Four Views of the End Times Participant Guide by Timothy Paul Jones

Author:Timothy Paul Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781596365896
Publisher: Rose Publishing
Published: 2012-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

What is one difference between amillennialism and postmillennialism?

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What is one question that you still have about postmillennialism?

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Where Did Postmillennialism Come from Anyway?

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Hints of postmillennialism can be found in a few writings from ancient and medieval times. For example, fourth-century Christian theologians Eusebius of Caesarea and Athanasius of Alexandria may have been postmillennialists. A twelfth-century monk named Joachim of Fiore expected an “Age of the Holy Spirit”—his term for the millennial kingdom—to begin around 1260.

The forms of postmillennialism that are familiar today, however, can be traced back to the biblical studies of eighteenth-century English theologian Daniel Whitby. As he read Scripture, Whitby became convinced that a time would come when the entire world would turn to Jesus, the Jews would return to the Holy Land, and Muslim nations would be defeated. All of this would mark the beginning of a thousand years of peace, righteousness, and happiness. Jesus would not, however, return physically until this time came to a close.

Around the time that a series of revivals broke out in the American colonies, Whitby’s postmillennial views caught the attention of a pastor in Northampton, Massachusetts. These revivals would become known among later generations as the Great Awakening. And what was the Massachusetts pastor’s name? It was Jonathan Edwards. He understood these revivals in the Great Awakening as God’s preparation of his people for the millennial kingdom. Edwards eagerly anticipated the “future promised advancement of the kingdom of Christ” during the millennium as “an event unspeakably happy and glorious.… It is represented as a time of vast increase of knowledge and understanding … a time wherein religion and true Christianity shall in every respect be uppermost … a time wherein vital piety shall take possession of thrones and palaces, and those that are in most exalted stations shall be eminent in holiness … a time of wonderful union … wherein the nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares … and God will cause, wars to cease to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 2; 32–33) … a time wherein all heresies and false doctrines shall be exploded, and the church of God shall not be rent with a variety of jarring opinions … a time wherein the whole earth shall be united as one holy city, one heavenly family.” (J. Edwards, The Works of President Edwards in Eight Volumes, vol. 3, ed. S. Austin; Isaiah Thomas, 1808; pp. 373–375)

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