Premillennialism and postmillennialism26 relate to the timing and nature of Jesus’ future return and reign in the millennial kingdom. Jesus’ return and ensuing reign are described in Revelation 19:11–13; 20:4, which says,
And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God . . . And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
While there are many different views on the nuances of premillennialism and postmillennialism, Paul Benware offers a concise definition of both in his book Understanding End Times Prophecy. Benware defines pre-millennialism as “the view that Jesus Christ will return to the earth before the millennial kingdom is established.”27 Postmillennialism is defined as “the belief that a golden spiritual age will come upon this earth (the Millennium) . . . It is at this time that Christ will return to the earth.”28
A third eschatological29 system that is vital to any discussion of this sort is amillenialism. Amillennialism is “the view that there will be no earthly, literal millennium following the second coming of Christ.”30
Premillennialism is the correct view of Jesus’ return and millennial reign for two reasons:
1. Amillennialism and postmillenialism contradict scriptural teachings on the nature and timing31 of the millennial kingdom
Amillennialists contradict the nature of eschatological events. They teach that
There will be no more millennium than there is now, and that the eternal state immediately follows the second coming of Christ . . . Its most general character is that of denial of a literal reign of Christ upon the earth. Satan is conceived as bound at the first coming of Christ.32
In other words, amillennialists believe that Jesus will not literally reign on the earth in Revelation 20:4. This is because they hold that “the millennial kingdom began at the first coming of Christ and will continue until the Second Coming.”33
However, if this were the position of the author of Revelation, then Revelation would make little or no sense. If Jesus is currently reigning on the earth (as Revelation 20:4 describes), then the Great Tribulation has already occurred (6–18). If this has happened, one fourth of the earth has been killed “with sword and with famine” (6:8), stars from the sky have fallen to the earth (6:13) and “every mountain and island” has been moved from its place (6:14). Following this line of thought, a remnant of 144,000 Israelites has been saved (7:4–8), and two prophets who can blow fire from their mouths (11:5) have appeared and been resurrected from the dead (11:11).
Most astonishing of all, if Jesus has already returned, then Satan currently is bound (20:1–3). Our adversary is not “prowl[ing] about like a roaring lion” and we have no need to “be of sober spirit” and “on the alert.”34 We should not be fighting sin because our Savior is reigning over this earth, and Satan, the father of lies, is not allowed to “deceive the nations any longer” (20:3).
In their attempt to allegorize35 end-time events, amillennialists contradict scriptural teachings on the nature of those events.
Postmillennialism, on the other hand, contradicts the timing of future events in the book of Revelation. Postmillennialists teach that
Prior to Christ’s return . . . faith, righteousness, peace, and prosperity will prevail in the affairs of people and of nations. After an extensive era of such conditions the Lord will return visibly, bodily, and in great glory, ending history with the general resurrection and the great judgment of all humankind.36
Postmillennialists hold that this period of “faith, righteousness, peace, and prosperity” is the millennial kingdom. But such a position goes against the order of events laid out in the book of Revelation. Before Jesus returns to reign in the millennial kingdom (Rev 20), the Great Tribulation occurs and God judges the earth (Rev 6–18). During this judgment, the Antichrist – referred to as “the beast”37 – appears making great boasts (13:5), blaspheming God (13:6), and making war with the saints (13:7). Afterward, Satan – referred to as “the dragon”38 – gathers his armies to fight against the Lord Himself (16:13–16) directly before Jesus’ millennial reign (20:4).
This is hardly a portrait of “faith, righteousness, peace, and prosperity.” It is the exact opposite! Things do not get better before Jesus’ millennial reign. And things do not get better in order for Jesus’ millennial reign to occur, they get worse. Knowing this, it is clear that postmillennium is a wrong view of end-time events.
2. Premillennialism upholds scriptural teaching on the nature and timing of the millennial kingdom
Premillennialists teach that, “after Jesus comes, he will establish and rule over a kingdom on this earth for a millennium, that is for a thousand years.”39 Regarding the nature of end-time events, premillennialists teach that the millennial kingdom should be distinguished from the “rapture.”40 Millard J. Erickson defines the rapture as “Christ’s removal of the church from the world.”41 Jesus’ earthly reign (along with the majority of the events in the book of Revelation) is preceded by this “removal of the church from the world.”
It is important to understand that the rapture and millennial kingdom are separate events. While they both involve Jesus, they do not both involve the church. First Thessalonians 4:16–1742 states,
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
According to 1 Thessalonians 4, during the rapture, believers who are part of the church will “meet the Lord in the air.” Revelation 20:4 says that believers who are not part of the church,43 will watch from the earth as “the souls of those who had been beheaded . . . and those who had not worshiped the beast . . . came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
What is the point? The point is this: Jesus’ rapture of the church – His “removal of the church from the world” – will occur separately from His rule in the millennial kingdom. With that understood, the question we must answer is, when will Jesus rapture the church?
Here, we see that premillennialists uphold the timing of end-time events.44 Premillennialism holds that the rapture has not yet occurred, since the church has not yet been removed from the world. The future occurrence of this event is a mystery with some boundaries to it.
