Postmillennialism: Christendom's Bright Cheerful View Of The Future Of The Human Race.

[JAG**]

The subject is Christian Eschatology.
Eschatology is about the future of Humanity.
There are 4 different major views of Christian Eschatology {listed below}.
Postmillennialism is the only one of the 4 that predicts a bright cheerful future
here on this Earth before human history ends.

So the question is raised:

What does the future hold for the Christian Church and the Human Race
here on planet Earth? The answer is the Human Race has a magnificent
optimistic bright cheerful future.

The world will eventually become a Christian world. This will require many
millenniums yet to come as human history rolls forward. This does not
mean that every single person on Earth will become a Christian, rather
it means that the human race, as a race, will be saved and the vast
overwhelming majority of human beings will, in the far off future,
become Christian.

The Lord Jesus' Great Commission To His Christian Church is about
His Church Christianizing the world:

The Lord Jesus told His disciples at the end of Matthew's gospel chapter
28 to go and make disciples of all the nations. His disciples needed power
to accomplish this great task. The Lord Jesus told them what this power
was. He said "all authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me,
therefore go and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to obey
all that I have commanded you." Matthew 28:18-20

The Lord Jesus was serious when He gave His Christian Church her Great
Commission. His Great Commission is a command and not a suggestion.

Therefore His Great Commission to go and make disciples of all the nations
will be successfully accomplished before He returns to Earth to end human
history -- the world will eventually become Christian. "He must reign until
He has put all his enemies under His feet." 1 Cor. 15:25
"For He (God) has put everything under His feet." 1 Cor. 15:27

The Lord Jesus right NOW is reigning as King over this entire world and He is
gradually incrementally Christianizing the entire world. Again, how long will this
take? It will take many many millenniums yet to unfold, but He will be victorious.
We must be patient. This is going to take a very long time.

Meanwhile . .

Unfortunately there is a lot of Doom and Gloom and Defeatism
out there inside 21st century Christendom .

Christendom holds and presents 4 major views of the future
of the Christian Church and the Human Race.

These 4 views are:
(1) Postmillennialism
(2) Amillennialism
(3) Premillennialism
(4) Dispensationalism

Of the 4 views only Postmillennialism presents an optimistic
bright cheerful victorious future for the Christian Church and
the Human Race here on Earth before the Lord returns.

This Post is presenting some general thoughts on
Postmillennialism and Postmillennialism's optimistic view of
the future.

Long live Christian optimism.

Large swaths of the Christian Church today are awash in
Gloom and Doom and in Defeatism passed off as being
spiritual, when in fact the Bible teaches that the Christian
Church will be victorious. I will build my Church, said the
Lord Jesus, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.
Go and make disciples of all the nations, said the Lord
Jesus, because I have now been given all authority both
in Heaven and on Earth.

Here is an excellent definition of Postmillennialism:

"Postmillennialism holds that the Lord Jesus Christ established
His kingdom on earth through His preaching and redemptive
work in the first century and that He equips His church with the
gospel, empowers her by the Holy Spirit, and charges her with
the Great Commission to disciple all nations. Postmillennialism
expects that eventually the vast majority of men living will be
saved. Increasing gospel success will gradually produce a
time in history prior to Christ's return in which faith,
righteousness, peace, and prosperity will prevail in the
affairs of men and nations. After an extensive era of such
conditions the Lord will return visibly, bodily, and gloriously,
to end history with the general resurrection and the final
Judgment after which the eternal order follows."
___ Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry.

Christianity is slowly Christianizing the world.

Christianity started small in numbers. There was a time in the 1st century
at the very beginning of Christianity when the number of Christians in the
world was less than 12. Today, some 2000 years later, there is some 2.3
billion Christians in the world. We have a name for this. We call it progress.

America today has over 1300 Evangelical mega-churches with weekly
attendance of over 2000. The Roman Catholics have over 3000 churches
with a weekly attendance of over 2000. This is Christian progress in the world.

