This is thesame vision as in chapter two, but with different symbolism. Whilesome choose to understand the fourth beast as the successors ofAlexander, especially the kings who ruled in Asia and Syria, thethrust of the whole prophecy of Daniel indicates that it is the RomanEmpire at the time of the coming of Christ.

Ten horns (v.7) – These are the ten kings also mentioned in Revela-tion 17:12. These ten kings are the ten emperors of the Roman Em-pire until AD70. The Roman emperors were greater than all theworld rulers before them. Beginning with Julius Caesar, there areten emperors until the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. They areJulius, Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho,Vitellius, Vespasian. The reign of these kings parallel the period ofthe ministry of the Messiah and the apostles.


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Another little horn (v.8) – Some have applied this to the Syrian rulerAntiochus Epiphanes during the time after Alexander. Antiochus’desecration of the temple in 336BC is prophesied in Daniel 8:9. Butkeeping with the consistent application of this passage to the RomanEmpire, I must conclude that this speaks of Nero Caesar. He is thelittle horn ‘among them’ the sixth of the ten emperors. Thus he is‘another little horn.’

Three of the first horns plucked up by the roots (v.8 cf. v.20) – Threeemperors, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius were assassinated tomake way for Nero, who was not in the line of direct succession.

The Ancient of Days (v.9) – This passage speaks of God the Father.This is one of the Old Testament passages in which we see the threepersons of the Trinity. Some interpret the ‘fiery stream’ (v.10) a sym-bolizing of the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and theSon.

The beast was slain (v.11) – This speaks of the destruction of theRoman Empire and especially of Nero who committed suicide byslaying himself with a military sword used to kill many people.

As concerning the rest of the beasts (v.12) – After Nero, the power of theRoman Emperors was greatly diminished, yet they continued.

The son of man (v.13) – This speaks of Jesus Christ, the Son of Godwho is fully God and fully man. In the Gospels, Jesus identifies him-self as the ‘Son of Man’ in order to identify himself as the Messiah.

Dominion, and glory, and a kingdom (v.14) – Christ was given the keysof the kingdom by God the Father when he sat down at the righthand of God after his resurrection and ascension. This kingdom isnot a future kingdom. It began in the days of the Roman Empire. Itovercame Rome and will overcome all the kingdoms of this world.It will last forever.

The saints of the most High shall take the kingdom (v.18) – Here is adominion mandate given not only to Christ, but to the saints. We areto possess the whole kingdom – the whole world for the dominionof Jesus Christ. This commission was given at the time of Christ.Note that if the premillennial view is true, then the saints are not topossess the kingdom until the Second Coming. But the context of


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Daniel is that the kingdom of God begins at the time of Christ, dur-ing the time of the fourth kingdom.

The same horn made war with the saints (v.21) – Nero began a persecu-tion of the saints which began in AD63 and lasted until his death.

Another shall rise after them (v.24) – Nero was born one year after thedeath of the first Caesar Augustus. Nero was not in the direct line ofsuccession, but three emperors were assassinated to make way forhim.

Until a time and times and the dividing of time (v.25) – Literally, ‘time,times, half a time.’ If we understand a time to mean a year, then it isthree and a half years. Nero’s persecution of the church lasted exact-ly 42 months or three and a half years.

An everlasting kingdom (v.27) – The purpose of this passage, and theentire prophecy of Daniel, is to give the Jews a correct understand-ing of the time when the Messiah would come and to declare whenthe kingdom of heaven would come on earth.

Daniel 9:Daniel was fervently praying for the Jews in Babylon in response toJeremiah’s prophecy that 70 years were determined for their time ofcaptivity. The angel Gabriel then appeared to Daniel and gave himfurther revelation of things to come in the history of the Jews. In thischapter, the exact timing of the coming of the Messiah is given.

Seventy weeks (v.24) – ‘Seventy sevens’, or seventy weeks of years(i.e., 490 years) are determined until the time of the coming of theMessiah. In Hebrew, the word for week is the same as ‘seven’.

From the going forth of the commandment (v.24) – From the 20th year ofKing Artaxerxes, in 457BC, when by his commandment Nehemiahrebuilt the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2). From this time, accord-ing to the best chronology, there were just 69 weeks of years (483years) to the baptism of Jesus Christ, in AD27, when he first began topreach and execute the office of the Messiah.

Even in troublous times (v.25) – Refers to the difficulties and obstaclesNehemiah met in building, and to the shortness of time in whichthey finished the wall, i.e., fifty-two days.


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After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off ... (v.26) – After 74years the Messiah shall be cut off. This seems to refer to the 74-yearperiod from the time of the birth of Christ in 4BC, until the destruc-tion of the Jerusalem in AD70. This is roughly 74 years.

... but not for himself (v.26) – Christ’s rulership was not cut off in theearth, except as an offering to be the Lord and Savior of the Jewishpeople. After the 74 year period of offering the gospel to the Jews,their nation was cut off from relationship with God, together withthe temple offerings.

And the people of the prince (v.26) – The Roman legions under theirgeneral, Titus, the son of the Emperor Vespasian, who destroyed Jeru-salem and the temple in AD70.

In the midst [or middle] of the week (v.27) – Christ preached for three-and a-half years and then, by his sacrifice on the cross, abolished allthe sacrifices of the law.

The overspreading of abominations (v.27) – This most likely refers to the‘abomination of desolation’ – the bringing of ensigns and standardsof the pagan Romans in to the temple. Antiochus Epiphanes of theAssyrians profaned the temple restored in the time of Ezra. Titus,Roman destructor of Herod’s temple, profaned the temple in AD70.This could also refer to the profanation of the temple by the Jewswho rejected the Messiah.

Daniel 10:Beginning in Daniel 10 and throughout the rest of the visions, Danielis given a list of kings who will drive most of world history until thetime of the Messiah. Futurists will apply an interpretation to thesechapters that puts all of these rulers in the future. However, a preter-ist approach is a great testimony to the power of the Scriptures asGod’s Word. It is amazing that these prophecies have been fulfilledto the minutest detail. Here we have an accurate outline of history,prophesied even before any of the events took place, which point tothe exact time of the coming of the Messiah. So that we should notmiss the Messiah, the major world rulers of the fourth kingdom,Greece and Rome, are depicted. In Daniel 10, an angel appears to theprophet and gives an interpretation of a vision. This prophecyoccurs during the reign of Cyrus, king of the Persians.


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Daniel 11:The angel shows Daniel the wars and succession of kings in thePersian and Grecian empires. The kings of Egypt and Syria arenoted. Judea was between their dominions, and affected by theirwars. The remainder of this chapter is controversial. Commentatorsdiffer much respecting it. Many commentators have interpretedthese verses to pertain to a future antichrist, however, the contextpoints us to Antiochus Epiphanes, the cruel and violent persecutorof the Jews. The end of chapter 11 brings us to the beginning of theRoman Empire, to ‘the days of [those] kings’ (Dan. 2:44).

Daniel 12:The end of the Book of Daniel also speaks to us about the events ofthe first century.

There shall be a time of trouble (v.1) – This refers to the Great Tribula-tion from AD68 to AD70. In the Mount of Olives Discourse (Matthew24:21), Jesus is directly alluding to this passage. ‘For then there willbe great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of theworld until this time, no, nor ever shall be’ (NKJV). That is, history isgoing to continue for some time after this. History will continue forsome time after the great tribulation. He also tells his disciples thatthe tribulation will be cut short for the sake of the elect (v.22).

Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake (v.2) – Thisrefers to the gospel being preached. Many who sleep in the dust,both Jews and Gentiles, shall be awakened by it out of their cor-rupted form of Judaism and their outright heathenism. And in theend the multitude that sleep in the dust shall awake; many shallarise to life, and many to shame. This passage refers to eternal sal-vation in the future state, but also to salvation in this life.

They that be wise shall shine (v.3) – There is glory reserved for all thesaints in the future state, for all that are wise, wise for their souls andeternity. Those who turn many to righteousness, who turn sinnersfrom the errors of their ways and help to save their souls from death(Jas. 5:20), will share in the glory of those they have helped to hea-ven, which will add to their own glory.

The time of the end (v.4) – The time when these prophecies shall befulfilled. This is not a reference to the ‘end-times’.


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A thousand two hundred and ninety days (v.11) – This is 1290 days orroughly three-and-a-half years. This refers to the siege of Jerusalemfrom the spring of AD67 to the destruction of the temple in Septem-ber AD70. Vespasian entered the land in the spring of 67, butJerusalem did not fall until AD70, when his son, Titus, finished thecampaign.

The thousand three hundred and five and thirty days (v.12) – This isanother forty-five days beyond the time of trouble. Those who wereforewarned and survived the holocaust were Christians living inJerusalem who had been forewarned by Jesus’ prophecy to flee thecity to the hills of Judea in order to wait out the siege.

The end of the days (v.13) – This refers to the end of the thousand threehundred and five and thirty days. This does not refer to the ‘endtimes’ in an eschatological sense as many have supposed.

5. The futurist and the ‘dual fulfillment’ dilemmaAfter understanding the argument in favor of the preterist interpre-tation, many will readily admit that what I have described here is,more or less, correct. Some scholars and Bible students, still wantingto cling to a futurist interpretation, then propose what is termed the‘Dual Fulfillment Theory’.

It is obvious that most of Daniel’s prophecies have been fulfilled.Most futurists readily admit this, but do not make the historicalapplications to all of the kingdoms and rulers of ancient history.What they do instead is to take some of the obscure passages andapply them to future events.

Could it be that prophecies work on a number of different levels?That it was, on one level, speaking about some things that wereabout to happen, but that it could be speaking to us today aboutthings that must still take place? Is there such a thing as a ‘dual ful-fillment’ of the prophecies in Revelation?

Are we to believe that all of the details of Daniel, the MountOlivet Discourse, and Revelation occur twice? Two six-sealed scrolls?Two beasts? Two groups of 144,000? Two Armageddons? Two Mil-lenniums?

On and on we could go. If you adopt a dual-fulfillment view, youare doing so on the basis of theological prejudice, not on a soundmethod of interpretation.


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6. Interpretation of Revelation: literal or figurative?One of the most common objections to Postmillennialists is that wespiritualize too much of the Book of Revelation. Postmillennialistsare criticized when we understand ‘thousand’ as a figurative termmeaning a ‘very long time’. Ironically, Premillennialists take verylittle of chapter 20 literally. Do Premillennialists teach that armies inthe future will be riding horses and using wooden weapons? Arethere literally going to be two countries named Gog and Magog? Itis impossible for Premillennialists to be perfectly consistent in thisapproach.

When Premillennialists insist that every ‘thousand’ in the Biblebe taken literally, I point them to the following passage:

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God,which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keephis commandments to a thousand generations. (Deut. 7:9)

If a generation is at least forty years, and a ‘thousand generations’ istaken literally here, then the Second Coming cannot occur until atleast 40,000 years after Abraham – still a long way off! So whetheryou must always take a ‘thousand’ literally or not, Postmillennialismis true in the respect that we still have a long way to go beforeChrist’s Second Coming.

For many, that will seem incredible. It cuts across the grain of themost recent popular teachings on the end-times. For years Chris-tians have been taught to expect defeat and a quick deliverance fromtribulation. Yet postmillennial optimism is not a new idea. In fact,most Christians throughout history held to a hopeful eschatology.Most regarded the eschatology of defeat to be a strange idea.

The Bible gives us the eschatology of victory. This is not blindoptimism. There will be tribulation. But before the Second Comingof Christ, the gospel will be preached and Christianity will take root,grow, and bear fruit throughout the world.

Joseph L. Meiring of Amillennialismresponds...I agree with brother Rodney Stortz that Daniel 9 has nothing to dowith the Second Coming. I also agree that Matthew 24 and Luke 21are in harmony with Revelation 6, as relating to the Second Coming


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of Christ. Note especially verse 17 of Revelation 6 where the ‘day oftheir wrath’ is described as having come, and where the peopleattempt to hide from the impending judgement of God; surely anindication of the return of Christ. And I also heartily concur withRodney that the last trumpet signifies the return of Christ; as 1 Corin-thians 15 states: At the last trumpet the resurrection occurs (v.52);we will put on immortality and imperishability (v.53); then deathwill be no more (v.54). This is in total agreement with Revelation 11,where it is stated that the wrath of God has come; the time for thedead to be judged has come; and the time of rewarding the saintshas come. All this is a perfect picture of the coming of our Lord Jesusin which he brings about resurrection, judgement, and destructionof the last enemy: death.

1. No earthly millennial reign of Jesus ChristBut after saying all this, brother Rodney says that we will go back tothe earth with Jesus, and reign with him for 1000 years in a still sin-ful, wicked, and dying world! He states that we will have our glori-ous resurrected bodies, clothed with immortality, but enjoyingearthly pleasures of human life! Enjoying sin, and corruption, anddeath all around us? But that cannot be because death is no more,according to 1 Corinthians 15!

He says further that immortal glorified saints will mingle withmortal unglorified unbelievers. What unbelievers? Where do theycome from? Because by reading Revelation 19, from verse 11 to theend, you will find that all the unbelievers are destroyed at his SecondComing. You will read the following: Heaven is opened becauseJesus is coming again. He comes as king to judge and to destroy allhis enemies. Note verse 21: ‘the rest were killed’ (NKJV). All thosewho had been deceived by the false prophet and who had followedthe beast are utterly destroyed. Therefore, there is no more evil.

But now we are told, by Premillennialists, that King Jesus and hissaints reign for 1000 years, after which his enemies nearly wipe himout! And just where do all these millions upon millions of evildoerscome from at the end of this supposed millennial reign? Where doesdeath supposedly come from, when at the last trumpet Christ abo-lished death? First Corinthians 15:23ff clearly states that at Christ’scoming we are to be raised, then comes the end. Then he delivers hiskingdom to the Father. He delivers up his present kingdom for he is


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King now and he reigns now. He reigns until he has abolished thelast enemy, which is death, at his Second Coming. What need of afurther ‘Millennium’?

Let us simply take the word of God as it stands: Jesus never oncespoke of his coming to establish a temporary 1000 year earthlyreign, where sin and death is still rampant in a fallen, wicked world.Neither does Peter, nor Paul, nor James, nor John. It is very clear thatat his return the resurrection and judgment takes place. He sits onhis throne and assigns people to eternal bliss or eternal punishment.He then ushers in the new earth and new heavens for all eternity.The rest of the New Testament writers, as I have shown in my essay,agree to this end-time order.

Rodney says he dare not suggest that he reigns now with Christalthough God says so in his word. You have been raised with him,and you are seated with him in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6). Youare a kingdom and a priest, and you are reigning on the earth now(Rev. 5:10). You are reigning in life now through Jesus Christ (Rom.5:17; Rev. 20:6).

2. Satan is bound nowRodney mentions three texts in defence of his point of view that wecannot be in the Millennium now because Satan is still deceiving thenations (see Rev. 20:3):

I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you arealready doing that. I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. Ipromised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present youas a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve wasdeceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be ledastray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someonecomes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or adifferent gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easilyenough. (2 Cor. 11:1-4)

This has nothing to do with Satan deceiving the nations. It has to dowith the believer being ensnared by false teachings.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on thefull armour of God so that you can take your stand against the


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devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, butagainst the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of thisdark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlyrealms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when theday of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and afteryou have done everything, to stand. (Eph. 6:10-13)

Again, this has nothing to do with Satan deceiving the nations. It isall about the believer’s weapons of war (vs.14-18) to fight off theattacks of evil that come upon every child of God in this life.

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world isunder the control of the evil one. (1 Jn. 5:19)

Every unbeliever certainly is controlled by Satan in the sense thathis mind is darkened to the gospel until God awakens him andbrings him to new life by causing him to be born again. But this is afar cry from saying that Satan is dominant in the world, and that theworld does not respond to the gospel as in the time of the OldCovenant when the whole world, save Israel, was under the controlof Satan.

Satan cannot now deceive the world. He cannot gather the worldto do battle against the Church of Jesus Christ, as he will do when heis set free for a short time before the return of our Lord Jesus (Rev.20:7-8). Christ’s Church is being built, it is expanding, and the gatesof hell cannot overcome it until God gives Satan back that power atthe end of this Gospel Age. And then, once more, the nations will bedeceived and they will rise up against the saints only to be finallydefeated by the power of God.

Brother Rodney cites three passages of Scripture to show thatthere will be unbelievers on earth during the Millennium: Reve-lation 20:7-8; Isaiah 65:17-25; Zechariah 14:1-18.

3. Revelation 20: the gospel ageRodney certainly is correct when he says that there are unbelieversin the Millennium, and that they are not ‘new people’. That isbecause we are in the Millennium now! (I have explained this ingreat detail in my view on when and where the Millennium takesplace). Revelation 20 is a picture of the whole Gospel Age. It showsSatan is bound so as not to deceive the nations any longer during


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the Gospel Age. John sees thrones, and he sees souls reigning withJesus. He also sees that Satan, at the end of this age, is given poweragain to deceive the world once more. Then there is a huge uprisingagainst the followers of Christ. Then Christ returns, and sits on histhrone to judge and to assign all his enemies to the lake of fire. Thenhe ushers in the new heavens and new earth for his elect.

Revelation 20 is not a chronological follow on of Revelation 19. InRevelation 19 Christ returns, there is war, and we see how he des-troys his every enemy. Revelation 20 again shows war, Christ returns,and his enemies are sent to their eternal death. Chapter 20, there-fore, is another picture of the same event as in chapter 19. This is nota strange phenomenon to Revelation. In Revelation 11:15ff the sev-enth trumpet is sounded, and it is time for judgment to reward hissaints and to consign the wicked to hell. Revelation 12 begins withthe birth of Christ, and the start of the Church. Revelation 12 is nota chronological follow on of Revelation 11, just as Revelation 20 isnot a follow on of Revelation 19.

As a matter of fact, the Book of Revelation is a series of ‘pictures’.Each scene shows greater detail of the return of Christ than the pre-ceding one, with the last one of course showing the destruction ofthe arch-enemy of Christ and his Church, Satan himself, and theushering in of the new earth and new heavens:

� Chapter 1 – All will see Christ at his return, and the earth willmourn.

� Chapter 6-7 – The day of wrath has come. There is distress andfear. The saints are given joy forevermore. There is no morehunger and thirst and no more tears for God is with them.

� Chapter 11 – The day of wrath has come. The dead are judgedand the saints are rewarded. Heaven is opened.

� Chapter 14 – Christ comes on clouds to judge. The wine press ofthe wrath of God is trodden.

� Chapter 16 – The great day of God has come. Christ comes like athief, unexpectedly. The battle of Armageddon takes place.There is cosmic upheaval. The cup of wine of God’s wrath ispoured out.

� Chapter 19 – Heaven is opened. Christ comes to judge. There iswar, and all his enemies are destroyed.


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� Chapter 20 – The battle of Gog and Magog. Christ is on thethrone to judge. There is cosmic upheaval and fear and distress.The Great White Throne Judgment takes place. The newheavens and new earth ensue, and the saints are with Godforever.

All these passages have recurring themes of battle, day of wrath,fear and distress, judgement, and blessings for saints. All these willonly happen concurrently at the return of Christ.

Brother Rodney says that the main reason for the Millennium isto show the world what ‘righteous rule is all about’! But how cansinful, depraved, unrighteous, earthly creatures ever even begin tosee what righteous rule is? They cannot! They are blind to the thingsof God, dead in their sin, and God-haters. They are unable to com-prehend spiritual matters, having their understanding darkened.And they will remain so until they are enabled to see the kingdomof God by being born again of the Spirit of God. Then, and onlythen, will any depraved sinner see what righteous rule is all about;as every believer in fact is able to see now, and is able to love theChrist whom he has never seen. No one is ever saved by seeingwhat righteous rule is all about. We are saved by being born fromabove, born anew, into the family of God.

4. Isaiah 65: The new heavens and new earthThis passage is speaking about the new earth and heavens that willcome into being for all eternity at the return of Jesus Christ; and notabout a 1000 year earthly rule.

I will create new heavens and a new earth... rejoice forever in what Iwill create, [not just for 1000 years]... The sound of weeping and ofcrying will be heard in it no more. (vs.17-19)

There is a description of the wolf and lamb feeding together – surelya picture of perfect peace – not just for a time, but for all time (v.25).It states that there will be no evil (NASB), or no destruction (NIV), inall of the land of God. This ties in with other passages that depict thenew heavens and new earth:

1. Isaiah 11 echoes all the above, and adds that the earth will befull of the knowledge of the Lord (v.9). This cannot be thesupposed millennial reign of Christ, because we are told by the


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Premillennialists that the majority of people living then do notknow or love the Lord Jesus, and will have nothing to do withhim.

2. In Isaiah 2 there is a wonderful description of weapons of warbeing abandoned, and war is ended for all time: ‘never againwill they learn war’ (v.4, NASB). Again, this cannot be theclassical/historic type of Millennium, because war is not endedin their Millennium. Isaiah continues, ‘all the nations willstream to the mountain of the house of the Lord’ (v.2), joyfullyworshipping the one true God. This is certainly not the pictureof the Millennium of the Classical Premillennialists where, theytell us, the bulk of the nations are forced grudgingly to offersacrifices and praises to God. Only in the new earth will thisprophecy be completely fulfilled.

3. Isaiah 25:6-10 is another picture of the new earth. There are no more tears because God himself will wipe them away (cf.Revelation 21). And the prophecy goes on to say that death isswallowed up ‘for all time’ (v.8, NASB). His elect gladly worshiphim, rejoicing in their salvation (v.9). Again, this cannot be adescription of the Classical Premillennialist’s Millennium,where we are told that there is still tears and death, and wherethe majority do not rejoice in salvation but remain in their sin.

4. Revelation 21 says of the new heaven and new earth that therewill be no sorrow, no tears, no mourning (cf. Isaiah 65). God willbe with his people and they will be his people for all time.Surely this is a confirmation of all that we have seen thus far inthe above quoted passages. Revelation 21 also goes on todeclare that there will be no more death in the new heavens andearth (as is depicted in Isaiah 25).

The overriding emphasis of Scripture of the new earth and heavensis no pain, no sorrow, no tears, because there is no death. Isaiah inchapter 65 also affirms this when he says that God is creating a newheavens and a new earth. We are to rejoice forever. There is never tobe weeping and crying again. No infant will live but a few days.Elderly folk will be able to live out all their days. But then he men-tions death whilst still speaking of the new earth (v.20)! Is Isaiahhere contradicting himself and the rest of Scripture? No, Scripture


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cannot contradict Scripture. All that Isaiah is doing is contrasting, infigurative terms, the present fallen state of humankind with his eter-nal glorified state. Now babies die at birth, then never. Now the elder-ly are taken away in death before effecting their responsibilities, asit were, then they will live out their days to the full. Now to live to ahundred years means quite simply one is old (aged), and is in fact arare accomplishment, then to live to a hundred years one would beconsidered a mere youth. And, in fact, if you did not reach 100 years,you would be considered to be a sinner (accursed).

The Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah certainly does notmean that there are to be some folk who will not reach a hundredyears in the new heavens and earth. If we fall into the trap of takingthese words absolutely literally, then we must say that the elect ofGod, his chosen people, will only live the lifespan of a tree in thenew earth (v.22)! The prophet is using figurative language. Just aswe look at a tree today and see how firm and sure it stands, seemingto survive forever in relation to our fleeting existence, so then wewill stand firm and sure forever in the new earth. We will enjoy thework of our hands, not for 100 years, not for 200 years, not for 1000years, but for all eternity. For we will be a people blessed by theLord (v.23). The ravages of sin – violence, destruction and death –will be removed forever and ever in the new earth (v.25).

5. Zechariah 14: The spread of the gospel and expansion of the Church

This chapter has nothing to do with a temporal earthly ‘reign’ of theglorified Christ in which sin still abounds. This chapter starts byprophesying the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans, although aremnant shall be spared (vs.1-2). It goes on to state that the Messiahis to come and the Holy Spirit is to be poured out to the world, toJew and Gentile, for the whole Gospel Age (vs.3-9). The whole landof Judea ‘shall be turned into a plain’ (v.10, NKJV). I take this as a fig-ure to denote the spread of the gospel, as in Isaiah 40:

Make straight ... a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raisedup, every mountain and hill made low ... the rugged places a plain.(vs.3-4)

This never happened literally, but it was a figure for the coming ofJohn the Baptist to announce the coming of the Messiah.


