01.061. SPECIAL STUDY: ON “MILLENIALISM”
SPECIAL STUDY: ON “MILLENIALISM”
I should like to add a word of caution here on the general subject of “Millenialism.”
1. That our Lord is coming again is emphasized on page after page of the New Testament. In fact, there are as many Scriptures in the New Testament writings pointing forward to the Lord’s second advent as there are Scriptures in the Old Testament pointing forward to the facts of His first coming and His ministry in the flesh. And it is significant, I think, that the passages alluding to the Second Coming are as generally ignored by professing Christians of our time as those of the Old Testament alluding to His first coming were ignored—and ultimately repudiated—by His people of the Old Covenant.
2. The notion that the Second Coming will take place, not as a personal manifestation of Messiah, but through the gradual world-wide acceptance of the Gospel, has not an iota of Scripture evidence to support it. In fact, Scripture teaching is all to the contrary. Jesus Himself tells us that the Gospel can bring forth the fruit of the Spirit only when it is received into honest and good hearts (Luke 8:4-15, the Parable of the Soils, not the “Parable of the Sower”); and the Apostle declares it to be the power of God unto salvation to one class only, namely, to those who believe, that is, to those who accept, obey, and live it (Romans 1:16). “Post-millenialism” of this kind is absurd, on the face of it.
3. “Millenial” theories are at best more or less speculative, and can hardly be otherwise. The concept is based on the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation. The word “millenium” is derived from the Latin indeclinable adjective, mille, meaning “a thousand” (Greek, chilia). The fact that the time element apparently is never rigid in the Plan of God (nor in the operations of the Spirit of God) should cause us to refrain from dogmatism with respect to the sequence of events connected in Scripture teaching with the Second Coming: “a thousand years” may simply designate a period of indefinite duration: cf. 2 Peter 3:8. “Time-setting” has been discredited uniformly throughout the history of Christianity; hence, to indulge in such an absurd practice, especially since Jesus Himself has stated expressly that no one but the Heavenly Father knows when the Second Advent will occur (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32-37, Acts 1:7), surely is a mark either of ignorance or of sheer presumption.
4. Of course, as stated above, Christ’s numerous injunctions to His disciples, to watch for His Second Coming, and to be ready for it at any moment, would be meaningless if that event were always a thousand years in the future, that is, after the Millenium (post-millenial). Cf. Mark 13:33-37, Matthew 24:42-44, 2 Peter 3:12, 1 Corinthians 1:7, Romans 8:19-23, etc.
5. Any theory that would have us believe that Jesus will not set up His Kingdom until He comes the second time is disproved (1) by the numerous passages in the New Testament which clearly indicate that the Kingdom—Messiah’s Reign—was ushered in on the Day of Pentecost with the first proclamation of the facts of the Gospel as facts (Acts 2:1-47) and the subsequent incorporation of the Body of Christ (Acts 2:41; Acts 2:47), and (2) by those passages which explicitly identify obedient believers in the apostolic age as being both members of the Church and citizens of the Kingdom. The Son of God assumed the Kingship (Sovereignty after His conquest of death (on earth He had been the Uncrowned King); the ten days between His Ascension and the Advent of the Spirit on Pentecost obviously were the days of His Coronation in Heaven (Psalms 24:7-10).
