Four Views of Escatology Part IV Revelations 20:1-10

to keep a list of everybody who's asking for

these because I think I'm running behind. I forget.

No, no, no, it's fine. Alright, so again we're

talking about eschatology. Eschatology just refers

to the end times and the study of the end times.

We've gone through three of the four views so

far and we're getting now to post -millennialism

and This is the one that you're probably least

familiar with. So last week on millennialism,

that was a new one for you. Now we get into post

-millennialism. This one's new. And you've got

your handouts there, so you can just start on

slide three. Hopefully we'll get the slides up

on the screen pretty soon, maybe. Technology,

good thing you got them in front of you. All

right, so post -millennialism, it holds that

the kingdom of God is now being extended in the

world through the preaching of the gospel. and

the saving work of the Holy Spirit. Eventually,

the world will be Christianized and the change

character of individuals will be reflected in

an uplifted social, economical, political, and

cultural life of mankind. So when you think about

post -millennialism, we've said this a number

of times now, post -millennialism, they are the

optimist, okay? Everything is hopeful, everything

is optimistic, and they think the world is increasingly

going to get better and better and better. But

they don't believe that this means that every

single individual will be saved. However, they

would say that the majority of the world will

become Christians. That the overwhelming majority

of the world will become Christians. And it means

that evil in all of its forms will be reduced

to negligible proportions. And that Christian

principles will be the rule. And that Christ

will return to a truly Christianized world. Post

-millennials believe that the Great Commission

refers not just to the proclamation of the gospel,

but an effectual change brought about through

the preaching of the gospel. And so the preaching

of the gospel will be effective in such a way

that the hearts and lives of nations will be

truly transformed by it. Now, one thing about

post -millennials, so they're saying... Jesus

has given us the great commission, go and make

disciples of all nations, and we would all agree

with that. Yes, we are to go. We are to make

disciples of all nations. They would say that

that command is not just about going to share

the gospel, but it is about the promise that

the nations will all actually become Christians,

and that these nations will begin to rule under

the law of God, and that they will be essentially

Christian nations. In fact, I read one post -millennial,

you'll see it here on slide 9. They maintain

that Christ will not and cannot return to His

church and say, well done, good and faithful

servant, until the task of global conversion.

has been accomplished. And so they believe that

this is Jesus' promise to His church. He's going

to return. He's going to say, well done, good

and faithful servant. And they say this cannot

be done. He cannot return until the world is

actually a Christian world. Only then will He

return. So what do they believe? They believe

that this present age will get continually better

throughout the years. until the vast majority

of the world has become converted to faith in

Christ. Once that has been accomplished, it then

merges slowly but surely into the Golden Age

of Christianity. This Golden Age of Christianity

is what they refer to as the Millennium. So we

all have heard about the Millennium. We've been

talking about the Millennium for four weeks now,

probably a little bit more than that, you know,

because we've been in Revelation for 18 years.

but we've been talking about the Millennium.

So their view of the Millennium is that it does

not refer to a thousand year period in which

Jesus will return on earth and rule here. And

it doesn't refer to the all millennial view that

it refers to the entire church age. They believe

the millennium refers to the time in which the

world has been fully converted to Christ. The

nations are ruling under the law of God. It is

the golden age of Christianity. And that period

of time, that millennium doesn't necessarily

have to be a literal thousand years. It's just

a metaphorical long time. And then Jesus will

eventually return. the golden age and millennium,

it will end with Jesus' return. And so, post

-millennials, they set forth this spiritual kingdom

in the hearts of man. Now, something that we've

been talking about, if you want just some more

words to put to it, the main type of post -millennialism

found today is theonomic, preterist, post -millennialism.

All right, so everybody's gonna remember that?

Yeah? No big words tonight, right? Theonomic,

preterist, Post -millennialism, theonomy, it

just refers to God's law and then so they would

say this is where they believe that the nations

will eventually rule under God's law because

they will be Christian nations, the governments

will be Christian governments and so theonomy

is just ruling in accordance with God's law.

Preterism comes from the Latin meaning gone by

and so the post -millennial understanding of

Revelation is that all of the events of Revelation

have already taken place. All of the events of

Revelation took place in the first century. They

believe that the Great Tribulation occurred during

the lives of those who heard Jesus speak about

the end times in Matthew 24. So in Matthew 24,

Jesus talks about the Great Tribulation and he

says that that generation will experience that.