Christianity is growing like wildfire in the Global South for example in Africa.
There is a huge Christian Church in China. House Church.
.Christianity is huge in South Korea and in South America and Central America.
The American Christian Church is still a vibrant force in the World. All this is
Christian progress in the world.

■ The Lord Jesus "shall have dominion from sea to sea" Psalm 72:8
■ "The whole Earth will be filled with His glory." Psalm 72:19
■ "All the nations will call Him blessed." Psalm 72:17
■ The Lord Jesus really meant it, when He commanded His Christian
Church to "go and make disciples of all the nations." Matthew 28:19

"As of the year 2015, Christianity has more than 2.3 billion adherents,
out of about 7.5 billion people. The faith represents one-third of the
world's population and is the largest religion in the world, with the three
largest groups being the Catholic Church, Protestantism, and
the Eastern Orthodox Church."__wikipedia

At the end of human history , , ,
The Book Of Revelation says that there is a great multitude of the saved
from every nation, tribe, people and language and they are so numerous
that no one can count them.

"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one
could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing
before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white
robes . . .and they cried out . . . Salvation belongs to our God who sits
on the throne and to the Lamb." Revelation 7:9-10

_________

 

The Lord Jesus. He Shall Have Dominion. Victory! 

____________

 

 

Miscellaneous Points:

* I am a Bible believing orthodox Postmillennialist.

* I am NOT a Full Preterist.

* Full Preterism is False.

* FYI, I am a Bible believing Protestant {Baptist.}

* I posted that up there only as  "food for thought."

* I do NOT argue Christian Eschatology in threads.

* I look forward to reading some of the responses  to the Opening Post.

God Bless.

JAG

 

``
 

Edited July 31, 2020 by JAG**

[Zemke]

I've always seen this as one of the most unviable perspectives about the future. I wasn't raise on it, but even when I have given the benefit of the doubt, put on the table the possibilities of it, I've never wrestled with it for long. 

Peter's evangelistic message on the first day the Spirit empowered the church preached the coming of the Lord, and quoting from Joel he said."The sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood before that great and glorious day comes." Historically and theologically that sign in the heavens isn't a good thing.

In 2Thess Paul gives a little piece of what he taught about the coming of our Lord for them to help remember. Not so good either.

And fast forward to today. Most believers I know that were backsliding and the Lord pulled out of the fire giving them a place of repentance was thru the preaching or a book sent to them of premillennial thought. Same goes for evangelists preaching as Peter did on the day of Pentecost about the coming of the Lord. Many have been saved by the preaching of the coming of our Lord. Premillennial.

 Where I find postmillenial being helpful is in ecumenism which is bringing not only Christianity into some form of unity but also the rainbow of other religions which is mans unity, not the unity of Christ. If one wishes to kiss the Popes ring we should be informed he has gotten on his knees, bent over and kissed the feet of Islamic Imams. 

One must read Postmill into the scriptures to get postmill out of the scriptures. An honest reading of the word shows us darkness, and the light once again will shine into the darkness and a new age will dawn. "What is the sign of your coming and the end of the age?" Jesus answered and it wasn't a pleasant glorious victory of the church and then He would return. Math, 24,25. Luke 21 also dispersed in other Luke passages and again the Olivet discourse also in Mark 13.

Edited July 4, 2020 by Zemke

[Marilyn C]

All I can say is that I don`t believe we`ll have long to find out which is the true view.

[Justin Adams]

Are we certain that the 1000 mentioned in Rev 20 is not just symbolic?

[dhchristian]

Just now, Justin Adams said:

Are we certain that the 1000 mentioned in Rev 20 is not just symbolic?

God is not the author of confusion, the mind of man is. 

[dhchristian]

Post millennialism, that "bright and cheerfully optimistic" view has led to what is known as the Church Millitant. this view has led to such "cheery things" as the crusades, the inquisition, the persecutions of the Anabaptists etc. and even today is mixed in the "Kingdom now" theology of the emergent churches. As the Old saying goes, you will know the tree by its fruit, well post millennialism has had some bad fruit, so I reject it, as does the Holy Spirit in me.   

