Without question, the book of Revelation is difficult to understand. Questions about the anti-Christ, the Millennium, and many others a are sharply disputed among Bible teachers today. But there is one question that seems to be overlooked in our search for signs of the end-times: When was the book of Revelation written? In this message, [...]
Amillennialsm
So, What Do You Believe About Revelation 20?
As an Amillennialist it never fails – any time I have a conversation with a Dispensationalist within the first 3 minutes I get the same question, “So, what do you believe about Revelation 20?” They aren’t typically amused when I tell them that I believe it comes directly after Revelation 19 and just before chapter [...]
Reformed Eschatology (Amillennial) Since the Reformation by Charles J. Terpstra
It is probably well known that the Reformation did not develop Christian doctrine in the area of eschatology very strongly. In part this was due to the fact that, in general, the Reformers accepted the long-standing, amillennial eschatology of Augustine set forth c. AD 400. And partly this was due to the fact that the [...]
The Kingdom of God (What it is and is not) by James M. Renihan
My procedure will be as follows: after we read two passages of scripture, I want to try to survey some of the information in the word of God that pertains to the kingdom. There is just too much to cover in anything but survey fashion. Then, I want to speak at more length about an [...]
Creedal Amillennialism by Rev. Ron Cammenga
Bound by the Creeds The Reformed creeds define the Reformed faith. What it is to be Reformed, the creeds establish. The creeds are the standard against which every teaching that claims to be Reformed and clamors for acceptance by Reformed believers is to be judged. Every Reformed believer is bound by the Reformed creeds. No [...]
The Millennial Period by Rev. Herman Hoeksema
Although in this pamphlet it is hardly possible to avoid a comparison of the views and interpretations here offered with those of the Premillennial brethren, yet its contents are not chiefly of a controversial nature. Its chief purpose is to give an interpretation of a passage of Holy Scripture that may be regarded as difficult, [...]
Will there be a Golden Age before Christ Returns by Lee Irons, B.A., M.Div.
Some conservative, Bible-believing Christians believe that before Christ returns the church will experience a Golden Age of unparalleled success, victory, and glory in this world – numerically, spiritually, and culturally. Many Puritans held to this position, as well as some well-known theologians of more recent times 1. We have no reason to deny that these [...]
A Present or Future Millennium? by Kim Riddlebarger
Most American Evangelicals are firmly committed to the idea that an earthly millennial age will begin immediately after our Lord Jesus Christ’s Second Advent. Since premillennialism is so dominant in American church circles, many who encounter historic Protestantism for the first time are quite surprised when they discover that all of the Protestant Reformers and [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – An Introduction by Prof. David J. Engelsma
Response to the editorial, “Jewish Dreams” (the Standard Bearer, Jan. 15, 1995), has made clear how deep and entrenched are the inroads of postmillennialism into Reformed circles. The editorial, written at the beginning of a new year, reminded Reformed Christians that our only hope, according to the Bible, is the second coming of the Lord [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – Revelation 20 by Prof. David J. Engelsma
The name by which the distinctively Reformed doctrine of the last things is known is “amillennialism.” This name derives from the 20th chapter of Revelation. Six times in verses 1-7 is mentioned a period of “a thousand years.” An angel binds Satan for “a thousand years” (vv. 1, 2). The result is that Satan cannot [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – Apostasy and Persecution by Prof. David J. Engelsma
It is the Reformed doctrine of the last things that the last days are a time of departure from the faith by many and a time of persecution of the true church by a wicked world. Apostasy and persecution characterize the entire age from Christ’s ascension to His second coming. They increase and intensify at [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – Matthew 24 – Part I by Prof. David J. Engelsma
The risk that an editor takes when he launches a series of editorials is that the series will be interrupted. Reasons for the interruption are varied – and sometimes compelling. The danger includes that the interruption will be extended for some time and several issues of the magazine. By the time the editor resumes the [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – Matthew 24 – Part II by Prof. David J. Engelsma
The apparent difficulty with Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:34 is that they seem to predict the end of the world in the lifetime of His disciples. He has been instructing the disciples concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world (v.3). He has just spoken of His visible, bodily coming in the [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – Matthew 24 – Part III by Prof. David J. Engelsma