And so they interpret that to mean that the Great

Tribulation has already taken place. It took

place in the first century. They would say the

reason Revelation speaks of events to transpire

soon is because those events were about to happen

in the lives of John's readers. So they maintain

that even the Antichrist was a first century

phenomenon. So essentially all the events of

Revelation in their perspective have already

taken place. The only thing I think they would

say that has not taken place would be the Golden

Age of Christianity, the Millennium, the unbinding

of Satan and the future rebellion, and then the

return of Jesus and the future judgment. But

pretty much everything else in Revelation, so

the first 19 chapters, they would say have already

taken place. They even say when Revelation speaks

of a 42 -month period, it's referring to the

42 -month long persecution under Nero, or the

42 -month long Jewish war with Rome, or the destruction

of the temple. Now, the hardest thing with post

-millennialism is when you're reading post -millennialists

or a defense of post -millennialism, and I've

read a lot of them, the hardest part is trying

to make the case using scripture. That is not

to say that their beliefs are unbiblical. That's

not what I'm saying. But trying to prove their

case with scripture seems to be difficult with

them. I read one post -millennial yesterday.

There's a chapter in a book, this, famous scholar

Lorraine Botner, he was writing this chapter

on post -millennialism. A whole defense of it,

and there was one reference to scripture in there.

And so as I'm interacting with that, I'm like,

this is really hard to critique or, you know,

I want to make the best case for post -millennialism.

That's what I'm doing here. I'm making the best

case for each of these views. It's hard. to make

the best case for something when someone's not

making the best case for themselves. So I'm gonna

try to help you understand where they get their

beliefs. So some scriptural foundation for post

-millennialism. A big one for them, Psalm 22,

27. All the ends of the earth will remember and

turn to the Lord and all the families of the

nations will bow down before him. Now, something

you'll notice with a lot of these scriptures

is that none of the other views would disagree

with this. We all believe this scripture is true.

Post -millennials would say that this takes place

during this earthly life, during the church age,

and so they would say that all of the families

of the nations are gonna come down and bow down

before Jesus now. They would not say this speaks

of some future date where Jesus returns or even

towards the end. but this is something happening

now. Another big one for them is Psalm chapter

Psalms 2 · chapter mention

2. As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my

holy hill. Ask of me, and I will make the nations

your heritage, and the ends of the earth your

possession. You shall break them with a rod of

iron, dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O

rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear.

and rejoice with trembling kiss the sun lest

he be angry and you perish in the way for his

wrath is quickly kindled and blessed are all

who take refuge in him so again post -millennials

would argue that these verses do not predict

a future reign of christ after his return but

they speak of his present rule in such a way

that the nations will be his heritage now Kings

and rulers are told to serve God now because

all nations are expected to submit to Jesus now

so that the entire earth will become Christianized.

Another passage that I found in defense comes

from Isaiah chapter 2 verses 2 through 4. This

Isaiah 2:2–4

isn't in your handout, but you can just mark

it down to read later. But the verses say it

shall come to pass in the latter days. that the

mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established

at the highest of the mountains and shall be

lifted up above the hills and all nations shall

flow to it and many people shall come and say

come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord

and to the house of the God of Jacob that he

may teach us his ways and that we may walk in

his paths for out of Zion shall go the law in

the word of the Lord from Jerusalem He shall

judge between the nations and shall decide disputes

for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords

into plowshares and their spears into pruning

hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against

nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

So post -millennials would claim that when the

Bible speaks of latter days, it's referring to

the church age, not end times, but to the church

age, and since it refers to the latter days there,

they claim that now is the time when all nations

are going to flow to the church to worship the

Lord. They go on to say that you can clearly

see the Christian influence that has come upon

the nations because the nations are no longer

warring with each other. They're putting down

their instruments of war, and they are having

peace with each other, and it's because they

are flowing to the throne of God to receive instruction

from him. They also point to the parables of

Matthew chapter 13 as evidence for their view

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

and they claim that the parables of Matthew 13

show that God's kingdom will grow to encompass

the whole earth during the church age. So do

you remember any of the particular parables from

Matthew 13? Any of them stand out to you? That

sounds like my second born. Yeah, it's got the

four soils in there. It's also got the mustard

seed, you know? You sow something small, but

then it becomes this big plant, right? And then

you read about how something like the, what is

it? The stuff you put in bread, I'm blanking.

the yeast. Yeah, you put a little bit of yeast

and then it rises and so they point to the parables

and say, Jesus is teaching that you put something

smaller, here's something that starts small,

but it grows to encompass the whole world. And

they say that's clear evidence that though the

church starts small, the church will eventually

encompass the whole world and nations will turn

over to Christ. They would say their strongest

case comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention 1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 says, for he must reign until he has

put all enemies under his feet. When all things

are subjected to him, then the son himself will

also be subjected to him who put all things in

subjection under him that God may be all in all.