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The city of God will be secure for the spreading of gospel bless-ings (v.11). Nothing will stop the expansion of the Church of JesusChrist. Then there are announced judgements against the enemiesof God (vs.12-15). Christ’s foes will be made his footstool, but hisfriends will worship him year after year (v.16), i.e. for all time; ‘tooffer up spiritual sacrifices to [him] (1 Pet. 2:5, NKJV). The enemies ofthe Messiah will receive punishment, likened here to the withhold-ing of rain (vs.17-19). This concurs with Zechariah 10:1, where weare urged to ask the Lord for rain, for it is he who gives to his peo-ple his showers of blessing, as it were. Another example can befound in Deuteronomy 28:22 where the withholding of rain is one ofthe curses for covenant disobedience to the Lord.

Zechariah 14 concludes with the wonderful prophecy that in thatday everyone and everything will be separated unto the Lord(vs.20-21). They will be declared holy to the Lord, just as everybeliever of all time is declared to be righteous and justified beforeGod by and through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, by his righ-teousness being imputed to them. The end of the chapter declaresthat nothing unclean or impure will ever enter the house of the LordAlmighty (v.21b).

I ask in all sincerity, where is there to be found in Zechariah 14any trace of the kind of degrading ‘reign’ of the Lord Jesus put for-ward by the Premillennialists, wherein he again suffers humiliationand shame, and again is rejected by the mass of sinful humanity? Irather look forward to that day when this present sinful earth is tobe destroyed by fire and a new sinless earth is to be brought about.I look forward to that day when we will go through the gates of theHoly City (Rev. 21).


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PART THREE

PostmillennialismBy Jay Rogers

When thinking about eschatology today, few Christians areeven aware of the postmillennial view. When I have trav-

eled to Russia, Ukraine, Latin America and other nations on shortterm missions trips, I am usually asked this question by new con-verts: ‘Are you pre-trib, mid-trib or post-trib?’ – as if these were theonly three forms of eschatology. I often have to explain that I am nota Dispensationalist. It is difficult to show some Christians that there is another way of looking at the end-times and the Millennium altogether.

Definition of PostmillennialismPostmillennialism (literally, ‘after the thousand years’) is the beliefthat Christ will physically return to the earth only after a non-literalMillennium is completed. Postmillennialism is optimistic about theend times. Christ’s reign over the earth from heaven increases dur-ing the Millennium, which is thought to be not a literal one thou-sand year period, but ‘a very long time.’ Postmillennialism places theChurch in a role of transforming whole social structures before theSecond Coming and endeavoring to bring about a ‘Golden Age’ ofpeace and prosperity with great advances in education, the arts, sci-ences and medicine.

All Christians must believe in the literal, physical return of JesusChrist. Christians may differ in their opinions as to the nature of theMillennium and the exact sequence of end time events withoutdeparting from biblical orthodoxy. However, I believe that majorproblems have been caused by the most popular system: Dispensa-tional Premillennialism. Ironically, I did not know anything of thepostmillennial view until I became aware of the limitations of thedispensational paradigm. In searching for a view to replace Dispen-sationalism, I found Postmillennialism to be most convincing.

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Critique of DispensationalismDispensationalism is the idea that God has worked in differentways throughout history through different economies or dispensa-tions. A Dispensationalist makes a major division between the cove-nants; God acting with wrath and vengeance in the Old Testament,and with love and grace in the New Testament. Dispensationalismteaches pre-tribulational rapture, divides the end times into severaldispensations and teaches a conspiratorial view of history. It is asystem devised by two men who wrote in the 1800s:

1. John Nelson Darby, an Irish priest (Anglican), organized agroup called the Plymouth Brethren. Darby taught that theSecond Coming of Christ was imminent. He rejected the creedsof the early Church and believed that social reform was useless.Darby’s followers concentrated on saving men and women outof the world.

2. C.I. Scofield, a Texas pastor, popularized the teachings of J.N. Darby in a systematic theology known as DispensationalPremillennialism. C.I. Scofield first compiled his reference Bible as a teaching aid for missionaries. It soon became one ofthe most widely used tools for Bible study among entiredenominations such as Southern Baptists and Disciples ofChrist.

Despite the fact that many of the Dispensationalists stressed per-sonal holiness, the paradigm shift toward dispensational theologyhas paved the way for a greater evil, Antinomianism, which literallymeans ‘anti-law.’ Antinomianism is an anti-law position which statescorrectly that man is saved by faith alone, but states incorrectly thatsince faith frees the Christian from the law, he no longer is bound toobey the law. Antinomianism creates a system in which the laws ofthe Bible cannot apply to governing an individual or society.Dispensationalism promoted antinomian thinking by de-emphasiz-ing the relationship of the Old Covenant law to the individual. Inturn this led to a waned influence of Christians in society.

In my study of church history, I found that the great revivalistsand reformers of past centuries were not Dispensationalists. When Iread Athanasius, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Edwards, White-field and Wesley, I found to my surprise that none of them ever


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spoke of ‘the rapture.’ This is because they were either Postmillen-nialists, Amillennialists or Historic Premillennialists. They put ‘therapture’ (a synonym for the resurrection) at the end of history.According to the prevailing view of most Christians in history, theresurrection will occur at the same time as the Second Coming ofJesus and the final judgment. Darby and Scofield were the firstChristians in history to place the resurrection seven years prior tothe Second Coming of Jesus to the earth. In doing so, they proposedtwo Second Comings.

In rejecting Dispensationalism, I became a sort of an ‘ad hoc Amil-lennialist.’ I became interested in questions about the nature of theMillennium itself. I soon found that I could fully work out a post-millennial view, one that stresses victory for the Church in time andhistory. I found this view to be very exciting.

Millennial viewpoints and hermeneuticsIn answering questions about eschatology from a postmillennialview, first I must stress that there is a difference between millennialviewpoints and hermeneutics. The manner in which one interpretsthe Bible (hermeneutics) will have something to do with one’s mil-lennial viewpoint. However, one can often arrive at very differentconclusions about the Millennium or the end-times using either afuturist, preterist, historicist or idealist approach to the Bible. Thedefinitions of these hermeneutical approaches are as follows:

1. FuturismThis is the ‘end-times view.’ Most of the prophecies of the MountOlivet Discourse (Matt. 24) and the Book of Revelation are yet to befulfilled. The locust plagues of Revelation 9 might be interpreted tobe Cobra helicopters, and the northern invader of Israel described inEzekiel 38 might be the Soviet Union’s army.

2. PreterismThis is the ‘before-times view.’ Most of the prophecies of the MountOlivet Discourse and the Book of Revelation were literally fulfilledby AD70. The Book of Revelation and the Olivet Discourse are thoughtto deal with the coming persecution of the Church by Caesar Neroand the destruction of the Jewish temple at Jerusalem in AD70.

Postmillennialism

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3. HistoricismThis view states that the prophecies of the Book of Revelation werefulfilled sometime in history, but not in the first century or in thefuture. The black plague of the Middle Ages might be interpreted tobe one of the plagues brought by the four horsemen of Revelation 6.The pope at the time of Martin Luther is often thought to be thebeast of Revelation 13.

4. IdealismThis is also called the spiritualist approach. This view states that theprophecies of Revelation are not to be taken literally, but have a gene-ral symbolic application in all history. The heavenly battle of Reve-lation 12 is thought to describe the ongoing battle between good andevil in the spiritual realm.

My view differs from Premillennialism and Amillennialism inapproach as well as in application. I will be describing a postmillen-nial view that is partially preterist. However, not all Postmillenialistsof history were preterists as most have been historical Postmillen-nialists. Most Postmillennialists are either preterists or historicists;most Amillennialists are either idealists or historicists; and mostHistoric Premillennialists are either historicist or futurist in theirapproach to Revelation. All Dispensational Premillennialists put vir-tually every biblical prophecy about judgment in a ‘seven year tri-bulation’ thought to be coming in the near future.

Most Christians today know less about their eschatology from acareful study of the Bible than they do from books such as The LateGreat Planet Earth, the Left Behind series, and the wild conjecture offilms such as The Omen, The Seventh Sign, and a more recent movie,The End of Days. We have almost forgotten the postmillennial viewof Bible prophecy which has had many adherents in church history.However, this historic view is being repopularized today by manywell-known conservative Bible scholars, such as, Loraine Boettner,J. Marcellus Kik, R.J. Rushdoony, Ian Murray, Greg Bahnsen,Kenneth L. Gentry, R.C. Sproul, to name just a few.

The Great Tribulation and the AntichristIn my view, the answers to these questions are determined more byhermeneutical approach than by a particular millennial view. In


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fact, the terms ‘seven year tribulation’ and the ‘Antichrist’ do notappear anywhere in the Book of Revelation or in any passages aboutthe ‘end-times.’ In my view, the ‘seven year tribulation’ and the‘Antichrist’ are simply not end-time events!

1. What did Jesus mean by Great Tribulation?‘Great tribulation’ is mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24: ‘For thenshall be great tribulation’ (v.21). Jesus is here referring to the tribula-tion that is about to come on the land of Judea just before thedestruction of the temple in AD70. The tribulation is defined as some-thing soon to come: ‘this generation shall not pass [away]’ (v.34).Also, history will continue for some time after the great tribulation:‘For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been sincethe beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be’ (v.21, NKJV). He also tells us that the tribulation will be cut short forthe sake of the elect (v.22). So according to Jesus, history is going tocontinue for some time after this tribulation. The textual contextpoints to a time one generation after Jesus, to the destruction of thenation of Judea and the temple at Jerusalem in AD70.

Some today may doubt that the Roman siege of Jerusalem – fromSpring AD67 to the fall of the temple in September AD70 – was thegreatest tribulation in history, but if you were a Jew living in Jeru-salem in those days, you would have believed it was. Josephus’History of the Wars of the Jews sheds some interesting light on thisfact. In any case, we have to interpret the text faithfully as objectivetruth. Thus, we see that this ‘great tribulation’ does not come at theend of the Kingdom Age, but shortly after the beginning (AD67-70).

2. According to John, ‘Who is the Antichrist?’In the epistle of 1 John, the word ‘antichrist’ is only used as a des-cription of people who do not believe in the teachings of Jesus. He isnot described as one satanic entity – as the beast of Revelation – butas a person, any person, who deviates from the Christian orthodoxy.But through years of myth making, futurists converted ‘manyantichrists’ into a single Antichrist, an apocalyptic villain. There arenow many antichrists. Anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ isan antichrist:

Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He isantichrist who denies the Father and the Son. (1 Jn. 2:22, NKJV)

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3. Who then is the beast of Revelation?The beast is believed by many Christians to be the same figure as the‘man of sin’ in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and the ‘antichrist’ mentioned in1 John 2:22. However, this is a strained, unbiblical leap of logic.Many Christians who are supposed to be looking for Christ’s glori-ous appearing and busy with fulfilling the Great Commission areinstead looking for an antichrist.

According to the apostle John in Revelation 13:18, the beast is areprobate villain of the most ultimate depravity. The beast is thevery incarnation of evil and the persecutor of God’s people. Nume-rous candidates for the beast of Revelation have been advancedthroughout the years by noted Bible experts. These have includedCaesar Nero, the Roman Emperor Justinian, Pope Leo, Napoleon,Lenin, Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Henry Kissinger, MikhailGorbachev, Ronald Reagan, and even now Bill Gates! The popula-rity of this theorizing on the identity of the beast is seen in the manybooks on the market which have sold tens of millions of copies. Thebeast of Revelation is the main character in many films which painthim as a diabolical world dictator who will bring about a NewWorld Order, and who will unite all world religions in order to wor-ship him. According to some Bible prophecy experts, the beast willcontrol the destiny of every individual on the planet through hand-implanted computer chips with personal identification numbers.And finally, it is believed that the beast will seal his own destructionby bringing the late great planet earth to the brink of Armageddonthrough a nuclear holocaust.

According to Newsweek magazine, 19 percent of all Americansand nearly half of all evangelical Christians in America ‘believe thatthe Antichrist is on the earth now.’ Why do so many believe this?According to 1 John 2:18, antichrist must come in the ‘last time.’ Soit is no wonder that some of the most noted Bible experts in our dayare trying to identify him. However, the Bible does not say that therewill be one special ‘antichrist.’ John said:

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard thatantichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; wherebywe know that it is the last time. (1 Jn. 2:18)

Note that John, writing in the first century, says that now is the lasttime. When Christians speak of the ‘last times’ or ‘end times,’ most


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often they are referring to any passage in the Bible which refers tothe ‘last days.’ But not all references to the ‘last days’ speak of theend of history. There are at least two other senses of the term used inthe New Testament:

� Sometimes the ‘last days’ refer to the time after the appearanceof Christ in public ministry (c. AD30) and before the destructionof Jerusalem (AD70) i.e., the last days of Israel as a nation-state.

� The ‘last days’ may also refer to the entire time after Christ’sministry and before the end of history. We were in the ‘last days’during the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17) and we are still in the‘last days’ now.

In my view, John was writing about first century events. The beastof Revelation and his number, 666, is a cryptogram for Caesar Nero,while the ‘antichrist’ is another figure, any man who denies thatJesus is the Christ. But most Christians have never heard of this view.The problem is that many Christians, having not seriously studiedthe Bible, do not know the difference between sensationalism andsound doctrine, between fiction and biblical theology. Many sincereChristians accept some wild theories about end-times prophecy asthough this loose style of Bible interpretation has the same authori-ty as the infallible word of God itself.

The Second Coming and final judgmentThe Second Coming and final judgment occur after the Millenniumis completed. My view is identical with almost all postmillennialand amillennial views. The order of end-time events would occurlike this:

1. The Millennium (thought to be a non-literal ‘one thousandyears’ or a very long period of time) is first completed.

2. Jesus Christ then returns physically to the earth.3. Immediately after this is the resurrection of the righteous and

the unrighteous.4. Immediately after this comes the final judgment. (I should

interject here that there is always a first judgment that occurs at our death. But the final resurrection and judgment will occur at the end of history.)

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The order of events is exactly the same in Postmillennialism as inAmillennialism. Postmillennialists differ only with Amillennialistsin viewing the progress of the kingdom of God during the Millen-nium with much more optimism. There is a difference between thisview of the Postmillennialist and the view of the Historic Premillen-nialist. The Premillennialist is inclined to think that the Millenniumis complete before the resurrection of the dead and the final judg-ment. The only difference is that Christ returns before the Millen-nium. (Hence the term: Premillennialism.) I do not agree with thisorder of events, but it is not a departure from orthodoxy.

The major disagreement of the Postmillennialist is with Dispen-sational Premillennialism and its elaborate conspiracy theories, timetables, charts and graphic scenarios of prevailing evil in the end-times. Dispensationalists seem to ascribe biblical significance toalmost every new development in current world events. Critics alsopoint out that bizarre eschatological theories are the hallmarks ofmany cults. Aside from concerns about faulty interpretation, I alsoworry that some Christians may be getting so wrapped up in deci-phering prophecy and awaiting divine deliverance that they ignorethe Great Commission.

The nature of the MillenniumThe Millennium is occurring right now! To understand what I meanby this, you must first see that the main point of debate centers onthe question of good versus evil. Will Christ or the devil prevail inhistory in the time prior to the Lord’s return? The eschatologicalview of many Christians today puts much more emphasis on a com-ing ‘Antichrist’, than on the victory of Jesus Christ. But Postmillen-nialists believe that Satan and the beast of Revelation have alreadybeen defeated, and that great victory lies ahead.

Postmillennialists in history were once known as ‘progressivemillennialists.’ These were Christians who rejected the ‘millenarian’view (the archaic term for Premillenialism) that the kingdom wouldonly come on earth when Christ came physically to set up his throneon earth as it is in heaven. They opted instead for a view that thekingdom is advancing progressively in history. Postmillennialistsbelieve that the kingdom of God came on the earth during the timeof Jesus’ ministry on earth:


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But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of Godis come unto you. (Matt. 12:28)

The kingdom of God is already here, but it has not yet grown to itsfullness. In history, the kingdom has been advancing little by little.The kingdom is likened to a grain of mustard seed, which a mantook, and sowed in his field until it grew into a great tree (Matt.13:31). It is also likened to leaven, which a woman took, and hid inthree measures of meal, until the whole was leavened (Matt. 13:33).The kingdom of God is always progressing and growing until itspreads into the whole world. The role of the Church during histo-ry is to bring all things into captivity to Christ. If we are going towork for the kingdom with an eye toward winning, we must have apostmillennial faith. If we are to bring everything into captivity toChrist, we must have a theology that tells us it is impossible to lose.

Ideas have consequences. We must believe that we are the peopleof victory and Christ is going to triumph in history. Only when all things are put under his feet will the last enemy, death, be des-troyed:

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Thelast enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (1 Cor. 15:25-26)

This is a remarkable idea. According to this passage, Christ is reign-ing now from heaven. He will do so until all enemies of the gospelare put under his feet. The postmillennial view is that Christians areused of God to put his enemies into submission. Through the con-version of the nations of the world, God’s enemies will be des-troyed. The last enemy, death, is destroyed only at the SecondComing. Until that time, we can look forward to great victories. Weare told that ‘the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdomsof our Lord, and of his Christ’ (Rev. 11:15). The idea that the Lordhas entrusted the stewardship of the world to his people is found inthe parable of the talents in Luke 19. Here the Lord says to his ser-vants, ‘Occupy till I come’ (v.13). The Lord is gone for a long time,while his most faithful servants work to increase the wealth of theirMaster’s kingdom. When the Master returns, he rewards those whohave done the best job with the wealth entrusted to them in advan-cing the kingdom in their Lord’s absence. Those who work for theadvance of the kingdom receive rulership over entire cities. But the

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enemies of God who would not allow Christ to reign over them areslain (v.27).

So ideas do have consequences. If we believe that Satan is alreadybound according to Revelation 20:2 and Christ is seated on the thronein heaven, then we ought to work for the increase of the kingdom ofGod in history. If we do not work for the kingdom, we will see noincrease and God will judge us accordingly.

The nature of the Millennium is a time of great victory for God’speople. As we draw closer to the Second Coming, we will see thenations not only evangelized, but taught to obey all the things Godhas commanded us, according to Matthew 28:18-20.

Interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6When we look at Revelation 20, we see the phrase ‘thousand years’mentioned by John six times. This is the only place in the Biblewhere the ‘Millennium’ is mentioned. There are, of course, otherpassages in the Bible which speak of a prolonged era of prosperityand peace. But there is only this passage which speaks of the ‘thou-sand years.’ Therefore, most Postmillennialists are not dogmaticabout the literal length of time of the ‘thousand years.’ It could beinterpreted to mean a long time. We may view the number ‘thou-sand’ as a symbolic number. This is consistent with other passagesin the Bible, such as when God says that he owns ‘the cattle on athousand hills’ (Ps. 50:10, NKJV). Surely what is meant here is muchmore than exactly one thousand hills; rather, all the cattle in theworld.

Postmillennialists teach that Jesus will return after the Millen-nium is completed in order to judge the world. Premillennialiststeach that Jesus is to return prior to reigning on the earth for a liter-al one thousand years. Does Revelation 20 state that Jesus is toreturn prior to the thousand years? No, neither explicitly nor implic-itly does Revelation 20 state that Christ will return to the earth priorto the Millennium. Premillennialists believe that Revelation doesimply this because Jesus is on the throne and Satan is bound. How-ever, we know that Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Fathershortly after his resurrection and ascension (Heb. 8:1; Rev. 4:2).Christ is already seated on a throne and is even now the ruler overthe kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5). And is Satan bound now? Yes, Satan


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was bound in the first century during the first coming of Jesus.Scripture teaches this. Jesus said:

But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom ofGod has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’shouse and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strongman? And then he will plunder his house. (Matt. 12:28-29, NASB)

The New Testament speaks of the binding of Satan in various places.Satan falls from heaven (Lk. 10:18); he is cast out of heaven (Jn.12:31); he was crushed under our feet (Rom. 16:20); he was dis-armed (Col. 2:15); he was rendered powerless (Heb. 2:14); his workswere destroyed (1 Jn. 3:8). Note that John doesn’t say that Satan isbound in every respect. Christ binds Satan for a well-defined pur-pose: ‘to keep him from deceiving the nations any more’ (Rev. 20:3b,NIV). In the Old Testament only Israel knew the true God. ButChrist’s coming changes this as the gospel is preached to all nations(Is. 2:2-3; 11:10; Matt. 28:19; Lk. 2:32; 24:47; Acts 1:8; 13:47).

So if Jesus is on the throne in heaven and if Satan is bound fromdeceiving the nations, then we are now in the Millennium. I inter-pret the Millennium to be the period of time in which the gospel isbeing preached and the nations of the world are being converted.We are in the midst of the ‘Millennium’ now and have been forabout 2000 years.

Interpretation of Old Testament propheciesregarding the kingdom The Old Testament is rife with prophecies concerning the nationsbeing under the Messiah. This is an important aspect of our faith. Awhole book would be necessary to quote entirely the texts of the OldTestament that predict the triumph to come in Christ; how all thenations shall be his. Isaiah and Ezekiel especially, and most of theminor prophets, have foretellings of the Kingdom Age when thenations of the world will turn to Christ and obey God’s law.

The Bible is divided by two covenants, but it is really one Cove-nant, the original is renewed again under Christ’s reign. In the NewTestament, the promises made to Abraham are given to the Church.Paul refers to the Church as the new ‘Israel of God’ (Gal. 6:16). All ofIsrael’s promises apply to the Church today:

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That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles throughJesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit throughfaith. (Gal. 3:14)

Dispensationalists spiritualize this passage by saying that the cove-nant with the Church is for salvation only, but the covenant withIsrael is for the land and material blessings. According to the futur-ist view, the material blessings for Israel will occur only during afuture millennial reign after Jesus returns to the earth. Postmil-lennialists agree that the promise of the Spirit is a greater dimensionthan material blessings, however, the Church is to go into all theworld and preach the gospel. This means that we have a duty. Chris-tians must occupy the whole world. The Great Commission is tomake disciples of all nations with Christ as the ordained King of allcreation. As we do this, great material prosperity and peace will besecured by the people of God that all nations will enjoy.

Amillennialists and Premillennialists know that eventually Christwill win, but for now Christians are on the losing side. But I believethat the impulse for victory is a God-given instinct. Victory has astrong appeal to the people of God. The promise of God tells us wecan’t be losers. I don’t believe God programmed us for defeat. Wehave a magnificent calling because we are a people called to victorynot to defeat.

Of course, Premillennialists also believe that the Millennium willbe a time of great victory, prosperity and peace in the world. ButPostmillennialists believe that these trends will increase graduallyand will become the normal state of affairs for a very long period oftime before the Second Coming of Christ.

In studying the prophecies of the Old Testament, I became moreand more convinced of the postmillennial view. Just a few exampleswill explain my conviction:

There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred yearsold; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. (Is. 65:20)

What is remarkable about this passage to me was not the predictionthat there would be no infant mortality in the Millennium, but thatpeople would live to be an old age. According to the Dispensa-


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tionalist view, that implies that the resurrected saints of God, whoreturn to earth with Christ, will live side by side with mortal menwho will be born, live to a very old age and die during the millen-nial reign. I began to suspect that this passage and others like it refernot to a future millennial reign after Christ’s return, but to historybefore the Second Coming. It is not unlikely that in the next few gene-rations, infant mortality will be all but wiped out and most peoplewill live past their one-hundredth year. There will be a literal fulfill-ment of this prophecy in history.

There will not be universal redemption of all men during theMillennium, but in some nations the vast majority of people will atleast outwardly profess to serve the one true God. Isaiah says thateven in Egypt, being a type of the unregenerate world, five cities outof six will call upon the name of the Lord; an image of great victory:

‘In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the languageof Canaan, and swear unto the LORD of hosts; one shall be called,The city of destruction.’(Is. 19:18)

There will be a time when the holiest of all men will be advanced togreatest positions in civil politics:

‘And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thynursing mothers.’ (Is. 49:23)

The richest men in the world, those who have great influence, shalldevote all to Christ and his Church:

‘And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the richamong the people shall entreat thy favour.’ (Ps. 45:12)

Wars will one day cease according to the Bible. There will be uni-versal peace, love and understanding among the nations of theworld, instead of confusion, wars, and bloodshed:

‘And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke manypeople: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and theirspears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword againstnation, neither shall they learn war any more.’ (Is. 2:4)

There will be universal disarmament as weapons of warfare will bedestroyed:

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‘He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh thebow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in thefire.’ (Ps. 46:9)

All nations will live together in peace:

‘And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in suredwellings, and in quiet resting places.’ (Is. 32:18)

Strong families will be restored and there will be great love betweenchildren and their parents:

‘And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and theheart of the children to their fathers.’ (Mal. 4:6)

There will be a time of great economic prosperity in the Christiannations of the world:

‘For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, andthe ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give theirdew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all thesethings.’ (Zech. 8:12, also see Jer. 33:9)

There will be a time of great light and knowledge:

‘And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not beclear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to theLord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at eveningtime it shall be light.’ (Zech. 14:6-7)

It will be as though God will give so much light to his Church, thatthe sun and moon will be ashamed:

‘Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when theLord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, andbefore his ancients gloriously.’ (Is. 24:23)

One of the greatest postmillennial theologians of history was Jona-than Edwards. In his book, History of Redemption, Edwards theorizedthat the advance of the gospel would someday spread to Africa andAsia. Edwards wrote:

There is a kind of veil now cast over the greater part of the world,which keeps them in darkness. But then this veil shall be destroyed,


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‘And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering castover all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations’ (Is. 25:7).And then all countries and nations, even those which are now mostignorant, shall be full of light and knowledge. Great knowledge shallprevail everywhere. It may be hoped, that then many of the Negroesand Indians will be divines, and that excellent books will bepublished in Africa, in Ethiopia, in Tartary, and other now the mostbarbarous countries. And not only learned men, but others of moreordinary education, shall then be very knowing in religion, ‘The eyesof them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shallhearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge.’ (Is. 32:3-4)

In the first half of the 1700s, when Edwards was writing, the Chris-tian population of Africa and Asia was less than one percent. ThatAfrica would be converted to the gospel was unbelievably opti-mistic. Today, I am encouraged to know personally of successfulChristian missions among Africans, Indians and Tatars – just asEdwards predicted. Many from among these nations are converted.They are entering the ministry, writing books and dedicating theirlives to the conversion of the lost. I am also encouraged to imaginewhat is to come in the future.

