Lesson 5: End Time Viewpoints
LESSON 5: END TIME VIEWPOINTS
Darryl Nunnelley & David R. Reagan
FACT: There are four major ways in which end time Bible prophecy has been interpreted.
Key Scripture: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them ... {and they} reigned with Christ for a thousand years"
(Revelation 20:4).
The verse above is one of the most controversial in the Bible. Four major interpretations have been given to it.
Why the Differences?
It all has to do with the method of interpretation that is applied to the verse. If you interpret the verse for its plain sense meaning, you will end up with one of the forms of what is called Premillennialism. But if you desire to interpret the verse symbolically by spiritualizing its meaning, you will end up with one of the two views based upon such an approach.
Lets' consider the four views in the chronological order that they developed in history.
Historic Premillennialism
Don't let the word, premillennial, scare you. It just means "before the thousand years." It is the belief that Jesus will return to this earth before the Millennium begins. The Millennium is the thousand years referred to in the opening verse above.
This was the viewpoint of the early church up until the year 400 A.D. There is no disagreement about this. Even those who hold a different viewpoint agree that the view of the Church Fathers was that Jesus would return to the earth to reign for a thousand years.
So, according to this view, the Church Age that we are in now will be followed by a period of seven years called The Tribulation - a time when God will pour out His wrath upon the earth. Jesus will appear in the heavens at the end of the Tribulation. The saints, living and dead, will meet Him in the sky and return with Him from Jerusalem. At the end of His reign, this current earth will be renovated by fire, producing a new and perfected earth. The saints will then live with God eternally on the new earth.
This view is based upon a literal or plain sense interpretation of what the Bible says about the reign of Jesus on this earth.
Amillennialism
The second view was developed by Saint Augustine around 400 A.D. He is considered the greatest of the Church Fathers because his theology had the greatest impact on the doctrines that ultimately were adopted by The Roman Catholic Church.
Amillennialism, this strange name derives from the fact that in the Greek language a word is negated by putting the letter "a" in front of it. Thus, Amillennial literally means "no thousand years."
The term is misleading, however, because Amillennialist do believe in a Millennium, but not a literal, earthly one. They argue that the Millennium is the current spiritual reign of Christ over the Church and that it will continue until He returns for His saints. They thus interpret the thousand years as a symbolic period of time.
One appealing aspect of the Amillennial view is its simplicity. The Church Age comes to a screaming halt as a result of the Second Coming. There is no Tribulation, no literal earthly Millennium, and no eternity on a new earth. Augustine spiritualized everything, arguing that the kingdom is the Church, The Millennium is the current Church Age, and the new earth is symbolic language for Heaven.
The Amillennial concept is the majority viewpoint in Christendom today, held by the Catholic Church and most of the old mainline Protestant denominations.
Postmillennialism
The third view of the end times is called Postmillennialism. This view did not develop until the mid 17th Century, long after the Reformation. The Reformation had little impact on prophetic views because the Reformation leaders had their attention riveted on the questions of biblical authority and justification by faith. The Reformers continued to spirtualize prophecy.
The Postmillennial view was a product of the Rationalistic Revolution in thinking. It was developed in the mid-1600's by a Unitarian minister named Daniel Whitby. It was immediately dubbed "Postmillennialism" because it envisioned a return of Jesus after (post) a literal thousand year reign of the Church over all the earth.
Postmillennialism spread quickly within the Protestant world, probably for two reasons. First, it gave Protestants an opportunity to differ from the Catholic position. More importantly, it was a theological expression of the prevailing rationalistic philosophy of the age, a philosophy that boldly proclaimed the ability of Mankind to build the kingdom of heaven on earth.
The Postmillennial view holds that the church Age will gradually evolve into a "golden age" when the Church will rule over all the world. This will be accomplished through the Christianization of the nations.
To its credit, it can be said that this viewpoint served as a mighty stimulus to missionary efforts during the 18th and 19th Centuries. Missionaries were seized with the vision of speeding up the return of the Lord by preaching the Gospel to all the world.
A Sudden Death
By 1900 nearly all segments of Protestant Christianity had adopted the Postmillennial viewpoint. But the view was to be quickly dropped.
Postmillennialism died almost overnight with the outbreak of the First World War. The reason, of course, is that this great war undermined one of the fundamental assumptions of the Postmillennial viewpoint - the assumption of the inevitability of progress. This had always been a fatal flaw in the Postmillennial concept, due mainly to its birth in Rationalistic Humanism. Its vision of the perfectibility of man and the redemption of society was destroyed by the atrocities of the war.
Another fatal flaw of the Postmillennial viewpoint was its lack of a consistent biblical base. To expound the view, it was necessary to literalize some prophecies (those concerning the Millennium) while at the same time spiritualizing other prophecies (the personal presence of the Lord during the Millennium). Also it was necessary to ignore or explain away the many prophecies in the Bible that clearly state that society is going to get worse rather than better as the time approaches for the Lord's return (Matthew 24:4-24 and 2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Modern Premillennialism
The modern premillennial viewpoint crystallized in the early 1800's among a group in England known as the Plymouth Brethren.
As can be readily seen, this viewpoint revives the historic premillenial view except for its concept for the Rapture of the Church. The Plymouth Brethren envisioned the Second Coming to consist of two stages: first an appearing of Jesus in the heavens for the Church, and second, a return to the earth with His Church. Their concept for the Rapture has since come to be known as the "Pre-Tribulation Rapture" because it contends that the Church will be taken out of the world before the Tribulation begins.
Comparisons
Looking back over these four views of the end times, we can see some significant differences. But let's not overlook the similarities.
- All agree that Jesus is coming back for His saints.
- All agree that the Redeemed will spend eternity in the presence of God.
These two points of agreement are far more important than the many points of disagreement.
Still, the areas of disagreement are significant. Two of the views (the Amillennial and Postmillennial) deny that Jesus will ever manifest his glory before the nations in a worldwide reign of peace, justice and righteousness.
The Postmillennial view also denies the soon coming of the Lord, for according to this view, the Lord cannot return until His Church has ruled over the world for a thousand years.
Likewise, the Historic Premillennial view negates the imminency of the Lord's return, since it combines the Rapture and Second Coming and places them at the end of the Tribulation. In contrast, the Modern Premillennial view allows for the Lord to return at any moment in the Rapture, without the fulfillment of any specific prophecies.
The key to the differences is the approach to Scripture. Again, if you tend to spiritualize Scripture, you will end up with an Amillennial or Postmillennial viewpoint. If you tend to accept Scripture for its plain sense meaning, you will have a Premillennial viewpoint.
Lamb & Lion Ministries www.lamblion.com