Simplified Millennial Views
Simplified Millennial Views
Table of Contents
Thesis Statement and Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2
Dispensational Premillennialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3
Historic Premillennialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4
Postmillennialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6
Amillennialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7
Closing Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …show more content…
. . page 9
Thesis Statement:
There are four Millennial views, there as follows, The Dispensational Premillennialism, Historic Premillennalism, Post millennialism, and Historic Premillennialism.
In this paper we will explore each one and then choose which one best lines up with the Biblical view standard, then simplify it so that it is easily understood.
Introduction
When asked, most Christians don’t have a clue about what the Millennium is. It wasn’t until the year 1999 that we stated hearing about the new millennium and we quickly deciphered the meaning to be a thousand years. According to our text book the word millennium comes from the Latin words Mille, which means thousand and Annus, which means year. In the Greek language the word millennium is derived from Chillas, meaning a thousand .When questioned deeper and asked what does the term millennium mean in the book of Revelation chapter 20 and how does that pertain to you. It becomes evident that they have little if any understanding of what you are talking about. In this paper I hope to bring these higher thoughts down to a level that is easily understood by not only us as student but for the common, everyday Christian that hasn’t been to a College or …show more content…
University.
Dispensational Premillennialism In order to understand this first view we can’t assume that anyone understands the words used to title the view it’s self. Let’ break it down. Dispensational is defined as follows, a Protestant evangelical tradition based on a biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants. Simply put, dispensational means we study God’s word to see how God interacts with humans during different times and in different ways depending on the covenant they are under. Next we look at the term Premillennialism. We have already broken down the word millennium and know that it means a thousand. The prefix “Pre” means before and the suffix “Ism” means to follow or adherence to something. If we put it all together we have a thought process that looks at the different periods of the Bible in which God relates differently to humans under different promises before the thousand year rein of Christ on Earth.
Dispensational Premillennialism is the view that is most widely accepted of all four of the millennial views. It has a strict and literal hermeneutic. A hermeneutic is a study of all forms of communications as pertaining to the Bible. Dispensational Premillennialism views the church and Israel as two distinct and different people groups under different convents and with different redemptive plans. Dispensational Premillennialism believes the church will be raptured before the seven years of The Great Tribulation during which the Anti-Christ reins and God removes (Like 1:32) the Holy Spirit from the Earth.(Daniel 9:24-27) This view believes in a literal physical reign that was prophetically foretold by saints in the Old Testament. Christ will then return at the end of the great tribulation to institute a thousand-year rule from a the New Jerusalem. Those believing in Christ during the "seventieth week of Daniel" (Daniel 9:24-27) who survive will go on to populate the earth during this time. Those raptured or raised prior to the tribulation will reign with Christ over the millennial population. This view sees the re-establishment of temple worship and animal sacrifices as a remembrance of Christ's sacrifice.
Historic Premillennialism
Historic Premillennialism looking at this view we find that the definition of Premillennialism is untouched but we change the preceding word from Dispensational to Historic. The change my seem small but in truth is a huge change from future events to past event, or things that have already happened in the history of the church. This view sees the book of Revelation as historical events of the past 2000 years. This Historic view also sees the new Christians and the old Israelites as one and the same. (Romans 9:6-8; James 1:1)This view was very popular during the Reformation period. This Historic mind set has its problems though. Woodrow M. Kroll writes in his book “The Revolution”, “Thus, Revelation is symbolic of the continuing struggles of the church against evil. There were earlier proponents, but Joachim, a Roman Catholic scholar, is greatly responsible for the popularization of this view. According to the historical approach to Revelation, we are today living in the account of the Revelation. It is this view that gives rise to a belief in postmillennialism, as well a many cockeyed identifications of present personalities with those of the Apocalypse.” The rapture is quite a different Idea here, the saints both the living and the dead meet the Lord in the sky on His way to start the Millennial reign. With no pre-tribulation rapture (Revelation 13:7) the church lives through the seven years of the reign of the Anti-Christ(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4) and are persecuted for their faith. This is so that false believers will be rooted out.(Revelations 2:22-23) This view does believe in a literal Kingdom here on Earth which is reined over by Christ for thousand years.