At the beginning of the 20th century, 80 percent of the world’sChristians were in North America, South America and Europe. Nowthe Christian population of these countries is only 40 percentbecause more and more new Christians are in Africa and Asia. In the1990s, the Republic of Zambia identified itself as a Christian nation.Here are Africans running a country and trying to reorder every-thing according to the word of God. There is still a great work ofreformation to be accomplished, but when the president and vicepresident of a nation in Africa have affirmed that they believe thatGod’s law should rule, that is major news!

It has been a slow start, but things are happening dramatically allover the world today. Great things have been happening sinceChrist came, but in the 20th century the pace stepped up dramati-cally. Now we are seeing more people saved in each year than weresaved in all the time period of the New Testament. This influence ofthe gospel is reaching all parts of society. In short, the Old Testamentpredicts a time of great victory for the Church before the SecondComing of Christ.

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Larry Waugh of Dispensationalismresponds...Jay Rogers says, ‘Postmillennialism is optimistic about the end times’.I hope he doesn’t regard us, Dispensational Premillennialists, asbeing pessimistic. If anything, our optimism gives us peace in thesetroubled times that are getting progressively worse, because we donot plan to be around when the Antichrist is revealed. Revelation1:3 sums us up:

Happy is the one who reads this book, and happy are those wholisten to the words of this prophetic message and obey what iswritten in this book! For the time is near when all these things willhappen.

Jesus said he would return to take us to be where he is (Jn. 14:3),because we are his bride. If it weren’t for this, I’d keep my nose outof eschatology!

1. A worsening of timesIf Christ’s reign from heaven over the earth were increasing, thingswould be getting better. I can tell you that this is not so. Havingtaught in schools over the last thirty years, I see Christianity becom-ing progressively marginalized and Christians persecuted. As a per-centage of the total population, we are getting less and less.

Regarding a conspiratorial view of history: Yes, I do hold to sucha view. In order to engage effectively in spiritual warfare, we mustknow our enemy. We must be awake and aware of his strategies, sothat we can resist Satan and stand in the end times. There is nodoubt in my mind as to where Satan’s conspiring with the apostatechurch – the whore of Revelation – is leading us.

2. The law and graceMan is forever institutionalising things, or putting names ontothem, and Jay Rogers is no exception. For instance, he says thatAntinomianism supposes that being freed from the law makes us nolonger bound to obey the law. But as a Dispensationalist, I do notregard myself as being beyond the law. God knew we couldn’t obeythe law, so he saves us by grace. That doesn’t mean the law is over.When Jesus rescued the adulteress, he did not say that it was right


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to commit adultery. He told her to sin no more (Jn. 8:11). He shedgrace on the whole debacle.

3. Discerning truth from sensationMaybe it is true that most Christians today know more about escha-tology from books other than the Bible. I do not go by Hollywood’sdramatization of spiritual concerns, viz. The End of Days film, but Igreatly respect Dr. J. Vernon McGee (whose ‘Thru The Bible’ serieson Trans World Radio is, at the time of this writing, dealing withRevelation). He strongly supports the rapture ‘theory’. And I res-pect people like Gary Kah, Dr. Alberto Rivero, Tim La Haye, andothers. All of them refer closely to the Bible in their writings, butthey have the added advantage of access to spheres beyond theorbit of Joe Soaps like me – the Jesuits, the US senate, the Freema-sons, et al. I have not heard of any of these ‘well-known’ scholars Jaylists – Boettner, Kik, Rushdoony, etc. And who of us can lay claim tobeing the ideal serious Bible scholar? The angel said to Daniel thatmany would wear themselves out trying to find the truth (Dan.12:4). But any humble seeker of the truth will be given wisdom fromGod (Dan. 12:10), primarily as the gift of discernment, which identi-fies truth against sensation.

Rodney D. Stortz of Premillennialismresponds...Mr. Rogers defines Postmillennialism as ‘the belief that Christ willphysically return to the earth only after a non-literal Millennium iscompleted.’ With that definition we can see that Postmillennialismand Amillennialism are very similar. Both believe that Christ willcome back after the Millennium. In reality there are just two views:either Christ will come back before the Millennium or after. There-fore, we need to center our debate on whether the Scripture saysthat Christ will return before the Millennium or after the Millen-nium. Once that is determined exegetically then we can work on thedetails of his return.

1. Christ will return before the MillenniumThe critical text to exegete this question is Revelation 19 and 20. Mr.Rogers barely touches this text. He sweeps away the discussion sim-

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ply by asking, ‘Does Revelation 20 state that Jesus is to return priorto the thousand years?’ His answer, with no exegetical defense, issimply ‘No, neither explicitly nor implicitly does Revelation 20 statethat Christ will return to the earth prior to the Millennium.’ I willagree with the statement that Revelation 20 does not explicitly teachthat Christ will return before the thousand years. But, Revelation 20is not where the discussion of this subject begins. John begins the nextsection of his book in Revelation 19:11 and continues through Reve-lation 20:15. The chapter divisions were not inspired and in this casehave caused people to overlook the verses that lead into his discus-sion of the Millennium. Revelation 19:11 begins with the words, ‘Isaw...’ Then verse 17 says, ‘And I saw...’ Verse 19 says, ‘Then I saw...’And Revelation 20:1 says, ‘And I saw...’ Then verse 4 says, ‘I saw...’And verse 11 says, ‘Then I saw...’ And finally Revelation 21:1 begins,‘Then I saw...’ If there were no chapter breaks, any reader would seethis as one continuous sequence of events.

Revelation 19:11-21 speaks of the physical return of Jesus Christusing the imagery of riding on a white horse with ‘the armies ofheaven following him’ (v.14). The Lord coming with ‘all his holyones’ is mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 and Zechariah 14:5. Thedescription in verses 17-19 is spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, ‘Thelawless one [the beast] will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus willoverthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendorof his coming.’ Those words also capture the imagery of Revelation19:15, ‘Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strikedown the nations.’

In addition to this, Revelation 19:21 ends by saying, ‘all the birdsgorged themselves on their flesh.’ That is a strange thing to write.Strange if it did not wave a red flag reminding us of Jesus’ words inMatthew 24:28 where he is speaking of his coming again in power andgreat glory, sending his angels with a loud trumpet call, gatheringhis elect to himself. Verse 28 introduces those words of his return bysaying, ‘Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.’That sounded very strange until John wrote Revelation 19:21 to showthey were speaking of the same event – the return of Christ. So afterChrist returns in Revelation 19, the very next verse says:

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key tothe Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the


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dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and boundhim for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:1-2)

The faithful exegesis of the word of God – without ‘wrongly divid-ing the Word’ between Revelation 19 and 20 – shows that the returnof Christ does occur before the Millennium. That is why I am a Pre-millennialist.

2. Realism vs. optimismRather than being driven by exegesis of Scripture, Mr. Rogers’ posi-tion seems more to be driven by an aversion to Dispensationalism,which he said left him an ‘ad hoc Amillenniaslist’ – I would call hima default Amillennialist; and he seems driven by an obsession withbeing optimistic and victorious. I am an optimist too, but I am alsoa biblical realist. Some people want to be so ‘optimistic’ that theythink that God is so powerful and good that any Christian who getssick will get healed on earth if they have enough faith. No matterhow optimistic you want to be, that is not always God’s will. In fact,according to Hebrews 11:37-39 it is those who maintain faith and donot receive what is promised who are considered to be those ‘ofwhom the world is not worthy.’ In fact, the Bible speaks of the vic-tory in terms of the Second Coming of Christ:

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and themortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will cometrue: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ (1 Cor. 15:54)

Those who understand Reformed Premillennialism know that it toois ‘an eschatology of optimism!’ We believe that the Church of JesusChrist is going to end strong and spread worldwide. Its influencewill not only be felt in the saving of souls, but the redeeming of cul-ture through the sciences and arts. Before Christ returns the Churchwill grow faster and larger than any time in history. The curse ofAdam on creation will in large part be reversed. The verses that Mr.Rogers quoted from Isaiah, Psalms, and Jeremiah I fully embrace.What attracts me to Reformed Premillennialism is that it is an escha-tology that embraces all the verses of prophecy, not just a few. Weembrace these verses, but also Revelation 13 taking a plain readingof the text and we embrace Daniel 7 that I will explain shortly. Thereis no verse of Scripture that Reformed Premillennialism avoids orhas to do exegetical gymnastics ‘to explain away’.

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3. The Church cannot christianize the world before Christ returns

I think that the problem of Postmillennialism is not only a weaknessin exegesis, but it is also a soteriological problem. Mr. Rogers rightlypoints out the soteriological problems of Dispensationalism with itsAntinomian doctrines. However, the Postmillennialist’s premisethat the Church can Christianize the world assumes that the curse ofsin can be almost completely overturned by a sinful Church, albeitfilled with the Holy Spirit. It is only a step away from the perfec-tionistic doctrines of the Wesley brothers. Some teach that in thislife, we can attain a holy perfection as individual Christians. Scrip-ture does not support this. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, ‘There is not arighteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.’ Theapostle Paul said, ‘Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves fullacceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – ofwhom I am the worst’ (1 Tim. 1:15). Notice he does not say that hewas the worst, but even as he is writing the word of God, he is stilla terrible sinner. Because of the existence of the sinful nature we willalways have the spiritual warfare within. Paul writes in Galatians5:17, ‘The sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and theSpirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict witheach other, so that you do not do [present tense] what you want.’ Wewill struggle with that sinful nature all our lives even as we grow inour sanctification to be more like Christ. That is an optimist view ofthe Christian life with a dose of biblical realism.

The same realism is true about the Church and the world. Yes, theChurch will continue to advance and the gates of Hell will not pre-vail against it. But the Church is still made up of wheat and tares(Matt. 13:24-30). The Church will always be a mixture of true Chris-tians and impostors, so we will never be able to be completely victo-rious. We cannot even conquer ourselves and our own sinful nature,much less the world. And if we are to Christianize the world beforeChrist returns, why do we need to be caught up to meet the Lord inthe air when he returns (1 Thes. 4:17)? We must not forget that 1 John 5:19 says, ‘We know that we are children of God, and that thewhole world is under the control of the evil one.’ This is not pessimis-tic, it is realistic. Just like the battle with the sinful nature goes on witheach individual until they die or Jesus comes back, so the spiritualwarfare of the Church will go on until Jesus returns (Eph. 6:10-12).


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Satan intensified his battle when Jesus entered into the world thefirst time, and Revelation 13 says he will do it one last time justbefore Christ returns. John says in verse 7 that the Church will beconquered by Satan. That is not pessimistic, it is a dose of biblicalrealism. Daniel teaches us the same thing in Daniel 7:21-27:

21 As I watched, this horn [the beast or the Antichrist] waswaging war against the saints and defeating them [cf. Rev. 13:4-9],22 until the Ancient of Days came [the Second Coming of Christ] and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the MostHigh, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. [Christ returning before the saints possess the kingdom –Premillennialism.]

23 He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourthkingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all theother kingdoms and will devour the whole earth [no kingdom tothis point has devoured the whole earth, no kingdom hasbeen different than all other kingdoms], trampling it down andcrushing it. 24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from thiskingdom. After them another king will arise, different from theearlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against theMost High and oppress his saints and try to change the set timesand the laws [cf. Rev. 13:5-6]. The saints will be handed over to himfor a time, times and half a time.’ [Three and a half years or fortytwo months just as Revelation 13:5 says.]

26 ‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away andcompletely destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power andgreatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handedover to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will bean everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’[The kingdom is handed over to the saints, they do not take it by their own effort.]

To speak of the Antichrist or beast coming in the last days does notdeny the victories we will have through Christ. The writer says,‘The eschatological view of many Christians today puts much moreemphasis on a coming Antichrist, than on the victory of JesusChrist.’ You do not have to ignore certain Scriptures in order to beoptimistic.

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Finally, the writer ends his argument with an example of thespread of the gospel in Africa where the Christian population in1700 was less than one per cent. Now there is a country in Africa, theRepublic of Zambia, which identifies itself as a Christian nation.Praise God! The Reformed Premillennialist rejoices in these expec-ted advances of the Church too. We believe that we will make prog-ress through the gospel, sciences and the arts too! But the history ofthe world, as well as the Bible, teaches us to be realistic too. JonathanEdwards, the father of Postmillennialism, was used by God to bringa revival to New England in the early 18th century. Through thisrevival, America was once called a Christian nation like the Repub-lic of Zambia. Today, we are not a Christian nation anymore. We arenot even free to preach the Bible in our schools or even to speak ofGod. By the end of that century Harvard campus, which was begunas a Christian college, only had five believers. Christianity was los-ing ground in America. That was followed by several exciting revi-vals, but today America is not a Christian nation. The same is true ofEngland and some of the great countries of the Reformation. NewEngland, the home of Jonathan Edwards, is a spiritual wasteland.

The pattern the Bible gives us is the pattern of the Book of Judges.A nation walks with the Lord, prospers, turns away from the Lord,repents, and the Lord delivers them. The reason for this cycle is thesinful nature in man that will never be eradicated until Christ returnsand because of the tares that are sown with the wheat in the Church.

The blessed hope of the Church is for Christ to return and handthe kingdom to the saints.

Joseph L. Meiring of Amillennialismresponds...I agree most heartily with brother Jay Rogers when he says that fewChristians are even aware of a postmillennial view. It is my experi-ence that this goes for the amillennial view as well. Sometimes, theamillennial position is simply viewed as a pernicious teaching of theRoman Catholics!

1. The rise of good and evil side by sideI also agree with the greater part of what Jay says in his article, butmay differ on his view of an almost totally Christian world before


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Christ comes again. He stops quoting at Revelation 20:6, but verses7-9 describe Satan as being released at the end of the Millennium.Satan will then be given the power to deceive the nations once again– something he has not been able to do till then. There will be wide-spread apostasy as masses of unbelievers, as numerous as the sandof the seashore, gather to ‘fight’ against the believers. Where are allthe supposed Christians, and the strong Christian impact that hasheld sway for such an extended time in the idyllic postmillennialworld now, as set out by Jay?

As a holder of Amillennialism, I see this as an indication thatthroughout this Gospel Age, good and evil will rise side by side, asit were. The gospel will always make inroads, according to God’ssovereign purposes. Yet at the same time God allows false belief sys-tems to flourish as well, such as Islam, which is now threateningRoman Catholicism as having the largest following worldwide. Africahas the largest followers of Islam outside of the Arab states at pre-sent! This is not to say that we must rub our hands in despair andsay all is lost. Rather, we spread the gospel and share Christ, becausewe know that God has his elect throughout the world.

I say again, as I have said to the Premillennialists: Not once doesthe Lord Jesus, nor Peter, Paul, John, Luke, James, Matthew, Jude,Mark, ever refer to a Millennium in which an earthly government isthe order of the day.

2. The end-time reality of Matthew 24The problem I have with most Postmillennialists is their interpreta-tion of Matthew 24. I agree that the ‘great tribulation’ Jesus speaksof refers to the siege of Jerusalem in AD68-70. (See the correspondingpassage in Luke.) But we must bear in mind that Jesus is answeringthe question posed by the disciples: When will the city fall, and whatwill be the sign of his coming, and the end of the age (v.3). And sofrom verse 4 and onwards Jesus is setting forth what will happenprior to the fall of Jerusalem and to his coming again.

Certainly, the description of the surrounding of the city, the flee-ing to the mountains, the terrible tribulation of that time, does referto the fall of Jerusalem in AD70. But deception, earthquakes, famines,and the rise of false prophets and Messiahs (vs.4-7, 24), does notrefer to that time only. Remember Jesus is answering their questionabout the sacking of the city, and his coming again.

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Where Postmillennialists flounder is pointed out by DavidEnglesma:

The apparent difficulty with Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:34 isthat they seem to predict the end of the world in the lifetime of hisdisciples. He has been instructing the disciples concerning the des-truction of Jerusalem and the end of the world [v.4ff]. He has justspoken of His visible, bodily coming in the clouds (v.30). Then, inverse 34, He declares, ‘Verily I say unto you, This generation shall notpass, till all these things be fulfilled’ (KJV). In fact, of course, He didnot return, nor did the world end, in the lifetime of the generation towhom He was speaking. (A Defense of Reformed Amillennialism)

Englesma then explains verse 34 in terms of type/antitype: The natural sense of ‘this generation’ is the normal lifetime of

those to whom Jesus was speaking. If a generation is of some 40years duration, ‘all these things’ spoken of in verses 3-31 would, anddid, take place within 40 years of Jesus having foretold them... Allthese things would happen typically, or in the historical type... Thereality was yet in the future from the vantage point of the churchstanding on the ruins of Jerusalem in AD70. The early church under-stood this well, as is evident from her exegesis of Matthew 24 andrelated passages after AD70. The reality is still in the future from thevantage point of the church now. The reality, as the question of thedisciples in verse 3 plainly shows, is the coming of Christ and theend of the world. As is always the case with types, the destruction ofJerusalem came far short of complete fulfilment of the deliveranceof the saints in the way of judgment. Verses 29-31 of Matthew 24makes this failure of the type clear beyond any doubt. These eventsawait the reality: the end of the world. (Ibid)

As we listen to Jesus’ answer to his disciples questions, we seehow he ‘blended’ the two events. (The term John Calvin uses.) Thedestruction of Jerusalem is a ‘type’ of the events that will occur whenJesus returns. We must not lose sight of this.


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PART FOUR

AmillennialismBy Joseph L. Meiring

When I was first introduced to the gospel, back in the late1960s and early 1970s, I well remember the attraction that

prophecy and end-time events had on so many believers at thattime. Of great interest was all the ‘happenings’ in and around theMiddle East, Russia, China, the Suez Canal, etc. Books abounded inChristian bookstores regarding the ‘short time’ remaining beforeRussia and her allies would swoop over Israel, the soon-to-occur‘secret rapture’ of the Church, the Great Tribulation awaiting theenemies of the gospel, and then the Second Coming of Christ toinaugurate his millennial reign from Jerusalem with the Jewish statethen ‘leading the world’, as it were, for a 1000 year period of right-eousness and blessedness. Then would come a massive apostasy.Christ and his followers would be almost wiped out by an immenserebellious army of ‘Christ-haters’, and only divine interventionwould save the day for the Lord Jesus and the saints. Then wouldfollow the last of numerous judgments and resurrections before thenew heavens and new earth would be ushered in for eternity.

This was exciting stuff! And so I also avidly read many of thethen current end-time books and articles on prophecy, and attendednumerous end-time meetings held by prominent preachers of theday. Over the years, however, as I began to study the Bible indepen-dently of these authors’ views, I began to have great difficulty inreconciling their end-time timetable with what I saw in the Scrip-tures as to the order of end-time events. I well remember a ‘BiblePanorama Study Course’ (Victory Press) that I was given to study,which sets out in picture form this timetable of end-time events.This, I was told, is the biblical view, thus implying that any otherview is of course not the correct one. (At that time I was not evenaware of any other views anyway, so I simply assumed that this wasindeed the only correct position to hold to.) The Scriptural evidencegiven for their end-time chronology was as follows:

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At any moment the ‘1st’ Second Coming(secret rapture) can take place.

Then follows the Judgment seat of Christand marriage supper of the Lamb for aseven-year period.

During this seven-year period Antichrist ismanifested.

The Great Tribulation follows, which climaxes in...

Armageddon, with Antichrist destroyed andSatan bound.

At the same time is the ‘2nd’ SecondComing: followed by the judging of livingnations.

Jesus is now made King of kings and Lord oflords.

The Millennium is now ushered in: in whichis blessedness and peace for 1000 yearsunder Christ’s rule from Jerusalem, withtemple worship, the feasts, and sacrificesagain the order of the day; evil is kept incheck by the iron rule of Christ from the cityof David for the 1000 years.

Then, after 1000 years of joy and bliss, Satanis loosed and King Jesus and his small bandof saints is nearly wiped out by aninnumerable horde of evil men and women,with divine fire from heaven as their onlymeans of escape.

Now follows another judgment, followed bythe purging of the earth and heavens withfire...

Then the end, and eternity is ushered in.

1 Thes. 4:13-18; Rev. 20:6

1 Cor. 3:13-15; Rev. 19:7-10

Rev. 13; 2 Thes. 2; Dan. 7and 11

Dan. 12:1

Rev. 19:17-21; 2 Thes. 2:8;Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:1-3

Matt. 24; Rev. 19; Zech.14:1-4; Matt. 25:31-46

Rev. 1:5-6, 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev.11:15

Rev. 20:6; Zech. 8:23; Is.11:6-9; Amos 9:13; Joel3:18; Is. 35:1; Lk. 1:32-33; 2Tim. 2:11-12; Is. 25:7-9;Mic. 4:1-4; Jer. 25:5; Ps.98:9; Zech. 14:9; Is. 2:3;Zech. 14:20-21; Is. 65:19-25

Rev. 20:7-9

Rev. 20:11-15; 2 Pet. 3:7-13

1 Cor. 15:24-26


I defy anyone to read these passages in this stated order, in their set-ting and context, and then without any bias or influence from theseauthors and their assumptions and without any prejudicial opin-ions, to independently arrive at the type of end-time chronology asset out by them. I confess I have tried over these many years andsimply could not. And might I add, neither had any of God’s peoplefrom the dawn of Christianity until around 1880, when these strangeand rather fanciful notions first began making its influence felt inBritain and the USA!

And so over the last sixty or so years in South Africa, wheneverthe Millennium is under discussion, it is almost a given that oneneeds to hold to this type of end-time chronology, as outlined above,to be a ‘genuine’ evangelical believer.

Time and time again, when discussing the Millennium issue withfellow believers as an Amillennialist, I have been accused of eitherfollowing the wicked error of Roman Catholicism, or of belongingto a non Spirit-filled church, or that I cannot be a follower of theLord Jesus Christ! Sadly, I have on numerous occasions also had the door of fellowship closed to me because of my stance on theMillennium.

As I now attempt to set out the Amillennialist position in the fol-lowing pages, remember that this is the position I have come toaccept because of my independent study of the word of God, andnot because of what some well-known and ‘learned’ theologians/authors/preachers have taught. I also know too well that manyChristians hold to differing views on the Millennium, and I will cer-tainly never divide the body of Christ over what is in essence a sec-ondary issue to the faith. May the God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist be very gracious to both writer and reader of these words.

The Second ComingThe view one holds as to the events surrounding the Second Com-ing of our Lord Jesus Christ will ultimately determine one’s Millen-nium position. If you believe that the Second Coming is after theMillennium, then you are a Postmillennialist or an Amillennialist. Ifyou believe that the Second Coming is before the Millennium, thenyou are a Premillennialist (historic or dispensational). It is, there-fore, vital that before we lunge into the Millennium of Revelation 20

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as such, trying to ascertain when and how and where it is to takeplace, we must first and foremost discover what the Bible teaches onthe events associated with the Second Coming of the Lord JesusChrist. We need to ascertain from Scripture what is to happen whenJesus returns.

In the interest of saving space I will now only mention the rele-vant Scripture passages, and not quote them in full. Please do notjust skip over these passages. Instead, read them in full (as thoughyou’ve never read them before), in their natural sense, and study thecontext and setting of all the following references.

