Eschatology and “Millennialisms”

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This fall I’ve been preaching through 1 & 2 Thessalonians on Sunday mornings with a series called IMAGINE.  These are great books that help us imagine what could be and what should be and what ultimately will be.  1 & 2 Thessalonians are often referred to as Paul’s eschatological (the study of last things) letters because they teach a great deal about Jesus’ return.  Every chapter in 1 Thessalonians ends with a reference to the return of Christ.  These two wonderful letters teach us a great deal about eschatological topics such as the resurrection, the rapture, the day of the Lord, and the man of lawlessness.  Now, studying eschatology can be a challenging endeavor…but the Bible admonishes us to do so and in fact says that there is special blessing in it (Revelation 1:3). 

For those interested in better understanding the various “millennial” views among Christians today…check out this video from the Desiring God website.  John Piper hosts “An Evening of Eschatology,” in which he sits down with a premillennialist, a postmillennialist, and an amillennialist to discuss the Millennium (Piper himself is a premillennialist – you can read Piper’s take on the event and his position here).  Christians are in agreement about the fact that Jesus will return.  However…there is disagreement about how He will return.  It’s an interesting discussion and perhaps in watching it, it will fuel your desire to better understand the doctrine of eschatology as well as help you better understand your own understanding of the things to come.  (Be aware however that these various views are generally arrived at using substantially different interpretive methodologies, and therefore, the underlying interpretive frameworks need to also be evaluated…which is beyond the scope of the video).

Below are graphical representations and descriptions of the major millennial views.

Although Premillennialism is represented in the video, there are actually two major “flavors” of Premillennialism.  The first is Dispensational Premillennialism, a view that sees Christ returning before (pre-) the Millennium and before the 7 year Tribulation period to come upon the earth prior to the Millennial Kingdom.  The Tribulation in this view is understood to be a time in which God pours out His wrath on a Christ rejecting world.  This is the view of most conservative evangelicals today.  It understands the Millennium as a yet future period of a literal 1000 year reign of Christ on earth.

The second major “flavor” of Premillennialism is Historic Premillennialism, a view that also sees Christ returning before (pre-) the Millennium, but in contrast to Dispensational Premillennialism sees the Rapture and the Second Coming occuring at the same time (after the Tribulation).  Therefore, according to this view, the Church will be on earth during the Tribulation.  This view also often understands the Tribulation a little bit differently than the Dispensational view above, in that it sees much of the Tribulation being characterized by the wrath of man, and therefore, the wrath of God is concentrated to a short but intense period of time right before the Second Coming.  Historic Premillennialism (or Post-tribulationism in another sense) is a view that is gaining popularity today.  Adherents see this view as the view of the early church.  This is the view of men such as John Piper, Wayne Grudem, and Millard Erickson. 

Amillennialism is a view that sees no future (a-) Millennium…rather the Millennium is descriptive of the current church age.  This is the view of Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Lutherans today.  It was also held by Augustine, Calvin, and Luther.

Postmillennialism is the view that Christ will return after (post-) the Millennium.  This view sees the Gospel transforming society into a blessed, though not perfect, state…the world will be Christianized in this view and then Christ will return.  This was a very popular view in the 1700 and 1800’s during the Great Missionary Movement, and although some reformed churches hold this view today, there remain few modern adherents.

For Further Study:
The Meaning Of The Millennium: Four Views, edited by Robert G. Clouse
The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational?, by Archer, Feinberg, Moo, and Reiter