Millennial Views Pt 1: Premillennialism

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.  And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. - Revelation 20:1-3

Now we are starting to get into the weightier aspects of eschatology (a study of the end) and one that has been highly debated among theologians and Christians for many years.  What all Christians agree on (or should agree on) is that there will be a visible, literal, bodily return of the Lord Jesus at the end of the age (Acts 1:11).  This much is not up for debate.  What is up for debate is the timing of that return, or perhaps we could also say, the order in which the events revolving around that return take place.  This conversation is directly related to the millennial reign of Christ which is described in Revelation 20 so what I will do is address the timing and events of the Lord’s return as it relates to the varying millennial views.  There are three theological views of the millennial reign of Christ from the verses listed above: premillennialism, amillennialism, and post-millennialism.  I will give each of these views their own article, starting today with premillennialism. 

What is Premillennialism?

The term premillennialism means that the return of Christ will happen before (pre) the millennial reign discussed in Revelation 20.  In premillennialism, the thousand-year reign of Christ is taken to be a literal thousand years and not just a phrase used to describe a long period of time.  In this view, Christ returns, ending the Church Age, He defeats His enemies, and then raises the dead in Christ by united their souls with their glorified bodies.  Those who are alive at the point of return are transformed into a glorified body capable of eternity in Christ’s presence (1 Cor. 15:51-53).  At this point, Satan is bound in the bottomless pit, and Christ reigns on the earth for one thousand years.  Some premillennialists believe the new heavens and new earth are brought forth at this point, while others believe it happens after the thousand-year reign and the ensuing judgment.  Either view is biblically acceptable.

In this view, there will be unbelievers who survive the tribulation and come to a saving knowledge of Christ.  So, we will have believers in eternal bodies living alongside unbelievers in mortal bodies.  After the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from the pit and allowed to deceive the nations once more.  At this time, there will be people who have professed Christ outwardly but who inwardly were rebellious.  These will join Satan in the final rebellion, be fully defeated, and finally and eternally cast into the lake of fire.  At this point the eternal state begins.

Subdivisions of Premillennialism

There are three subdivisions of this millennial view, which we know as pre-tribulation rapture, mid-tribulation rapture, and post-tribulation rapture.  Here we need to backtrack for a moment.  The rapture is the term used for Christ’s removal of the Church before the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth. It comes from the Greek word harpozo, meaning, “snatched up.”  Regardless of one’s view on the timing of the removal, the Church is spared the wrath of God. 

In the pre-tribulation view, the Church is not only spared the wrath of God but is spared the tribulation period where the Antichrist is revealed, and the world suffers under his reign.  The biblical basis for this view comes from Revelation 3:10, although critics of this view will claim this is taken out of context.  The Great Tribulation is seen as a literal seven-year period of time characterized by unparalleled suffering on the earth where Christians are persecuted unto death, and no one is able to buy, sell, or trade without taking the mark of the beast so much as (Rev. 13:17).  I will address that in a later article.  This theological term for this view is called Dispensational Premillennialism and is held by reformed pastor and theologian John MacArthur.  Now, you may have noticed that this view states that the Church will be removed, yet there will be persecution of Christians.  How is this possible?  The explanation is that it is during this time that people from national Israel repent and believe in addition to some former non-Israelite unbelievers repenting and believing as a result of having been evangelized by the now-missing Christians and newly converted Jews.  It is these who will suffer persecution, with many of them having to lay down their lives for the sake of Christ.

In the mid-tribulation view, The Church is not taken away until the halfway point in the seven-year tribulation.  In this view, the Great Tribulation is broken into two parts, three and a half years of the Antichrist’s reign and three and a half years of God’s wrath being poured out on the earth. The Church, then, sees the revelation of the Antichrist and suffers under his reign but is removed prior to God’s wrath.  During her time of earth, the Church, recognizing the Antichrist for who he is, begins a major evangelism campaign, leading many to Christ and gathering the fullness of God’s elect before the ends comes.  This view also acknowledges the Church will suffer, since God does not spare His people from suffering.  At the conclusion of the seven-year tribulation, Christ returns, judges the earth, and the millennial reign begins as stated above. 

The post-tribulation view mirrors the previous two views with the exception that the Church suffers through the entirety of the Great Tribulation under the reign of the Antichrist and is persecuted by him unto death.  She is only spared the destruction of the earth as a result of the wrath of God, which does not take a full three and a half years, but happens fairly rapidly.  After this, Christ reigns for a thousand years.

The timing of the tribulation and its biblical origins is a topic that I would like to discuss, but that is too much to include here.  For this reason, I do intend to do an article on that subject once I’ve addressed the three millennial views. 

Arguments Against Premillennialism

All of these views culminate with Christ reigning for one thousand years, but like all millennial views, it is not without its flaws.  I will now present two common critiques of premillennialism and responses to them. For a deeper look into these as well as other critiques, I suggest Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

1. Glorified Believers and Sinners Dwelling Together

Simply put, people who have not been transformed into a glorified state will continue to die and will still procreate, all while living amongst glorified, eternal believers under the reign of Christ. This seems hard to accept.  Admittedly, at first blush it is. However, we should remember that after Christ was resurrected, He lived among sinful humanity in a glorified body and was uncorrupted for forty days, as did many saints who had died before this time and were raised (Matthew 27:52). With this in mind, the idea of glorified believers living among mortal people, interacting with them (John 21), eating with them (Luke 24:41-43), and even having friendships with them is not without biblical precedent. 

2. Sin During Christ’s Reign

Having seen what they have seen, it seems unlikely that people will persist in sin against Jesus and rebel against Him alongside Satan.  How could a secret rebellion happen when Christ rules in glory?  We need to bear a few things in mind.  First, in this view, we are not in the eternal state yet, so sin has not been fully destroyed.  Sin is a very powerful thing; more so than I think we give it credit for.  Which is tied to the second thing we need to keep in mind, Judas watched Jesus raise the dead, heal the sick, and feed thousands with a few loaves of bread and fish…and he still betrayed Him.  So did Peter for that matter.  Moreover, Satan and a host of angels rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven.  They beheld His glory in the purest sense and still sinned against Him in rebellion.  The human desire to be God or to get from God what we want runs deep, so until the eternal state where sin has been completely destroyed and all the unrepentant finally judged, rebellion against God is always a possibility. 

Summary

Of the three views regarding the millennial reign of Christ, the pre-millennial view is the most literal.  There is virtually no imagery or allegory in its interpretation. Such an interpretation raises questions to be sure, but those questions can be answered fairly easily.  Next week, I will address the amillennial view, which, unlike premillennialism, does not see the thousand-year reign in Revelation 20 as being literal but rather as figurative language.

Soli Deo Gloria