1. The Second Coming and associated events from the lips of our saviour

Matthew 24 and 25 (cf. Mk. 13 & Lk. 21:5-36):From the Lord Jesus himself we learn that the gospel will bepreached in the whole world, to all the nations, before the endcomes. His coming is to be at an unexpected time. There is to begreat tribulation before he comes. There is to be a tremendous cos-mic conflagration; the heavens are shaken; the seas are in upheaval.All the world will mourn and despair, fainting in fear and dread atwhat is to come upon them, and all the world will see him come ingreat power and glory. His elect are gathered together by the angelssounding the great trumpet. Certain ones left behind are desirous ofbeing with him, but they cannot because the door is shut. At hiscoming he will then sit on his glorious throne, and all the nations aregathered before him. He then assigns all the wicked to eternalpunishment and all the righteous to eternal life.

Matthew 13:24ff:Here is a picture of the Gospel Age. It closes with the SecondComing at the end of the age. Angels are sent forth by the LordJesus, and the wicked are banished to eternal punishment in the fur-nace of fire. At the same time, the righteous shine forth in the ever-lasting kingdom.

Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:11-27:At the return of our Lord (as King, see Lk. 19:15) judgment takesplace: The faithful are rewarded, and at the same time the wickedare eternally punished in outer darkness, where there is wailing andgnashing of teeth.


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Matthew 16:27 (cf. Jn. 5:28-29):At the Second Coming the Lord Jesus will come in his glory, with hisangels, and then execute judgment on everyone. (All will be resur-rected at a certain ‘hour’ [NASB] to receive either condemnation oreternal life).

In short, the Lord Jesus tells us that when he comes the heavensare shaken, the earth is in turmoil, and the whole world is in dreadand despair. All the world sees him coming in great power andglory. He then sits on his throne and sentences the wicked to eternalpunishment and the righteous to eternal life. Does the rest of theNew Testament agree with this scenario?

2. New Testament teaching on events surrounding the Second Coming

Acts 17:30-31 and 24:15 (also see Romans 2:5-8, 16):This shows the coming judgment day of the world, and the resur-rection of both the wicked and righteous, to be a single event, whichoccurs when Christ comes as Judge.

1 Corinthians 1:7-8:At the coming of the Lord, those who belong to Jesus will be foundblameless, kept to the end, at the day of Jesus Christ. The end = theday of Jesus Christ = the last day, as Jesus tells us in John 6:39-40when believers are raised to eternal life at the last day.

1 Corinthians 4:5:At his coming he will judge the hearts and motives of all people. Hewill bring into light everything done in the dark.

1 Corinthians 15:22-26 and 50-57:At his coming we will be resurrected to eternal life, then comes theend when he hands over his kingdom to the Father, when all hisenemies will be put under his feet including the last enemy, death.And this occurs at his coming, when we are all changed, in a twin-kling of an eye, at the last trumpet. We are raised to eternal life inour resurrected, immortal and imperishable bodies (vs.51-55).

1 Thessalonians 4:13 – 5:11:At the Lord’s coming, he brings with him from heaven all thosebelievers who have already died (4:14); the trumpet sounds, there isa shout from the archangel, and all the believers that come with Jesus

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are raised. (They receive their glorified resurrection bodies first.)Then we who are alive are translated, and so all the saints of all timeare with Jesus forever and ever (4:17; 5:10). This will happen totallyunexpectedly, and it will usher in sudden destruction for the unbe-lievers (5:3). They will receive the wrath that is due to them (5:9).But, we who are alive at his coming, will certainly not be ‘caughtout’ (5:4), showing very clearly that there will be believers on earthat Christ’s Second Coming, contrary to Dispensationalists whoteach a secret rapture of all believers years before Christ returns!

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10:When Christ comes it is judgment day: He will give relief to his peo-ple (v.7). Believers will marvel at his glory and grace, and will beglorified in him (v.10). At the same time he will eternally destroy theenemies of God at his revelation (vs.6-9).

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12:The coming of our Lord Jesus means the gathering of all his saints tohimself (v.1); this is the day of the Lord (v.2). But this will not hap-pen until the Antichrist is fully revealed and there is great apostasy,so that at the appearance of the coming of the Lord Jesus he will beslain (v.8), along with all the unsaved (v.10). Again, the picture Paulpaints for us here, as he has done in the two Thessalonian passagesalready quoted above, is that at the coming of the Lord the judg-ment of the unsaved and the gathering of all believers to himselfoccurs simultaneously.

2 Timothy 4:1, 8:At his appearing Christ is to judge all the living and dead. Onlythose who have loved his appearing will receive the crown of righ-teousness (also see 1 Pet. 5:4).

2 Peter 3:3-15:In the last days unbelievers will mock the promise of the Lord’sSecond Coming. But we read that the Lord is not slow about hispromise as some count slowness, but that the day of the Lord willcome like a thief (unexpectedly, when folk aren’t ready, as Jesuswarns time and again). And when his promise is fulfilled, judgmentwill happen! The heavens, elements, and the earth will be burnedup. But, at the same time, the believers will receive their reward,which is righteousness forever in the new heavens and new earth.


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From the Acts of the Apostles and some letters of the New Testa-ment we learn the following regarding the events associated with theSecond Coming:

� All those deceased believers who are with Christ in heaven now(in the intermediate state, see 2 Cor. 5:6-8; Phil. 1:21-23), willcome with the Lord Jesus at his coming.

� All will receive their resurrection bodies, at the last day, whendeath is no more.

� Eternal judgment of both the righteous and wicked takes place.� New heavens and new earth are brought about wherein only

the righteous can dwell, and they will do so forever and ever.� The Second Coming, therefore, ushers in the eternal state.

But what of the Revelation to John? Does the Book of Revelationteach a general resurrection, final judgment, and eternal state, at theSecond Coming of Christ?

3. The Revelation and its teaching on events surrounding theSecond Coming

Please read the following references through carefully; note espe-cially those passages that refer specifically to the ‘day of wrath’, tothe ‘great day’, to the ‘wine press of the wrath of God’, to ‘the battle,’etc. See how these passages tie in with cosmic and earthly upheaval,to judgment, and to the Second Coming:

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Every eye will see Him and all the earth will mourn at hiscoming.

There is great cosmic convulsion; the earth is in tremendousupheaval; the people are in fear and distress; and the Lord ison his throne to execute judgment. The great day of his wrathhas come! At the same time, there is the picture of a hugemultitude of God’s people before his throne. They are givenpeace and joy and happiness forevermore. There is no morehunger, nor thirst, nor tears for the Lamb is their shepherdand God is with them. Is this not a picture of the new heavensand new earth after the Day of Judgment (cf. Rev. 21:1-5)?

A picture of judgment day: the day of his wrath has come,and the time for the dead is to be judged, i.e. reward for thesaints, and destruction for the wicked (v. 18). Heaven and the

1:7

6:12-17;7:9ff

11:15-19



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14:14-20

16:13-21

19:11-21

20:7 to 21:8

temple therein is opened. The Ark of the Covenant is revealedfor all to see, and there is convulsion and disarray in theheavens and upon the earth.

The crowned Christ comes on the clouds to judge. The hourof reaping (judgment) has come. The wine press of the wrathof God is trampled on, and blood flows as high as 1600stadia: a picture of the universality of judgment day becausefour = the number of the universe and ten = the number forcompleteness. Therefore, 1600, which equals 4x4x10x10,represents comprehensive and complete judgment!

The great day of God Almighty has come, and the battle of Armageddon takes place. Christ comes like a thief, i.e.unexpectedly (v.15). A voice from heaven says, ‘It is done,’and there is great cosmic upheaval, and the earth is in mightydistress. Every mountain disintegrates and every islanddisappears. The cup of the wine of His wrath is poured out.(Again, we see Christ’s coming = judgment = the end!)

Heaven is opened and Christ comes in power and glory totread the wine press of the wrath of God, i.e. judgment day;battle of the great day; Christ comes as King of all kings andLord of all lords to execute judgment. No one escapes hisjudgment. All his enemies are killed: the beast and the falseprophet are consigned to the lake of fire, and all the rest of thewicked are killed in the great supper of God. Kings, mightymen, slaves, and all people, both small and great, aredestroyed by Christ at his Second Coming. All wickednessand evil are removed.

The battle of Gog and Magog – a battle of a great multitude ofwicked nations against the saints of God. Divine interventioncommits Satan to eternal punishment. Christ sits on histhrone. There is cosmic upheaval and heaven and earth flee!Judgment is executed on all the dead, great and small. Theeternal lake of fire is the destiny for all those whose namesare not found in the book of life. But for those whose namesare recorded in the book of life, there is the eternal newheavens and new earth where they will dwell with Godforever, receiving blessing, and joy and peace unto all theages of ages (21:1-8). (Read 2 Peter 3:12-13 where we have thenew heavens and new earth described at the Second Comingof Christ.)


If anything in Revelation excites me, it is the wondrous way in whichthe above descriptions of the events accompanying the SecondComing are so absolutely in agreement with the words of the LordJesus, and the teachings of the rest of the New Testament that wehave already considered. Truly the Bible is God-breathed.

Summary of eventsThe order of events surrounding the Second Coming of our LordJesus Christ:

1. The heavens are shaken, the earth is in turmoil, the whole worldis in dread and despair, and all the world sees him coming ingreat power and glory as King of kings and Lord of lords.

2. All receive their resurrection bodies – this signifies the end (1 Cor. 15:24).

3. This resurrection, says Jesus, occurs on the last day (Jn. 6:40). I am reminded here of Martha’s telling comment to Jesus inJohn 11:24, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at thelast day’. Martha knew of only one resurrection, to occur at thelast day.

4. Jesus also says that this resurrection will occur simultaneouslywith the resurrection of the wicked (Jn. 5:28-29; Matt. 16:27), asdoes Paul (2 Thes. 1:6-10), as does Daniel (Dan. 12:2), and as doall the other references I have given above. There is an ‘hour’coming, a ‘day’ coming, when all will rise on the last day.(Surely there are no more ‘days’ after the last day!)

5. Then Jesus will sit on his throne and execute eternal judgment.Eternal, I say, because this resurrection sees the destruction ofthe last enemy, i.e. death (1 Cor. 15:26, 54-55).

6. And, this defeat of death occurs at the Great White ThroneJudgment of Revelation 20:11-14 when death is cast into the lakeof fire (cf. Matt. 25:31-32, 46). Is this not compelling Scripturalevidence for the portrayal of the Second Coming and the finaljudgment as both occurring at the same time, at the last day,when all are raised and death is then destroyed?

7. Now the new heavens and new earth are brought about inwhich righteousness dwells forever, wherein tears, mourning,and death are never again to be found.

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The MillenniumKeeping in mind what the Scriptures have revealed, viz. there is butone Second Coming of Jesus Christ which brings about a general res-urrection and judgment, and which ushers in eternity with the for-ming of the new heavens and new earth, we now need to ask somepertinent questions regarding the Millennium itself:

1. When is it to take place?2. Where does it take place?3. Who takes part in the Millennium?

1. When does the Millennium occur?The only passage that refers to the Millennium in the entire Bible isin Revelation 20:1-10. In verses 1-3 we read that Satan is bound for1000 years, so as not to deceive the nations. Do we read anywhereelse in Scripture that Satan is bound? Yes, we read elsewhere thatSatan is bound now, in this Gospel Age. And I can just hear a multi-tude of voices ringing out in protest at such an assertion! ‘Look at allthe evil and carnage around us, look at the spread of wickedness through-out the world’, is the cry. And yet Jesus, and the New Testament,declares Satan to be bound:

� Jesus claims that Satan is bound in Matthew 12:29 (NASB), wherethe same Greek word used here for ‘bind’ is also used inRevelation 20:2. As a result of this binding, Christ now begins to cast out demons, showing that his kingdom has arrived(Matt. 12:28), and that Satan’s power is now curtailed.

� When the 70 disciples of Jesus returned, Jesus said, ‘I beheldSatan as lightning fall from heaven’ (Lk. 10:18, KJV).

� When certain Greeks wanted to see Jesus he said, ‘Now is thejudgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world becast out’ (Jn. 12:31, KJV). That word ‘cast’ has the same root inGreek as the word ‘cast’ or ‘throw’ in Revelation 20:3.

� Colossians 2:15 makes it very clear that Christ disarmed Satanand his horde by his triumph on the cross.

� Revelation 12:5ff shows that the casting out of Satan was a resultof the crowning of Christ.

� Hebrews 2:14 emphatically declares that through his death Jesusrendered the devil powerless.


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� 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 declares that evil and wickedness areunder restraint now.

� Did you know that evil angels (demons) are kept in darkness,bound with ‘everlasting chains’ (Jude 1:6)? They are ‘cast intohell’, committed to ‘pits of darkness’, until the ‘judgment’ (2 Pet.2:4, NASB). Now no one would deny the influence of evil in theworld today, and yet the Bible declares that these evil forces arebound.

Christ declares that he will build his Church, and the gates of Hellwill never overcome it (Matt. 16:18). He can confidently proclaimthis because he knows Satan is bound. Satan is bound in the sensethat the nations can never be deceived as to the truths of the gospel.Before Christ came, the world certainly was deceived for only Israelknew the great God Jehovah. The rest of the world was totallydeceived, and in darkness as to the knowledge of God and his require-ments. But since the first coming of Christ all the Gentile nationshave been exposed to the glorious truths of Jesus Christ! Gospelpreaching will never be stopped. Satan can never stop the spread ofthe gospel until he is loosed at the end of this age. Only then will thenations again be deceived, resulting in great tribulation, apostasy,and the gathering of the nations to do battle against the saints ofGod. Then Christ comes in great glory and power to judge (as depic-ted in Rev. 20:7-15).

So, Amillennialists declare that the 1000-year period of Reve-lation 20:1-3 is being implemented now during the Gospel Age.Satan and his forces are bound, in that they cannot deceive andinfluence the nations in order to overcome and conquer the Churchof Jesus Christ.

2. Where does the Millennium occur?Look at Revelation 20:4-6: John sees thrones, and seated on them hesees souls of the martyrs who have never bowed down to the beast,and all those who take part in the first resurrection. He is seeing thedead in their disembodied state, living and reigning with Christ.Where is Christ? Revelation 5 and 12 says that he is in heaven.Where are the thrones in Revelation? (See 1:4; 3:21; 4:2ff; 5:1ff; 6:16;7:9ff; 11:16; 12:5; 14:3ff; 16:17; 19:4f; 21:5; 22:1ff). The thrones are inheaven. Where do we, who are in Christ, go when we die, while we

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wait for the resurrection of our bodies? We go to heaven (2 Cor. 5:6-8; Phil. 1:21-23).

Therefore, the Millennium is taking place in heaven. Right nowall those who die in-Christ during the Gospel Age are in heaven andenjoying millennial bliss. And when Jesus comes again they comewith him, and we who are still on earth will join them to be foreverwith our Lord. Now the souls reign, but after the resurrection thebody and soul come together, and then the saints reign (Rev. 22:5).

3. Who participates in the Millennium?Look again at Revelation 20:4-6: John’s vision concerns certain peo-ple who have died (v.5). The first part of verse 4 shows believerswho have died and are now reigning with Christ which is the ful-fillment of his promise in Revelation 3:21. Then John sees the mar-tyrs reigning with Christ. (Here is a scene which we have alreadyencountered in Revelation 6:9.) He says that these souls have notworshipped the beast or its image, which is a further description ofthe martyrs for Christ because from Revelation 13:15 we discoverthat those who refused to worship the beast were to be killed.

Revelation 20:4-6 is a vision of the souls of all Christians whohave died, and particularly those who died as martyrs, living andreigning with Christ in heaven for the same 1000-year period inwhich Satan is bound on earth. This, says John, is the first resurrec-tion (v.5). I do not believe this to be a physical resurrection (that ofraising the body), simply because the bodily, physical resurrection isdescribed for us as occurring at the end of the 1000-year period, onjudgment day, as depicted in verses 11-13. That resurrection is dis-tinct from the resurrection described in Revelation 20:4-5. So I see allbelievers who die now, during the Gospel Age, as sharing in the mil-lennial reign of Christ in heaven:

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on ... that theymay rest from their labours. (Rev. 14:13, NASB)

The rest of the dead, the unbelieving dead, lived not until the 1000years were ended (Rev. 20:5). In other words, there is no spiritualresurrection to a living with Christ for the unbelieving dead duringthe Millennium. The souls of dead unbelievers do not undergo aspiritual ‘first resurrection’ to live and reign with Christ during theintermediate state. John is simply contrasting the lot of the dead


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believers to that of the dead unbelievers. Then these enter the sec-ond death, everlasting punishment, not for the soul only, but forbody and soul. For all those who share in the millennial bliss, whotake part in the first resurrection, the second death has no power(Rev. 20:6).

The Millennium is the translation of the soul from this sinfulearth to God’s holy heaven for all the believers who die in Christ.From whence they await the glorious Second Coming and thereceiving of their glorified bodies, so that soul and body are unitedforevermore in the new heavens and new earth. (Notice that there isnot one word in Revelation 20:4-6 of any earthly Millennium, nor ofany believers alive on earth. There is no mention of Palestine, theJews, the temple, the wicked and redeemed living together in a fal-len dying world!)

ConclusionI trust that I have been fair and unbiased in the Scriptures that I havereferred to. I certainly have endeavoured to read them in context, intheir natural sense, and not to ‘spiritualize’ away the sense of therelevant passages. A final thought:

With all the exciting expectation of an earthly Millennium thathas been so prevalent amongst evangelicals for so long now, someof my readers may be distressed, and perhaps even perplexed, toread of such a heavenly view of the Millennium portrayed in thisessay.

My response is this: I have simply echoed the fact that the LordJesus, Paul, Peter, Luke, Matthew, Mark, James, Jude, John, and thewriter to the Hebrews, do not say a word regarding the setting up ofan interim 1000 year rule of an earthly civil government. Not oncedoes Christ, or the inspired New Testament writers, ever declarethat at his return he will set up such a bizarre kingdom of a combi-nation of risen, immortal, glorified saints with corrupt sinners on anearth where death and decay is still anticipated! Never in the entireBible are we told to expect such a reign of the risen, glorious KingJesus in a still fallen, unrenewed earth, suffering again the humilia-tion of sinners rebelling and rising up against him after one thou-sand years of supposed unparalleled blessings. Is such an appallingepisode to occur again to the Lord Christ? Is this to occur again to

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the Jesus at whose name, we are told, every knee should bow inheaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessthat Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father?

When Jesus comes again, every unrepentant sinner will flee, andcall on the mountains to fall on them, and to hide them from himwho sits on his throne. Then it will be that all his elect will see himas he is. They will marvel at his glorious grace shown to such unde-serving, depraved sinners. That he should have died for them, calledthem to himself, and kept them to the end, will forever be the cher-ished song of all the elect throughout eternity. To him be all theglory, now and forever more, and even so, every child of God says:‘Come Lord Jesus, come’! May the God of all peace keep you untilJesus comes ... Maranatha!

Larry Waugh of Dispensationalismresponds...Joseph Meiring highlights the sensationalists – those who repea-tedly throughout history have convinced themselves that currentevents signified the end-times and the return of Christ. I empathisewith them. Who, when studying prophecy and living during theheyday of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco, would not have thoughtthat this was it? Or in any other cataclysmic times? Bad as thesetimes were, they simply emphasize Jesus’ words that the end-timetribulation will be a climax of worsening times, like the peak of astorm (Lk. 21:25). These roaring seas started getting whipped up atthe time of Christ. Out of these roaring seas will come the man of themoment: the Antichrist (Is. 57:20; Rev. 13:1).

1. The great tribulation: judgement for Israel and rest for the Church

There were a few important prophecies unfulfilled at the time ofHitler and his predecessors, such as the re-establishment of Israel.The focus of the world’s attention is now on Israel, with an impend-ing peace agreement which we sensationalists (or rather, enthusi-asts) regard as the signal for the revealing of the Antichrist and hisseven-year Great Tribulation period. And indeed, as we read ournewspapers and see the wheeler-dealings of the pope, the UnitedNations, the G.5, and developments towards a New World Order, I


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can only say, ‘Who needs cricket and rugby?’ Technology is realisingthe ‘symbolic’ visions of Daniel and John.

Yet, if Joseph Meiring and others regard this Great Tribulation asan event worth experiencing firsthand, they must be mighty men!Consider this, though: When they come to stand before Christ oneday and he says to them, ‘Did you really think of me as a punishingFather who delights in putting my children through the most inhu-mane trials, side by side with the likes of the Spanish Inquisitors,Josef Mengele, and today’s Satanists?’ According to their faith be itunto them.

2. The Millennium: a literal truthIt is the Amillennialist’s contention that the Millennium is not a lite-ral 1000 years. It seems people find it difficult to accept a simpletruth! I’ve just heard Vernon McGee, in wrapping up another of his5-year ‘Thru The Bible’ series on Trans World Radio, refer to sixunequivocal references to the 1000-year millennial reign of Christ inthe Book of Revelation. And he was particularly piqued that theAmillennialists insist there is no reference to this literal truth (seeRev. 20:2-7).

In regard to the Millennium, Joseph Meiring writes:

Never in the entire Bible are we told to expect such a reign of therisen, glorious King Jesus in a still fallen, unrenewed earth, sufferingagain the humiliation of sinners rebelling and rising up against Himafter one thousand years of supposed unparalleled blessings.

However, Revelation 20:7-9 describes the final uprising of Satan’sdisciples with no hint of any suffering on Christ’s part whatsoever.

3. Why a rebellion at the end of the MillenniumWhy should there be a Millennium with a final showdown? BecauseJesus will return with his bride to reign for 1000 years with a rod ofiron (Rev. 19:11-15). Over whom? A restored Israel, which will con-sist of people who don’t get sick or die prematurely (but neverthe-less die). These will be the people who turned to God during theGreat Tribulation, who will have children born to them during theMillennium, and who will enjoy all the Utopian blessings as Luciferdid before his rebellion. Yet, as is the nature of humankind, succes-sive generations will get progressively worse and godless, so that

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there will come a rebellion at the end of the Millennium when Satanis released to champion their cause. Even now, in an age of access toknowledge about God, especially in countries like ours where thereis freedom of religion, people reject the love God offers and his sac-rifice on the cross so that we can have eternal life with him in para-dise unimaginable. They reject God in favour of false gods whooffer nothing!

Rodney D. Stortz of Premillennialismresponds...Joseph L. Meiring begins his defense of Amillennialism with a pre-sentation of the dispensational premillennial description of the endtimes. He says:

I defy anyone to read these passages in this stated order, in theirsetting and context, and then without any bias or influence fromthese authors and their assumptions and without any prejudicialopinions, to independently arrive at the type of end-time chronologyas set out by them. I confess I have tried over these many years andsimply could not. And might I add, neither had any of God’s peoplefrom the dawn of Christianity until around 1880, when these strangeand rather fanciful notions first began making its influence felt inBritain and the USA!

As a Reformed Premillennialist, I agree with Mr. Meiring’s assess-ment of Dispensational Premillennialism and am distressed at howthe evangelical world has embraced this view so uncritically. TheReformed premillennial view is also called Historic Premillennia-lism, because it was the oldest view held by the Church includingSt. Augustine in his early years. According to Amillennialist StanleyJ. Grenz, in his book The Millennial Maze, Augustine changed hisviews, not for exegetical reasons, but as a matter of preference:

Although once a premillennialist himself, Augustine came to rejectthis view because of its emphasis on the physical pleasures to beenjoyed during the thousand years – ‘that those who then rise againshall enjoy the leisure of immoderate carnal banquets, furnishedwith an amount of meat and drink such as not only to shock thefeeling of the temperate, but even to surpass the measure ofcredulity itself.’ (1992:42-3)


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I used to be an Amillennialist by preference, because it was the easi-est position to hold to. However, when I began to exegete theScriptures, without the amillennial assumptions and any prejudicialopinions, I confess I simply could not arrive at the chronology theyset out.

Mr. Meiring says, ‘Before we lunge into the Millennium ofRevelation 20 as such, trying to ascertain when and how and whereit is to take place, we must first and foremost discover what theBible teaches on the events associated with the Second Coming ofthe Lord Jesus Christ.’ But, is Revelation 20 not the Bible too? Mr.Meiring makes a fundamental exegetical mistake by saying onething needs to be considered ‘first and foremost’ before studyinganother passage of Scripture such as Revelation 20. If one draws con-clusions before studying Revelation 20, then one will not approachRevelation objectively. Instead that one will try ‘to make it fit’ to hisprior conclusions. If all Scripture is studied together before any con-clusions are drawn, then Revelation 20 will give us important in-sight in understanding the other New and Old Testament prophecies.