In conclusion The Historic Premillennialism view has a few holes in it and the scripture references that I researched that are supposed to support the view are loose if not wrong completely. Lets take one for example James 1:1, James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. This is the introduction of James letter. This scripture was used to support the idea that the Israelites and Christians are on in the same, clearly he was writing to a Jewish people group but the modern Christian church is under a different covenant.
Postmillennialism
Lets look at our word again. Post-millennial-ism, post meaning after or behind something a order of something, after; Something done after a major event; Post mortem.
Sometime in the early twentieth century, Postmillennialism was more popular in the church. Christians who held this view believed that the World from Christ’s coming was becoming better and better. Postmillennialists take a literal view of Revelaton 20:4-6, they believe that a 1000 year kingdom would be set up as the World lived in greater and greater peace. A man made peace would trigger Christ’s return to set up to reign. Well, World War I, II and a bunch of other minor wars really put a damper on the idea that man could bring on a period of peace that could draw Christ back to Earth to reign for a thousand years. This view believes that through the preaching of the Gospel in all the world, the kingdom of Christ is grown by the expanding of its boarders. During this time the power of the gospel will have a stronger influence over all the young and old more than ever seen in the past;(2 Timothy 3:1-7) because of this the church will grow and will continue for a thousand years. So the kingdom reign is not a literal one but a spiritual growth of the world following Christ. This view takes a historic view of Revelation and believes the church is the fulfillment of Israel. Due to the postmillennial views the rapture is a temporary event that coincides with the second coming both of which occur at the end of the church age.
In conclusion a normal, literal interpretation of Scripture rejects postmillennialism and holds to a normal interpretation of all Scripture, including unfulfilled prophecy.
We have hundreds of examples in Scripture of prophecies being fulfilled. Take, for example, the prophecies concerning Christ in the Old Testament. Those prophecies were fulfilled literally. Consider the virgin birth of Christ (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). Consider His death for our sins (Isaiah 53:4-9; 1 Peter 2:24). These prophecies were fulfilled literally, and that is reason enough to assume that God will continue in the future to literally fulfill His Word. Postmillennialism fails in that it interprets Bible prophecy subjectively and holds that the millennial kingdom will be established by the church, not by Christ
Himself.
Amillennialism
Amillennialism is the name given to the view that there will not be a literal thousand year reign of Christ or a physical kingdom here on Earth. Those who hold to this belief are called amillennialists. The prefix “a-” in amillennialism means “no” or “not.” which means “no millennium.”
However, in fairness to amillennialists, they do not believe that there is no millennium at all. They just do not believe in a literal millennium—a literal thousand year reign of Christ on earth. Instead, they believe that Christ is now sitting on the throne of David and that this present church age is the kingdom over which Christ reigns. There is no doubt that Christ is now sitting on a throne, but this does not mean that it is what the Bible refers to as the throne of David. There is no doubt that Christ now rules, for He is God. Yet this does not mean He is ruling over the millennial kingdom.
In order for God to keep His promises to Israel and His covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:8-16, 23:5; Psalm 89:3-4), there must be a literal, physical kingdom on this earth. To doubt this is to call into question God’s desire or His ability to keep His promises, and this opens up a host of other theological problems. For example, if God would renege on His promises to Israel after proclaiming those promises to be “everlasting,” how could we be sure of anything He promises, including the promises of salvation to believers in the Lord Jesus? Clear biblical indications that the kingdom will be a literal, earthly kingdom are: First, Christ's feet will actually touch the Mount of Olives prior to the establishment of His kingdom (Zechariah 14:4, 9). Second, during the kingdom, the Messiah will execute justice and judgment on the earth (Jeremiah 23:5-8). Third, the kingdom is described as being under heaven (Daniel 7:13-14, 27). Forth, the prophets foretold of dramatic earthly changes during the kingdom (Acts 3:21; Isaiah 35:1-2, 11:6-9, 29:18, 65:20-22; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Amos 9:11-15). Fifth, the chronological order of events in Revelation indicates the existence of an earthly kingdom prior to the conclusion of world history (Revelation 20).