Post -millennials argue that these verses clearly

show that Jesus' rule must extend to all nations

in such a way that the entire earth is brought

into subjection to Him. And once this universal

rule is achieved, then the end will come. So

that main verse that they really like to put

forward is, He must rule until He has put all

enemies under His feet. They would say, Jesus

is ruling and reigning now, and His rule must

extend in all of the nations until everything

is in subjection to Him. Now again, it is important

to note that I don't think you're going to find

anyone who disagrees with this verse. Whether

you're a dispensationalist, whether you're a

historic premill, whether you're an all -mill,

every single person that I know of who's a Christian

would say that Jesus is ruling and reigning now.

Does anyone in here disagree with that? No? Yeah,

everybody agree with that, yeah? Okay, let's

just make sure we're all on the same page. Jesus

is seated at the right hand of God. He is ruling

from on high. We're all in agreement there, right?

Jesus is ruling and reigning now. So no one disagrees

with that, but they would say he has to rule

until everything's in subjection to him. Therefore,

the whole earth, the whole world must be in subjection

to him. And that means that the whole world is

gonna become Christian. Not every individual,

but the majority of individuals. So when they

look at Revelation chapter 20, they agree with

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

the all -millennials that the thousand years

is metaphorical and symbolic. However, they believe

the millennium begins after the majority of the

world is converted to faith in Christ. Post -millennials

agree with all -millennials that verses one through

three refer to the spiritual binding of Satan

that takes away his ability to deceive the nations,

and it ensures that the gospel can go forward

with success. Post -millennials offer a unique

interpretation of verses four through six, though.

So if you remember verses four through six, dispensationalists,

they said it refers to two or three different

resurrections. You have the resurrection of New

Testament Christian believers, you have the resurrection

of Old Testament saints, you have the resurrection

of unbelievers. Historic free mills said that

this refers to the resurrection of all Christians

and then all non -Christians. and the all -millennials

said that the first resurrection referred to

those who have died but now are living with Jesus

in heaven. They have died but they have come

to life and they are ruling and reigning with

him in heaven. Post -millennials, on the other

hand, they believe that this first resurrection

refers to being born again. So we were spiritually

dead, but we have been made alive in Christ.

And so they say that that's what the first resurrection

It refers to, so therefore they believe that

everyone who is a Christian is currently taking

place in the rule and reign of Christ. Verse

5 refers to all the spiritually dead people who

will not be raised until the last day. Verses

7 through 10 refers to the releasing of Satan

and his rebellion against Christ as well as Christ's

victory over the rebellion. And then comes the

end when Jesus will escort all people to judgment.

And so if you just look at some key points of

post -millennialism, they are hopeful, they're

optimistic, they believe that the world is increasingly

getting better. The vast majority of the world

will be converted to faith in Christ. This leads

to the golden age of Christianity, which is the

millennium in their view. During the millennium,

the world will be Christianized, nations and

governments will be under the law of God. They

believe the millennium is not really a literal

thousand years. First resurrection refers to

being born again. Towards the end of the millennium,

Satan will be unbound and will lead a rebellion.

Jesus returns to defeat that rebellion and then

comes the end when Jesus escorts all people to

the throne of God for judgment. So we had to

rush kind of through that to get it done, but

now that we are done with the four views, what

are your questions on eschatology? Do you want

me to try to clarify anything for you? Do you

have any points that you would like me to address,

anything like that? There have been some questions

about where I stand on eschatology. You're welcome

to ask that at this time if you would like. Go

ahead, Kaylee. Yeah, that's a good question.

So anybody watching online, the question is,

do Post Mills interpret some things literally

and some things symbolically? I think that applies

to every eschatological view, not just Post Millennials.

I was having this conversation with my buddy

Brad. Again, if you're watching, I love you,

but we pick on each other. We got into a debate

about this earlier today on the phone. So he's

a dispensationalist. Dispensationalists say they're

literalists. They interpret everything literally.

But they don't, because the 70 weeks have to

be interpreted symbolically. A week is not actually

one week, it's a period of seven years. So we

need to extend some grace and understand that

everybody interprets some things literally and

everybody interprets some things symbolically.

Dispensationalists, again, they say they're literalists,

but then you look at the seven churches and they

would say, well, it's not just that they're addressing...

these seven churches in Revelation, but these

seven churches actually symbolically represent

different ages throughout church history. So

yes, they interpret some things literally, some

things symbolically. Same thing with all mills,

historic pre mills, post mills, everybody is

the same on that. So good question. Anybody else?

Points on eschatology that you would like clarified?

Anything that's confusing? Anything like that?

Caroline. Yep Yeah, it depends on like your branch

of Numerology, I don't know that that's is that

the right word for it. I don't think it is I

think there's something else Yeah So there's

a question about numerology and if that's helpful

to use in the Bible, if that contributes to eschatological

views. Basically it's when you look kind of too

deeply into numbers or make bigger deal out of

numbers than they are. I've seen people... anytime

there's any sort of event happening in the world,

there's gonna be an eclipse. And they're like,

the eclipse is happening on seven 13. And if

you look in the Bible at Matthew chapter seven,

verse 13, and so they like really read into that

kind of stuff. And the thing is every verse number

and chapter number. it's not in the original

text. Like I've seen our manuscripts, there's

no numbers there. So that was added. So you can't

just say, well, look at chapter seven, verse

13, because that was added by man to be helpful.

