Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn. Thanks for listening and thank you for watching. Today we're continuing our series on eschatology. It is the doctrine of last things. We're studying the end times, and in the last episode, we centered our focus on the essential truth of Christ's return. That's a non-negotiable for every true Christian. Jesus is coming again. That's a fact. Now we turn our attention to the four main views of the millennium. These are positions that faithful believers have held throughout church history. And while Christians will differ on the timing and maybe the symbolism involved in Christ's return, we really should never lose sight on what unites us as believers. That's Christ Himself, the certainty of his return, and the hope of his kingdom. I want to walk you through every single view that is pretty much mainstream, highlighting three to five key distinctives, and then we'll draw from voices across church history so that you have a stronger understanding of the end times. And you can see that nobody's crazy for holding these different views. We just have distinctly different understandings of certain biblical texts. But it does affect the way we see the world. It does not affect salvation, though, and it can affect our attitude, our anticipation, and our actions. And so eschatology is important. Sometimes it's called non-essential because it doesn't dictate salvation, but non-essential does not mean not important. So our goal still is not to win a debate, but to build understanding and unity and confidence in God's promises. So number one on our list, I'm going to give you four main views, is dispensational premillennialism. Now, it's kind of a mouthful. Dispensational premillennialism teaches that Christ will return before a literal thousand-year reign on earth. And this view sees a strong distinction between Israel and the church. It usually includes a pre-tribulation rapture. Basically, what that means is we're in the church age right now, according to that view, and there'll come a point where the church is raptured or taken out, and that now incites chaos. God's common grace through the church, his mission through the church is now over in a sense, and all hell breaks loose. And in that era, you see the tribulation. Seven-year tribulation at the three and a half year mark, halfway point, the abomination of desolation, the Antichrist makes himself known, all of that. And at the end of Seven Year Tribulation, you have what is referred to as the return of Christ, and that's kind of where a lot of views really agree. The Lord will return bodily, but there's going to be disagreement from the premillennial dispensational view on what happens at that moment. The view that I'm telling you about right now, the premillennial dispensational view would say Christ will return, and the church that was raptured is the army in white robes in the book of Revelation. Christ puts his feet hit the Mount of Olives, he smites the armies of the Antichrist, and he establishes his rule and reign for a thousand years in Jerusalem. That begins the thousand-year millennial kingdom, which time at the end, after Satan has been bound for a thousand years, he's released one final time, he tries to incite one final rebellion. After that, judgment, great white throne judgment, and we enter the eternal state. That's the general timeline. Of course, there's a lot more that can be said on every single one of these views, but I want to give you some distinctives, and I'll do this for each view. The distinctives of the dispensational premillennial view is a literal interpretation of prophecy and Revelation chapter 20. That's a key chapter, and I have had it in front of me. I've got Daniel chapter 9 in front of me now, and I want to read to you really quickly from the book of Revelation in chapter 20, in particular, and kind of lay out what this looks like for you. And it's gonna say in verse 1, I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, serpent of old, who's the devil, Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, so that he would not and threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him so he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed. After these things he must be released for a short time. Notice he must be, according to God's plan. Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgments been given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded, the martyrs, because their testimony of Jesus, and because of his word, and those who had not worshipped the beast nor his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. So, in this view, when we say we're going to rule and reign with Christ, or you hear someone say that, that's what they're referring to. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power. They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. That is a pretty clear passage for this view. Another distinctive is a seven-year tribulation that precedes Christ's return. Tribulation before. Another distinctive of this view is the rapture occurs before the tribulation. That's the pre-tribulation view. And that's the parocia, the taking away of the church before the tribulation. Another distinctive, Jesus will reign physically from Jerusalem during a millennium. And the key texts in this view are Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 to 6, 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 16 and 17, which would be the text used to support a view of the rapture or a rapture that occurs, and then Daniel chapter 9, verses 24 to 27. I want to give you a quote here, and I'll give you one of these for each view, but it says, the church is not Israel, and Israel is not the church. God's promises to Israel must be literally fulfilled, just as his promises to the church are. That's John MacArthur and a proponent of that view. Strengths in this view are a strong fidelity to the literal grammatical historical method of interpretation, and that it provides a clear sequence of end times events. You can look, and it pretty much tries to answer every single thing in a timeline. And then it also offers a robust future hope for Israel based on the Old Testament promises. And then there's challenges with this view as well. Critics will argue that the view originated in the 1800s, so it's pretty late in a lot of critics' view. There's debate over the timing of the rapture. Is it pre-trib? Is it mid-trib? There's some debate there. And then the separation between Israel and the church is contested in broader theological circles. Namely, you're going to see that in covenantalism. The second view I want to unpack for you is historic premillennialism. Now, historic premillennialism also teaches that Christ returns before the millennium, but unlike the dispensational view, it holds that the church goes through the tribulation, and it would see more continuity between Israel and the church. The historic premier view has some distinctives. Christ returns post-tribulation, pre-millennium. So the church goes through the tribulation, then Christ returns, and it's before the millennium. There's one return of Christ in historic premillennialism. It's not split into a rapture and a second coming. And then the church and Israel are one people of God in the historic premillennial view. That's why you can have people who are historic, premill, and covenantal, because they can see the church and Israel as one. Also distinctive in this view, the millennium is a literal thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. So close to premil dyspe, which is kind of the nickname of that view, but no rapture. And then the church and Israel are seen with more continuity, so you have room for covenantalism. Key texts, Revelation 20, verse 6, Revelation 20 rather, verses 1 to 6. You're going to see that often in this. Matthew 24, 29 to 31, and John 5, 28 to 29. Let me give you a quote from a proponent of this view. God's promises will find their yes and amen in Christ and his reign over a renewed earth with his resurrected saints. That's George Ladd, a well-known proponent of historic premillennialism. Church fathers that held this view and provided support for it. Irenaeus, a second century church father, historic premillennialism would be the view that he is known to have held. He affirmed a bodily reign of Christ on the earth. Strengths in this view, strong historical support from early church fathers, a simpler eschatology without a secret rapture. Some people say, yeah, that's kind of easier to work through than like we just disappear. It emphasizes perseverance through tribulation, which is kind of a Romans 5 theme. Tribulation produces character, character produces hope. You're like, okay, you know what? Maybe we got to go through the tribulation here. I hope my grandkids or kids don't, but you know what? Hey, hold to the faith. Let's do this. Christ will return, and there will be a millennial kingdom. There's some agreement there within, you know, pre-male dispy and historic premal camps, save rapture, and continuity between the Israel and church topic. Challenges. Less attention to national Israel's role in the future. Also, the purpose of a temporary earthly kingdom before the eternal state can be debated. What's the point of having this earthly kingdom? And everything's almost like a utopia, but not completely. Satan's going to return. You know, wouldn't you just enter into the eternal state? Doesn't that make more sense? The third view is amillennialism. This is when people say, hey, I'm a millennial. Amillennialism teaches that there is no future literal thousand-year reign. Instead, the millennium is a symbol or it symbolizes the current church age, which is what we're in now. With Christ reigning from heaven, that's why we said Christ is king. So the Amillennial person says, yeah, Christ is ruling and reigning. Satan is technically bound in this view, in a limited sense, and Christ will return once more to usher in final judgment and then the new creation. Some distinctives of the a-millennial view. Ah millennial basically means no millennium in that sense. The millennium is symbolic. It's happening now. Also, Christ reigns spiritually from heaven. Satan is bound. He's not inactive, but he's limited in deceiving the nations. He can't get us all. And then one general resurrection and final judgment. Key texts, shocker, Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 6 is symbolically interpreted. And that just helps you understand like, look at all of us in every view using the same text. We just see it and go, yeah, I don't see that. I see this. And reputable theologians disagree there. And that's humbling for all of us. What am I going to do at 40 years old? Tell you