In conclusion, the amillennial view comes from using one method of interpretation for unfulfilled prophecy and another method for non-prophetic Scripture and fulfilled prophecy. Non-prophetic Scripture and fulfilled prophecy are interpreted literally or normally. But, according to the amillennialist, unfulfilled prophecy is to be interpreted spiritually, or non-literally. Those who hold to amillennialism believe that a “spiritual” reading of unfulfilled prophecy is the normal reading of the texts. This is called using a dual hermeneutic. (Hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpretation.) The amillennialist assumes that most, or all, unfulfilled prophecy is written in symbolic, figurative, spiritual language. Therefore, the amillennialist will assign different meanings to those parts of Scripture instead of the normal, contextual meanings of those words.
The problem with interpreting unfulfilled prophecy in this manner is that this allows for a wide range of meanings. Unless you interpret Scripture in the normal sense, there will not be one meaning. God, the ultimate author of all of Scripture, did have one specific meaning in mind when He inspired the human authors to write down His words. Though there may be many life applications in a passage of Scripture, there is only one meaning, and that meaning is what God intended it to mean. The fact that fulfilled prophecy was fulfilled literally is the best reason of all for assuming that unfulfilled prophecy will also be literally fulfilled. The prophecies concerning Christ's first coming were all fulfilled literally. Therefore, prophecies concerning Christ's second coming should also be expected to be fulfilled literally. For these reasons, an allegorical interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy should be rejected and a literal or normal interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy should be adopted. Amillennialism fails in that it uses inconsistent hermeneutics, namely, interpreting unfulfilled prophecy differently from fulfilled prophecy.
Closing Statement
After looking at all four of these views, it seems that the first view Dispensational Premillennialism is the best supported by scripture hermeneutics. I have found it quiet difficult to take in all that I have studied and simplify it to a place that a high school student could understand. To be completely honest I don’t know that I have accomplished my Thesis statement for this research paper, but what I do know is that there is a real reason God tell us to study to show our selves approved (2Tinothy 2:15) its partly because we choose to make it harder than what it needs to be with our misinterpretations of God’s word and His ultimate plan. The other part is that our lack of attention to the mighty things that are hidden only by our lack of zeal to open The Bible and study it.
Table of Contents
Thesis Statement and Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2
Dispensational Premillennialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3
Historic Premillennialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4
Postmillennialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6
Amillennialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7
Closing Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …show more content…
. . page 9
Thesis Statement:
There are four Millennial views, there as follows, The Dispensational Premillennialism, Historic Premillennalism, Post millennialism, and Historic Premillennialism.
In this paper we will explore each one and then choose which one best lines up with the Biblical view standard, then simplify it so that it is easily understood.
Introduction
When asked, most Christians don’t have a clue about what the Millennium is. It wasn’t until the year 1999 that we stated hearing about the new millennium and we quickly deciphered the meaning to be a thousand years. According to our text book the word millennium comes from the Latin words Mille, which means thousand and Annus, which means year. In the Greek language the word millennium is derived from Chillas, meaning a thousand .When questioned deeper and asked what does the term millennium mean in the book of Revelation chapter 20 and how does that pertain to you. It becomes evident that they have little if any understanding of what you are talking about. In this paper I hope to bring these higher thoughts down to a level that is easily understood by not only us as student but for the common, everyday Christian that hasn’t been to a College or …show more content…
University.
Dispensational Premillennialism In order to understand this first view we can’t assume that anyone understands the words used to title the view it’s self. Let’ break it down. Dispensational is defined as follows, a Protestant evangelical tradition based on a biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants. Simply put, dispensational means we study God’s word to see how God interacts with humans during different times and in different ways depending on the covenant they are under. Next we look at the term Premillennialism. We have already broken down the word millennium and know that it means a thousand. The prefix “Pre” means before and the suffix “Ism” means to follow or adherence to something. If we put it all together we have a thought process that looks at the different periods of the Bible in which God relates differently to humans under different promises before the thousand year rein of Christ on Earth.
