TO CONSIDER:
Premillennialism is divided into two schools that should not be confused: *Historical *Dispensationalist Both have great differences in their way of seeing the church in relation to Israel.
Premillennialism (or Premillennialism, known historically as Chiliasm and more properly as Millennialism), is an eschatological teaching that says that before the end of this age, Jesus will reign on earth in a special period called the Millennium. This model of interpretation has its marked aspects and variations, so we must mainly distinguish Historical Premillennialism from Dispensational Premillennialism.
1. The Church of the New Testament era is the initial phase of the kingdom of Christ as prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. 2. The Church will ultimately not succeed in its mission to disciple all nations as evil grows worldwide toward the end of the ecclesiastical age. 3. The Church will go through the Great Tribulation, a time of unprecedented global testing that will mark the close of contemporary history. 4. Christ will return at the end of the Tribulation to rapture the Church, to resurrect the deceased saints and to judge the righteous in “the twinkling of an eye.” 5. Christ will then descend to earth with His glorified saints, fight the battle of Armageddon, bind Satan, and establish a worldwide political kingdom that will be personally administered by Him for 1,000 years from Jerusalem. 6. At the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:3-8), Satan will be loosed and a massive rebellion against Christ, against His kingdom, and against His saints will materialize. 7. God intervenes with critical judgment to deliver Christ and His saints. The resurrection and judgment of the wicked takes place and begins the eternal state. Historical Premillennialism is distinctively non-dispensational. This means that he sees no radical theological distinction between Israel and the Church. It is often outlined as posttribulational, meaning that the rapture of the church will occur after a tribulation period. This position teaches that the Church will be caught up to receive Jesus in the air and immediately escort him to earth, in order to establish his literal thousand-year rule.
1. There are certain passages that are difficult to interpret from the premillennial perspective, such as Isaiah 11:6 “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and the lion and the tame beast will walk together, and a child will shepherd them” (cp. Isaiah 65:25). Now, analyzing the context and paying attention to the details of the narrative, it seems that the author exchanges aspects of an earthly kingdom with an eternal state, and it is obviously not consistent to understand that these details will be distinctive in both economies. 2. The restoration of the temple and the sacrificial system. Classical Dispensationalism teaches (based on a literal interpretation of the temple described in Ezekiel 40–46, in Dan. 9:27; 12:11; 2 Thes. 2:4 and Rev. 11:1-2) that in the millennial kingdom In the future, sacrifices will be reinstated in the manner of the Old Testament. A powerful refutation and criticism of this view is the point that Christ is the slain Lamb who already gave His life and shed His blood in sacrifice for His Church, and in His capacity as mediator and catalytic agent of the New Covenant, no longer It is not necessary to offer oblations or sacrifices of animals that only constituted a shadow of the perfect sacrifice that was to come: having consummated everything, it makes the Old Man obsolete.
1. The phrase “this is the first resurrection” in Revelation 20:5 implies that there will be another resurrection, thus separating a resurrection of believers with a general resurrection to condemnation (cf. Rev. 20:11-15). 2. The question asked of Jesus: “Lord, will you restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?” (Acts 1:6-7). He could have denied them, or at least made it clear that there will be no such thing as a particular kingdom destined for an ethnic Israel. However, he only limited himself to informing them that it was not their concern. 3. Jesus' forceful and explicit statement in Matthew 19:28: “You who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” 4. Revelation 5:10 states: “And you have made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on the earth” (cp. 1:6; 19:15; 12:5; 2:27). Regarding the literality of the phrase “a thousand years”, repeated 6 times in Revelation 20:2-6, it is important to understand that within the book we have concrete elements; the book is not symbolic but symbiotic to. Very few question the no. 7 in Revelation as non-literal. b. Very few question that the sealed 144K is not a literal number (Rev. 7:14). c. Few argue that the 12 pearl gates in the New Jerusalem are not literal (Rev. 21:21). d. No one claims that the 4 living creatures or the 4 angels are not 4 specific creatures (Rev. 7:2, 11; 9:14; 14:3). If this is the case, why think of these “thousand years” as something non-literal?
