Three Views of the Millennium

Three Views of the Three Views of the MillenniumMillennium

Amillennialism: Belief there will be a continuous parallel of good and evil in the world between the 1st and 2nd Coming of Christ. The Kingdom of God is now present in the world through the Word, His Spirit and His Church.

Adherents: Church of Christ, Church of God (Anderson, IN), many Reformed theologians, Roman Catholic Church


Postmillennialism: Belief the Kingdom of God is now extended through teaching, preaching and evangelism. The world is to be Christianized resulting in a long period of peace and prosperity, followed by Christ’s return

Adherents: Most modern Reformed theologians, "Christian Reconstructionists"


Premillennialism: Belief in the concept of two-stages in the Coming of Christ. He will come for His Church (Rapture) and then with His Church (Revelation). There is a consistent distinction between Israel and the Church throughout history.

Adherents: Most modern evangelicals

Trick Question: How Trick Question: How long is 1,000 years?long is 1,000 years?

Millennium ~ L. mille (1,000) + annus (year)

Thousand years ~ Rev. 20:2-7

chilia etē – 6 xs in 6 verses

Methods of Methods of InterpretationInterpretation

Allegorical

1. Authority becomes the interpreter

2. Denies literal antecedent

3. Gal. 4:21-31 & N. T. types


Grammatico-historical

Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation

1. That the literal meaning of sentences is the normal approach in all languages…

2. That all secondary meaning of documents, parables, types, allegories and symbols, depend for their very existence on the previous literal meaning of the terms…


Grammatico-historical3. That the greater part of the Bible makes adequate sense when interpreted literally…

4. That the literalistic approach does not blindly rule out figures of speech, symbols, allegories and types; but if the nature of the sentence so demands, it readily yields to the second sense.


Grammatico-historical

6. That this method is the only one consonant with the nature of inspiration. The plenary inspiration of the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit guided men into truth and away from error. In this process the Spirit of God used language, and the units of language (as meaning, not sound) are words and thoughts.

5. That this method is the only sane and safe check on the imaginations of man…


Grammatico-historical6. (Cont.) The thought is the thread that strings the words together. Therefore, our very exegesis must commence with a study of words and grammar, the two fundamentals of all meaningful speech.


Grammatico-historicalHoratius Bonar ~ "Literal, if possible"

Distinction Between Distinction Between Israel and ChurchIsrael and Church

L. S. Chafer ~ "Systematic Theology"1. Extent of the Bible (4/5 - Israel, 1/5 - Church)

2. Divine purpose (Israel - earthly promises in the covenants, Church - heavenly promises in the Gospel)


L. S. Chafer ~ "Systematic Theology"

3. Birth (Israel - physical that produces a relationship, Church - spiritual that produces a relationship) 4. Headship (Israel - Abraham, Church - Christ)


L. S. Chafer ~ "Systematic Theology"5. Dispensations (Israel - all ages since Abraham, Church - only in present age) 6. Holy Spirit (Israel - came upon some temporarily, Church - indwells all) 7. Two farewell discourses (Israel - Olivet, Church - upper room)

The Covenants with The Covenants with IsraelIsrael

Two Kinds of Covenants

1. Conditional

2. Unconditional

The Abrahamic CovenantThe Abrahamic Covenant

Genesis 12:1-3Genesis 12:1-3

1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."


Genesis 13:14-17Genesis 13:14-17

14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are--northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you."


Genesis 17:19Genesis 17:19

19 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”


Hebrews 11:13Hebrews 11:13

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.


Acts 26:6-8Acts 26:6-8

6 "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. 7 To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. 8 Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?"

The Covenant of the Land The Covenant of the Land

Ezekiel 16:60Ezekiel 16:60

60 "Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you."

The Davidic Covenant The Davidic Covenant

Jeremiah 33:22-24Jeremiah 33:22-24

22 "As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me." 23 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 "Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, 'The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off'? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.' "

The Davidic CovenantThe Davidic Covenant

Psalm 89:30-37Psalm 89:30-37

30 “If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments,31 If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments,32 Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes.33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.


Psalm 89:30-37Psalm 89:30-37

34 My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.35 Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David:36 His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me;37 It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah


2 Samuel 23:52 Samuel 23:5

5 "Although my house is not so with God, yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire; will He not make it increase?”

The New Covenant The New Covenant


31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will

The New Covenant The New Covenant


put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, `Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

The New CovenantThe New Covenant

Isaiah 61:2Isaiah 61:2

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,



26 "Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore."


Isaiah 59:21Isaiah 59:21

21 "As for Me," says the Lord, "this [is] My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants," says the Lord, "from this time and forevermore."



27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."

Romans 11:26-27Romans 11:26-27

26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

Scripture ReferencesScripture References

Genesis 12:1-3Genesis 13:14-17Genesis 17:19Hebrews 11:13Acts 26:6-8Deut. 30:1-10Ezekiel 16:602 Sam. 7:12-16Jeremiah 33:22-24

Ps. 89:30-372 Samuel 23:5Jeremiah 31:31-34Isaiah 61:2Ezekiel 37:26Isaiah 59:21Ezekiel 36:37Romans 11:26-27

Three Views of the Millennium

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