Dispensational Premillennialism is the view that is most widely accepted of all four of the millennial views. It has a strict and literal hermeneutic. A hermeneutic is a study of all forms of communications as pertaining to the Bible. Dispensational Premillennialism views the church and Israel as two distinct and different people groups under different convents and with different redemptive plans. Dispensational Premillennialism believes the church will be raptured before the seven years of The Great Tribulation during which the Anti-Christ reins and God removes (Like 1:32) the Holy Spirit from the Earth.(Daniel 9:24-27) This view believes in a literal physical reign that was prophetically foretold by saints in the Old Testament. Christ will then return at the end of the great tribulation to institute a thousand-year rule from a the New Jerusalem. Those believing in Christ during the "seventieth week of Daniel" (Daniel 9:24-27) who survive will go on to populate the earth during this time. Those raptured or raised prior to the tribulation will reign with Christ over the millennial population. This view sees the re-establishment of temple worship and animal sacrifices as a remembrance of Christ's sacrifice.
Historic Premillennialism
Historic Premillennialism looking at this view we find that the definition of Premillennialism is untouched but we change the preceding word from Dispensational to Historic. The change my seem small but in truth is a huge change from future events to past event, or things that have already happened in the history of the church. This view sees the book of Revelation as historical events of the past 2000 years. This Historic view also sees the new Christians and the old Israelites as one and the same. (Romans 9:6-8; James 1:1)This view was very popular during the Reformation period. This Historic mind set has its problems though. Woodrow M. Kroll writes in his book “The Revolution”, “Thus, Revelation is symbolic of the continuing struggles of the church against evil. There were earlier proponents, but Joachim, a Roman Catholic scholar, is greatly responsible for the popularization of this view. According to the historical approach to Revelation, we are today living in the account of the Revelation. It is this view that gives rise to a belief in postmillennialism, as well a many cockeyed identifications of present personalities with those of the Apocalypse.” The rapture is quite a different Idea here, the saints both the living and the dead meet the Lord in the sky on His way to start the Millennial reign. With no pre-tribulation rapture (Revelation 13:7) the church lives through the seven years of the reign of the Anti-Christ(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4) and are persecuted for their faith. This is so that false believers will be rooted out.(Revelations 2:22-23) This view does believe in a literal Kingdom here on Earth which is reined over by Christ for thousand years.
In conclusion The Historic Premillennialism view has a few holes in it and the scripture references that I researched that are supposed to support the view are loose if not wrong completely. Lets take one for example James 1:1, James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. This is the introduction of James letter. This scripture was used to support the idea that the Israelites and Christians are on in the same, clearly he was writing to a Jewish people group but the modern Christian church is under a different covenant.
Postmillennialism
Lets look at our word again. Post-millennial-ism, post meaning after or behind something a order of something, after; Something done after a major event; Post mortem.
Sometime in the early twentieth century, Postmillennialism was more popular in the church. Christians who held this view believed that the World from Christ’s coming was becoming better and better. Postmillennialists take a literal view of Revelaton 20:4-6, they believe that a 1000 year kingdom would be set up as the World lived in greater and greater peace. A man made peace would trigger Christ’s return to set up to reign. Well, World War I, II and a bunch of other minor wars really put a damper on the idea that man could bring on a period of peace that could draw Christ back to Earth to reign for a thousand years. This view believes that through the preaching of the Gospel in all the world, the kingdom of Christ is grown by the expanding of its boarders. During this time the power of the gospel will have a stronger influence over all the young and old more than ever seen in the past;(2 Timothy 3:1-7) because of this the church will grow and will continue for a thousand years. So the kingdom reign is not a literal one but a spiritual growth of the world following Christ. This view takes a historic view of Revelation and believes the church is the fulfillment of Israel. Due to the postmillennial views the rapture is a temporary event that coincides with the second coming both of which occur at the end of the church age.
In conclusion a normal, literal interpretation of Scripture rejects postmillennialism and holds to a normal interpretation of all Scripture, including unfulfilled prophecy.
We have hundreds of examples in Scripture of prophecies being fulfilled. Take, for example, the prophecies concerning Christ in the Old Testament. Those prophecies were fulfilled literally. Consider the virgin birth of Christ (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). Consider His death for our sins (Isaiah 53:4-9; 1 Peter 2:24). These prophecies were fulfilled literally, and that is reason enough to assume that God will continue in the future to literally fulfill His Word. Postmillennialism fails in that it interprets Bible prophecy subjectively and holds that the millennial kingdom will be established by the church, not by Christ
Himself.