The proliferation of mass media and the accessibility and availability of resources, blogs, forums and Bible study tools give us opportunities never seen before. We must take advantage of these resources. This makes it easier to appreciate a certain degree of theological “fusion”, where the original or traditional theological positions that used to be defended tooth and nail no longer gain strength or are perpetuated, but rather with a cautious approach to the text (without doubt also influenced by the guidance of the Holy Spirit), the serious and humble student gives the benefit of the doubt. In that sense, there are increasingly few who make a strong apology for one of the original or classic theological positions as they were originally presented. This does not detract from these teaching models, nor from the convictions that emerge from them. Rather, it is a call for us to delve deeper into the Word in order to humbly arrive at increasingly more biblical and solid convictions.
1. The ecclesiastical era is a totally different era and not anticipated in God's plan. In all its scope, it was unknown and unexpected by the prophets of the OT. It is understood as a “parenthesis”. 2. God has a separate program and a distinct plan for ethnic Israel that is distinct from that of the Church. 3. Christ will secretly return from heaven to rapture the saints who are still living (1st phase of his Second Coming) and resurrect the bodies of the deceased saints (1st Resurrection). These will be taken out of the world before the Great Tribulation. The judgment of the saints will take place in heaven during the 7-year Tribulation period before Christ's bodily return to earth. 4. At the close of the 7 years of the Great Tribulation, Christ will visibly descend with His saints to earth (2nd phase of His Second Coming), in order to establish and personally administer a Jewish political kingdom based in Jerusalem for 1,000 years. During this time, Satan will be bound and the temple and sacrificial system will be reestablished in Jerusalem as a memorial. It is at this time when God fulfills the promises he made to the Jews. 5. Towards the end of the Millennial Kingdom, Satan will be unleashed to once again go out to deceive the nations. 6. Christ will call down fire from heaven to destroy His enemies. The resurrection (Second Death) then occurs, giving way to the judgment of the Great White Throne for the wicked, beginning the eternal state. 7. Dispensationalists understand that Jews and the church belong to two different peoples of God.
1. Most dispensationalists believe in a secret rapture before the Great Tribulation. This is known as pretribulationism. Others believe that the rapture will happen 3 and a half years after the start of the Great Tribulation, which is called midtribulationism. Still others believe in the posttribulationism presented in historical Premillennialism. 2. There are premillennialists who believe that God only has one people (the wild olive tree in Romans 11).
The first record of Dispensationalism in the United States is 1864-65, when J. N. Darby twice visited the country. Through these visits the Presbyterian Church located on the corner of 16th Street and Walnut Avenue in the city of St. Louis (then pastored by Dr. James H. Brooks) became the main center of Dispensationalism in America. How could this be?! This is like trying to mix oil with water! A Presbyterian Church promoting Dispensationalism? Dr. Brooks became Darby's most prominent supporter and has been called the father of Dispensationalism in the United States.
It is an eschatological current, generally framed within classical premillennialism, that teaches that the rapture of the church will occur at the end, or near the end of the great tribulation This position believes that the coming of JESUS CHRIST is at the end of THE MILLENNIUM, it has influences in different periods of its history: Ancient or historical Postmilleanism (By Athanasius 296-372 AD. And Augustine 354-430 AD. Prominent writers of that time) , in the time of the reform and the modern. This position considers that the majority of the world's population will gradually convert to CHRIST and among them the Jewish people. They consider the Blessing of God in the covenant with Abraham that all nations and families of the earth will be blessed.
(Genesis 12:2,3) firm promises that Postmilleanism takes to be heirs of Abraham and thus be able to reach the world through the gospel. Postmillennialism awaits CHRIST after THE MILLENNIUM. Postmillennialism believes that it will see the triumph of the spread of the gospel gradually throughout the world and thus usher in a golden age where the justice and peace prophesied for the millennial kingdom will be fulfilled. POINTS IN FAVOR: Recognize that there is a Millennium, that JESUS comes for the second time, that the Israeli people will convert to Christ as the word of God indicates. POINTS AGAINST: Although it recognizes that the gospel is how we can gradually reach and bless all nations and families of the world, as it brings peace, faith, justice and prosperity. By generalizing everything and focusing everything on the church as a WHOLE, they do not have a defined point which are the promises and functions for the church and Israel in the evangelistic aspect, it confuses the Church with Israel and the time that each one has in the plan of God to bring his blessed word, they ignore the functions of the 2 witnesses and the 144,000 in the world evangelistic area that they will have in the 70th week. (Isaiah 66:18-20 and Revelation 11:1-10). This position is also very influenced by preterism, because they consider that most of the prophetic events have had their fulfillment in the past, which makes it very similar or similar to Amillennialism regarding the return of JESUS for the second time until the end of a period, the difference that Postmillennialism calls this period before its coming for the second time THE MILLENNIUM and Amillennialism does not call it and consider it that way.