Another fatal flaw in Mr. Meiring’s argument is his failure to usethe Old Testament. The only passage Mr. Meiring used was Daniel12:2, because it nicely supports his premise that there is but one gen-eral resurrection. But, here are a couple of principles that must beconsidered when studying the prophecies regarding the SecondComing of Christ and his 1000-year reign on earth:

First principle: Study of the Bible shows that the Jewish writers oftengrouped items thematically rather than chronologically. One goodexample of this is Ezra chapter 4. This has confused people for years,trying to figure out if the writer is speaking of the opposition inZerubbabel’s day (520BC) or Nehemiah’s day (444BC). Closer studyshows that it is both, even though they seem to blend together forthe western mind that demands events to be listed chronologicallyrather than thematically. One could conclude that there are contra-dictions in this difficult passage or one could conclude that thewriter is handling the subject thematically, the theme being theopposition the Jews faced from their enemies. So when passageslike Daniel 12 seem to be speaking of a general resurrection occur-ring at the same time, we must realize that Daniel is speaking the-matically. If other passages deal with a time-table such as Revelation

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20, that does not contradict a thematic passage, rather it compli-ments it.

Another example is found in Matthew 13:24-30 where Jesus tellsthe parable of the weeds. He ends by saying, ‘First collect the weedsand tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat andbring it into my barn’. Amillennialists often point to this as contra-dicting the premillennial position of the resurrection of the right-eous first, followed by the resurrection of the unrighteous 1000years later. It would be a contradiction if the parables spoke chrono-logically rather than thematically, but they do not.

Second principle: Study of the Bible shows that there are timeswhen verses and phrases side by side ‘appear’ to occur immediate-ly after each other with no time passing in between. But the revela-tion of Scripture and its fulfillment in history show that this is nottrue. One example is Zechariah 9:9-10. Verse 9 speaks of the trium-phal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Verse 10 speaks of the day whenhe will proclaim peace to the nations and his rule will extend fromsea to sea and from the River Euphrates to the ends of the earth. Thisis still in the process of happening 2000 years later. The Jews madethe same mistake in their study of Scripture, so they missed thetruth that the Messiah would have to die before he became king.They were not looking for a sacrificial Messiah, they were lookingfor a king to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey and establish his king-dom from sea to shining sea. They did not realize that these twoevents would be separated by some two thousand years. Now let uslook at an important New Testament example of this in 1 Corin-thians 15. Events, which by the words appear to have no timebetween them, are shown in history to be divided by time:

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But eachin his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then ... [‘then’ soundsimmediate, but we know that it is at least 2000 years later],when he comes, those who belong to him. Then ... [there is thatword again that previously meant ‘then after 2000 years,’ buthere it means ‘then after 1000 years per Revelation 20], the endwill come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father afterhe has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he mustreign until he has put all his enemies under his feet [this is fulfilledin Revelation 20:7-15]. (vs.22-25)


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Now let me respond to Mr. Meiring’s specific analysis of the Mil-lennium: 1) When does it take place? 2) Where does it take place? 3) Who takes part in the Millennium?

1. When does the Millennium occur?First, the only passage that refers to the Millennium is not Reve-lation 20 as the author says. That may be the only one that uses thewords 1000 years, but the Millennium is addressed in Isaiah 65:17-25, Daniel 7:9-28, Micah 4:1-5, Zechariah 14:9-21, and 1 Corinthians15:22-25 just to mention a few. Secondly, he tries to build the castthat Satan is bound now because of Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:29.The same Greek word may be used, but the context shows it isspeaking of two different events. Revelation 20:3 makes it clear thatthe second binding is going to be such that he will deceive the nations(the people) no more. He is deceiving the people of the nations now:

I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning,your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and puredevotion to Christ. (2 Cor. 11:3)

In 2 Corinthians 2:11 Paul speaks of Satan’s deception when he says,‘in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware ofhis schemes.’ And in Ephesians 6:11 Paul warns us to put on the fullarmor of God so that we can ‘stand [firm] against the devil’sschemes [his deceptions]’. Then in 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul writes,‘The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, sothat they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ’. Donot be deceived; Satan is still deceiving the people of the nations. Weare not in the Millennium now. True, people of the nations believe inthe gospel today, but they did before the cross as well. Think of theEgyptian believers who went with the Israelites, the Ninevites whorepented when Jonah preached, and those who came to believe inBabylon through the witness of Daniel. Satan’s power is curtailednow since the cross, but he will not be thrown into the Abyss todeceive the nations no more until Christ comes back again.

2. Where does the Millennium occur?The author states that the thrones of Revelation 20:4-6 are in heaveneven though the text does not say that. We must be careful not toread into the text ideas that are not there. To say the word ‘souls’

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means it is in heaven cannot be supported, because no one can seesouls. The soul is invisible. Many times in Scripture the figure ofspeech ‘a part for the whole’ is used. We use it when we say the ran-cher had 3000 head of cattle. The head stands for the whole animal.At best the author’s premise that these verses are in heaven is weakand can be taken another way without misrepresenting the text.

The bigger problem the author faces is that Revelation 5:10 saysthat those who are bought with the blood of Christ ‘will reign on theearth’. After saying that the Messiah’s ‘feet will stand on the Mountof Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split intwo from east to west’ (which has not happened yet, and which pre-dicts the physical return of Christ), Zechariah says, ‘the LORD will beking over the whole earth’ (14:4, 9).

In addition, those on the thrones of Revelation 20 who are givenauthority to judge, we are told, are all the believers who have everlived. First Corinthians 6:2 says that ‘the saints will judge the world’.We are not judging the world now. First Corinthians 5:12-13 says,‘What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Godwill judge those outside’. Right now, we are not to judge the world,but one day when Christ returns we will. We will not judge theworld in heaven before Christ returns. No Scripture says the saintsin heaven are doing that now.

3. Who participates in the Millennium?Contrary to what the author says, the people in Revelation 20:4 arenot now reigning with Christ. This is a picture of the future. This fol-lows the return of Christ recorded in Revelation 19:11-21. Verse 11 isfuture to this day. The verse begins with the words, ‘I saw’. Verse 17begins with the words, ‘And I saw’. Verse 19 begins, ‘Then I saw’.Revelation 20:1 begins, ‘And I saw’. Revelation 20:4 begins, ‘I saw’.Verse 11 begins, ‘Then I saw’. And Revelation 21:1 begins with thewords, ‘Then I saw’. This is an unbroken chain of sequential eventsthat are all future to us, and which takes place at, and after, thereturn of Christ. There is no exegetical warrant for any interpreter ofScripture to think that the ‘And I saw’ of Revelation 20:1 takes usback to the first century. No warrant from the text at all. We must bevery careful not to read things we want to see into the text.

Also, when Jesus comes back, John says that the beast and thefalse prophet will be cast into the ‘fiery lake of burning sulfur’ (Rev.


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19:20). This is significant because it shows the sequence of Revela-tion 19 and 20. Revelation 20:10 says, ‘And the devil, who deceivedthem, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beastand the false prophet had been thrown!’ The end of Revelation 20 isnot the same as the end of Revelation 19. So the conclusion of theauthor that Revelation 20:4 speaks of saints reigning in heaven rightnow is completely unfounded by the text or the context.

To say the first resurrection of Revelation 20 is not a physicalresurrection has no exegetical warrant. It reminds me of the disci-ples when they came down from the Mount of Transfiguration.Jesus told them not to tell anyone what they saw until he had risenfrom the dead. Mark 9:10 says that they were discussing amongthemselves what Jesus meant by ‘rising from the dead’. Apparentlyit never dawned on them that he might just mean what he said.When the Bible speaks of the resurrection, unless there is compel-ling reason in the text, not in our heart’s desire, it means the resur-rection of the dead. Amillennialists take this first resurrection to beour souls going to heaven to reign with Christ. If this is the case,then this is the first time in history that the word ‘resurrection’ isused to mean ‘they died.’ Let’s be careful how we handle words. Ifwords lose there meaning, then how can we have a meaningful dis-cussion? Not only that, but verse 5 becomes very problematic withthe amillennial interpretation: ‘The rest of the dead did not come tolife until the thousand years were ended’.

As Mr. Meiring said in his paper, ‘I defy anyone to read these pas-sages in this stated order, in their setting and context, and then with-out any bias or influence from these authors and their assumptionsand without any prejudicial opinions, to independently arrive at thetype of end-time chronology as set out by them’. In the same way, Idefy anyone to read Revelation 20 in its setting and context, and thenwithout any prejudicial opinions, to arrive at the type of interpreta-tion set out by the Amillennialist. I say with Mr. Meiring, ‘I confess Ihave tried over these many years and could not’.

4. The Millennium: an earthly reign of Jesus ChristThe author cannot do justice to this subject without giving an ans-wer to what Isaiah 65:17-25 means when it speaks of ‘the new heav-ens and new earth’ in which ‘never again will there be in it an infantwho lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his

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years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; hewho fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed’ (v.20). Towhat does this refer if not to an earthly reign of Christ that Revela-tion speaks of? This is the new heavens and new earth and yet thereis death! Yes, when the Scriptures of the Old Testament are takenwith the New Testament, we get a much different picture than thosewho ignore the Old Testament prophecies. Christ will reign on theearth (Zech. 14:1-9). There will be unbelievers who survive his return:

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalemwill go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty...If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem toworship the King, the Lord Almighty – [Philippians 2:10 saysevery knee will bow] – they will have no rain. (Zech. 14:16-17)

According to Zechariah 14, there is some punishment after the returnof Christ upon the survivors of the nation. There will be deathamong mortals according to Isaiah 65 in the new heavens and newearth. No conclusion as to a millennial position should ever be helduntil one has considered the truths of these texts along with Daniel7:7-28.

When Christ returns, those who trust in him will be resurrected(‘the first resurrection’ of Revelation 20:5) and we will escort himback to earth to reign with him on the earth for one thousand years(Rev. 5:10 cf. Rev. 20b). Christ will rule the nations with a rod of ironbecause unbelievers will be here (Rev. 19:15). They will die, givebirth (Is. 65:17-25), and finally revolt after the thousand years (Rev.20:7-9). The only difference between the Millennium and the eternalstate is that there will be unbelievers on the earth for the first 1000years of the eternal state.

Jay Rogers of Postmillennialismresponds...There is not much disagreement between Amillennialists and Post-millennialists concerning the chronological order of end-time events.In both views, the Millennium is a metaphor for Christ’s kingdomon earth. First, the Millennium will be completed. Then simultane-ously, the Second Coming of Christ, the resurrection, and the finaljudgment will occur.


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It is important to remember, however, that the pre-, a- and post-prefixes are fairly modern adaptations to describe millennial think-ing. Postmillennialism is a phrase that came into being after centu-ries of Puritan and Calvinist influence in creating a Christian socialtheory from a biblical perspective. Prior to the 1600s, there was nodistinction between Postmillennialism and Amillennialism. Post-millennialism was first called ‘progressive millenarianism’ to distin-guish it from both amillennial and chiliastic (millennial) thinking.

There is no difference between the sequence of end-time eventsin the postmillennial and amillennial outlooks. The two views areakin. Even Historical Premillennialism can be seen as a distant cousinto Postmillennialism. Postmillennialism, Amillennialism and Histo-rical Premillennialism form a continuum. However, DispensationalPremillennialism stands at the opposite end of the spectrum.

If we were to graph the views to show their similarity, they mightfall along a line as follows:

Disp. premil. Hist. premil. Amil. Postmil.

Someone may look at this line graph and ask: ‘What then is thedifference, if any, between Amillennialism and Postmillennialism?’The answer: Historical optimism.

Most Amillennialists tend to spiritualize (or idealize) the eventsin Matthew 24 and Revelation or put them ‘sometime in history’.Meiring’s view is futurist, rather than being a traditional amillen-nial view. That is another difference between Amillennialism andPostmillennialism. Virtually no Postmillennialist is a futurist. AmongPostmillennialists there are only historicists and preterists. Amillen-nialists tend to be historicists or idealists. The amillennial futuristview exists, but it is more rare. However, this underscores my mainpoint of rebuttal. Amillennialism tends to be more pessimistic aboutthe end-times. According to the Amillennialist, the gospel is preachedto the nations and many people are converted. However, there is notransformation of whole political and social structures.

Amillennialism places the Millennium prior to the Second Com-ing, but there is no Golden Age of Christianity prior to Christ’s return.‘There is really no millennium,’ says the Amillennialist. Amillennia-lism means literally, ‘no millennial reign.’ There is no Golden Age inthe amillennial view. Postmillennialism stresses that there will be aGolden Age of Christianity in time and history prior to Christ’s

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return. For this reason, Postmillennialism is sometimes called opti-mistic amillennialism. In reality, an Amillennialist who is optimisticabout the end-times is a Postmillennialist.

1. The common church doctrineThe common church doctrine on the end-times did not distinguishbetween Amillennialism and Postmillennialism for over 1500 years.In fact, until the time of the Protestant Reformation, there was onlythe term ‘millenarianism’, which was used to describe the minorityview of Premillennialism. Postmillennialism emerged as a term fora particular view among those who held the common doctrine.After a debate among the Puritans in the 1600s and 1700s, Postmil-lennialism emerged as a common term. The contrasting views canbe seen by looking at the writings of the Puritans. Many early Puri-tans, such as John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts, can beproperly described as Postmillennialists.

When the Puritans first came to America, they hoped to build aChristian society that would be copied all over the world. Theywere not naive, however, and understood that a lessening of Chris-tian influence over the years could lead them to be cursed ratherthan blessed of God. If they disobeyed, they would be cut off andGod might raise up another Christian civilization in their place.They began the Puritan settlement with a postmillennial hope.

However, by the end of the 17th century, the Puritan hope beganto quell. Seeing the trend of a waning Reformed Protestant influ-ence, some began to foresee a pessimistic end to the world. They sawthe Antichrist looming on the horizon. Much like many of today’sPremillennialists, they adopted an end-times view of gloom anddoom.

The ‘Jeremiad’ was a sermon preached to nurture this gloomyview of the apostasy that had set in. Often the Book of Revelationwas cited to foster pessimistic expectations, especially the destruc-tion of Babylon in Revelation 18. Other Christians dissented andbegan to work for revival and reformation in colonial America. Oneview was forward-looking – seeing a glorious revival of religion onthe horizon if the people of God would just pray and obey. Theother view was backward-looking – lamenting that the glory of Godhad departed and chastising the sins of the people without givingmuch hope for redemption.


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The optimists were found not just those among the Puritans, butalso the Anglican church, the Scottish Presbyterians, Reformedchurches, and later, Wesley’s Methodists. They believed that even inthe darkest times, God could appear as a great light and restore Hisglory to both church and society. The so-called ‘Great Awakenings’that occurred in America and England during the 1700s and 1800swere fueled by this postmillennial optimism.

Jonathan Edwards, considered by many to be America’s greatesttheologian, was an ardent Postmillennialist. His writings fully deve-loped the implications of a millennial ‘Golden Age’. JonathanEdwards is best known for his role in the Great Awakening, whichbegan as a revival in several churches along the Connecticut RiverValley. Through his preaching, revivalistic fervor spread throughoutthe colonies. Evangelical zeal and postmillennial hope went hand inhand. Edwards’ preaching that the Millennium would be realized inits fullest sense in America fueled societal reformation within theembryonic nation of America. Edwards was to be the instrument ofNew England’s reformation in the 1730s and 1740s. He insisted thatthere would be times of conflict, remissions and lulls between thesovereign outpourings of the Spirit. A decline in the spiritual andmoral character of a Christian nation, according to Edwards, is to beinterpreted as a preparation for an even greater outpouring. Evensecular historians agree that the postmillennial optimism of the firstGreat Awakening gave the American colonies the impetus to seekindependence from England. Ingrained in the early American con-sciousness was the idea that our form of civil government wouldeventually mirror the principles and laws outlined in the Bible.

2. Futurism vs. preterismI agree with Joseph Meiring’s chronological order of end-times events,the exception being that I am more optimistic. But here I will cri-tique his, and other futurist’s, rendering of portions of the MountOlivet Discourse.

Eschatology is the study of the last things (from the Greek: eska-ton, or ‘last things’). The last things, according to the Bible, are thefulfillment of the Great Commission, the resurrection of the livingand the dead, the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thefinal judgment. It is important to remember that eschatology is thestudy of last things not the end times.

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According to Acts 1:6-8 (NKJV), Jesus Christ spoke to his disciplesat the very last specifically forbidding them to inquire into the studyof the end times. They asked him: ‘Lord, will you at this time restorethe kingdom to Jerusalem?’ Jesus rebuked them saying: ‘It is not foryou to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His ownauthority.’ Instead, Christ commanded them to be concerned withfulfilling the Great Commission: ‘But you shall receive power whenthe Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses toMe in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of theearth.’

In our day, Christians seem more fascinated than ever with thisforbidden study of the ‘end times’. Rather than helping to fulfill theGreat Commission, one of the God-ordained ‘last things’, they con-centrate instead on interpreting the daily news in light of Scripture.Earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, famines in Africa, pestilencein various places, the spread of false religions, signs in the heavens,growing tensions in the Middle East are thought to offer proof thatthe world has entered the end times. They interpret Christ’s admo-nition to the disciples to mean exactly the opposite of what he lite-rally says, that the end is ‘not yet’, and that all these things are a signof sorrows that are just the ‘beginning’.

See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come topass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, andkingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences,and earthquakes in various places. All these [things] are thebeginning of sorrows. (Matt. 24:6-8, NKJV – Emphasis mine)

The fact that ‘all these things’ are occurring in our day has nothingto do with Matthew 24. They have nothing to do with the end times.In fact, when Jesus said, ‘all these things must come to pass’, he wasspeaking specifically of events in the first century. Jesus implies inMatthew 24 that at least some of his disciples would live to see‘these things’ (v.6). For example, he says, ‘You will hear...’ (v.6);‘Then they will deliver you up ...’ (v.9); ‘Therefore when you see ...’(v.15).

In context, we should understand that ‘you’ refers to the audi-ence to whom Jesus is speaking. ‘The disciples’ to whom Jesus isspeaking are likely more than only the Twelve. Some of these livedpast the year 70 when the Jewish temple was destroyed. The preterist


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looks carefully at the events in the immediate forty years after theMount Olivet Discourse to see if any of these prophecies were ful-filled. The preterist points to the Jewish historian Josephus whorecorded providentially ordained earthquakes, natural calamitiesand wars which occurred around the time of the Roman warsagainst the Jews and the siege of Jerusalem (AD64-70).

The preterist looks at the context of the passage. In Matthew 24,the disciples were asking three questions of Jesus:

1. When will these things be? (‘These things’ refer to thedestruction of Jerusalem and Herod’s temple.)

2. What will be the sign of your coming? 3. And of the end of the age?

The disciples believed that they were asking one question, but inMatthew 24, Jesus treats all three separately and in order. Many firstcentury Jews (especially the Essenes and the Pharisees) held to a pre-millennial eschatology (condemned by the patristic church as theheresy of chiliasm) which taught that the Messiah would come to setup an earthly kingdom; he would destroy the temple, and rule thenations with a rod of iron from Jerusalem. Jesus’ disciples erroneous-ly believed that Jesus was referring to his coming to rule in Jerusalemwhen he referred to the destruction of the temple in Matthew 24:2.In the rest of the chapter, Jesus answers their three questions in order:

1. ‘When will these things be?’First, he tells the disciples point blank that there will be an increaseof sorrows in the world just before the destruction of Jerusalem. Hecalls these events ‘great tribulation’. I will numerate several pointsfrom my thesis once again:

� The tribulation is defined as something soon to come: ‘thisgeneration shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled’ (v.34).

� History will continue for some time after the great tribulation:‘For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not beensince the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor evershall be’ (v.21, NKJV). That is, history is going to continue forsome time after this.

� He also tells his disciples that the tribulation will be cut short‘for the sake of the elect’ (v.22).

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The Roman war against the Jews and the siege of Jerusalem (AD64-70) was the ‘great tribulation’. It was the fulfillment of this pro-phecy. We have to interpret the text faithfully. If Jesus referred to thisgeneration, then he meant his generation at the time he was speak-ing, not a generation two thousand years in the future.

2. ‘What will be the sign of your coming?’In verses 29-31, Jesus refers to the ‘sign of his coming’, which is therule of Christ and the gathering of the elect from the nations. (Com-pare those verses with Matthew 28:18-20 and the other Great Com-mission passages, such as Mark 16:15-17.) Jesus says in Matthew24:29-31 that immediately after the tribulation of those days, the pow-ers of heaven will be shaken, the Son of Man will appear in heaven,and there will be a time when the gospel will go out to all nations (asit has been doing for two thousand years).

Futurists believe that verses 29-31 refer specifically to the SecondComing. But what is being explained is ‘the sign of his coming’, notthe actual Second Coming itself. Compare the language with Acts2:16-21:

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shallcome to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spiritupon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dreamdreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pourout in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I willshew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath;blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned intodarkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable dayof the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall callon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Peter says, ‘this is that which is spoken of by the prophet Joel.’ Peteris speaking of the ‘last days’ in the present tense as being fulfilled inhis own day, ‘this is that’ meaning the blood, fire, vapor of smoke,and signs in the heavens prophesied by Joel. According to Peter, thiswas already occurring on the day of Pentecost. This highly figura-tive and prophetic language denotes Christ’s rule from heaven overthe nations. In the Old Testament prophetic books, similar languageis used to denote the overthrow of one kingdom by another.


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Peter also uses language similar to Jesus in the Great Commissionin Mark 16:15-17: ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel toevery creature... And these signs shall follow them that believe...’

In the Mount Olivet Discourse, there are signs that Christ hasappeared as the ruler over heaven and earth. In the Great Commis-sion, there are to be ‘signs’ following the preaching of the gospel. InActs 2, Peter identifies these as signs of the ‘last days’. The rule ofChrist over the nations has come. This was true on the day of Pente-cost; it was occurring when Jerusalem was judged of God in AD70,and it is going on today as well.

Therefore, the ‘sign of his coming’ is the rule of Christ over thenations, the ingathering of the elect, and the Church being greatlyenlarged and used of God to disciple the nations.

3. ‘And of the end of the age?’Third, continuing on in verses 36 through 51, and also throughchapter 25, Jesus speaks of ‘the end of the age’. Some consistentpreterists believe that this refers to the end of the Jewish age whichoccurred with the destruction of the temple and coming of a newkingdom age which began after Christ’s resurrection. But the ‘endof the age’ here does not refer to the end of the Jewish age, as somepreterists teach. The word for ‘age’ used here in Greek, aeon, can alsobe used to mean ‘world’. Therefore, I believe Jesus is now finallyaddressing the disciples intended question, that is, their concernover eschatology or the ‘last things’ – the fulfillment of the Great Com-mission, the Second Coming, the resurrection, and the final judgment.

After warning in verse 36, ‘of that day and hour knoweth noman, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only,’ Christ givesseveral parables to describe what will be happening as we approachthe end of time: the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants;the ten wise and foolish virgins; the talents; the sheep and the goats.Christ’s narrative throughout this passage (Matt. 24:34ff) describeshow he will progressively remove unrighteous people out of theworld slowly at first and more rapidly as the kingdom advances inthe world. These parables are part of the Olivet Discourse. Theymust be taken in context as if Christ is still addressing the discipleswho asked him the question in Matthew 24:3.

In Matthew 24:36 throughout chapter 25, Christ does not refer to‘all the evil things we see happening today’, but to judgment pro-

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gressively falling on the wicked to remove them from the world asthe kingdom of God advances prior to the Second Coming. Finally,he will sit in judgment over the nations at the last judgment referredto in the parable of the sheep and the goats. (Compare these pas-sages with Matthew 24:14.) Thus a sound interpretation of Matthew24 includes elements of preterism or events happening before AD70pertaining to the disciples’ first question (vv. 4-28); historicism refer-ring to the gospel advancing in history as a sign of Christ’s comingpertaining to the disciples’ second question (v.29-31); and both his-toricism and futurism pertaining to Jesus’ answer to the disciples’third question (vv. 36-51 to the end of chapter 25). Today’s futuristsmake the same mistake as the disciples by assuming that they werejust asking one question, when these events – the destruction of thetemple, the sign of his coming, and the Second Coming – occur in abroader sequence from a historical viewpoint.

3. Revelation 19: an area of disagreementMeiring also treats Revelation 19 in a futuristic manner as a descrip-tion of the Second Coming. Yet Revelation 19 is nothing more or lessthan the depiction of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. Meiringplaces Revelation 19:11-21 in the future and treats it as a directchronological precedent to the ‘end-times’.

In Revelation 19:20-21, it is written:

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet thatwrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that hadreceived the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon thehorse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowlswere filled with their flesh.

Immediately after this it is written in Revelation 20:1-3:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of thebottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on thedragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and boundhim a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, andshut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive thenations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and afterthat he must be loosed a little season.


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But if chapter 19 is in the future, according to Meiring, then Revela-tion 20 suddenly shifts to the past, to the events of the first century.

