PDF: Second Foundation: Premillennialism
The second foundation stone supporting the pretribulational rapture of the church is the biblical doctrine known as premillennialism. Premillennialism teaches that the second advent will occur before Christ’s thousand-year reign from Jerusalem upon earth. In the early church, premillennialism was called chiliasm, from the Greek term meaning 1,000 used six times in Revelation 20:2-7. Charles Ryrie cites essential features of premillennialism as follows: “Its duration will be 1,000 years; its location will be on this earth; its government will be theocratic with the personal presence of Christ reigning as King; and it will fulfill all the yet-unfulfilled promises about the earthly kingdom.”1
This view is disagreed with. While, classically, our position is viewed as ‘post-millennial’, it does not fall into the general body of most post-millennialists. The issue here is the Revelation 20:1-6 passage describes nothing of the character and nature of the reign. What is certain, however, is that the Kingdom is not limited to 1,000 years. The difference stems from the thought that premillennialists have is that the Kingdom will not start until then. This is categorically false. Mark 1:15 says it best: The time is fulfilled. There would be no more waiting. Why? Because the Kingdom was here. This must refer to the Daniel 2:35, 45 kingdom, because there can be none other. Further, this is not the START of the kingdom either, nor it’s inauguration, merely it’s proximity. It has been, because David’s throne was the Lord’s throne, according to the book of Chronicles. The emphasis of the “at hand” scriptures is its proximity. Compare Daniel 2:44 to Daniel 4:1. In the first, the Kingdom is “set up”. In the second, the statue is first “made” and then “set up”. So, in Daniel 2:44, we do not see the Kingdom’s formation, but rather it’s establishment upon the Earth. Further demonstrable proof of the Kingdom’s existence is the Lord’s prayer. When we pray that the Kingdom come, on Earth as it is in Heaven, we acknowledge it is in heaven. It is not the prayer that it be started, inaugurated, or anything more, but it admits the already-existing Kingdom and the prayer that that Kingdom would come to here.
As such, we agree with a literal 1,000 year reign for Revelation 20:1-6, but the Kingdom has always been a spiritual Kingdom, John 3:3, 5. We further see that the actual millennium was during the Middle Ages, as Foxxe records no martyrs for this period in his book of Martyrs. The dragon was imprisoned, not all demons. Finally, the over-application of “Kingdom-like” scriptures need not apply to the time period in Revelation 20:1-6. Instead, scriptures such as the reconcilliation of national Israel, the Kingdom to the Nation (Acts 1:6), is seen to, most probably, be fulfilled in the time between Revelation 20:10-11, an approach we prefer to call “extra-millennial”. That period of time, be it 10 or 1,000 or 10,000 years or whatever, is an unspecified time, where, we believe, all of Israel will be saved, as this only happens at the end of Ezekiel 39:29, or after the Gog Magog war there, which we draw parallels to to Revelation 20:7-10.
Premillennialism is contrasted with the postmillennial teaching that Christ will return after He has reigned spiritually from His throne in heaven for a long period of time during the current age, through the church, and the similar amillennial view that also advocates a present, but pessimistic, spiritual reign of Christ. Biblical premillennialism is a necessary foundation for pretribulationalism since it is impossible for either postmillennialism or amillennialism to support pretribulationism.
We see the millennium as already past.
Historical Overview
Without question, premillennialism was the earliest and most widely held view of the earliest centuries of the church. The dean of church historians, Philip Schaff has said, “The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene Age [A.D. 100-325] is the prominent chiliasm, or millenarianism, . . . a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas, Papia, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Methodius, and Lactantius.”2 German historian Adolph Harnack has said, “First in point of time came the faith in the nearness of Christ’s second advent and the establishing of His reign of glory on the earth. Indeed it appears so early that it might be questioned as an essential part of the Christian religion. . . . it must be admitted that this expectation was a prominent feature in the earliest proclamation of the gospel, and materially contributed to its success. If the primitive churches had been under the necessity of framing a ‘Confession of Faith,’ it would certainly have embraced those pictures by means of which the near future was distinctly realized.”3
Premillennialism began to die out in the established Catholic Church during the life of Augustine (A.D. 354-430). Ryrie summarizes this change: “With the union of church and state under Constantine, the hope of Christ’s coming faded some. The Alexandrian school of interpretation attacked the literal hermeneutic on which premillennialism was based, and the influence of the teaching of Augustine reinterpreted the concept and time of the Millennium.”4 Premillennialism has always survived, even when it has not been dominant or widely known. Chiliasm, though suppressed by the dominant Catholic Church, nevertheless survived through “underground” and “fringe” groups of Christians during the 1,000 year mediaeval period. During the Reformation, Anabaptists and Hugenots helped to revive premillennialism, until it was adopted on a wide scale by many Puritans during the Post-Reformation era.
The last 200 years have seen the greatest development and spread of premillennialism since the early church. Starting in the British Isles and spreading to America, consistent premillennialism, known as dispensational premillennialism, has come to dominate the Evangelical faith. This form of premillennialism has given rise to the most rigorous application of the literal hermeneutic which has lead to the championing of pretribulational premillennialism in our own day.
Historical support is worth considering, but it is not scripture.