INTRODUCTION TO AMILLENNIALISM
It is that eschatological position that, in a general way, teaches that the Millennium spoken of in Revelation 20:1-10 refers to the present time of the church, where Christ is reigning on a heavenly throne, and that will culminate with His Second Coming and the related events (resurrection of the dead, final judgment, new earth). The order and nature of events, according to amillennialism, is as follows:
1. Current government of the Messiah in a spiritual reign. 2-The Second Coming of Christ. 3-In conjunction with His coming there will be a general resurrection, and all Christians will receive the Lord in the air. 4-The enemies of Christ will be defeated, and the final judgment will be celebrated. 5-Finally, the current world will be destroyed by fire, and the righteous will live in the new heaven and the new earth for all eternity. On other issues relating to the nature of the tribulation, the antichrist, and a salvation of Jews in the context of the New Covenant, there is a diversity of opinions within the same amillennial school. On other issues concerning the nature of the tribulation, the antichrist, and a salvation of Jews in the context of the New Covenant, there is a diversity of opinions within the same amillennial school.
1- Christ is the true Israel of God, of which the ethnic Israel of the Old Covenant was a type or shadow. As the Church is united to Christ, the Church is also considered the Israel of God. This church is the only people of God in the New Covenant, and is composed only of believers in Christ, both from among the Jews and among the Gentiles (Rom. 2:26-29; Rom. 4:9-12 ; Rom. 11:17-24; Gal. 3:14-16, 22, 23-29; Eph 2:11-22). 2- The Second Coming of Christ will be a single event, together with the rapture of the church. This is what is known in eschatology as “posttribulationism” (Mt. 24:3-44; 2 Thes. 2:1-3). 3- The Manifestation of the Kingdom of God, promised in the Old Covenant, finds its definitive fulfillment in the person of Christ. This would have two fundamental stages: Sowing, in his First Coming, and Harvest, in his Second Coming (Mt. 13:24-30, 36-43; Mt. 13:47-50). 4- The authors of the New Testament interpreted many Old Testament prophecies about the last days as fully fulfilled in Christ and/or the Church; either in the First Coming, in the Second, or in both comings presented as a single event (cp. Am. 9:11-12 with Acts 15:14-18; Is. 65:17; 66:22 with Rev. 21:1). 5- The division of human history into two stages, this present age and the age to come, as taught by Christ and Paul, is more consistent with the amillennial scheme (Mt. 12:32, Mr. 10 :29-30, Luke 20:34-36). When does this present age end and when does the coming age begin? In the Second Coming of Christ (Mt. 13:24-30, 37-43; Tit. 2:11-13). 6- The division of human history into three stages, taught in 2 Peter 3:3-13, is also more consistent with this amillennial scheme. Peter says that the world today will be destroyed by fire on the day of God's Judgment (2 Pet. 3:7). When will God's judgment occur? When Jesus Christ returns (2 Pet. 3:8-10). At that time there will be no opportunity for salvation (v.9). With the Second Coming the New Earth will be established. 7- Christ's teaching regarding the final judgment in Matthew 25:31-46 excludes any intermediate earthly kingdom between the second coming and the eternal state.