In Revelation 20:10, we read:

‘And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire andbrimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall betormented day and night for ever and ever.’

Although Meiring’s interpretation is possible, it is less difficult tounderstand the meaning that the beast and the false prophet aredestroyed in Revelation 19, in the first century AD, prior to the onsetof the Millennium in Revelation 20. The postmillennial preteristview maintains that if the Millennium began at the time of Christ,then the events of Revelation 19 also had to be first century events,not future events.

In agreement with virtually all Postmillennialists, I shy awayfrom most futurist interpretations. The focus of Matthew 24 andmost of the Book of Revelation is history.

4. Revelation 20: an area of agreementHowever, I agree with the view of Revelation chapter 20 offered byAmillennialists such as Meiring. We Postmillennialists believe thatthe thousand year reign began at the time of the first coming of JesusChrist. But unlike many Amillennialists, we stress that the world isprogressively coming under the reign of King Jesus as the gospel ispreached. We have yet to see the leaven work through the wholelump. The fullness of the Millennium has not yet been realized. Webelieve that the church may still be in its infancy.

The two views, Postmillennialism and Amillennialism, interpretRevelation 20 in the same manner. The main difference is that Post-millennialism looks forward to a greater earthly victory. The Millen-nium is a metaphor John uses to describe the kingdom of God. Thisis not an earthly kingdom. It is a heavenly kingdom. However, thepreaching of the gospel brings the manifestation of the kingdom ofGod on earth as it is in heaven. While the kingdom of God is mani-fest in the world, the authority of the kingdom comes from on highwhere the throne of God is, where Christ is now ruling over thenations (Rev. 1:5). The Millennium is ongoing throughout humanhistory. We have seen the beginning, but our greatest victories stilllie ahead in history before the Second Coming.

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The reason I am a Postmillennialist and not simply an Amillen-nialist is the myriad of Scriptures which indicate the overcomingpower of the gospel. That is not to say that the kingdom of God willnot suffer setbacks and struggles in history. While Postmillennia-lism is not a ‘Pollyanna’ view, we should never be discouraged thatthe gospel faces limitations of any kind. The Christian’s passionshould be for the glory of God, and for the kingdom to be advancedamong the lost. When I have read histories of past ages, the mostexciting thing has been to read of the kingdom of Christ being pro-moted with supernatural power and signs following. In under-standing history, I see the fulfillment of scriptural promises andprophecies of the glorious advancement of Christ’s kingdom onearth as it is in heaven.

The Bible gives us the eschatology of victory. Before the SecondComing of Christ, the gospel will be preached and will take root,grow, and bear fruit throughout the world. For many, this is tooincredible. It goes against the whole spirit of modern Christianity.For about one hundred years, most Christians have been taught toexpect defeat. However, the idea of Postmillennialism is not new. Infact, until the 20th century, most Christians held to a hopeful escha-tology. In fact, throughout the history of the Church, most regardedthe eschatology of defeat as a strange idea.

We can see it in the words of St. Athanasius, the great ChurchFather of the fourth century, whose classic book, On the Incarnationof the Word of God, reveals his eschatology of hope and victory. Atha-nasius summarized his thesis:

Since the Saviour came to dwell in our midst, not only does idolatryno longer increase, but it is getting less and gradually ceasing to be.Similarly, not only does the wisdom of the Greeks no longer makeany progress, but that which used to be is disappearing. Anddaemons, so far from continuing to impose on people by their deceitsand oracle-givings and sorceries, are routed by the sign of the cross ifthey so much as try. On the other hand, while idolatry and everythingelse that opposes the faith of Christ is daily dwindling and weakeningand falling, the Saviour’s teaching is increasing everywhere! Worship,then, the Saviour ‘Who is above all’ and mighty, even God the Word,and condemn those who are being defeated and made to disappearby Him. When the sun has come, darkness prevails no longer; any ofit that may be left anywhere is driven away. So also, now that the


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Divine epiphany of the Word of God has taken place, the darkness ofidols prevails no more, and all parts of the world in every directionare enlightened by His teaching (1946:55).

Athanasius himself experienced great persecution from pagans andwas banished from the Empire three times by the Arian hereticswho held sway with civil authorities. The phrase ‘Athanasiusagainst the world’ (Athanasius contra mundum) was coined to des-cribe a person who will stand for the truth no matter the prevailingpopular opinion and no matter the cost. How could Athanasius beso optimistic about the state of affairs in the world? If he was likemany Christians of today, he would have been formulating theorieson which Roman authority was the beast of Revelation and devisingcomplex end-time prophecy charts. Athanasius believed that dark-ness was being driven from the world by the Light of lights simplybecause it is the very truth of the Word of God.

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they thatdwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the lightshined. (Is. 9:2)

See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nationswill come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you;your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on thearm. (Is. 60:2-4, NIV)

Both Postmillennialists and Amillennialists believe that these Scrip-tures in Isaiah refer to the time in history prior to the SecondComing, the time we are now in: the Millennium.

‘And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendedit not.’ (Jn. 1:5)

Amillennialists tend to believe that darkness and light exist in theworld contemporaneously until the end with no major victories foreither side. In Meiring’s thesis, he puts a great emphasis on theAntichrist and great tribulation as future events. In this amillennialview, the end of history is a downward spiral with the Antichrist onthe throne and evil men waxing worse and worse. But Postmillen-nialists believe that Christ is on the throne and that the light of the

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gospel will supersede the darkness of men’s hearts. This will occurin history prior to Christ’s return.

5. The three pillars of postmillennial optimismThere are three promises or signs of Christ’s return spoken of in theBible which are undeniable biblical truths:

Promise #1 – The unity of the faith (Eph. 4:12-13)We also see in the prior verse the mention of the Christian ministrygifts operating to accomplish this unity (v.11). So we are to expect,prior to the coming of Christ, a unity of the faith to occur within theChurch throughout the entire world.

How can such unity come to pass? Only the postmillennial viewcontains such optimism as to suggest that church unity within his-tory will occur. Nearly all other eschatological views, see the Churchas a fragmented minority at the time of the Second Coming ofChrist. To the contrary, although we seem at present to be very farfrom the unity that is foretold in the Scriptures, we have reason tobelieve that these things will be fulfilled. As Joshua said to the chil-dren of Israel, ‘That not one thing hath failed of all the good thingswhich the Lord your God spake concerning you’ (Jos. 23:14).

We do not know exactly what form this unity will take. Will therestill be a pope? Will the papacy be destroyed or become obsolete?Protestants, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics now disagreeas to what this unity should be based upon. Yet it will occur in his-tory. The body of Christ will be built up into a mature man.

Promise #2 – A glorious church without spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:27)The apostles made the connection between a holy church and theSecond Coming: ‘What manner of persons ought you to be in holyconduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of theday of God.’ (2 Pet. 3:11-12 NKJV)

Only the postmillennial viewpoint contains this optimism con-cerning the holiness of the Church. Nearly all premillennial andamillennial views emphasize rather the evil state of the world andthe final apostasy to come. While Postmillennialists do not deny that,because according to Revelation 20:7-9 there will be a final apostasywithin the Church, we do not think it to be nearly as prevalent orlong lasting. Nor do we think that it will destroy the holiness of the


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bride on earth who is prepared to meet her bridegroom. In keepingwith John’s warning that everyone who hopes to see Christ ‘purifieshimself’ (1 Jn. 3:2-3), we also read, ‘the marriage of the Lamb hascome, and His wife has made herself ready’ (Rev. 19:7, NKJV).

Peter and John paint this picture of the Church preparing herselfprior to Christ’s return. Therefore, there will be a worldwide revivalof holiness in the Church preceding Christ’s return.

Promise #3 – The gospel will be preached in all creation (Matt. 28:18-20)With Amillennialists we believe that the Great Commission will beaccomplished in history. However, unlike Amillennialists, we Post-millennialists place a great stress on discipleship: ‘Teaching them[the ethnic nations of the whole world] to observe all things that Ihave commanded you’ (NKJV).

Which commandments are we to teach the nations to observe?We Postmillennialists believe that these commandments are foundin the whole Bible. These commandments deal with individuals,families, churches, businesses, schools, arts, sciences, civil govern-ments, and all of society.

Not only do we believe that the Great Commission includes prea-ching the gospel of salvation to all creation, but we also include theidea that this gospel of the kingdom will take root and thrive in thewhole world. There will be a resulting kingdom influence in allhuman institutions. There will be great victories for Christ and theChurch before he comes again.

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PART FIVE

Analysis of four millennial viewsBy Michael J. Meiring

Analysis of DispensationalPremillennialismI was delighted when Larry Waugh accepted my offer to produce apaper on Dispensational Premillennialism. I had experienced manyunfruitful discussions with fundamental Dispensationalists whoregarded the other three millennial views as ‘heresies’ and those whoheld to them as ‘heretics’, whereas Waugh showed true Christianhumility when he had this to say after reading his opponents essays:

I am humbled by the depth and sincerity of my contenders’ surveys.And this depth and sincerity is not the same as that of the New Ager,Muslim, Jehovah’s Witness, or Catholic, who are in serious error.God reveals His Truth to His followers when they are humble intheir approach, and so I don’t believe that difference in opinion as tothe millennial sequence is a serious item in God’s family. RodneyStortz, Joseph Meiring, and Jay Rogers are no less my brothers-in-Christ for all their personal viewpoints. (e-mail dated 25/01/2001)

A major difference of opinion between Larry Waugh and the otherthree writers concerns the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture ofthe Church, which is a distinguishing mark of Dispensationalism.Waugh’s opponents have adequately critiqued this view, and so,instead of re-iterating what they have already said against it, I willexplore the reasons behind Larry Waugh’s assertion that the Churchmust be raptured before the Great Tribulation.

Why the Church must be raptured before the Great TribulationThe pre-tribulation rapture view states that the Church will besecretly ‘caught up’ (or raptured, see 1 Thes. 4:17) to meet Christ inthe air before the Antichrist is revealed and the seven-year Great

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Tribulation period is commenced. Thus, Dispensationalists dividethe Second Coming into two phases: Christ returning for his Churchbefore the Great Tribulation, and Christ returning with his Church afterthe Great Tribulation.

I have outlined four reasons as to why so many Christians holdto the pre-tribulation view.

1. God’s plan for IsraelThe fundamental doctrine of Dispensationalism is that God hasseparate plans for the Church and ethnic Israel. Waugh believes thata future time of great tribulation, or ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ (Jer.30:7, KJV), will last for seven years in which God will pour out hiswrath on the earth and punish Israel for her unbelief in Messiah(Ludwigson 1973:136). He says that during the Great Tribulation theremnant of Israel (144 000 Jews) will accept Jesus as their Messiah.Concerning this remnant of Israel, Anthony Hoekema wrote, ‘[they]will ... begin to preach the ‘Gospel of the Kingdom’ – a gospel hav-ing as its central content the establishment of the coming Davidic[millennial] kingdom’ (1979:190). So then afterwards, when Christreturns to earth and inaugurates the millennial kingdom, the nationof Israel would have been restored, spiritually and physically, undertheir Messiah’s rule. God’s plan for the Church, however, is much dif-ferent from his dealings with Israel. God does not intend for theChurch to be present during the Great Tribulation.

2. Nature of the ChurchIn fact, the ‘nature of the Christian Church forbids its going throughthe great tribulation’ (Ludwigson 1973:138). Waugh emphasises thispoint by repeatedly stating that the Church is the bride of Christ.Christ is the bridegroom and he has promised to return and take hisbride to be where he is – in heaven (Jn. 14:3). The ‘wedding supperof the Lamb’ will take place in heaven (Rev. 19:1-9). As Ludwigsonsays, ‘The Church is a heavenly people with a heavenly calling anddestiny’ (1973:138).

Furthermore, Dispensationalists believe that Christ will rescuehis bride before God’s wrath is poured out on the earth during theGreat Tribulation. Matthew 24:37-39 is interpreted by Larry Waughto mean that just as God has in the past protected his people fromhis wrath against the ungodly by taking them out of the way, so


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Christ will protect his bride from the Great Tribulation by taking heraway from the earth. ‘God did not appoint us [the Church] to sufferwrath’ (1 Thes. 5:9), so Christ will not allow his bride to remain onthe earth with unbelievers who are destined to suffer divine wrath.Waugh also argues that if the Church is to go through the GreatTribulation, then why did the apostle Paul admonish Christians to‘encourage one another’ if a period of awful tribulation and perse-cution awaited them (1 Thes. 5:11)?

3. Nature of the Great TribulationWaugh demands that the nature of the Great Tribulation proves hispoint that the Church will be removed from the earth before theGreat Tribulation. Because Revelation 13 says that the Antichristwill execute all who do not worship his image, there will be nobelievers left on the earth when Christ returns. This would seem tocontradict 1 Thessalonians 4:17 which says that there will be belie-vers alive on the earth at his coming. But, Dispensationalists wouldreason that when Scripture speaks of the Second Coming of Christ,it is either referring to Christ returning before the Great Tribulationin order to remove believers from the earth (1 Thes. 4:16-17), orChrist returning with believers after the Great Tribulation in orderto judge the unbelievers on the earth (Rev. 19:11-21).

4. Nature of GodAfter Waugh has developed his thesis regarding the nature of theGreat Tribulation, he finds it difficult to comprehend that the otherthree participants in this book oppose his idea that the Church willnot go through the Great Tribulation. How can a loving God allowhis Church to experience such awful, intense and inhumane trialsthat will cause some to depart from the Christian faith?

I will now draw out, what I believe to be, the weaknesses andstrengths of Larry Waugh’s paper on Dispensationalism.

Weaknesses1. The restrainerThe main text used by Larry Waugh to support the pre-tribulationrapture view is 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8. The text says that the ‘lawlessone’ (generally believed to be ‘the Antichrist’) will only be revealed

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when the ‘one’ (generally known as ‘the Restrainer’) who holds himback will be taken out of the way. All Dispensationalists identify‘the Restrainer’ as God the Holy Spirit, and since he is the One whowill be taken away, Waugh says, ‘there can be no believers left on theearth to face the Great Tribulation.’ Well-known Dispensationalistauthor, Dave Hunt, sums up this teaching of the removal of theHoly Spirit’s ‘presence’ from the Church when he wrote:

After Jesus was glorified, He sent the Holy Spirit ‘from the father’(John 15:26) to be with His church in a new way that had beenunknown up to that time. It is this unique [indwelling] presence ofthe Holy Spirit in the church which will be removed at the rapture,allowing the Antichrist to be revealed and to have free rein to rulethe world. Of course, the Holy Spirit, being omnipresent, will remainhere to convict sinners of the truth of the gospel and to winmultitudes to Christ during the tribulation period. (1996:258-259)

I agree with Dispensationalists that ‘the one’ who holds the Anti-christ back is God the Holy Spirit because Paul says that the ‘com-ing of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan’(v.9), and only God can divinely restrain the evil work of Satan(Gen. 6:3; Job 1:12; 2:6). However, I disagree with Dispensationalistswhen they say that the removal of the Holy Spirit involves the rap-ture of the Church.

Nowhere in the text does Paul explicitly or implicitly state that‘taking the Holy Spirit out of the way’ refers to his presence beingremoved from the body of Christ, the Church. On the contrary, thetext explicitly states that ‘the one’ will hold the Antichrist back untilhis ‘restraining hand’, as it were, is removed (vs.6-8). Therefore, thepurpose of the Holy Spirit’s removal is for the Antichrist to berevealed. Nothing is mentioned here of the Spirit being removedfrom the Church, or the Church being removed off the face of theearth.

Reading the passage in context actually shows us that the HolySpirit will abide in all Christians in spite of the rule and reign of Anti-christ. Paul says that many will be deceived by the counterfeit mir-acles displayed by the Antichrist, and that they will believe ‘the lie’instead of the truth (vs.9-12). However, he then says to the Church,‘But... thank God for you’ (v.13a). Paul knows that the Church willstand firm in tribulation despite the fact that the Holy Spirit willremove his restraining hand to reveal the Antichrist, because from


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the beginning all Christians have been chosen by God to salvation‘through the sanctifying work of the Spirit’ (v.13 cf. 2 Thes. 1:3-4).

In short, 2 Thessalonians 2 says that the Holy Spirit will be ‘takenout of the way’ in order to release the work of Antichrist, but he willremain in the Church to sanctify her. Dispensationalists have readsomething into the passage which is simply not there.

2. Context, context, contextWhen Anthony Hoekema responded to Herman Hoyt’s essay onDispensationalism, he said, ‘Most of the time he [Hoyt] simply givesscriptural references in parentheses; occasionally he quotes a Biblepassage; but never does he give a detailed and argued interpreta-tion of a passage’ (Clouse 1977:104-105). I see this as a weakness inLarry Waugh’s paper also.

Although I believe that Dispensationalists have adopted a strongsystematic approach to their view, I find that most of them willbuild their beliefs around a verse of Scripture without first consi-dering its context. For example, Waugh quotes Peter’s statement,‘with the Lord a day is like a thousand years’ (2 Pet. 3:8), and thenlinks the seven days of creation to seven millennia of world history.He therefore concludes that just as God rested on the seventh day, sothe seventh millennia will be a time of rest for the world; that peri-od being the final thousand years of Revelation 20. However, whenone looks at the context of Peter’s statement, he is indicating thatGod dwells outside of space and time. In God’s sight there is no dif-ference between the past, present and future. To him a thousandyears are like a day. Therefore, we can be assured that Christ willcome again despite the fact that some, in the last days, will scoff atthe idea of the Second Coming and say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ hepromised? ... everything goes on as it has since the beginning of cre-ation’ (v.4).

Other examples of hermeneutic problems within Dispensationa-lism can be seen in the rebuttals to Waugh’s paper.

3. Marriage in the resurrection and MillenniumCommenting on the Millennium of Revelation 20:4-6, Larry Waughsays, ‘Old Testament believers and martyrs of the Great Tribulationwill be raised, and ... judged so that only believers will enter the mil-lennial kingdom’. Where then do the unbelieving nations, whom


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Satan deceives at the end of the Millennium, stem from if all theunbelievers are destroyed at Christ’s Second Coming and if onlybelievers enter the millennial kingdom (Rev. 20:7-8)?

In his rebuttal of Amillennialism, Waugh sheds some light on hisclaim. He says that the ‘people who turned to God during the GreatTribulation,’ in other words, the resurrected tribulation martyrs,‘will have children born to them during the Millennium.’ And so itwill be the offspring of these saints who will join Satan’s rebellionwhen he is loosed at the end of the Millennium.

This explanation from Waugh, however, is faulty. How can resur-rected saints marry and bear children? Jesus makes this impossiblewhen he said, ‘At the resurrection people will neither marry nor begiven in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven’ (Matt.22:30). Quite clearly, angels, unlike human beings, do not marry nordo they procreate. And neither will the saints at the resurrection.

It must be stated that not all Dispensationalists hold to the viewas espoused by Larry Waugh. Most Dispensationalists believe that afew Christians, as well as the unbelieving nations, will survive theGreat Tribulation, and with their physical, mortal bodies, they willbe able to produce offspring in the Millennium.

StrengthsSome readers may rightly question or even be offended by LarryWaugh’s belief that the pope is the Antichrist and the Roman Catho-lic Church a counterfeit church. I for one cannot agree with Waugh’sthesis here, and holding to such a theory will only create further sus-picions and divisions between Protestant and Catholic Christians.In the end, I find that the only major strength of his essay lies in hisintuitive perception and understanding of current news, trends andevents in the Church, as well as in the world. Waugh wants to leaveus with some thought provoking theories on the Roman CatholicChurch and the New Age movement in these ‘last days’.

He claims that in the end times there will be an ‘alliance of reli-gions’ that will deny that Jesus is the only way to God (Jn. 14:6).Although Roman Catholicism proclaims itself to be the only truechurch, the pope, according to Waugh, will be instrumental in com-


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promising the truth in order to unite all faiths and world religionsfor the purpose of world domination.

This theory is also expounded by dispensationalists, such as DaveHunt, who reasons, ‘Antichrist will know there can be no politicalpeace without religious peace’ (1994:470). And so, the political sys-tem/one-world government of the end times will support the ecu-menical religious system. The true Christians will be persecuted fortheir exclusivity and ‘intolerance’.

Larry Waugh’s assumptions are, in fact, happening now as reli-gious pluralism has pervaded churches and world religions. In 1999the third Parliament of World Religions took place in my home cityof Cape Town. At this event, ‘Christianity’ (which was mainly rep-resented by Catholic theologians) was being celebrated as one of therich diverse religions of the world along with Buddhism, Hinduism,Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Spiritism, Animism, and Mormonism.Even Pope John Paul II remarked on television that Christiansshould unite with Muslims in order to create world peace(23/09/2001), despite the fact that he once declared the CatholicChurch to be the only ‘visible sacrament of salvation’ (Hunt 1994:9).

Dispensationalists firmly believe that there will never be peace inthis world, except when Christ returns to reign on the earth for athousand years. And one could view the bulk of Larry Waugh’s the-sis on world events as reflecting the apostle Paul’s words when hesaid, ‘While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction willcome on them suddenly’ (1 Thes. 5:3).

Analysis of Historic PremillennialismWhen I studied the Book of Daniel at a theological institute I wasgiven a tri-fold printing relating to the end times called The SecondComing of Christ Prophetic Time Line. The author was Rodney D.Stortz. It was this publication which Stortz submitted as his premil-lennial essay for this book, beginning from Daniel’s prophecy inchapter nine, until the millennial reign of Christ in Revelation 20.

I was highly impressed with the content of Stortz’s essay and hisexegesis of Scripture. However, before I point out the strengths ofhis paper, I found, in my opinion, several weaknesses in his view.


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Weaknesses

1. The six trumpets and the Great TribulationRodney Stortz believes that the six trumpets in Revelation 8-9describe the ecological disasters and troubles that will come uponthe whole world during the Great Tribulation that will immediatelyprecede the return of Christ. Unlike Dispensational Premillennia-lists who say that the Great Tribulation will be seven years (Dan.9:27), Stortz declares that it will last for three and a half years whenAntichrist exercises his authority (Rev. 13:5).

I agree with Stortz that the trumpets, at least the first four,describe ecological disasters upon the earth. However, I disagreewith him that these calamities are to be confined to a future threeand a half year period of great tribulation before the Second Com-ing. First of all, nowhere in the passage does John mention the beast(Antichrist) or his reign for forty-two months. Secondly, the seventrumpets are judgments of God in response to the prayers of saintsand martyrs. Before the seven angels sound the trumpets, an angelwith a golden censer offers incense – ‘ which are the prayers of thesaints’ (5:8b) – before the throne of God and then fills it with fire andhurls it to the earth (8:3-6). This is a clear indication that the prayersof the saints relate to the judgments of God on the earth. The soulsof the martyrs in heaven call out, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord ... untilyou judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ (Rev.6:10).

Therefore, is it not fair to say that these judgments of God, des-cribed in chapter eight, have been occurring since the martyrdom ofChristians in the first century? For the past two thousand years theearth has experienced ecological disasters such as forest and veldtfires (8:7), shipwrecks and oil spills killing sea life (8:8-9), water pol-lution (8:10-11), as well as cosmic disasters (8:12).

Moreover, when the fifth trumpet is sounded in chapter nine, weare told that locusts come out of the Abyss in order to torture unbe-lievers (v.4). And then John says, ‘During those days men will seekdeath, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will eludethem’ (v.6). For centuries the ungodly have suffered from all kindsof problems, believing that only death will release them from life’sagony instead of trusting in Christ. Many have attempted suicides;and for those who did not succeed, death had eluded them.


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Surely God’s judgments are being manifested upon unbelieversnow (Rom. 1:18), although his wrath will fully culminate at the finaljudgment.

2. Mortal unbelievers in the Millennial KingdomHistoric Premillennialists believe that all believers of all ages will beresurrected and receive their new glorified bodies when Christreturns before the Millennium. They will enter the millennial king-dom along with unbelievers who survived the plague of God (Zech.14:12, 16). As Rodney Stortz says, ‘There will be unbelievers here onearth for a thousand years, living in their mortal bodies’.

However, the apostle Paul says that ‘flesh and blood cannot sharein [or inherit] God’s Kingdom, and what is mortal cannot possessimmortality’ (1 Cor. 15:50, GNB). In its context Paul is speaking aboutthe resurrection of the believing dead at the Second Coming ofChrist (vv. 42-49, 51-55). Without resurrected, glorified bodies, menand woman cannot inherit the kingdom of God. How do HistoricPremillennialists reconcile Paul’s statements with their interpreta-tion that mortal (‘flesh and blood’) unbelievers will share in God’smillennial kingdom when Christ comes again?