Amillennialism
Amillennialism is the name given to the view that there will not be a literal thousand year reign of Christ or a physical kingdom here on Earth. Those who hold to this belief are called amillennialists. The prefix “a-” in amillennialism means “no” or “not.” which means “no millennium.”
However, in fairness to amillennialists, they do not believe that there is no millennium at all. They just do not believe in a literal millennium—a literal thousand year reign of Christ on earth. Instead, they believe that Christ is now sitting on the throne of David and that this present church age is the kingdom over which Christ reigns. There is no doubt that Christ is now sitting on a throne, but this does not mean that it is what the Bible refers to as the throne of David. There is no doubt that Christ now rules, for He is God. Yet this does not mean He is ruling over the millennial kingdom.
In order for God to keep His promises to Israel and His covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:8-16, 23:5; Psalm 89:3-4), there must be a literal, physical kingdom on this earth. To doubt this is to call into question God’s desire or His ability to keep His promises, and this opens up a host of other theological problems. For example, if God would renege on His promises to Israel after proclaiming those promises to be “everlasting,” how could we be sure of anything He promises, including the promises of salvation to believers in the Lord Jesus? Clear biblical indications that the kingdom will be a literal, earthly kingdom are: First, Christ's feet will actually touch the Mount of Olives prior to the establishment of His kingdom (Zechariah 14:4, 9). Second, during the kingdom, the Messiah will execute justice and judgment on the earth (Jeremiah 23:5-8). Third, the kingdom is described as being under heaven (Daniel 7:13-14, 27). Forth, the prophets foretold of dramatic earthly changes during the kingdom (Acts 3:21; Isaiah 35:1-2, 11:6-9, 29:18, 65:20-22; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Amos 9:11-15). Fifth, the chronological order of events in Revelation indicates the existence of an earthly kingdom prior to the conclusion of world history (Revelation 20).
In conclusion, the amillennial view comes from using one method of interpretation for unfulfilled prophecy and another method for non-prophetic Scripture and fulfilled prophecy. Non-prophetic Scripture and fulfilled prophecy are interpreted literally or normally. But, according to the amillennialist, unfulfilled prophecy is to be interpreted spiritually, or non-literally. Those who hold to amillennialism believe that a “spiritual” reading of unfulfilled prophecy is the normal reading of the texts. This is called using a dual hermeneutic. (Hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpretation.) The amillennialist assumes that most, or all, unfulfilled prophecy is written in symbolic, figurative, spiritual language. Therefore, the amillennialist will assign different meanings to those parts of Scripture instead of the normal, contextual meanings of those words.
The problem with interpreting unfulfilled prophecy in this manner is that this allows for a wide range of meanings. Unless you interpret Scripture in the normal sense, there will not be one meaning. God, the ultimate author of all of Scripture, did have one specific meaning in mind when He inspired the human authors to write down His words. Though there may be many life applications in a passage of Scripture, there is only one meaning, and that meaning is what God intended it to mean. The fact that fulfilled prophecy was fulfilled literally is the best reason of all for assuming that unfulfilled prophecy will also be literally fulfilled. The prophecies concerning Christ's first coming were all fulfilled literally. Therefore, prophecies concerning Christ's second coming should also be expected to be fulfilled literally. For these reasons, an allegorical interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy should be rejected and a literal or normal interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy should be adopted. Amillennialism fails in that it uses inconsistent hermeneutics, namely, interpreting unfulfilled prophecy differently from fulfilled prophecy.
Closing Statement
After looking at all four of these views, it seems that the first view Dispensational Premillennialism is the best supported by scripture hermeneutics. I have found it quiet difficult to take in all that I have studied and simplify it to a place that a high school student could understand. To be completely honest I don’t know that I have accomplished my Thesis statement for this research paper, but what I do know is that there is a real reason God tell us to study to show our selves approved (2Tinothy 2:15) its partly because we choose to make it harder than what it needs to be with our misinterpretations of God’s word and His ultimate plan. The other part is that our lack of attention to the mighty things that are hidden only by our lack of zeal to open The Bible and study it.