The book of Revelation can be explained as a set of visions that, although they occur one after the other, represent a progressive parallelism that runs through the entire new dispensation from the first coming of Christ until his return in glory. (See for example Rev. 11:15-19 with Rev. 12:1-5). There are some details from the same passage of Revelation 20:1-10 that can help us defend the postulate that it refers to this evangelical era: The thousand years. This same passage, like the rest of the book of Revelation, is full of symbols. (Ex.: the key to the abyss, the great chain, the dragon, the snake). And in the Bible the term “thousand” is often used symbolically. (See Deut 1:11; 7:9; Jos. 9:3; 1 Chr. 16:15; Job 9:3; Ps. 50:10; Song 4:4; Is. 60:22). So the thousand years of Revelation 20 may be indicating a long but definite period of time. The bondage of Satan. As part of the symbology of the passage, the question we must ask ourselves is, in what sense has Satan been bound in this evangelical era? Antonio Hoekema responds: “…the binding of Satan during the present age of the gospel means that, first, he cannot prevent the spread of the gospel and, second, that Satan cannot gather the enemies of Christ to attack Christ.” church"*. This is not the only New Testament passage where this restriction of Satan's power is mentioned (cf. Mt 12:28-29 and Heb. 2:14-15). Thrones and souls: The word “thrones” in Revelation is always used to refer to thrones in heaven or in the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven, except when it refers to the throne of the beast. And we also have the word “souls,” which is used in Revelation 6:9-11 to refer to believers who have died (especially martyrs) and who are awaiting the day of resurrection. It should not be strange, then, if in this passage we give the same use to these terms. So here it seems that we are talking about a symbolic millennial kingdom of those who have died in Christ, mainly the martyrs, during the current Evangelical Era. These souls came back to life, in the sense that by leaving a world that was antagonistic to them and even killed them, they moved on to a better life, since at that moment they began to reign with Christ, unlike those who die. without Christ. The first resurrection that Revelation 20:5 speaks of is then the state of superior life that all believers begin to enjoy in soul, at the moment of death. These will not suffer the second death. Unlike the first death, in which everyone participates, whether believers or unbelievers, the second death is the condemnation that unbelievers must receive for eternity. The final confrontation. In Revelation 20:7-10 we see that this present age will conclude with the unleashing of Satan, that is, with a final effort on his part to destroy God's people. But his purposes will be frustrated with divine intervention, destroying his enemies with flame of fire. When will this divine intervention with fire occur to destroy the enemies of God's people? When Christ returns, according to 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 and 2 Thessalonians 2:8. The amillennial eschatological scheme will help us better focus on the fundamental issue of prophecies. This issue is not the nation of Israel, nor the millennial kingdom: it is the person of Jesus Christ (Rev. 19:9-10). Jesus is the husband of the Church, but at the moment of his return that union will be consummated. There will be nothing that will overshadow that glorious wedding that we will celebrate when He comes to be with His people forever. There are definitely men of God, whom I respect and love in the Lord, and from whom I have much to learn, who would explain these things in a different way than I have done. But I am sure that they will be able to join with me and express the following truth: “That no matter how much evil advances in this world, nor the hostility against the church, in the end the Lamb will conquer, and we will conquer with Him.”< br>
Let us remember that Amillennialism is that eschatological position that, in a general way, teaches that the Millennium spoken of in Revelation 20:1-10 refers to the present time of the church, where Christ is reigning on a heavenly throne, and that will culminate with His Second Coming and related events (resurrection of the dead, final judgment, new earth). Instead, premillennialism teaches a future post-Second Coming millennial kingdom. The purpose of this article, then, is to present how Millennialism has been accepted throughout church history. To make this historical account as simple as possible, we will divide the history of Millennialism into three parts: 1-The Early Church; 2-The Protestant Reformation; and 3-The Period After the Reform. Although the terms Amillennialism, Postmillennialism and Premillennialism are not of such ancient use, and what they have taught has undergone its own modifications over time, for the purposes of simplifying the article we will use these terms in historical explanations.