Stortz makes his point even more difficult to grasp when he refersto the Millennium as a ‘prelude’ to the new earth. His language iseven stronger in his rebuttal to Amillennialism when he identifiesthe Millennium as part of the ‘eternal state’. He writes, ‘... there willbe unbelievers on the earth for the first 1000 years of the eternalstate.’ But how can the Millennium be part of the eternal state, espe-cially when a final battle and final judgment is yet to take place (Rev.20:7-15)? And if the Millennium is part of the eternal state, then howcan mortal unbelievers inherit God’s ‘millennial/eternal’ kingdom?This is made impossible from 1 Corinthians 15, Galatians 5:19-21and Revelation 21, to name just a few.

Difference of opinion – interpretation of Old Testament propheciesThere exists a sharp difference of opinion between Rodney Stortz’sinterpretation and my interpretation of Old Testament propheciesregarding the end times. Stortz adopts a literal hermeneutic (whichis characteristic of dispensational eschatology). For example, he


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interprets Isaiah 65:17-25 literally, and therefore assumes that theprophecy will be fulfilled in the Millennium – the first 1000 years ofthe ‘new heavens and new earth’ (v.17) – because Isaiah mentionsdeath in verse 20. Stortz asks, ‘Will there be death in the new heav-ens and new earth? Only if we understand that there will be unbe-lievers in the first thousand years or Millennium will this makesense’.

However, I disagree with his literal hermeneutic. When we cometo understand that the Old Testament must be interpreted in light ofthe New, we see that the Old Testament prophecies were re-inter-preted by the New Testament writers in a figurative, and not a lite-ral, fashion.

The late George Ladd, like Stortz, was also a devout HistoricPremillennialist, but he had to admit that the ‘New Testament fre-quently interprets Old Testament prophecies in a way not suggest-ed by the Old Testament context’ (Clouse 1977:20). To prove hispoint, Ladd gives a few examples of how the Old Testament prophe-cies regarding the first coming of Christ were interpreted figu-ratively by the New Testament writers. One of his examples isHosea 11:1. The apostle Matthew interpreted this prophecy as a ful-filment of Jesus’ escape into Egypt (Matt. 2:13-15). Yet when we readHosea’s ‘prophecy’ in its context, we notice that it appears to havenothing to do with the first coming of Christ and his escape intoEgypt. Rather, it was ‘a historical affirmation that God had calledIsrael out of Egypt in the Exodus’ (Ibid. 21).

The point is this: If the Old Testament prophecies regarding thefirst coming of Christ were not interpreted literally, then how canwe presume to interpret the Old Testament prophecies regardingthe Second Coming of Christ in a literal way? In fact, Ladd con-fessed that we ‘cannot be sure how the Old Testament prophecies of the end are to be fulfilled, for the first coming of Christ wasaccomplished in terms not foreseen by a literal interpretation of theOld Testament’ (Ibid. 27). I sincerely agree with this premillennialtheologian.

StrengthsRodney Stortz provides an excellent defence of the premillennialview in his rebuttals to Post- and Amillennialism. He provides two


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significant reasons as to why Premillennialism (Christ returningbefore the Millennium) is the only plausible view to embrace:

1. Revelation 19-20: one continuous sequence of eventsA natural reading of Revelation 19:11-21:1, without chapter divi-sions, shows that there is an unbroken chain of events which occurschronologically, in other words, one after the other, especially byJohn’s repetitive use of the phrase ‘and/then I saw’. John sees Christriding on a white horse to judge the nations of the earth and to des-troy the two beasts (19:11-21). Afterwards, Satan is bound for athousand years during which time those who partake in the firstresurrection reign with Christ (20:1-6). Then Satan is loosed from hisprison to deceive the nations again, and a final battle develops. ButSatan is defeated and he joins the two beasts in the lake of fire (20:7-10). Finally, the great white throne judgment takes place before Johnsees the new heaven and new earth (20:11-21:1). A natural readingof the text, therefore, reveals Christ returning before the Millennium.

2. Satan’s deceptionRevelation 20:3 remains a much-debated passage of Scripture. If webelieve that Satan is bound now then we must conclude that we arecurrently living in the thousand year/millennial age. This interpre-tation would fit the amillennial and postmillennial stance. Incountering his opponent’s position, Rodney Stortz says, ‘The mainproblem with this view is that it overlooks the reason for the bind-ing of Satan’. And he is right. Before we can come to any conclusionas to the timing of the binding of Satan, we first need to consider thereason why Satan is bound.

He [the angel] threw him [Satan] into the Abyss, and locked andsealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must beset free for a short time. (Rev. 20:3)

The purpose of Satan’s binding is to prevent him from deceiving thenations. Yet we find that the verse is silent regarding the nature ofSatan’s deception. But when we read verses 7-9, which describesSatan gathering the nations of ‘Gog and Magog’ to do battle againstGod’s people, we have some idea of what his deception is. In hiscommentary of those verses, Matthew Henry points out that John


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borrows many images from a similar prophecy found in Ezekiel 38(1961:1984). In Ezekiel’s prophecy the nations are also joined togeth-er against God’s people, Israel (vs.5-6). Henry says:

It came into Antiochus’s mind what a singular people these religiousJews were, and how their worship condemned the idolatries of theirneighbours, and therefore, in enmity to their religion, he wouldplague them. (1961:1074)

The Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary best sums up the nature ofSatan’s deception against the nations: ‘Satan leading humankindinto false worship and active rebellion against God and his people’(1994:1220). In short, idolatry is Satan’s deception. Systematic theo-logian, Wayne Grudem says, ‘This is a deception that is now goingon during the entire church age’ (1994:1118).

I believe that Grudem is correct in his assumption if we study theliterary context of Revelation 20. In chapter 12 Satan is hurled out ofheaven at the first coming of Christ (v.9 cf. Lk. 10:18), and he perse-cutes the first century church, ‘the woman’, for three and a half years(vs.13-16 cf. Acts 8:1). Afterwards, he makes war against all thebelievers of Christ who will ever live by calling up two beasts fromthe sea and earth (12:17-13:18). The second beast, later identified as‘the false prophet’ (16:13), deceives the inhabitants of the earth intoworshipping the first beast (13:12-14). Now, whatever the identity ofthese two fiends may be, it is clear that Satan is still using them tolead the whole world astray through false worship (12:9; 13:4; 14:8-11;18:3, 23b) because they will only be destroyed at the Second Comingof Christ (19:20).

There are many other passages of Scripture which teach thatSatan and his angels are deceiving the nations, the people of theworld, through idolatry, false worship and false doctrine (cf. Matt.24:4-5; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:1-2; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:13; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; 1 Jn.4:1-3; 2 Jn. 1:7). The kingdom of the cults and world religions con-tinue to deceive the nations today by denying that Jesus Christ is theonly way to God and that salvation comes by grace through faith.And so, Rodney Stortz’s conclusion that ‘we are not in theMillennium now, because Satan is still deceiving the nations’, is notonly credible, but very convincing.

The secret power of lawlessness is already at work... The coming ofthe lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan


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displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. Theyperish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thes. 2:7, 9-10)

Analysis of PostmillennialismBefore I contacted Jay Rogers and asked him to present the postmil-lennial view for this book, I had encountered a number of Christianswho once held to Dispensational Premillennialism but had later dis-carded that system in favour of Postmillennialism. Most of theseChristians were disillusioned by the pessimism which Dispensa-tionalism seemed to create in the hearts and minds of believers. TheReverend Martin Holdt, from South Africa, wrote to me and calledDispensationalism ‘a miserable view of the future that encourages atype of pessimism which can only hope for a divine rescue missionwhereby the church is secretly raptured out of the world...’ (per-sonal letter dated 01/06/2000).

A Christian in Holland, Dajo Hein, expressed his concern regard-ing the negative influence of dispensational theology:

As most of the people in Holland I’ve been raised as a dispensationalpremillennialist and the first time I read about a different view (post-millennialism) I was quite shocked. Understandably the same thinghappened when I first read about amillennialism... But as I learnedabout these different views I was also shocked to see how theyinfluence your view of the Bible and the world. Here in TheNetherlands there is a lot of negativism among Christians certainlywhen talking about the end of times. Sometimes I get a little bit tiredwhen I hear other Christians talking about how things are gettingworse and worse. Perhaps it’s good for the Dutch people to learnabout amillennialism, not because it’s the one and only true view butjust to get rid of all this negativism. Of course it’s important to stayreal but in part your behavior flows from what you believe. (e-maildated 09/03/2002)

What is significant to note in Mr. Hein’s message is that it was onlyonce he had learned that other millennial views existed amongstChristians that he began to question Dispensationalism.

In view of the above testimonies, and many more which I havenot quoted, I was not surprised to see that Jay Rogers had begun his


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essay with a critique of Dispensationalism. He emphasises the starkcontrast between the ‘pessimism’ of Dispenationalism, and the ‘opti-mism’ of his view, Postmillennialism.

WeaknessesYet it is not the optimistic ideas of Postmillennialism – the growth ofthe kingdom of God to its fullness, and the spiritual victories of theChurch – which causes me to criticize this system. Rather, it is myopinion that the weaknesses of Postmillennialism is found in (1) itsinterpretation of the growth of the kingdom of God, especially inregard to their view of the nature and outcome of the Millennium,and (2) its inadequate response to certain passages of Scripturewhich contradict the postmillennial tenet that, ‘Christ will return toa truly Christianized world’ (Boettner 1984:14).

1. Conversion of the nations of the worldJay Rogers believes that God’s enemies will be destroyed ‘throughthe conversion of the nations of the world’, and that ‘all the nationsshall be his’. Postmillennialists believe that the growth of the king-dom of God will result in all the nations of the world being convert-ed to Christianity and obeying the law of God before the SecondComing of Christ. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 isseen, not simply as a command to preach the gospel to all nations,but as a promise that all nations will turn to Christ and obey hiscommandments.

However, when we read Matthew 28:19-20 we find the LordJesus commanding his apostles to ‘make disciples of all nations’(v.19), and teaching them, those who become Christ’s disciples, toobey his commandments (v.20). The Great Commission is concernedwith converting people of all nations. The ‘twenty-four elders’ men-tioned in the Book of Revelation acknowledge that Christ has pur-chased for God men and women from ‘every nation’ (Rev. 5:9), andthe apostle John sees a great multitude of men and women wor-shipping Christ from ‘every nation’ (Rev. 7:9).

There is no doubt that Christians have been entrusted with themessage of the gospel and are responsible to share the good news toall people. And there is no doubt that the kingdom of God will growas the gospel is spread all over the world, ‘bearing fruit and grow-


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ing’ (Col. 1:6). But there is simply no guarantee from Matthew 28,and other similar passages, that all the nations of the world will beconverted to Christianity, and that Christ will return to a Christia-nized world.

Does the Bible really teach us that all the nations of the world(e.g. American, African, European, Asian) will be transformed intoChristian countries? Or does the Bible teach us that people from all the nations of the world (e.g. Americans, Africans, Europeans,Asians, etc.) will repent and turn to Christ? I believe the latter to bemore in harmony with Scripture.

2. Extent of the growth of the kingdomPostmillennialists often use Matthew 13:31-33 in order to establishtheir premise that the kingdom of God will grow to such an extentthat, in the end, all the nations will be converted. Keith A. Mathisonsays, ‘Christ’s kingdom will overcome all opposing kingdoms andbring all nations into submission to Him... As his kingdom grows,all opposing and rebellious kingdoms decline’ (1999:191-192).

This interpretation of the growth of God’s kingdom also leadsPostmillennialists to believe that the number of the saved will faroutnumber the lost. As J. Marcellus Kik says, ‘We are of the opinionthat those in the kingdom of light will be more numerous than thosewho will be in that terrible kingdom of darkness’ (1971:266).

Two objections to this postmillennial idea need to be stated here:Firstly, while Matthew 13:31-33 does say that the kingdom of Godwill grow and flourish, it says nothing about the world becomingChristian. Secondly, Christ does say that only a few will be saved:

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is theroad that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But smallis the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few findit. (Matt. 7:13-14)

Here Jesus is comparing the number of believers to unbelievers insuccessive generations. With every generation that passes, there willbe more unbelievers than believers. What Postmillennialists fail tounderstand then, is that the growth of the kingdom of God is reachedto its fullness at the end of the age when all God’s people, from allnations, will be gathered together to dwell with him (cf. Rev. 7:9;19:1; 21:3). And if you consider how many Christians there have


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been since the beginning of time, then you will understand whyJohn says that he was unable to count the multitude of believers inheaven (Rev. 7:9). Even then, however, the number of unbelievers inhell will far outnumber those in heaven. John sees the children ofSatan preparing to make war against the saints of God, and he says,‘In number they [the unbelievers] are like the sand on the seashore’(Rev. 20:8).

Revelation 19: a future or past event?Both Premillennialists and Postmillennialists believe that the eventsrecorded in Revelation 20 follows chronologically after the events ofRevelation 19:11ff. (Amillennialists believe that Revelation 20 takesus back to the past after a description of the Second Coming inRevelation 19.) Of course, there is a major difference in their inter-pretation of the timing and nature of these events. While Premil-lennialists identify Revelation 19 as a future event describing theSecond Coming of Christ, followed by Christ’s millennial rule onearth, Postmillennialists believe that Revelation 19 is describing firstcentury events, followed by Christ’s present rule from heaven overthe earth. In his response to Amillennialism, Jay Rogers asserts,‘Revelation 19 is nothing more or less than the depiction of thedestruction of Jerusalem in A D70’.

According to Postmillennialists, Revelation 19 is a picture ofChrist’s reign over the earth from heaven since his ascension intoheaven. He is seen as a rider on a white horse which is symbolic ofhis ministry as a ‘conqueror bent on conquest’ (v.11 cf. Rev. 6:2).Christ exercises his reign as ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ (v.16)through his ministry of judging and destroying the wicked (Rev.1:18 cf. Ps. 145:20), and reconciling the world to God (2 Cor. 5:19).And he does this through his word, which is symbolized as a ‘sharpsword’ protruding out of his mouth (v.15):

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints andmarrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)

While the above postmillennial interpretation may appear to bemore of a historicist approach to hermeneutics (see Boettner1984:388-395), Jay Rogers admits that he interprets Revelation 19


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with a preterist hermeneutic; that is, all of the events described inRevelation 19 took place in the first century. For example, Rogersinterprets the beast, who is destroyed in verses 19-20, as being Nero.

In his essay Jay Rogers says, ‘One can often arrive at very diffe-rent conclusions about the Millennium or the end-times using eithera futurist, preterist, historicist or idealist approach to the Bible’. Thisis true; yet, his own admission that he shies away from futuristinterpretations in Revelation 19 creates many problems. Our pre-ferred hermeneutical approach should not govern our interpreta-tion of biblical prophecies. Instead, we must interpret a passage ofScripture by looking at its historical and literary context (biblicaltheology), and then by comparing Scripture to Scripture (systematictheology). And on that basis, the prophecy will reveal whether it isfuturist or preterist in its nature.

Except for Postmillennialism, the other three millennial viewssee in Revelation 19 a description of the Second Coming of Christ. InRevelation 14:9-10 an angel of the Lord declares that if anyone wor-ships the beast and his image they will ‘drink of the wine of God’sfury’ and be tormented in the presence of Christ and his holy angels.The fulfilment of this judgment is seen in Revelation 19:15 whenChrist ‘treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty’and destroys the beast. This will occur at the Second Coming ofChrist as we see a similar theme develop in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9:

God is just: he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you... Thiswill happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazingfire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not knowGod and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will bepunished with everlasting destruction...

Notice the compelling similarities of this passage to Revelation 19.Christ is revealed from heaven as a judge (2 Thes. 1:6-7 cf. Rev.19:11). And he is revealed in ‘blazing fire’ (2 Thes. 1:7 cf. Rev. 19:12).

Further similarities are seen from 1 Thessalonians 4 and 2 Thessa-lonians 2. The former passage tells us that the believing dead inheaven will return with Christ at his coming (1 Thes. 4:14, 16). Likewise, Revelation 19 tells us that the ‘armies of heaven’, thosewho are dressed in fine linen (i.e. the saints), follow Christ fromheaven (v.14 cf. v.8). The latter passage tells us that Christ, at hisreturn, will destroy the Antichrist by the ‘breath of his mouth’


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(2 Thes. 2:8). Similarly, in Revelation 19 we find Christ destroyinghis enemies, including the beast, by the sword which comes ‘out ofhis mouth’ (v.15).

This leads me to believe that Revelation 19 is a picture of the ful-filment of God’s wrath against the wicked, which will occur at theSecond Coming of Christ.

Strengths1. Interpretation of the Olivet discourseA strength lies in Jay Rogers’ interpretation of Jesus’ prophetic state-ments on the Mount of Olivet (Matthew 24). Premillennialists andAmillennialists almost always quote verses 9 to 14 as a ‘proof text’against the postmillennial tenet that the world will be converted toChristianity shortly before the return of Christ. Premillennialist,Millard Erickson, writes, ‘Perhaps more damaging to postmillennia-lism is its apparent neglect of Scripture passages (e.g., Matt. 24:9-14)that portray spiritual and moral conditions as worsening in the endtimes’ (1987:72).

However, I believe that Matthew 24:9-14 does not do damage toPostmillennialism for the simple reason that Jesus was not referringto conditions immediately prior to his return, but rather, he was refer-ring to signs that would lead to the fulfilment of his prophecies dur-ing the generation of his day: ‘This generation will certainly not passaway until all these things have happened’ (v.34).

In Matthew 23 Jesus lists seven woes against the Jewish leadersin Jerusalem which would come to pass ‘upon this generation’ (v.36).He then points to the buildings in Jerusalem and says to his disci-ples that they will be destroyed, moreover, that they themselves willface severe persecution, as well as encountering many deceiversand apostates (24:4-25). And again, Jesus refers to his generation asexperiencing all of these calamites: ‘This generation will certainlynot pass away until all these things have happened’ (24:34).

The evidence for an AD70 fulfillment of Matthew 24 is overwhelming.Verse 34 is crucial... Jesus is saying in this verse that everything Hehas previously prophesied (vv. 4-33) will take place before thegeneration to whom He is speaking passes away. (Mathison 1995:139)

Prior to the crucial 34th verse of Matthew 24, Jesus is able to tell hisdisciples exactly when his prophecies will come to pass – in his gene-


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ration. But in verse 36, Jesus speaks of things without being able totell them when it will occur: ‘No one knows about that day or hour[i.e. the Second Coming], not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,but only the Father’.

The only verse which seems to refer to Christ’s return, prior toverse 36, is verse 30 where the nations will ‘see the Son of Man com-ing on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory’ (cf. Acts1:9-11).

2. Fulfilling the Great CommissionOf all the millennial views, Postmillennialism is the most appealingto me because of its emphasis on fulfilling the Great Commission:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in thename of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matt. 28:19-20)

Although I am not implying that the other millennial views discardthe Great Commission – for Dispensationalists are zealous in theirpreaching of the gospel, with their view in mind that they must saveas many people as they can before the rapture and Great Tribulation– but when I hear missionaries testify of the progress and growth ofthe gospel in countries where Christianity is banned, I am left feel-ing optimistic about the future. Indeed, God’s word is not chained(2 Tim. 2:9), and the gates of hell will never overcome the Church:‘On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will notovercome it’ (Matt. 16:18).

Analysis of AmillennialismIt has been observed amongst many theologians that amillennialwriters often produce articles refuting Premillennialism, instead ofdeveloping and explaining their own position (See Boettner1984:112; Erickson 1987:73). So, it is not surprising to see that JosephMeiring opens his essay with a critique of the dispensational view,labelling its chronology of events as ‘strange’ and ‘fanciful’. Yet thelevel of criticism and unwarranted accusations spoken of by manyDispensationalists against Amillennialism appears to justify thewriter’s disapproval of the former system, and which leaves him


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compelled to urge his readers, ‘[Amillennialism] is the position Ihave come to accept because of my independent study of the wordof God’.

The greatest criticism against Amillennialists is their belief thatthere will be no literal thousand-year reign of Christ on the earthafter his Second Coming, a belief which in itself is explained by thetitle of their view: Amillennialism, meaning ‘no millennium’ (Lud-wigson 1974:103). Indeed, in his rebuttal of Meiring’s paper, LarryWaugh charges the writer for not accepting ‘a simple truth’.

A spiritual view of the MillenniumAmillennialists cannot see how the ‘thousand years’ of Revelation20 should be interpreted literally when the passage is filled withhighly symbolic and figurative language. Rather, they see the Mil-lennium being implemented now in the spiritual realm. As PhilipMauro pointed out:

In the interpretation of [Revelation 20:1-10], the principle question tobe decided is: in what realm do the described events take place? Arethey in the realm of the natural, or in that of the spiritual? ... Thepreliminary question must be decided by the testimony of thepassage itself; and to my mind its terms clearly indicate that the seerof Patmos is here describing events of the spiritual realm. (n.d.:242)

In the first six verses of Revelation 20 John sees spiritual beings (anangel, the devil, and souls of martyrs); he sees spiritual places (theAbyss, the second death or lake of fire); and he sees objects whichcan only be interpreted as being spiritual in nature (a key, a chain,and a lock). It is small wonder then, that Amillennialists, like JosephMeiring, do not interpret the ‘thousand years’ as a future period oftime to occur on the earth.

WeaknessesWhen studying the amillennial view of Revelation 20:4-5, in partic-ular their interpretation of ‘came to life’ (Gk. ezesan) in verse 4, and‘come to life’ (Gk. anezesan) in verse 5, I noticed that Amillennialist’scan be categorized into two groups of thought.

The first group believe that ezesan in verse 4 refers to a spiritualresurrection of believers at death (i.e. the intermediate state), whilst


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anezesan in verse 5 refers to a physical, bodily resurrection of deadunbelievers at the end of the Millennium (See Grier 1997:117). Inother words, they would read the passage as follows:

They came to life [spiritually] and reigned with Christ a thousandyears. (The rest of the dead did not come to life [physically] until thethousand years were ended.)

This interpretation is inconsistent for obvious reasons. John is con-trasting the raising to life of dead believers with the unbelievingdead who are not raised to life until the end of the Millennium, andis thus using ezesan and anezesan in the same sense.

The second group of Amillennialists remain more consistent inapplying the Greek verbs in the same sense, albeit spiritually. (Pre-millennialists insist that both Greek verbs are referring to a physicalresurrection.) Amillennialist Anthony Hoekema wrote:

Verse 5a is of parenthetical nature ... I do not believe that these wordsdescribe a bodily resurrection which is to take place after themillennium... When [John] says that the rest of the dead did not liveor come to life, he means the exact opposite of what he had just saidabout the believing dead. The unbelieving dead, he is saying, did notlive or reign with Christ during this thousand-year period. (Clouse1977:169-170)

Like Hoekema, Joseph Meiring believes that verse 5 is referring todead unbelievers who do not live, spiritually, with Christ during theintermediate state (i.e. the state between death and the physical res-urrection at Christ’s Second Coming). Again, a natural reading ofthe text would show this interpretation to be questionable becauseJohn says that the unbelieving dead do not come to life until thethousand years end (v.5a). In other words, when the thousand yearshave ended, the rest of the dead will come to life. If we applyMeiring’s interpretation of ‘come to life’, we would have to con-clude that unbelievers come to life, spiritually, at the end of theMillennium.

A general resurrection?Amillennialists do not believe that John is speaking of a physicalresurrection of believers (martyrs) in Revelation 20:4-5. To do sowould be to admit to a premillennial interpretation of the resurrec-


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tion; that is, two resurrections separated by 1000 years: The right-eous resurrected to life before the Millennium (Rev. 20:4b), whenChrist returns, and the wicked resurrected to condemnation afterthe thousand years (Rev. 20:5a).

However, Amillennialists disagree with the premillennial inter-pretation because it does not seem to harmonize with the rest of theNew Testament. Joseph Meiring devotes half of his essay to New Tes-tament passages dealing with the Second Coming of Christ in orderto show that the biblical authors had in mind a general resurrectionand judgment. In other words, that the righteous and wicked will beresurrected and judged simultaneously when Christ returns.

When Amillennialists point to passages such as John 5:28-29 andActs 24:15 in order to support their premise that there is one gener-al resurrection, Premillennialists argue that those passages actuallyaffirm that there will be two resurrections. As Herman Hoyt said,‘These passages do not prove a general judgment. All they do is assert that both wicked and righteous will be raised. The time isnot stated. In Revelation 20:5 the time element is stated.’ (Clouse1977:195)

Whilst I will agree with Premillennialists that a time element isnot stated in Acts 24:15, Jesus does suggest that all the dead will beraised at a certain time or ‘hour’ (KJV) when they hear his voice:

A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voiceand come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and thosewho have done evil will rise to be condemned. (Jn. 5:28-29)

And it is difficult to ignore Christ’s words which categorically statethat when he comes again, the righteous and wicked are separated;the former raised to eternal life, whilst the latter raised to eternalpunishment.