[Justin Adams]

26 minutes ago, dhchristian said:

God is not the author of confusion, the mind of man is. 

Agreed and Darby and co. were prone to invent stuff.  Pre-trib, mid-trib, post, during and after trib. All made up! And Scofield's FAKE BIBLE.

The '1,000 years'

Some will agree that most all of Revelation's numbers are symbolic, but then - for doctrinal reasons, not purely biblical reasons - they will suddenly insist on strict literalism when '1,000' is used; this is a very odd approach indeed! Interestingly, '1,000' is never used literally in the Bible, it is used either symbolically, poetically or as a 'round-up' figure for several hundred. Despite this, some groups build quite complex theologies around the concepts of a 'millenium' and also a 'rapture,' two words which never occur in Scripture! Indeed, in the case of 'millenium' the teachings are based on the belief that just one chapter in Revelation is literal (chapter 20), even when these undoubtedly very sincere people will usually freely admit that a large percentage of what one finds in that book is symbolical, rather than literal. Moreover, most millenialists will admit that the concept of a 'millenium' is completely absent from the teachings of Jesus and the apostle Paul.

But why 1,000 in the case of Revelation? Well it should be noted that 1,000 is a number of ideal completion, as it is the multiple of 10x10x10. In Revelation 20, '1,000 years' is symbolic of two things:

a. The entire time which the church needs to fulfil her mission upon earth; the mission achieves perfect completion in the symbolic '1,000 years.' (During this period, although dangerous, Satan cannot prevent the elect of God from responding to their calling, please carefully notice Rev. 20:1-3 and compare that with Luke 10:17-20!).

b. The '1,000 years' also refers to the rule of the deceased souls of Christians in Heaven. Since Christ's victory over death, the souls of all who die in Christ go to Heaven to be comforted, prior to the full resurrection of body and soul. See Revelation 20:4-5. This is described as 'the first resurrection' in Revelation 20:5-6. Please note that these are 'souls' (verse 4, NIV throughout), confirming that the resurrection is yet future. These are '...The souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony...' (verse 4), again, confirming that these were true believers while upon earth and that their souls are in heaven at the time which John sees them in this vision. Verse 5 then confirms for us that this 'first resurrection' of the soul in Heaven only applies to those who were elect believers upon the earth and are now saved,

'(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.)...' (verse 5).

John Nelson Darby (1800-1882)

John Nelson Darby who, in the 19th century, established an entirely new theological approach towards the Scriptures through 'Dispensationalism.' Part of his schema involved introducing an approach towards prophecy and towards the apocalyptic books which had previously only been successful among the sects. In Dispensationalism, the Bible becomes divided up into seven different 'dispensations' and specific teachings on a "rapture" and a "millenium" become important even though neither word even occurs in any bone-fide English translation of Scripture. But Darby's new approach may well have remained almost unknown but for Cyrus Scofield (an American lawyer, not a Bible expert), who popularized it through his Scofield Reference Bible.

Incidentally, much (but not all) of established Christian theology has usually believed that this first group are the only group which can be saved, but Scripture strongly infers that salvation is also possible for a larger group later on, as we shall soon note.
So those who are not in this 'first resurrection' group do not rise until Judgment Day and that Day occurs at the completion of the mission of the Church, the time of the parousia (Second Coming) of Christ. Of course, this 'first resurrection' of the soul is not the same thing as the Great Resurrection of body and soul which Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15, when all will rise (Matthew 25:31-46; John 5:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:15-28; Rev. 20:11-15). It is true that Paul mainly focuses on the resurrection of Christians in 1 Cor. 15, and they will rise in complete confidence and joy following the prior joyous experience of many of them in heaven. But Rev. 20:5 again, confirms that the inspired text is speaking of those true believers, recipients of God's grace, who die before and during this age of the Church.
[By the way, Matthew 25:31-46 also does not show any long time lapse between the judgment of believers and unbelievers and depicts one resurrection and judgment period following Christ's return to earth].