On one hand, “the rapture is presented as an imminent event with no intervening prophecies.”45 We do not know the exact timing of the rapture. We are to be “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior,”46 for “the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.”47 The rapture could occur at any moment.
We do know, however, that the rapture will take place before the Great Tribulation. There are two reasons for this:
1. The church will not experience the wrath of God
Romans 5:9 says, “We shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” Since the church cannot experience the wrath of God, it must not be present during the Great Tribulation, for the wrath of God will be poured out during that time (Rev 15:1; 16:1).
2. There is no reference to the church from Revelation 3 until Revelation 19:7, where the church is married to Jesus48
The Gentiles are mentioned (Rev 11:2),49 and Israel is mentioned (Rev 7:4-8), but the church is not mentioned except in reference to her marriage. From the middle to the end of the book of Revelation, the church plays a very small role. Why? Because some time between the end of Revelation 3 and the beginning of Revelation 4, the church is raptured.50
Premillennialists are waiting for Jesus to rapture His church. At the time of the rapture, the church will be taken up to meet Jesus in the air and the Great Tribulation will begin. After that, Jesus will return to the earth to rule for a thousand years. When these thousand years are over, the Lord Himself will judge the dead (20:11–15) and create a new heaven and a new earth (21).
Some of this may be confusing, so the following is a summary of the order of end-time events, according to premillennialism:
Church Age (where we are now)
↓
Rapture (no more church on this earth)
↓
Great Tribulation
↓
Jesus’ Earthly Return
↓
Millennial Kingdom
↓
New Heavens and New Earth
Come, Lord Jesus!
Endnotes
26 It is not the nature of this article to answer examine every issue regarding premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism. For a more in-depth comparison of these theological systems, see Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond, ed. by Darrell L. Bock (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999).
27 Paul N. Benware, Understanding End Times Prophecy (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995) 324.
28 Ibid.
29 “Eschatology” is “the doctrine of last things or the part of systematic theology that deals with last things” (Cairns, 148).
30 Ibid., 321.
31 Nature and timing go hand-in-hand when it comes to eschatological events. If the timing of an end-time event is off, so is its nature – and vice versa. The distinction here is made only to aid in comprehension, not to draw upon any biblical or theological division between the two words.
32 John Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959) 6. William E. Cox, in his book,Amillennialism Today (Philadelphia, Penn.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1072), concluded that while Walvoord is one of amillennialism’s severest critics, this definition is a good one (1).
33 Benware, 103.
34 1 Pet 5:8.
35 Roy B. Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation (Colorado Springs, Col.: Cook Communications Ministries, 1991). “Allegorizing is searching for a hidden or a secret meaning underlying . . . unrelated in reality to the more obvious meaning of a text. In other words (according to an allegorical interpretation) the literal reading is a sort of code, which needs to be deciphered to determine the more significant and hidden meaning” (29).
36 Kenneth L. Gentry in Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond, 13–14.
37 Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8–22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995). In Revelation 13:5, these great boasts are seen in the form of blasphemous utterances (this is concluded because the “beast” in Revelation 13:5 refers to the Antichrist). Thomas writes, “The best solution to the problem (of the identity of the beast) appears to be a combination of the view that this is the revived Roman Empire and the view that this is the end-time false Christ,” (154).
38 “Establishing the identity of the dragon as Satan is not difficult because of explicit statements of who he is in 12:9 and 20:2,” (Ibid., 122).
39 Craig A. Blaising in Three Views on the Millenium and Beyond, 157.
40 Amillennialists do not make this distinction since they do not discuss the rapture at all. “The millennium began at the first coming of Christ and will continue until His Second Coming,” (Benware, 106). They do not leave room for this event in their eschatological system. Postmillennialists do not discuss the rapture, either, since “the church of Jesus Christ will bring dramatic and transforming changes into the world” to usher in the millennial kingdom (Ibid., 122). According to postmillennialism, the church could not bring in the millennial kingdom if it were raptured before the kingdom began.
41 Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology, 139.
42 It is important to note here, that everything regarding the end time events does not appear in the book of Revelation. Other portions of Scripture must also be examined to see what is taught regarding eschatology.
43 They are not a part of the church because the church has been raptured. See footnote 48.
44 See footnote 6.
45 Walvoord, 252.
46 Titus 2:13.
47 1 Thess 5:2.
48 While a direct connection is not made between the church and Jesus’ bride in Revelation 19:7– 10, the church is called the bride of Christ in other New Testament passages (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:23). This wedding supper must take place in heaven because it is not until Revelation 19:11 that Jesus descends to the earth. In other words, the church is in heavenduring this celebration (due to the rapture), not on the earth (experiencing the Great Tribulation).
49 George Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1973). The Greek termethnos, “nations,” can also be translated “Gentiles,” (129–130).
50 At this juncture, one might ask, “If the rapture was this important, why was it left out of the book of Revelation?” It was left out because the exact timing of this event is unknown (Matt 24:36–41).