We understand that there were two predominant currents in the church of the 2nd, 3rd and part of the 4th centuries. One accepted the existence of a future literal millennium, (a type of early premillennialism) and another did not recognize this teaching (associated with an early type of Amillennialism). The pretribulation rapture teaching appears to have originated in the 18th century, and became part of the 19th century dispensational version of premillennialism. Amillennialists have always recognized the antiquity of a certain form of Historical Premillennialism (Papias, Justin, Tertullian, Irenaeus, etc.). But it is not true that Amillennialism was almost non-existent until the time of Constantine or Augustine, as is sometimes claimed. Some of the Church fathers who are most associated with this early form of Amillennialism are the following: Clement of Alexandria (150-215), Origen, (182-254), Hippolytus (170-236), Cyprian (?- 258), Dionysius, (?-264), Caius (early 3rd century), Athanasius (296-373), Ambrose (337-397), Cyril (313-386), Tyconius (330-390), etc. . Justin Martyr himself, who held a very early form of historical premillennialism, in his “Dialogue with Typhon,” wrote the following around 160 AD: “Before, then, I have confessed to you that I and many others feel this way, and we believe that this is how it will happen (a future millennial kingdom), as you certainly know; but, on the other hand, I have also indicated to you that there are many Christians of pure and pious faith, who think otherwise...I, for my part, and yes there are some other Christians of right feeling in everything, not only do we admit the future resurrection of the flesh, but also a thousand years in Jerusalem, rebuilt, beautified and expanded…”[1]. Justin recognizes that “many” did not have that belief in a future millennium, and that there were “some other Christians” who did believe in said millennium. Beginning with Constantine in the 4th century, the eschatological expectations of the church departed greatly from the Premillennialism of some of the church fathers of previous centuries, but the optimistic and triumphalist approach led to a kind of early Postmillennialism, to the Christianity became the main religion of the Roman Empire. However, with Saint Augustine (354-430), Amillennialism prevailed again from the 5th century, some calling him “the father of Amillennialism.” However, the Amillennialist concept of Saint Augustine, although it was the most prevalent position during the Middle Ages, would take a distorted version, with the concept of "Christendom" developed in many countries of Europe, and in which the distinction between the kingdom of God and the earthly and temporal kingdoms.
With the arrival of the Reformation in the 16th century, its leaders (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc.) maintained the amillennialist scheme, although largely rejecting the concept of “Christendom” mentioned above, and also rejecting the millennial ideas held. by Anabaptist groups. Unfortunately, as theologian Michael Horton points out: “That practice was not always consistent with the theory in the Reformation…”[2]. The Augsburg Confession of Faith contains Luther's teaching on this topic, which was the norm among the leaders of the Reformation. Article 17 condemns, among other things, “…others who now spread certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the pious will take possession of the kingdom of the world, the wicked having been suppressed everywhere.”
At the end of the 16th century, many Protestants interpreted events such as the destruction of the Spanish armada in 1588 eschatologically, which led to a resurgence of Postmillennialism. This is how, for the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, three eschatological schools coexisted instead of two: Postmillennialism (perhaps the most popular at that time), Amillennialism and classical or historical Premillennialism. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, and especially after the First World War, where all optimistic incentives disappeared, Dispensational Premillennialism prevailed in the Protestant Church, which had been developed by John Nelson Derby in the middle of the century. XIX. This school was so popular that the other historical schools (Amillennialism, Postmillennialism, and even Historical Premillennialism) became unknown to the vast majority of Christians in the first decades of the 20th century. However, with the resurgence of Reformed theology in general, in the second half of the 20th century, through men such as Arthur Pink, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, etc., came a new interest in eschatological schools other than the Dispensationalism. And although both historic premillennialism and postmillennialism have been part of such Reformed theology, possibly the most popular among those who call themselves “Reformed” is amillennialism. Some of the most well-known contemporary proponents are: Samuel Storms, Sam Waldron, Guillermo Hendriksen, Antonio Hoekema, etc.
1-Throughout the History of the Church, different positions have coexisted regarding the issue of the nature of the millennium as well as other eschatological issues, although in certain times some have prevailed more than others. The historical argument, however, should never be definitive when affirming any doctrinal position. 2-Every topic that is in the Bible is important to study and, if possible, reach some conclusion about it. But we must be careful that some non-essential aspects of Eschatology affect the unity that we must have with the people of God in the things that are essential. I conclude in the same way as I did with the previous article: There are definitely men of God, whom I respect and love in the Lord, and from whom I have much to learn, who would explain these things in a different way than I do. I have done. But I am sure that they will be able to join with me and express the following truth: “That no matter how much evil advances in this world, nor the hostility against the church, in the end the Lamb will overcome, and we will overcome with Him.”