It was at this time that God the Father, through the agency of the Spirit, raised Him from the dead (Romans 8:11), seated Him at His (the Father’s) own right hand in the heavenly places, and vested Him with the scepter of the Kingdom, crowned Him King of kings and Lord of lords (John 17:5, Acts 1:9-11; Ephesians 1:20-23; Ephesians 4:8; Hebrews 1:1-4; Php 2:9-11; 1 Peter 3:21-22; Acts 7:56; 1 Timothy 6:13-16; 1 Peter 3:21-22; Revelation 1:17-18, etc.). Note especially the following passages which affirm, either implicitly or explicitly, the concurrent existence of the Kingdom with that of the present (Christian) Dispensation: Matthew 3:2—“the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Luke 10:9—“the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” Luke 17:21—“the kingdom of God is within you.” Matthew 6:33—“Seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness,” etc. Acts 8:12—“but when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ,” etc. Colossians 1:13—“the Father . . . who delivered us out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of his love,” etc. See also Revelation 1:9; Acts 1:1-3; Acts 19:8; Acts 28:23; Acts 28:31; especially 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Daniel 7:13-14; Daniel 7:27; Hebrews 12:28; Matthew 24:14; Luke 19:12; also the many scriptures in which the rise and spread of the Kingdom is described, usually in parable, e.g., Matthew 13:18-52, Mark 4:26-32, Luke 13:18-21, etc. See also Matthew 16:15-20 (in this passage, “my church” and “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” are clearly correlative); 1 Thessalonians 2:12, 2 Peter 1:11, 2 Timothy 4:1, etc. This Kingdom is eternal, of course, by virtue of the fact that its locale is the interior life of the redeemed; hence it is said that their citizenship is in heaven (Php 3:20), that is, their names are recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 21:27; Revelation 3:5).
Incidentally, those who reject the petition, “Thy kingdom come,” as included in what is commonly designated the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:10), on the ground that the Kingdom did come on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47), have missed the intent of this petition. The Lord means for us to pray—so it seems to me—not just “Thy kingdom come,” but, literally, “let come thy kingdom, let be done thy will, as in heaven, so also upon the earth.” This is a prayer that the Kingdom may be extended throughout the whole wide world, and is a reminder to all Christians that the fulfilment of this petition is dependent on the world-wide proclamation of the Gospel (Matthew 24:14). To be sure, the Kingdom “came” in heaven fully, with the expulsion of Satan and his rebel hosts (Luke 10:18, 2 Peter 2:4. Jude 1:6), and as the Reign of the Messiah it “came” on earth with the first proclamation of the Gospel. But its full “coming” on earth will depend on the fidelity of the Church to its two fold mission, that of preserving the truth of God and proclaiming it “unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Matthew 28:18-20, Luke 24:45-49, Acts 1:8). The Kingdom may be more comprehensive than the Church in that it may—and surely does—include the innocent and the irresponsible (babies and small children, Mark 10:14, Luke 18:16) and probably the elect of former Dispensations (Ephesians 4:8, Hebrews 9:23-28). Nevertheless to be in the Church is to be in the Kingdom according to New Testament teaching.
It could turn out, I should think, that a personal reign of Christ upon earth, if such is indicated by the “millenial” passages in Revelation, would be, first of all, for the purpose of destroying all civil governments and instituting in their stead a universal theocracy; that this would be preparatory to the ultimate “time of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by he mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old” (Acts 3:21; cf. Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22-24; Hebrews 12:26-27; 2 Peter 3:13. Revelation 21:1). Under this view the personal reign of Christ would become simply the climactic phase of the history of the Kingdom on earth (Isaiah 45:5-7; Isaiah 45:18-19; Isaiah 45:22-25; Isaiah 46:9-11). Of course, there are many eminent loyal Biblical scholars who reject in toto the concept of a personal reign of Christ on earth. In a booklet written and published by A. C. Williams and J. H. Dykes (which may be procured from Harding College, Searcy, Arkansas), I find the following:
SEVEN OBJECTIONS TO PROMILLENIALISM’S EARTHLY REIGN: 1. The everlasting kingdom rules out the temporal world (Isaiah 9:6-7). 2. Jesus’ refusal of an earthly kingdom once proves he would not want one now or later (John 6:15). 3. Simultaneous kingship and priesthood are not possible on earth (Hebrews 8:4). 4. Heavenly citizenship precludes any idea of an earthly kingdom (Php 3:20). 5. A heavenly message excludes an earthly law (Hebrews 12:25). 6. Kings do not sit on footstools, but on thrones (Isaiah 66:1). 7. It would: A. “Bring Christ down” (Romans 10:6). B. Bring the law back and substitute it for the gospel (Jude 1:3, Galatians 5:4). C. Substitute animal sacrifice for Christ’s blood (1 Peter 1:19). D. Substitute force for free will (Revelation 22:17). E. Substitute carnal weapons for spiritual weapons (2 Corinthians 10:4). F. Substitute a perishing, reeling, rocking earth for the immovable, heavenly, eternal home. G. Substitute sight for faith (2 Corinthians 5:7).
