When studying biblical eschatology it is important to realize that there are other systems out there. And to compare those systems to your own. In this blog I will briefly summarize the key features of premillennialism.
1. The New Testament era church is the initial phase of Christ’s kingdom, which the Old Testament anticipates especially in its prophetic books.1
2. The New Testament church may win occasional victories in history, but ultimately she will fail in her mission, lose influence, and become corrupted as worldwide evil increases toward the end of the current era, the Church Age.
3. The church will pass through a future, worldwide, unprecedented time of travail. During this period a personal Antichrist will arise, possessing great religious and political power. This era is known as the great tribulation, which will punctuate the end of contemporary history. Historic premillennialists differ significantly from dispensationalists in that their system is post-tribulational.
4. Christ will return at the end of the tribulation to rapture the church, resurrect deceased saints, and conduct the judgment of the righteous in the “twinkling of an eye.”
5. Christ then will descend to the earth with his glorified saints, fight the battle of Armageddon, bind Satan, and establish a worldwide, political kingdom, which Christ will personally administer for 1,000 years from Jerusalem. (Historic premillennialists often do not demand the Revelation’s 1000 years be a literal time frame.)
6. At the end of the millennial reign, Satan will be loosed and will cause a massive rebellion against the millennial kingdom and a fierce assault against Christ and his saints.
7. God will intervene with fiery judgment to rescue Christ and the saints. The resurrection and the judgment of the wicked will occur and the eternal order will begin. The eternal order may be either a recreated material new heavens and new earth, or it may be simply a heavenly environment.
I recently read a history of King Alfred the Great. All of England was lost to the Norsemen and Danes except for a small swamp where the king languished, trying to figure out how to take his kingdom back. If anyone would have a right to be premillenial, it was King Alfred. But he doesn’t seem to think that way. When in the swamp, the first thing he built was a church. He had priests with him everywhere he and his army went. He planted churches as he marched out of the swamp and across west England. He even converted Danish King Gunthrum to Christianity, and many other Danes. Through these hellish times, King Alfred marched forward with God, and his vision of a Christian English country came true through his children. That doesn’t sound like a man who, during one of the most doomed times in history, thought this “doom” was part of God’s plan and that there was nothing he could do about it. He seems to believe God’s plan was to win in the end.
I would like you to give your opinion about David Chilton’s position (in his book Days of Vengeance) regarding the correct translation of the Greek text in Mathew 24:30. Do you agree with Chilton?
I think Chilton is right. I searched the Greek text in Nestle-Aland. But though I can read Greek, I am not an expert in Greek grammar yet. So your opinion about it can help me a lot.
I am from Brazil and like your writings very much. I post some of your articles on my site. Anxiously awaiting your answer.
Thank you for your good work!
May God bless you.
Yes, I believe his exegesis is correct. If we are talking about “the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.” The sign is the destruction of Jerusalem. It signifies that the Son of Man (who was put to death and buried in a grave in Jerusalem) is no longer in that grave but is in heaven ruling and reigning.
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Are Premills and Amills generally futurist in interpreting the Olivet discourse and most of Revelation?
Generally premills and amills are futurist regarding these texts. But not always. For instance, Jay Adams is a well-known advocate of amillennial preterism (Adams, The Time Is at Hand). And even some premillennialists mix futurism and preterism saying that these texts have a double-fulfillment (e.g., C. Marvin Pate, Doomsday Delusions).
Just glancing through material from my inbox again, my eye caught the photograph of the lion and lamb lying together used to illustrate the article. These photos/paintings, of which there are several variations around, are of course rooted in absolute nonsense. So many people teach, and singers sing (remember Peace in the Valley which Elvis Presley sang so beautifully?) that the Lion will lay with the Lamb. This is not in the Bible. But so songs continue to form people’s theology.
Isaiah 11 describes a wolf living/ dwelling with the lamb,and the lion eating straw or hay like an ox, but nowhere is the lion lying down with the lamb. I can only guess that there may once have been an attempt to illustrate the two sides of Messiah, the Lion from the tribe of Judah and the Lamb of God which became twisted to serve this popular error from the pulpits.
So you are an Elvis fan, too! Glad to hear it! We need more postmillennial Elvis fans.
Regarding the wolf and lamb: The sad reality is that in the dispensational view, the wolf and the lamb will dwell together happily. But then a priest will come along and pet the lion on the head and pick up the lamb, slit his throat and haul him to the altar.