that, you know, Tom Schreiner is off the reservation. R. C. Sprohl, dead wrong. You know, Jeff Durbin, crazy. And I know Jeff. I love him. I'm not going to, he's not crazy. And, you know, or they're going to say, yeah, Costihan completely just doesn't even interpret the Bible properly, doesn't know what he's talking about, probably doesn't even read the Bible. What does he know? No one should talk about each other like that because we've got the same verses in front of us, and each view holds their anchor in that text. So I want to be respectful, and it's a little bit humbling and maybe some comic relief or a little bit of levity to keep seeing in my notes here. Key text, Revelation 20, 1 through 6. John 5, 28 through 29, again, same passage. And then 2 Peter 3, verse 10. Now I want to give you a quote here. It is present now in the church through the reign of Christ. Augustine said that. The reformers, in many cases, were said to be amillennial. John Calvin said this. We ought not to expect any carnal kingdom of Christ on earth. By carnal, he just means physical here on earth, where it's a fallen kingdom still. It's a fallen world. Strengths of the A-Millennial view. Simple and unified eschatology. You kind of just simplify it. Hey, it's all spiritual, and I'm not being cheeky, and people will say, oh yeah, they just allegorize everything. You know, they don't even take the Bible real. I would, you, we don't want to be saying that about our A-Millennial brothers and sisters. It's just they have it simplified, which can be helpful for some people, and they go, yeah, that makes sense. And it's a unified eschatology. I mean, it just kind of brings it all together. He's ruling and reigning now. Satan's pretty much bound in a sense, and the Lord will return. We hold down the fort here. Let's go. But you know, the world's going to get worse and worse and worse, and then Jesus will return and make it all better. It avoids charts and timelines. Some people would call that a strength. I'll give credence to that. You have a lot less to try to dissect and define. Also, strong focus on Christ's present reign and the already not yet. And then it's consistent with covenant theology. A lot of people are covenant theologians, or they are covenantal, and the amillennial view is very consistent with that. So sometimes covenantalism leads somebody to become amillennial, or at times somebody getting convinced by a millennialism ends up covenantal. There's challenges, though, to this view, like every view. Satan's binding is really hard to reconcile with the evil world. In a millennial kingdom that is literal for maybe the historic pre-male view or the disp pre-male view, you've got Satan completely bound until the end. So you have a beautiful thousand-year reign without any confusion over what he's actually doing. And the world looks kind of dark there. What's going on? You don't. It's a perfect, beautiful line of the lamb, child playing by the viper's den, Christ ruling around the nations coming for counsel. At the end, Satan's released one final time, and so you have a lot of problems there. You're like, oh, that makes sense because he got released again, but he's been bound. With the Amel view, while there's strengths to it in some ways, the challenge then is okay, how do you reconcile? Satan is temporarily bound, he can't deceive the nations, but he seems, it seems like he's working over time. It seems like they're winning, and it seems like the church is the minority and we are. How does that reconcile? Also, allegorical reading of the book of Revelation can feel subjective. We have to be honest about that. And then there's less hope for a future Israel. And that's going to be a problem, again, for other views that would see literal promises in the Old Testament need to be literally fulfilled in the future. Many were in Christ, so why won't God then literally fulfill the rest at the second coming of Christ? All very fun, very fair, very important discussion. View number four, and we got to say last but not least, because this one is making a resurgence. Post-millennialism, the post-millennial view, teaches that Christ will return after the millennium, which is, in this view, a long, undefined period of gospel success in history. And I say long and undefined because the post-millennial proponent will say, like, yeah, I don't, I'm not saying like Christ is going to return now. I'm not saying we're going to turn China Christian today, but yes, over a long period of time we're going to turn this thing around. It holds that the world will become increasingly Christianized before Christ's return. The thing with the post-mill view is you're you're kind of like, man, I let's go. Like Christianize the world before Christ's return. Yes, and amen. And yet, like each view that has these things, you go, okay, yeah, that seems good. I that could be helpful, or you know, I can get on board with that. You also have distinctives, you have challenges, you have strengths. Let me give you some distinctives of the post-millennial view. The millennium is the church age. It is viewed, unlike other views, like the Omil view, where the world's getting still darker and darker and worse and worse, and then Christ returns. The millennium is the church age, similar, but the world's gonna get worse in the other view, and the world's gonna get better in the post-millennial