This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come andseparate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fieryfurnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt.13:49-50)

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels withhim, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations willbe gathered before him, and he will separate the people one fromanother as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put


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the sheep on his right and the goats on his left... Then he will say tothose on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into theeternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ Then they will goaway to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matt.25:31-33, 41, 46)

Equally pertinent are Peter’s words that the day of the Lord’s com-ing will bring about the destruction of the present heavens andearth, to be replaced by the new heavens and earth:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens willdisappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and theearth and everything in it will be laid bare... That day will bringabout the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements willmelt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are lookingforward to a new heaven and a new earth. (2 Pet. 3:10, 12-13)

StrengthsIn my analysis of Historic Premillennialism, I saw Rodney Stortz’scontention that we are not in the Millennium now, because Satanhas not been bound yet, as a strength. Yet, I also see the opposingview equally convincing. In his essay, Joseph Meiring provides ahost of Scripture references to show that Satan was bound duringthe first advent of Christ.

Amillennialists believe that through the death and resurrectionof Jesus Christ, the (Gentile) nations of the earth are no longerdeceived by Satan. God had promised Abraham, ‘through your off-spring [or seed] all nations on earth will be blessed’ (Gen. 22:18).Through Abraham’s offspring (i.e. through Christ and his Church)the blessing, or the light of the gospel, would shine forth to all theGentile nations of the world. The apostle Paul confirmed that God’spromise to Abraham was fulfilled when he wrote:

Understand, then, that those who believe are children [offspring] ofAbraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles[nations] by faith, and announced the gospel in advance toAbraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you’... There is neitherJew nor Greek... If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’sseed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:7-8, 28-29)


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Not only Jews, but also Gentiles would now come to faith in Christ.Simeon, a man of God, took the baby Jesus in his arms and said, ‘Myeyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sightof all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory toyour people Israel.’ (Lk. 2:30-32)

And so Amillennialists proclaim in accord that, in biblical theol-ogy, the (Gentile) ‘nations’ are being exposed to the glorious light ofthe gospel of Christ. Through his sacrificial death on the cross,Christ has ‘purchased men for God from every tribe and languageand people and nation’ (Rev. 5:9). The elect, or Church of God, com-prises of individuals from ‘every nation, tribe, people and language’(Rev. 7:9). Therefore, Satan can no longer deceive the nations bykeeping them from the truth of the gospel. As Richard Brooks put it,‘The truth of the gospel has in many nations and many heartsreplaced the lie of the devil’ (1986:173).

This does not mean, however, that Amillennialsts deny the powerand influence of evil forces in the world now, as many Premillen-nialists suppose they do. Meiring affirms the fact that Satan and hisangels are at work, although they are ‘bound’ (Jude 1:6). ‘The devilis not bound in every sense’ (Brooks 1986:173).

The main difference between the two opposing views surround-ing the binding of Satan is its nature. Premillennialists interpretRevelation 20:1-3 to mean that Satan is prevented from having anyinfluence in the world. But Amillennialists point out that this willonly happen when Satan is cast into the lake of fire to be tormentedforever and ever (Rev. 20:10). Until then, however, Meiring reite-rates, ‘Satan is bound in the sense that the nations can never bedeceived as to the truths of the gospel’. And therefore, ‘the 1000-year period of Revelation 20:3 is being implemented now during theGospel Age’.


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ConclusionBy Michael J. Meiring

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been givenauthority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had beenbeheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of theword of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image andhad not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. Theycame to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest ofthe dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.)This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who havepart in the first resurrection. The second death has no power overthem, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reignwith him for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:4-6)

One of the aims I had in mind whilst compiling this book overthe past three years, was to arrive at a firm conclusion as to

which millennial view I would believe and defend. Needless to say,I have not been able to do so. Not yet, at least. However, I have beenrewarded in my understanding of the four millennial views, and ithas led me to appreciate each of them. They have their strengths andweaknesses. So, I would like to conclude by comparing each view’sinterpretation of the ‘first resurrection’ in Revelation 20:4-6: ‘Theycame to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest ofthe dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.)This is the first resurrection.’

Is John referring to a physical or a spiritual resurrection of thesaints?

The corporal viewAll Premillennialists (dispensational and historical) believe that thefirst resurrection refers to the physical, bodily resurrection of thesaints at the Second Coming of Christ. After their reign with Christfor a thousand years on the earth, the unbelieving dead will be raised

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bodily (the second resurrection) and appear before the Great WhiteThrone Judgment. Says, Dr. Jim Wicker of Southwestern BaptistTheological Seminary:

I believe in these verses both ‘come to life’ in v.4 and ‘resurrect’ in v. 5 are synonymous in meaning a bodily resurrection... The secondresurrection will be the body united with the soul & spirit of thedead in Hell for the purpose of going [through] the Great WhiteThrone Judgment. [personal e-mail dated 18/10/2001]

Historic Premillennialist, George E. Ladd, argued that the meaningof the Greek word ezesan (��), which is translated as ‘they cameto life’ in verse 4, points to a physical, bodily resurrection (1972:265).While it is true that ezesan refers to a physical resurrection in manyplaces of Scripture (e.g. Rom. 14:9; Rev. 2:8), it is equally true that theword was also used to mean a spiritual resurrection or coming tolife (e.g. Jn. 5:25; Lk. 15:24).

Having said this, the context of how ezesan is used in Revelation20 does favour the premillennial view because John sees those whohave been ‘beheaded’. In other words, John sees believers of Christwho are physically dead. The ‘rest of the dead’ in verse 5 thus refersto the unbelieving dead, and since physically dead unbelievers willnever experience a second chance to come to life spiritually, theircoming to life again in verse 5 (Gk. anezesan) must refer to a physi-cal, bodily (second) resurrection.

I do disagree with all Premillennialists that only unbelievers willgo through the Great White Throne Judgment, for various reasons.First of all, John sees ‘the dead, great and small, standing before thethrone’ (v.12). This would imply that everyone, great and small,believers and unbelievers, will stand before the judgment bar ofChrist, and indeed, the rest of Scripture does teach this (Rom. 14:10;2 Cor. 5:10).

Secondly, we are told, ‘each person was judged according to whathe had done’ (v.13). Again, this is a judgment that everyone, includ-ing believers will face: ‘Each of us will give an account of himself toGod’ (Rom. 14:12).

And finally, John says, ‘If anyone’s name was not found writtenin the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire’ (v.15). If onlyunbelievers face this judgment, then what need is there to open upthe book of life to see whether the unbeliever’s name is written in it?


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The regenerate viewMost Postmillennialists (and some Amillennialists) believe that thefirst resurrection refers to the spiritual resurrection of believers whenthey are made alive in Christ at regeneration. Thus, believers arenow spiritually reigning with Christ on the earth (cf. Eph. 2:6; 1 Jn.3:14; Rev. 1:6). Postmillennialists also make a parallel between thefirst resurrection and Jesus’ words in John 5:25, ‘A time is comingand has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son ofGod and those who hear will live (Gk. zesousin)’.

Of course, Jesus is speaking of a spiritual resurrection here. But ifsuch a parallel can be made between John 5 and Revelation 20, thenthe latter passage would also have to refer to those who are stillphysically alive on the earth and who come to life spiritually atregeneration. Postmillennialists do believe that such a group ismentioned in verse 4. In his interpretation of the following phrase,‘I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been givenauthority to judge’ (Rev. 20:4a), J. Marcellus Kik, wrote:

The thrones stand for the [living] saints’ spiritual dominion withinthemselves and over the world. Through the grace of Christ theyreign in life over the flesh, the world, and the devil... The thrones,the camp, and the beloved city all have reference to the church uponearth. (1971:44-45)

I agree with Postmillennialists that Christians are reigning spiritu-ally with Christ now (Rom. 5:17) and that God has ‘seated us withhim in the heavenly realms’ (Eph. 2:6). However, I find it difficult toagree with them that John is speaking of all living believers todayfor two main reasons. First of all, the immediate context of Revela-tion 20:4 suggests that John is speaking of dead believers: those whohad been beheaded because they did not receive the mark of thebeast (v.4b).

Secondly, the reference to those seated on thrones and givenauthority to judge with Christ is a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise inRevelation 3:21, ‘To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sitwith me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with myFather on his throne.’

Notice that the promise is future tense: ‘I will’. All Christians whoovercome the world and remain faithful to Christ until the end, andespecially those martyrs who overcome the beast by refusing his

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mark, will sit with their Saviour on his throne to judge the world.Christians are not judging the world now, but they will in the future.As the apostle Paul says, ‘Do you not know that the saints will judgethe world’ (1 Cor. 6:2).

Not to discredit the ‘regenerate’ view of the first resurrection, it isinteresting to note that in John’s first epistle he speaks of Christians,‘everyone born of God’, who have already overcome Satan, the anti-christ, and the world by the living word of God (2:13-14), by theWord of God himself (4:3-4), and by their faith (5:4). Thus, there isthis tension between the ‘now and not-yet’: As Christians we haveovercome the evil one, we are busy overcoming the world, and untilChrist returns we will overcome the world, and then we will sit withChrist on his throne.

The intermediate viewMost Amillennialists (and some Postmillennialists) believe that thefirst resurrection refers to the translation of the believer’s soul toheaven at death. All Christians who have died are now reigningwith Christ in heaven (the intermediate state). In contrast, the unbe-lieving dead are not reigning with Christ as they are in hell. The‘thousand years’ will end when Christ returns and believers and un-believers alike will be raised bodily (the second resurrection) toappear before the Great White Throne Judgment. According to Amil-lennialist, Anthony Hoekema:

We therefore understand the word ezesan (lived, or came to life) inverse 4 as describing the fact that the souls of believers who havedied are now living with Christ in heaven and sharing in his reignduring the intermediate state between death and the resurrection.(1994:233)

I have dealt with one of the problems of this interpretation in myanalysis of Amillennialism (see my comments regarding the paren-thetical statement of verse 5 under the ‘weaknesses’ of Amillennia-lism).

In critiquing this view the question must be asked, ‘Does the firstresurrection refer to the intermediate state of dead believers?’ MostAmillennialists will answer in the affirmative for a number of reasons.First of all, the reference to thrones in verse 4 is elsewhere almostalways situated in heaven (e.g. 1:4; 4:2; 6:16; 12:5, etc).


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Secondly, John saw ‘the souls of those who had been beheaded ...because of the word of God’ (20:4), and in Revelation 6 he saw ‘thesouls of those who had been slain because of the word of God’ (v.9).In the latter passage these souls are in heaven, and so Amillennia-lists see a clear parallel between this passage and the reigning of themartyrs with Christ in Revelation 20. However, three things must becarefully observed: (1) In Revelation 6 the souls are not seated onthrones, they are under the altar; (2) they have not yet been givenauthority to judge, they are still crying out for justice; and (3) thereis no mention in Revelation 6 that the souls come to life and reignwith Christ, instead they are told to wait.

Thirdly, Amillennialists believe that the first resurrection refers tothe intermediate state because of the symmetries between the ‘firstresurrection’ and ‘second death’. Hence, there must also be a ‘secondresurrection’ and ‘first death’. Both are implied in Revelation 20: thefirst death refers to physical death (Rev. 20:4-5 cf. Heb. 9:27), and thesecond resurrection refers to the rising of the dead to stand beforethe Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:12 cf. Jn. 5:28-29). VernPoythress explains:

The first resurrection, like the first death, is preliminary, while thesecond resurrection, like the second death, is final. The secondresurrection is clearly bodily resurrection. It is clearly the remedy for the first death, bodily death. Conversely, the first resurrection is akind of remedy for the second death, according to Revelation 20:6.That is, the first resurrection guarantees freedom from the seconddeath. The various symmetries suggest that the first resurrection,like the second death, is paradoxical in character. As the seconddeath implicitly includes and accompanies an act of bodilyresurrection, so the first resurrection implicitly includes andaccompanies bodily death... These are now disembodied souls,living in the presence of God and of Christ, as represented in[Revelation] 6:9-10. (2000:180)

Poythress says that the first resurrection (which, according to him, isthe intermediate state), like the first death, is preliminary. It is notfinal. However, the nature of the Millennium would seem to suggestthat the first resurrection is anything but preliminary. The saints notonly reign with Christ, but also act in the capacity of ‘priests of Godand of Christ’ (Rev. 20:6). This is in fulfilment of earlier promisesthat the people of God have been made to serve God as priests (Rev.

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1:6; 5:10). Surely, then, the first resurrection is not preliminary, butfinal. Those who participate in the first resurrection will serve andreign with God and Christ forever (Rev. 22:3, 5).

On a final noteI stated in the introduction of this book that we need to get passedour theological prejudices and discard the mentality of some scho-lars that only ‘our’ view is biblical. The fact that the doctrine of theMillennium is a secondary issue should drive us to think ‘out of the box’. You won’t be deceived or seduced by the devil – as somehave charged – if you decide to change your view on the Millen-nium. Neither would you be rejecting the infallibility and inerrancyof Scripture.

I encourage you to study the Scriptures concerning the SecondComing of Christ – not someone else’s ‘infallible’ view of the Mil-lennium. Remember that our Lord’s return is referred to as ‘theblessed hope’ for every Christian (Titus 2:13). So, what applicationscan we take out of our study of the Millennium?

We must have a ‘premillennial faith’, as it were. When persecu-tion and tribulations arise against the Christian Church, we arecalled to persevere and endure the various trials that we face everyday – God will judge the wicked (2 Thes. 1:4-7). When the days seemto be becoming more and more evil, and when more people becomedeceived and are led astray by false teachers, we are to endure in thefaith, abiding in the truth of God’s word. During these times welong for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, andthe appearance of his kingdom.

We must also have a ‘postmillennial faith’, as it were. We are theones who have been entrusted with the task of spreading the gospelto all nations. Are we involved in the work of evangelism and disci-pleship in whatever context we may find ourselves in? As subjectsof the King, we must remain faithful in our service to him, fulfillingthe Great Commission of Matthew 28:19. When Christ returns, willhe find us using our God-given talents for the work of his kingdom(Matt. 25:14ff)?

We must have an ‘amillennial faith’, as it were. While recognizingthe spread of evil, we also recognize the spread of the gospel. AmidstSatanic persecution against God’s church, the gospel spreads andthe Church is scattered throughout the world. God is in control. We


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are to encourage and build each other up with this knowledge.Those who have died in Christ are with him now in heaven. Thisearth is not our home for ‘the Lord will rescue [us] from every evilattack and will bring [us] safely to his heavenly kingdom’ (2 Tim.4:18). Amen.

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About the Authors

1. The author of Dispensational PremillennialismLarry Waugh was born of South African parents in Bulawayo, Sou-thern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), on July 6, 1947.

After he was sent to a Roman Catholic college, Larry attended theBulawayo School of Art and attained distinctions for art in GCE ‘O’and ‘A’ levels. He then went to Rhodes University (1966-1969) andcame out with a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree and a University ArtTeacher’s Diploma. In 1970, Larry immigrated to South Africa withhis wife, Dalene, and started work in teaching art, civil draughting,and engineering drawing instructing. (They have two children:Bridget and Chris.)

Until his death, Larry was a member of the Methodist church,although he had visited other denominations: Baptists, Presbyte-rians, Seventh-Day Adventists, and Charismatic churches. For twelveyears Larry taught God’s word in the Methodist church as a SundaySchool teacher. He led home cell groups in both Methodist andCharismatic churches, went out on evangelistic outreaches, andtaught Bible Education and Art at Alberton High School (1993-1996).

In the workplace, Larry fought pitched battles against Free-masonry. For the past few years he had been somewhat disillusionedwith church leaders. He believed that the Church was heading intotroubled waters of the end times because of her leaders being en-gaged in sexual immorality, alcoholism, and divorce. He was especi-ally concerned of modern-day preachers teaching the ‘health, wealthand prosperity’ gospel, and their insistence that Jesus was rich.

In August 1997, Larry collapsed with prostrate cancer and wasparalysed from the waist down. Yet, in spite of his sufferings, Larrynever complained but believed that it was all part of God’s sover-eign plan, and that the Lord had something special in store for him.Larry began to provide art lessons from home, as well as advertisinghis paintings via the Internet: www.tecnet.co.za/larrywaugh

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Larry remained an ardent supporter and defender of the dispen-sational premillennial view, and he spent much of his spare timestudying eschatology. He had planned to start a home Bible studygroup for other cancer patients.

On May 15, 2003, the Lord took Larry home to be with him. Larryis now walking with the Lord in heaven!

2. The author of Historic PremillennialismRodney D. Stortz was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA onDecember 23, 1950.

Trained in expository preaching at Covenant Theological Semi-nary, it was always Rodney’s goal to preach the whole counsel ofGod (Acts 20:27). He was a serious student of prophecy since gradu-ating from seminary, preaching on the Second Coming of Christ,teaching in-depth series on the subject, and preaching expositoryseries on the books of Daniel, Zechariah, and Revelation. Pastor Stortztaught from a ‘Reformed or Historic Pre-millennial’ perspective.

Rodney was pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church inMuncie, IN (1979-1983), the Covenant Presbyterian Church of St.Louis, MO (1983-1990) and, at the time of his death, Twin Oaks Pres-byterian Church of Ballwin, MO (1990-2003).

Pastor Stortz married the former Elizabeth Buswell and the LORD

blessed them with three wonderful girls: Kathleen (1978), Erin (1980),and Rebekah (1983).

In the last several years, much of Rodney’s time was dedicated tohis radio ministry, ‘Oaks of Righteousness’ which began in St. Louisin 1994 and has since spread to nine radio stations throughout theMidwest. He also spent time working on a commentary on the Bookof Daniel which will be published posthumously in the Preaching theWord series by Crossway Books. He also wrote an inductive Biblestudy on the Book of Revelation with both questions and answers.These studies are available by writing: Oaks of Righteousness, 1230Big Bend Road, Ballwin, MO 63021.

The ‘Oaks of Righteousness’ Radio ministry will continue forwardinto the future as long as the Lord sees fit to use Rodney’s powerfulBible teaching to communicate the great truths of the gospel.

On March 9, 2003, Rodney went home to be with the Lord. Hislife and ministry alongside Liz have been a tremendous blessing tomany. He will be missed!

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3. The author of PostmillennialismJay Rogers was born on June 24, 1962, in Washington D.C.

Jay grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts and graduated fromthe University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.A. in Englishand Psychology. He taught high school from 1987 to 1989. In 1989,he moved to Melbourne, Florida where he became the editor of TheForerunner International, a Christian newspaper which applies thebiblical principles of Revival and Reformation to university campusissues.

Jay is the director of Media House International, a Christian foun-dation which is actively training and supporting several universitystudents in foreign countries to impact their nations with the gospelby communicating a comprehensive biblical worldview through themedia. Jay’s writings have appeared in the Chalcedon Report and in abroad spectrum of evangelical publications.

For ten years, Jay has served as the editor of The Forerunner. He isthe founder of the Russian language newspaper, Predvestnik, (‘TheForerunner’) a publication for and by local Christian activists, pas-tors, and scholars in Ukraine and Russia. Predvestnik is published inKiev, Ukraine and is read by young Russian speaking Christianswho will become leaders in the church and society of the formerUSSR.

Jay is the producer of several powerful videos, including God’sLaw and Society, a ten part series of programs applying the Law ofGod to all areas of civil life and politics. He is also the co-founder ofLoza-TV, the first Christian video ministry in Russia.

To receive a free monthly newsletter which describes the pro-gress of these missions endeavors, write: Media House Interna-tional, P.O. Box 362173, Melbourne, FL 32936-2173 USA.

Email: [email protected] See also MHI’s web site at: www.forerunner.comJay and his wife, Kalia, currently reside in Melbourne, Florida, a

small beach community south of Cape Canaveral.

4. The author of AmillennialismJoseph L. Meiring was born in Cape Town, South Africa, on July 8,1947.

Reared in a nominal Christian home, Joe was exposed in 1969 tothe gospel of Christ whilst in the employ of the then South African


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Railways. For the next seventeen years he was in the midst of muchspiritual turmoil, as godly men at his place of work constantly wit-nessed to him of the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ.

In 1987 Joe was transferred to Johannesburg, as a lecturer, and forapproximately five years ‘all was quiet on the spiritual front.’ How-ever, God the Spirit was at work, and finally in 1993, God gracious-ly enabled Joe to turn to the Lord Jesus in saving faith. To this day,he still marvels so much at the grace of God, as he recalls the wordsof his favourite hymn, and wonders how it could be:

That I should gain an interest in the Saviour’s blood?Died he for me who caused His pain?For me who Him to death pursued?Amazing love, how can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Joe attended the Emmanuel School of Theology during 1996 and1997, and successfully completed a two-year course of study inBiblical Theology, Systematic Theology, Church History, New Testa-ment Theology, and New Testament Appreciation.

After God saved him, Joe very rapidly became a servant of theLord Jesus by becoming a local preacher at various local churches,and is today active in bringing the word of God to a number ofhomes for senior citizens.

The first local assembly Joe fellowshipped at was decidedly dis-pensational premillennial. However, as he wrestled with biblicaleschatology in his own private study time, and studying especiallythe sayings of the Lord Jesus on the Second Coming, he was broughtto a firm amillennial position. He would welcome any questions orcomments regarding his amillennial stance at:[email protected]

Joe and his wife, Natalie, presently reside in Kalk Bay, Cape Town.They have two daughters, Kira and Paula, and a son, Michael, aswell as six grandchildren.

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Bibliography

Alexander, C. n.d. Moses or Christ? Dispensationalism Examined.Bideford Devon: The Bookroom Secretary.

Athanasius. 1946. On the Incarnation of the Word of God. New York:Macmillan Publishing.

Barker, K & Kohlenberger, J. 1994. Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary.Vol. 2. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Boettner, L. 1984. The Millennium. 2nd ed. Phillipsburg, NJ:Presbyterian & Reformed.

Brooks, R. 1986. The Lamb is all the Glory. Durham, England:Evangelical Press.

Chick, J. n.d. The Crusaders. Vol. 4. Chino CA: Chick Publishers.

Clouse, R (ed). 1977. The Meaning of the Millennium. DownersGrove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Cumbey, C. 1991. The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow. 2nd printing.Innersdal, Pretoria: Bet-El Publishers.

Edwards, J. 2000. The History of Redemption. Sovereign Grace TrustFund. (electronic text version)

Engelsma, D. n.d. A Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism.www.the-highway.com/amilTOC_Engelsma.html

Erickson, M. 1987. Contemporary Options in Eschatology. GrandRapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Gentry, K. 1999 The Beast of Revelation Identified – video (producedby Jay Rogers)

Grenz, S. 1992. The Millennial Maze. Downers Grove, IL:InterVarsity Press.

Grier, W. 1997. The Momentous Event. Edinburgh: Banner of TruthTrust.


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Grudem, W. 1994. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan.

Halley, H. 1988. Halley’s Bible Handbook. 65th printing. GrandRapids, MI: Zondervan.

Henry, M. 1961. Matthew Henry’s Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan.

Hoekema, A. 1994. The Bible and the Future. Grand Rapids, MI:Eerdmans.

Hunt, D. 1994. A Woman Rides the Beast. Eugene, OR: HarvestHouse.

________. 1996. In Defense of the Faith. Eugene, OR: Harvest House.

Kah, G. 1992. En route to Global Occupation. Lafayette, Louisiana:Huntingdon House.

Kik, J. 1971. An Eschatology of Victory. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian& Reformed.

Ladd, G. 1972. A Commentary on the Revelation of John. GrandRapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Ludwigson, R. 1973. A Survey of Bible Prophecy. Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan.

Mathison, K. 1995. Dispensationalism – Rightly Dividing the People ofGod? Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed.

________. 1999. Postmillennialism – An Eschatology of Hope.Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed.

Mauro, P. n.d. The Hope of Israel. Swengel, PA: Reiner Publications.

Paris, E. 1975. The Secret History of the Jesuits. Ontario, CA: ChickPublications.

Peterson, F. 1960. Peter’s Tomb Recently Discovered in Jerusalem. FortWayne, Ind.: F. Paul Peterson.

Phillips, T. 1998. End Times Study Notes. Grand Rapids, MI: WorldPublishing.

Poythress, V. 2000. The Returning King: A Guide to the Book ofRevelation. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed.

Prasch, J. 1998. One Messiah: Two Comings. Moriel Ministries.

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four The keys millennium to the - The Forerunner — Home · and Wieland Willker. Last, ... in Revelation 20, I am left feeling like ... be transformed by the power of the gospel

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