Matthew 24, 25 is Jesus’ answer to the question of His disciples in 24:3. The question was, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” The question combined the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the end of [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – Matthew 24 – Part IV by Prof. David J. Engelsma
Standing decisively against J. Marcellus Kik’s interpretation of Matthew 24:3-35, particularly verse 34, in his book, An Eschatology of Victory (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1971), are the following considerations drawn from the passage itself. 1) Kik’s interpretation ignores that part of the disciples’ question that asks about “the sign of thy coming, and of the end [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – Those Glorious Prospects in Old Testament Prophecy by Prof. David J. Engelsma
It is those glorious prospects in Old Testament prophecy that are the real basis in Scripture for the postmillennial dream. The postmillennialists make a half-hearted appeal to Revelation 20 (see the editorial in the Standard Bearer, April 15, 1995). They refer to a stray text, here and there, in the New Testament. But their theory [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – A Spiritual Interpretation of Isaiah 65:17ff. by Prof. David J. Engelsma
Postmillennialism – the teaching about the last things that posits the earthly victory of the church and a coming “golden age in history – rests its case, finally, on Old Testament prophecy. Emphatically not on New Testament doctrine about the days leading up to the coming of Christ. Old Testament prophecy forecasts glorious prospects for [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – A Spiritual Fulfillment of Isaiah 65:17ff – Part I by Prof. David J. Engelsma
The literal interpretation of Old Testament prophecy ends in a carnal Messianic kingdom. The literal interpretation of the prophecy of Isaiah 65:17ff., advocated by postmillennialist Christian Reconstructionism, ends in an earthly kingdom of Christ. Besides, a consistently literal interpretation leads to absurdity. Not even the most ardent advocate and practitioner of a literal interpretation of [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – A Spiritual Fulfillment of Isaiah 65:17ff – Part II by Prof. David J. Engelsma
The postmillennial dream of a “Christianized” world in history rests finally on Old Testament prophecy of a coming, glorious kingdom of Christ (see the editorial, “Those Glorious Prospects in Old Testament Prophecy,” in the Aug. 1, 1996 Standard Bearer). That Old Testament prophecy which more than any other is supposed to prove postmillennialism and refute [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – The Victory of Christ in History – Part I by Prof. David J. Engelsma
Jesus Christ is victor. He is victor already now. He is victor in this world. We do not see this yet. But we believe it as the clear testimony of the Bible. In His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, He has become the Lord. He sits now at God’s right hand. He wields the power of [...]
Reformed Amillennialism – The Vistory of Christ in History – Part II by Prof. David J. Engelsma
The gross error of postmillennialism is that it misconceives the victory of Christ in history as carnal rather than spiritual. Gary North is wrong when he says, “It’s not a question of ‘dominion vs. no dominion’; it’s a question of whose dominion” (Unconditional Surrender, ICE, 1988, p. 317). It is emphatically not a question of [...]
Amillennialism: Part I – Introduction by Anthony Hoekema
My discussion of the amillennial understanding of the millennium will include the following topics: the interpretation of the book of Revelation, the interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6, a look at two Old Testament passages commonly viewed as predicting an earthly millennial kingdom, a brief sketch of amillennial eschatology and a summarizing statement of some of the [...]
Amillennialism: Part II – The Interpretation of Old Testament Prophecy by Anthony Hoekema
There is a basic difference in the method of biblical interpretation employed by premillennialists and amillennialists. Premillennialists, particularly those of dispensationalist persuasion, are committed to what is commonly called the “literal’ interpretation of Old Testament prophecy. John F. Walvoord, a prominent spokesman for the dispensational premillennial viewpoint, defines the hermeneutical method of this school of [...]
Amillennialism: Part III – A Brief Sketch of Amillennial Eschatology by Anthony Hoekema
A common criticism of amillennial eschatology is that it is too negative, spending its strength primarily in opposing and refuting eschatological systems with which it does not agree. Leaving aside the question of whether this criticism is true or false, I would like at this point to counteract the negativism of some amillennial eschatologies by [...]
Revelation 20: Part I – The Premillennialist Case by Cornelis P. Venema
NO BIBLICAL TREATMENT of the subject of the millennium can avoid directly addressing the teaching of Revelation 20:1-11, and especially of verses 1-6. This is the one passage in the Bible that explicitly speaks of the millennium, using an expression which literally means a ‘thousand years‘, and it does so no less than six times.1 [...]