view. There's gonna be a resurgence of Christianity. Christian nationalism is rooted in a view that we are going to have Christian nations. We're gonna have Christian governments. We are trying to turn over the spheres of authority from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. In the post-mill view, Christ returns after a golden age of righteousness. And so we have taken over. It is a Christianized world, and then we look up and Christ returns. Also, distinctive, they use a symbolic interpretation of Revelation 20 in the post-millennial view. Key texts. Matthew 28, 18 to 20, the Great Commission, all authority has been given to me. They would say that's a statement of authority by Christ. He is ruling and reigning. He's given all the authority. We need to enact it. We need to bring the gospel to the world. And the gospel is going to do what God said it's going to do. And we're taking over. This is clear. Christ has given us authority. Go and make those disciples baptize. Teach them to obey all that I've commanded. And lo, I'm with you even to the end of the age. So the post-millennial is out there running and gunning for the gospel. And they're confident saying, you know what? I got authority, the authority of Christ, not mine. And he said, make disciples. And he said to teach them to obey all that he's commanded. So what does that mean? That means that they're on the city steps, they're at the abortion mill. To be honest, there's some of the best evangelists in our world today, and they're out there saying, you must obey Christ. Christ is king. You kind of gotta love it and go, I I think we should all act post-mill, even if you're not post-mill. You should evangelize like a post-mill. Revelation chapter 20 is symbolic, also, in this view, and that's a key text. Okay, let me give you a quote. The church will be victorious before the second coming of Christ, not after it. That really is a quote that summarizes the view. A historical voice that was post-millennial, Jonathan Edwards. He saw the spread of revival as evidence of the future globalization of the church or of Christianity. Now, some strength is this view. I've already got into it. I find these to be encouraging and motivating. The post-millennial view inspires mission and cultural engagement. Our post-mail friends are not silent in the culture. Strong emphasis on Christ's kingship now. I got a post mail buddy. He at uh you know, certain times of year, like in the front yard, Christ is king. Like that's the sign that he puts out there. Kind of like, this is my, you know, he's post-mill leaning, post-mill sympathetic, whatever you want to call it. You know, he's just like in the front yard, Christ is king. You got to love that emphasis. He is the king. We just all have a different view of how that's playing out right now in God's program and timeline. Post mill view encourages a long-term gospel labor. You gotta love that too for the grandkids and the great-grandkids. This thing ain't gonna get worse, it's gonna get better. We're not letting off the gas, we're stepping on it. And that's that's really motivation for the future and seeing future generations live for Christ. Long-term view. Challenges in the view, it seems inconsistent with the worsening moral decline of society. The world is not getting better, it's gotten worse. Now, my post-mail friends, of course, I know some of you are like, I'm gonna drop a comment, right? Just slow down. The post mail will say or argue, all of these challenges have good arguments. People will push back. Well, hold on, Costi. Yeah, right now, but you just said we're playing the long game. So, yes and amen, I understand. Less natural fit with Revelation's tone. The book of Revelation is this destructive doom and gloom, but all with a high watermark of Christ's return. The post-millennial view would say that all was partially fulfilled in 70 AD. The partial preterist view, which is which is okay to have, the full preterist view, R.C. Sproul actually said it was grave error. Many have called it heresy. The full preterist view is like Christ returned in a spiritual form in 70 AD. All of that was fulfilled in 70 AD. It's kind of an odd duck, that the full preterist view. But the partial preterist view is, you know, much of what we see in the book of Revelation, or a good portion of it, maybe like chapters one through 19, if I'm, and I don't at all mean to misrepresent any position. So I believe, based on my research, and I actually. Have notes right here, so I can quickly double check this. You can see that I'm not uh infallible or always have a photographic memory, but the uh partial preterist view, much of Revelation, especially chapters 1 through 19, refers to events leading up to and including the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, which they see as God's judgment on apostate Israel. So for other views, it's a less natural fit. Revelation has a pessimistic tone or a destructive tone. That's what God's doing, He's judging, and then it gets better, and so it has less natural fit. Rare in modern evangelicalism, but rising in popularity again. You don't have a majority that's post-mill, but it's getting popular. Now, clearly those are four different views and they impact how we live. I've just laid out things that cause people to go crazy, to debate, to get fired up, to lob grenades because we're gonna