It is very odd that some groups insist that Rev. 20 refers to a 1,000 year age which is yet future - beyond the resurrection of the saints - when the text could hardly make it plainer that this speaks of what theologians call 'the intermediate state' (between death and resurrection). Also, notice that the body and soul resurrection of 1 Corinthians 15 is plainly not being discussed since we are simply told that those martyred for the testimony of Jesus, "came to life" as souls ('souls'=Greek word 5590 in Strong's Concordance, transliterated as 'psuche.' See inset article, 'Souls in the New Testament' here). As further evidence that it is the souls of believers who are in Heaven which is under discussion here, please note the strong similarity of the language between Rev. 20:4-5 and Rev. 6:9-11. So the evidence seems strong that 'first resurrection' is a term for entering Heaven at death (but we cannot deny that some have made a strong case for stating that 'first resurrection' refers to being 'born again' at Christian conversion; an even third possibility which a few have suggested is that 'first resurrection' refers to the resurrection of Christ in which all believers participate when entering Heaven at death, and beyond that of course).

Then verse 6 confirms for us that these are the souls of true believers when it tells us that, 'Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them...' (Rev 20:6a). In other words, those believers who enter Heaven at death cannot fail to inherit Eternal Life (again, for those who believe that 'first resurrection' refers to being 'born again' it remains true that those genuinely 'born again' will not fail to go on and achieve everlasting life).

Verse 7 then tells us of the final tribulation just prior to Christ's return to earth which occurs 'When the thousand years are over...' In other words, when the mission of the Church upon earth is completed. This refers to a final time of great trouble and specific persecution of the church at the conclusion of the mission of the 'Two Witnesses' (that is, at the conclusion of the mission of the church who are to witness for Christ 'two by two' ; Luke 10:1 and Revelation 11:7). But this is only allowed to happen when the Church has fulfilled its mission upon earth, and is just prior to the Second Coming of our Lord.

Regarding resurrection, a few may wonder why the resurrection Scriptures in 1 Cor. 15 and also 1 Thess. 4, only mention believers rising from the dust of the earth without reference to their souls already having spent time in Heaven, but the answer is really very simple; God is very aware of the safety of their souls but the full resurrection of body - as well as soul - is deemed very important in Christian theology and the Resurrection of the Dead naturally focuses on that in the scriptural account; indeed, even believers in Heaven - while in a state of joy and closeness to God - appear to long for the full resurrection to life in Rev. 6:9-11.

I am very aware that a large group of American Christians who may be reading this will be finding it somewhat strange, this is largely because of the huge influence of Darby's 'dispensationalism' - an influence largely engineered by the dispensationalist-influenced Scofield Reference Bible which has become very popular among American Christians during the last 100 years (even though almost unknown among British Christians).

Robin A. Brace, 2007.   http://www.ukapologetics.net/07/144000.htm

[JAG**]

19 hours ago, Josheb said:

Another excellent op. 

However I'd like to suggest a few minor additions and/or clarifications.

First, there are five prominent eschatological positions. The fifth is Idealism. It has a long history but came into prominence immediately following the Reformation. It is held by some RCCs and some reformed Protestant denominations but is generally associated with the liberal end of the theological spectrum. There's a lot of them but they're probably not plentifully represented in this forum. Those truly interested in eschatology, or some other aspects of theology like ecclesiology or the "New Paul" povs will find plenty of overlap between Idealism and the four views listed in the op. 