PREMILLENIALISM’S NULLIFICATION ORDINANCE: 1. It nullifies the plan God made to save men. 2. It nullifies the sacrifice Jesus made for man, 3. It nullifies the gospel given to teach men. 4. It nullifies finality of God’s offer to men. 5. It nullifies Jesus’ present power over men. 6. It nullifies “the eternal purpose” that the church should rescue men. 7. It nullifies the great commission offered to all men.
SEVEN MISTAKES OF PREMILLENIALISTS: 1. They separate the church and the kingdom (Matthew 16:18. 2. They confuse the coming of an angel with the return of Christ (Revelation 20:1). 3. They literalize Bible symbols and thus destroy symbolic beauty and significance. 4. They offer a fleshly, earthly program and reign for fleshly-minded people (John 18:36). 5. They set their affections on things of earth instead of heaven (Colossians 3:2). 6. They aspire to rule over their fellows. 7. They divide the church over their wild speculations,
I must confess to being unable to convince myself that the inferences which are drawn, in the foregoing excerpt, from the corresponding Scriptures cited, are, as a rule, necessary inferences. For example, the statement, “the everlasting kingdom rules out the temporal world.” This is not necessarily true, any more than it is not true that, at any time, the fact that part of God’s family is in heaven rules out the possibility that another part is on earth (cf. Ephesians 3:15, Php 3:20, Hebrews 12:22, etc.). Again, we are told that “simultaneous kingship and priesthood are not possible on earth,” and the Scripture warrant cited for this view is Hebrews 8:4. But the passage cited has reference solely to the Levitical priesthood which Jesus could not exercise because He hailed from the tribe of Judah. We know, as a matter of fact, that while He was in the flesh, He frequently exercised the prerogatives of both king (though an uncrowned king, to be sure) and priest by granting forgiveness of sins (Matthew 9:1-7, Mark 2:1-11, Luke 7:44-50, etc.). As a matter of fact, too, His kingship and priesthood have existed from eternity in God’s eternal purpose (Psalms 110); hence His priesthood is said to be after the order of Melchizedek, that is, not by the authority of a carnal commandment (fleshly descent) but by the power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:1-17), As far as this writer is concerned, a dogmatic anti-premillenialism is just as repugnant as a dogmatic pro-premillenialism. This is an area of Biblical exegesis in which dogmatism is not warranted, especially not to the extent of making any particular theory of the sequence of “final things,” either overtly or sub rosa a test of fellowship in a church of the New Testament order. To be sure, there are many eminent Bible scholars who reject in toto the concept of a future personal Messianic reign on earth, largely on the following grounds: 1. That the passages in the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse on which the “millenial” doctrines are based, do not necessarily indicate that this will be an earthly reign; that, on the contrary, it probably indicates a mystical reign of the Christian martyrs with Christ in heaven. (Some say that these passages point to a reign of Christ in the hearts and lives of His saints on earth, a reign in which the spirit of the martyrs will be revived and will reanimate the Church on earth.) 2. That the doctrine of the “first resurrection” is being fulfilled in the conversion of sinners to Christ throughout the present Dispensation, or will be fulfilled in the envisioned great moral and spiritual resurrection that will, it is held, usher in the Millenium, that is, as the final reign of Christ in the lives of His saints on earth. (I find it difficult to harmonize this view with the Apostle’s teaching in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 1 Corinthians 15:50-55, etc.) 3. That the term “millenium,” from “mille,” as stated above, is to be understood as indicating “a round period of great duration.” (Probably true; cf. 2 Peter 3:8.) 4. That statements regarding the ultimate restoration of the Jews have reference not to their re-establishment of an earthly (quasitheocratic) order in Palestine, but to their conversion to Christ and induction, on the same terms as Gentiles, into the New Covenant. Hence, the phrase, “all Israel,” in Paul’s affirmation that eventually, after “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, all Israel shall be saved,” is said to designate “spiritual Israel,” that is, the Body of Christ made up of both Gentiles and Jews (Romans 11:25-32; cf. Ephesians 2:11-18, Galatians 3:27-29, 1 Corinthians 12:13, etc.). (The “all,” as used here, means, says Lard, Commentary on Romans, p. 370, “a very great number.”)