speak, act, live, spend, save, give, and go differently based on eschatology. Eschatology does drive theology and how we live. So, how do we achieve gospel unity in eschatology? To land the plane on this episode, before we keep getting into this series and going deeper and deeper into this, I want to just give you six attitudes that should shape every eschatology discussion based on what scripture says. Number one, humility. These are deep waters. Faithful Christians disagree. Let's not act like experts where scripture leaves mystery. Number two, charity. No mocking, no straw men. You gotta be fair and gracious. You gotta represent your opponent's position properly. Have we all done that perfectly? No, especially young guys. You pop off and think we know everything, and then you start getting older and you're like, I need to calm down. The old guys, they just say it like it is, but they're also pretty gracious with each other because they've learned essentials, non-essentials, charity, humility. Hope is another one. Number three, no matter your view, Christ wins, he's coming back. Come on, we don't need to be depressed. Number four, readiness. All views agree. We gotta be ready. There's an imminent mindset with eschatology. There can be no agreement that, you know, oh yeah, whatever. You know, the you know, look at the parable of the lampstands. There, you gotta understand oil in the lamps, being ready. You gotta see Jesus throughout the Gospel of Matthew making sure that people are ready. Paul, Peter, John, all of it. Imminent readiness. What does that do? Well, number five, it makes us all mission-minded. Mission-mindedness is another key attitude when it comes to eschatology we should all have in unity. Let your view push you toward the Great Commission. Let me just say, I already mentioned how the post-mill brothers, they have zeal and they get after it. The indictment often against the pre-mill dispy, historic pre-mill, and omil view is you know, the omillennial guys, you know, pessimistic, just sit around and kind of like hobnob on reform theology until Jesus returns and the world's getting so bad. The pre-mill dispy, it's like, oh, we're just sitting around waiting for a rapture, you know, hide and hunker down. Don't buy a house, it's all gonna burn, and you know, you won't have anything. Like, we got to be so careful here. Everyone should be getting after it. If you hold a view of a rapture, well, guess what? We're not gonna be here forever. So today is the day of salvation. Get on it. Also, you've been given a gift of life. Enjoy it. Buy a home, go on a vacation. You don't have to sit around going, I don't want to do too much. I'm waiting on the rapture. Well, look, if the rapture does happen as fast as some of these people say it will, and so there's some crazy people out there doing timelines, guess what? Then do what the postmills would do. Give all your money to our ministry or to your church today. Some of you are gonna laugh at this, because well, the rapture might happen. You don't want to leave the money in the account for all the pagans that are gonna be here during the tribulation, right? We've got to be consistent. So sitting around in a holy huddle, losing mission-mindedness, actually exposes something else. Not bad eschatology, a very lazy Christian heart. Everyone should be getting after it for the sake of the gospel, regardless of whether you think there's a rapture or we're gonna be here another 4,000 years turning the world Christian. Get after it. The Great Commission is a command, not a suggestion. Finally, number six, Christ-centeredness. There is a purpose to prophecy. It is to lift our eyes to Jesus, not debates, not what so-and-so said, not charts, not nerding out on our timeline, not predictions of the world, not prophecy, uh, you know, newsreel preaching like something happened in Israel. We better cancel the sermon being on, you know, the gospel on Sunday and make it a prophecy update about how Israel. Look, I'm all for knowing the times, reading the times, but also be careful that it doesn't become this obsession and you've missed the whole purpose of Sunday worship, Christ, the word, Christ, the end times, Christ. All right, I'm getting excited. I love that kind of stuff, and I hope that encourages you. Spurgeon said this apart from the second advent of our Lord, the church has no hope and the world has no prospect of restoration. That's what it's all about. So far, I hope this series has been educational and encouraging. In the next episode, we're gonna zoom in on premillennialism, and I'm gonna explain, since this is the for the gospel podcast and it's the ministry I lead, I'm gonna explain why I hold to that view, and I wanna look at some common questions that people ask about it. And then in another episode, I want to ask and answer the question what's the deal with Israel? And so I'm excited to keep digging in. I might have a surprise or two in this series, maybe from a brother with another view. I think you might be excited to hear more about that. Stay tuned and I'll let you know. But if this episode has helped you, I'd love you to leave a review, share it, let other people know where they can find clear biblical teaching here for the gospel. And if there's a specific topic you'd love to see me address, drop a comment and let us know. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.