Second, Postmillennialism isn't just about God's victory in history. All Christians eschatologies believe they are asserting a sovereign God victorious in history. Amils and Idealists believe history has a circumstantial ebb and flow with trials, tribulations, and victories occurring in every generation. Postmils see this victory as generally progressive in more or less linear form until the ultimate victory is achieved by God. Dispensationalists se God victoriously through the rapture, tribulation, millennials reign, and the promises to Israel fulfilled. The difference between the Postmil pov and the rest is we see the Spirit and the Church as victorious agents in God's work. God's creation will not be run by satan and the Church will not become impotent, and neither will the Spirt. The gates of hell will not prevail over the Church and the gospel will be made victorious, not by the works of humanity - even Christian humanity -  but by the Spirit. This is important to understand because one of the prevailing criticisms against Postmillennialism is the idea humans can bring about God's kingdom here on earth. This is a straw man. 

Third, the defining of the millennium, or "1000 year reign" is divided right in half between the four eschatologies listed in the op as to whether or not it is a literal 1000 years. Historically, most Christians are Amillennial so numerically most Christians don't take Revelation 20's mention of 1000 years literally. Premillennialists do. Amils and Postmils do not. This is one of the most distinct dividing lines between the four views listed.

Fourth, we take seriously what has become known as the "dominion mandate," or "cultural mandate," which is the first command God ever gave humanity (Gen. 1:28) and the what has become known as the "great commission," found at the conclusion of Matthew's gospel (Mt. 28:18-20). These commands have never been revoked. God has repeated the first many times in various wordings and various ways throughout scripture. This is not to be confused with Dominionism, especially not as the Reconstructionists assert it. 

Lastly, some Postmils are full-prets but most are not. When writing of the future of the human race on earth some clarification is warranted so as not to lead readers to believe Postmillennialism is the same as full-preterism. I see you have stated that quite plainly for all to read but I wanted to clarify that. We look forward to the final return of Christ. 

 

Psalm 110:1 
"The LORD says to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'"

 

We take that prophesy literally: Christ will remain seated on God's throne at his Father's right hand until God makes his enemies a footstool for his feet, at which time every knee will bow and confess Christ as Lord to the glory of the Father (Phil. 2:9-11) and God having put an end to all rule, authority, and power Christ will hand over the kingdom to his Father (1 Cor. 15:24). Christ will sit on God's throne at his Father's right hand until then; not before then. Post-millennium. After the millennium. 

 

 

Having said the above, I am not a classic Postmil. I find some problems with both the Postmil and the Amil views but in general I find they are both much, much, much better representations of whole scripture than their alternatives. Unlike the Amils I see history in both scripture and in modernity to be linear and progressively so. Unlike the Recon Doms I do not find God dependent upon a Christian nation-state for Christ's return. 

 

 

.

Thanks Josheb.

And thanks for the write-up and for your contribution to the thread.

You mentioned Full Preterism  You and the readers of this thread may find it interesting to know that

Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry  Jr who wrote  Postmillennialism's masterpiece titled He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmillennial Eschatology

has an appendix in that work  AGAINST Full Preterism titled "The Hyper-Preterist Error." This is good. We don't need Full-Preterism. Its false.

_____________

 

Also Keith A. Mathison who wrote Postmillennialism: An Eschatology Of Hope, has a chapter AGAINST Full-Preterism

titled "A Brief Critique Of Full-Preterism. This is good. We don't need Full-Preterism.  Its false.

 

This is important to stress because there are some that "don't like" Postmillennialism and will use the incorrect 

accusation of "You believe in Full-Preterism which is FALSE doctrine"  in their efforts to discredit Bible believing

orthodox Postmillennialism. This will fail , , , ,

Postmillennialism has already got a strong foothold on the Internet and it will gain ground steadily as time goes

on and as human history unfolds. 

He shall Have Dominion.

Nothing can stop it.

Victory!

Best.

JAG

 

[ENOCH2010]

If the devil is bound now why is there so much evil in the world? 

[Justin Adams]

9 minutes ago, ENOCH2010 said:

If the devil is bound now why is there so much evil in the world? 

Already but not yet. maybe the Divine Counsel and Deut 32 worldview will help...