Milligan, on the other hand, Scheme of Redemption, pp. 536–577, takes the position that the beginning of the end of the present Dispensation will occur with the return of the Jews to their geographical homeland, under the guardianship of the archangel Michael (Exodus 23:20-25; Exodus 32:34; Numbers 20:16; Joshua 5:13-15; Isaiah 43:9; Daniel 10:13; Daniel 10:21; Daniel 12:1-3). He lists what he believes to be the sequence of events leading to the Consummation of all things, as follows: 1. Fall of the Turkish or Ottoman Empire. 2. Real-lotment of Palestine. 3. Return of the Israelites to Palestine from all parts of the world. That this return is the “restoration” that is to take place in fulfillment of Daniel 12:2-3, Milligan contends, because in the final and literal resurrection the bodies of all will be raised (John 5:28-29), whereas in the case to which the angel refers here only many of them “that sleep in the dust” shall awake. He bases his case also on other passages, such as a comparison of Daniel 10:14; Daniel 12:3 (here we are told that some of these Israelites will, after their own “resurrection,” turn many to righteousness, whereas after the literal resurrection of the dead, there will be no more preaching, hence no more conversions); also 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10, Ezek. chs. 36, 37, 39; Isaiah 11:10-12, Jeremiah 23:3-8, etc. 4. The purpose of many nations to dispossess the restored Israelites (Revelation 16:13-14; cf. Ezekiel 36:1-138 and Ezekiel 37:1-28). 5. The utter overthrow of these hostile powers in the battle of Harmageddon (Revelation 16:16), resulting in the general conversion of the Israelites (cf. Ezekiel 39:22, Joel 3:1-21, Zechariah 12:1-14, also Romans 11:11-32). 6. Destruction of all anti-Christian powers and combinations. (Milligan names “Popery, Mahometanism, and other anti-Christian powers and combinations.” Present-day conditions, it seems to me, would point to Atheistic Leninism, Oriental paganism, and Mohammedanism, as corresponding, respectively to the Beast, the Dragon, and the False Prophet. The totalitarian godless state is the very essence of diabolism.) 7. Conversion of the world by the Israelites. (Daniel 10:14; Daniel 12:3; Romans 11:12-15). This will be the great age of Gospel preaching, Milligan thinks, in which Jew and Gentile will unite to proclaim primitive Christianity throughout the whole world, and hence will bring in 8. The Millenial reign of the saints, toward the end of which there will be 9. A post-millenial apostasy, and 10. The second personal coming of Christ, and the Last Judgment. So much for Milligan’s theory. Moses E. Lard (Commentary on Romans, p. 359) states the theory by which “restored Israel” is identified with “spiritual Israel,” as follows, commenting on Paul’s language in the eleventh chapter of Romans:
. . . the future reception of the Jews will not consist in restoring them, as Jews, to their former national prosperity, but in receiving them into the divine favor in virtue of their obedience to Christ. Their condition and state will then be precisely the same as the present condition and state of Christian Gentiles. Between the two peoples, no distinctions can exist. . . . the Gentiles are now in countless numbers dead in sin, dead to righteousness, dead to Christ. Their more general regeneration will certainly be life from the dead. Besides, when the Jews accept Christ and devote themselves wholly to preaching the gospel, I look for the scenes of the primitive Pentecost to be re-enacted. Such an ingathering into the church, I expect then to occur as has never yet taken place. Christian Israel and the Christian Gentiles will then be one. Their united energies will be turned against sin; and the result will be that their victories for Christ will have no parallel . . . The world will then be ripe for the coming of Christ; and at his coming the holy dead will be raised, the righteous living will be changed, and the millenium will have set in.
