The End is Near!! (right?) Part Two

See Part One

For the last century or so, different overall eschatological perspectives have usually been classified according to their viewpoint regarding the Millennium. The Millennium (from the Latin mille, meaning "a thousand") refers to the 1,000 year reign of Christ and His saints described in Revelation 20:4-6.

Revelation 20:4-6 (NIV)

    I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

            Within the Christian community there are three different views of this time period.  Along with the three, each different view tends to have characteristics that define people who hold to it.  That is in order to believe one of these views; it as a matter of course, helps to define your own personal theology.  With each view we will list some of the characteristics.  It is also important to note that some of the lines that separate each view are smudged.

Pre-millennialism

Pre-millennialists hold that Jesus will return at the beginning or before ("pre-") establishment of His Millennial Kingdom on this earth. This return will be necessary because forces hostile to God will be governing the world, and Christ must conquer them before He can rule. Towards the end of the millennium, evil will again arise, and it will have to be defeated once more before God's cosmic rule is perfected.

 

Characteristics:

·         Believes in a literal interpretation of scripture and prophecy.

·         View is popular among Fundamentalists and Conservative Evangelicals. 

·         Teaches that only Jesus’ literal return can conquer evil.

·         Usually holds to some form of teaching called Dispensationalism.

Post-millennialism

Whereas Pre-millennialists hold that Jesus will return before the millennium, postmillennialists maintain that He will return after ("post-") an earthly kingdom is established. This means, however, that the millennium will be simultaneous with an era of ordinary human history. This viewpoint was first comprehensively articulated by Augustine (354-430 A.D.), who regarded the establishment of the church since about Constantine's time as the rule of Christ with His saints. Postmillennialism has often been the general perspective of Roman Catholic, Reformed, and other socially established churches. Postmillennialism serves as a label for any eschatology that expects religious and social activity to play a large role in establishing God's kingdom. They hold that history and society in general have been and will be brought increasingly under Christ's rule and that the kingdom's advance is closely related to that of certain social and religious forces.

                                                                 

Characteristics:

·         Generally consider prophesy about Jesus' return and the final resurrection symbolic.

·         Belief in man's inherent good and ability of the Church to overcome the evil of the world.

A-millennialism

By adding the prefix "a-" (meaning "not"), a-millennialists express their conviction that no historical period called the millennium does or will exist. In general sense, a-millennialism can refer to everyone who interprets all language about a final, earthly realm of peace in a spiritual manner. A-millennialism tends to be individualistic, concentrating on the heavenly destiny of each person rather than on the future of this earth. During the nineteenth century, however, "a-millennialism" was applied increasingly to a more specific eschatology. Like postmillennialists, these a-millennialists believed that Christ was already reigning with His saints. They argued that He was doing so, however, in heaven with departed Christians, and not through specific movements. Like pre-millennialists, these a-millennialists expected Jesus to return, to conquer His enemies and to rule over a transformed earth. His perfected rule, however, would be established immediately, and not preceded by an interim called the millennium.

Characteristics:

·         Completely spiritualizes prophecy about the millennium  and most end times events.

·         Mostly emphasizes the individual destiny rather than what finally happens to the earth.

A Very Short History Lesson

Until the fourth century, the early church was generally pre-millennial. This perspective, which placed the church in sharp conflict with the Roman Empire, declined rapidly after Constantine made Christianity the Empire's favored religion.

In subsequent centuries radical groups at odds with state-supported religion often held a pre-millennial view.

Those who hold the general expectation that Jesus will return before establishing an earthly millennium are called "historic pre-millennialists."

            Now that we have talked about all the nice little boxes that people fit into, let's get down to it regarding eschatology.  A lot of what we believe about the "last days" comes from our own personal theology.  The way that personal theology should be developed is by determining what "hermeneutic" you think is valid. Then using that hermeneutic, interpret Scripture, using etymology, and then systemize your personal theology.  Let’s add some definitions:

Hermeneutics - The art or science of interpretation.  This science furnishes the principles of interpretation.  The two big ones are literal (Grammatical/Historical), and theological (Allegorical and/or Spiritualization).  These are the two large camps, most everybody else's, are combinations of the two.

Etymology - Explanation of the origin and linguistic changes of a particular word; the derivation of a word; the branch of philology concerned with the origin and history of words.

            So ideally, you use a valid hermeneutic to interpret Scripture and draw your own conclusions.  This is still the best way to do it, but people usually decide what to believe by what makes sense to them, and then go in search of Scripture to validate or back it up.  Not good.

For the purposes of this study we are going to go with the Literal, Plain or Normal hermeneutic.     This is also called the principle of grammatical-historical interpretation, since the meaning of each word is determined by grammatical and historical considerations.  It is also called "normal" since the literal meaning of words is the normal approach to understanding in any language. I was told once that the "Bible says what it means unless it says something else".  That is, it means what it says unless the way in which the words, or the context in which it is used says something different.

Jonah 1:17 (NIV)

But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

            Notice there are no qualifiers around the "great fish", it was literally a great big honkin' fish.  Now compare that to:

Revelation 8:8 (NIV)

The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood,

            Notice the phrase “something like” or "like a" or "as it were", these phrases along with the context of the word ‘mountain’, allow us to determine that John isn't talking about an actual mountain being tossed into the sea, but that particular word was the closest word that John had to describe what he was seeing.

            So the system or the hermeneutic we are going to use to look at the Scriptures concerning the last events of human history will be literal.

            Also the events that we will be talking about follow a definite time line.  That is, in the Scripture, there is a definite order in which the way the last things will unfold.  Another thing that we will discover is, that the last things deal with distinctive and different people and even nations.

Revelation 10:11 (NIV)

 Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

Revelation 6:9-10 (NIV)

  When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.  They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

All quotations from: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

More to come