So it depends on how you're using it, right?

So if you're using it like that to say, hey,

this event corresponds with a chapter and verse

number, I don't think that's helpful. If you

are reading things into scripture, that's not

helpful. But if you're looking at numbers and

trying to ask, the question, what's the best

way to understand what's being communicated by

this number? Then I think that's helpful. So

when you have the 70 weeks, you have to deal

with that, right? So you can either interpret

it as 70 literal weeks. You can interpret it

as seven periods of time or 70 periods of time.

You can interpret it as every week is seven weeks.

When you get into revelation and you look at

numbers like 144 ,000, it could be a literal

144 ,000, or it could be 12 times 12 times a

thousand. 12 tribes of Israel, 12 disciples of

Jesus, number of completion. So it depends on

how you're trying to use the numbers and I think

there's a helpful way and I think people can

always press it too far. I don't know if that's

a good answer. Okay, I have a way of talking

a lot about a lot of different things and maybe

there's something in there you can take away.

Anybody else? Yeah Doug. Yeah Yeah, I mean there

are a lot of instances in the Bible where a period

of time is is different for us than it is for

God and so It could be a literal thousand years

and it's good. It could literally be Jesus gonna

return He's gonna set up a kingdom here on earth.

It's gonna be a literal 1 ,000 years Or it could

be metaphorical and symbolic, because Revelation

is a very symbolic book. And so it's just one

of those things where you can't say with certainty

it's definitely going to be this. Because you

can straw man any position, right? So I've seen

people who are not dispensationalists or not

historic premails say, well, this is the only

place in all of scripture that ever refers to

a 1 ,000 year period on earth. And they act like

that's just an absolutely dismantling argument.

But here's the thing, the Bible only has to say

something once for it to be true. So Jesus only

once said, I'm the way, the truth and the life.

We would never go, well, that's the only place

where he said that. So obviously there has to

be, so that's not a good argument. but also there

is something to be said for the fact that this

is the only place and so we have to wrestle with

these issues. So my whole point in bringing this

to you is to say we don't need to be quick to

dismiss all these other views and just say like

oh they're not taking scripture seriously or

they're just going with the times or this or

that. people are basing their views on scripture.

They just come to it with a different approach

for interpretation than we do, and we need to

be respectful of other Christians who disagree

with us, especially on issues of eschatology,

okay? So, again, that's not something to get

worked up about. If you want to disagree with

me on that, that's fine. We can still be friends.

If you want to disagree with me on Jesus, we're

going to have a serious conversation about that

and talk about it, but this is not something

to get up in arms about. Any other questions,

eschatology? Anything you want to know that I

can try to answer? I don't have all the answers,

by the way. I've just read a lot. Yeah. Yeah

Yeah, yeah, I'm not the type of person the only

time I will engage in an eschatological conversation

is if you're going to straw man my position then

we're gonna we're gonna open the Bible and we're

gonna I'm gonna make the case for why I believe

what I believe But I will never start a debate

and be like I can't believe you hold to this

It's like I've got better things to do with my

time than that my buddy today The reason we got

into that conversation is because he was trying

to straw man my position and I was like, okay

Well now I've got to open scripture and you're

gonna be on the phone with me for the next hour

So you started this just understand that But

there have been questions about where I stand

on eschatology. Here's what I'll say. I have

gone back between two positions, at least early

on in my faith. I would go back and forth between

historic pre -millennialism and all -millennialism.

I've never been a dispensationalist. I've never

been a post -mill, maybe one day. Who knows?

We'll see. But I've gone back and forth on those,

but I've been an all -millennial probably for

the past five years pretty consistently. And

that's my view. That's how I understand revelation.

I can defend that with scripture. I'd be happy

to back it up. I think I made the case for all

millennialism last week when I told on it. But

that is not to say that I have to be right. I

could be wrong and someone else could be right.

But this is something that we can disagree on.

So that's where I stand on eschatology. Hope

we can all still be friends after this. Yeah,

we're good. Sure. No, Caroline says no. We're

never talking again. All right. Anything else

you want to say before we close? That's right.

I agree. Yeah, so This is again where I come

back to this and say There are people who are

smarter than me on every side of this and they

hold to every position There are doctors who

were Dispensationless there are doctors who were

post mill and on mill and historic pre mill It's

it's foolish to try to say that we think we've

got it all figured out Have your view be able

to defend it with scripture, but at the end of

the day Show grace. Michael, as always, you get

the word of wisdom.