Biblical Basis for Premillennialism
Even though the strongest support for premillennialism is found in the clear statement of Revelation 20:1-7, where six times Christ’s kingdom is said to last 1,000 years [This is the false. Certain individuals are said to reign with Christ for 1,000 years in this period, but Christ reigns without end. That is, wherever the reign of Christ begins, and we believe it began in the First Century, the end of the reign of Christ will never come, so the 1,000 years applies to those who reign with Christ for that period, not to Christ’s reign himself. The others may, indeed, continue to reign, but the specific 1,000 years are singled out. But, to say that “Christ’s Kingdom” lasts for 1,000 years is false.], the Old Testament and the rest of the New Testament also support a premillennial understanding of God’s plan for history [The issue, for us, is when does it start. Since the Millennium is not the sum total of Christ’s reign, it does not mean that Christ began reigning at the beginning of that time period either. The further support, in our opinion, does not necessitate it]. Jeffrey Townsend has given an excellent summary of the biblical evidence for premillennialism in the following material:
Developed from the Old Testament
“The OT covenants with Abraham and David established unconditional promises of an Israelite kingdom in the ancient land ruled by the ultimate Son of David. The OT prophets, from the earliest to the latest, looked forward to the establishment of this kingdom. Its principle features will include: regathering of the Jews from the nations to the ancient land, mass spiritual regeneration of the Jewish people, restoration of Jerusalem as the principal city and her Temple as the spiritual center of the world, the reign of David’s ultimate Son over the twelve reunited tribes dwelling securely in the land as the pre-eminent nation of the world. Based on OT Scripture, a this-earthly, spiritual-geopolitical fulfillment of these promises is expected.
Some of these are possessed by the church today, since it is the representation of God’s Kingdom on the Earth. Christ is on David’s throne, as we find, and the role of natural Israel we believe will be fulfilled in between Revelation 20:10-11.
Developed from the New Testament
The NT writers do not reinterpret the OT kingdom promises and apply them to the church. [“That the promises of Abraham might come upon us.” Galatians 3:14. Unfortunately, for the writer, this is not 100% true.] Instead the church participates now in the universal, spiritual blessings of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants without negating the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant promises to Israel. Properly understanding each promise seems to be necessary. Certain promises certainly apply to the Jewish nation, such as Ezekiel 39:28-29. Others apply to the church, which is the Jewish root with gentiles grafted in. Proper, division is necessary, and does not seem to be able to be taken across the board. The NT authors affirm rather than deny the ancient kingdom hope of Israel. Matthew, Luke, and Paul all teach a future for national Israel. Specifically, Acts 1 with Acts 3 establishes that the restoration of the kingdom to Israel takes place at the second coming of Jesus Christ. We see the question of Acts 1:6, the kingdom to the nation, does not refer to the setting up of the Kingdom, for the apostles already had the Kingdom, for that is what they preached in Acts 8 and 28. However, the question pertains to when the nation as a whole would receive it, which they did not. Only the 120 received the Kingdom at Pentecost, and then those who believed after them. The nation awaits the restoration of God’s face and the outpouring nationally of the Spirit. Romans 11 confirms that at the time of the second advent, Israel will have all her unconditional covenants fulfilled to her. The connection to the Second Coming here is by interpretation, not by text. First Corinthians 15 speaks of an interim kingdom following Christ’s return but prior to the eternal kingdom of God during which Christ will rule and vanquish all His enemies. This, too, is by interpretation, only stemming from the fact that the interpreter sees that the “Kingdom” must refer to, specifically the 1,000 years, and that Christ is not now in His Kingdom. We have developed the idea that Christ is on His throne now, and in His Kingdom now, to some degree, and that this is established in the First Century. The Millennium we see, then, is but one small sub section of that Kingdom, and the Kingdom continues forever. Psalm 145:13. Finally, Revelation 20 gives the chronology of events and length of Christ’s kingdom on this earth prior to the eternal state.
In sum, the case for premillennialism rests on the fact that the OT promises of an earthly kingdom are not denied or redefined but confirmed by the NT. They issue is that the assigning of them to Revelation 20:1-6 is incorrect, by our understanding. Rather, as we see them, they belong between vv10 & 11. The basis of premillennialism is not the reference to the thousand years in Revelation 20. That is merely a detail, albeit an important one, in the broad pattern of Scripture. The basis of premillennialism is the covenant-keeping nature of our God, affirmed over and over again in the pages of Scripture. God will do what He has said He will do, for His own glory among the nations. And what He has said He will do is fulfill the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants to a regathered, regenerated, restored nation of Israel at the second coming of Jesus Christ, and for a thousand years thereafter, prior to the eternal kingdom of God.”5
Conclusion
Premillennialism is merely the result of interpreting the whole Bible, Genesis to Revelation, in the most natural way — literally. Many of the critics admit that if the literal approach is applied consistently to the whole of Scripture, then premillennialism is the natural result. If the Old Testament promises are ever going to be fulfilled literally for Israel as a nation, then they are yet in the future. This is also supportive of premillennialism. Premillennialism also provides a satisfactory and victorious end to history in time as man through Christ satisfactorily fulfills his creation mandate to rule over the world.
The issue is that it is not the only way to meet the same conditions.
Premillennialism is a necessary biblical prerequisite needed to build the later biblical doctrine of the rapture of the church before the seven-year tribulation.
As we see the Great Tribulation of Matthew 24 as historical, due to the interpretational concerns of the Olivet we discuss elsewhere, we see this doctrine as a non-issue.
Endnotes
1 Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide To Understanding Biblical Truth (Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1986), p. 450.
2 Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York: Scribner, 1884),, Vol. 2, p. 614.
3 Adolph Harnack, “Millennium,” The Encyclopedia Britannica, Ninth Edition (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1883), XVI, pp. 314-15. Cited in Renald E. Showers, There Really Is A Difference! A Comparison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology (Bellmawr, N.J.: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., 1990), p. 117.
4 Ryrie, Basic Theology, p. 452.
5 Jeffrey L. Townsend, “Premillennialism Summarized: Conclusion” in Edited by Donald K. Campbell & Jeffrey L. Townsend, A Case For Premillennialism: A New Consensus (Chicago: Moody Press, 1992), pp. 270-71.