It seems to me that contemporary conditions are more favorable to the former presentation (that of Milligan) than to the latter. Is the stage now being set for the coalition of the Beast, the Dragon, and the False Prophet?
CONCLUSION: In the foregoing Lessons 50 and 51, I have presented the theory, held by the great majority of “evangelicals,” of the sequence of events that will usher in the Second Coming and the end of the present Dispensation, I should like to state here that I myself, am not committed dogmatically to any particular form of millenialism. I feel that it is an unwise and unjustifiable method of Scripture interpretation to appear in the role of “a prophet on prophecy.” I prefer to let the Lord take care of all these matters—I have never yet presumed to transact His business for Him. Any theory of the sequence of “final things” must be to some extent speculative and hence cannot be made a test of fellowship in a church of the New Testament order. As far as my own views are concerned, I must say that I find no evidence in Scripture to support the notion of a general or world-wide acceptance of the Gospel, by either Gentiles or Jews, in the last days of the present Dispensation. On the contrary, the evidence is explicit that these last days will be characterized by a world-wide spread of wickedness, lawlessness, violence, and especially human preoccupation with secular interests, a condition generally paralleling the state of affairs that prevailed in the days before the Flood (Genesis 6:5-13; Matthew 24:29-44; Luke 17:27-32; Luke 18:8; Luke 21:25-28; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 2 Peter 3:1-7, etc.). Again, I find no evidence in Scripture and certainly little in contemporary world affairs to warrant the notion of a general turning of the Jews to full acceptance of the facts of the Gospel of Christ. I am convinced that proof of the Messiahship of Jesus will have to be far more convincing—probably nothing short of the Lord’s own appearance at Harmageddon—to convince the Jewish nation as a whole, than is offered simply by the Gospel proclamation. In the third place, the doctrine of the first resurrection” accords, in my humble opinion, with the apostolic description of the ultimate translation of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) than with any other theory of “final things” that has as yet been presented by Biblical commentators. That is to say, that as the old Jewish Dispensation terminated with the ascent of the Son to the Father, so the present Christian Dispensation will terminate with the ascent of the Spirit and the Bride. For this is, in fact, the Dispensation of the Holy Spirit.
However, let it be stated emphatically that there are certain matters in connection with the Great Consummation that are not matters of opinion. Among these are (1) the fact that the Lord Jesus is coming again, (2) that His appearing will be both personal and visible (Acts 1:6-11, Luke 21:27); (3) that His Second Coming definitely will be connected with the Last Judgment and the Consummation of all things (Acts 17:30-31; Acts 3:20-21; Php 2:5-11; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, etc.). The first time He came as the suffering Lamb of God to make atonement for the sins of mankind (John 1:36, 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Peter 1:19, Isaiah 53:7, Revelation 13:8, etc.); the second time He will come as the reigning Judge to execute the final destiny of both nations and individuals (Matthew 25:31-46). Then indeed mortality itself will be swallowed up of life—even death itself shall die (2 Corinthians 5:1-5), and the saints will appear in the Judgment clothed in “glory and honor and incorruption” (Romans 2:7), ready to enter upon the inheritance prepared for them from the foundation of the world (Acts 20:32, Colossians 1:12, Hebrews 9:15, 1 Peter 1:4, etc.). Then indeed will Satan and his wicked cohorts, of both angels and men, be segregated in hell for ever (Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:15).